I must be very, very bad at the game of raising capital, or my idea stinks; There are people here on the Peninsula that have a light bulb pop over their heads, and a few weeks later incorporate with funding. Another vexing problem with my proposed venture is that my system prototype is client server, and my plan is for Web-based. When I had the personal funds to get the Webware version prototyped, I instead schlepped around country pitching, working in between pitches, and getting nothing done. Now I don't have the current several 100k to make the workable prototype - that could change with my next consulting contract, however.
I did a great deal of programming back in the mid-80's and early 90's - I bought books to teach myself Ruby on Rails, and was fascinated, but I realized it would have taken me at least a year, maybe two to acquire the acumen to prototype the system, and that still didn't leave room for the J2ME part for the mobile handsets.
Plus, the ThruDispatch system business model is, plainly, un-sexy in that it services a blue-collar constituency. I routinely work in IT company's, telecoms organizations, and network infrastructure vendors. So, I know a lot of good, talented programmers. If I can get them to read or let me describe ThruDispatch, they are mildly interested. But in the end, you have to know the independent automotive trade and it's dark ways to understand why my ThruDispatch architecture and business model is, in essence, a good idea.
I would dare say that the technical community and the equity investing (startup focused) is rightfully uninformed as to the prevailing business models of independent services that are itinerant and mobile. This stands in stark contrast to the model of centralized fleets, where hordes of captive, corporate owned vehicles use radio dispatcher control or mobile data to manage work orders; everyone understands that predominant model.
So potential investors ask the same questions, and they were perfectly crystallized on the "You be the VC" website. I will here reproduce the questions and my answers:
| What does your company do? |
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| Connects independent automotive itinerant servicers such as towing and mobile locksmiths to out side agencies. Allows the creation of virtual fleets. Provides a virtual dispatcher to automate the supervision of job Progress, and finally, allows outside, loosely coupled agencies to put jobs out for instant bid. And more. |
| Why is this company needed? |
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| There is no decentralized solution for independent mobile servicers in the automotive sector; all current solutions are centered around 'owned fleets' where the dispatch system and software is only used for the captive mobiles. These aforementioned systems use live dispatchers and have no provision for a mixed slate of outside agency work order submitters. |
| What makes your company unique? |
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| I discovered that these services were wanted by the end users when I was working at an automotive auction. This is a ground up business that solves a real problem, and has been well surveyed. |
| What is the goal of the company? |
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| To create a hosted, on-demand, automated service dispatch system and business that will assists the tradesmen, and create a new model for service order arbitrage. (an exchange for placing work order futures). |
| Who are your customers/users? How many of them? |
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| to capture 1% (30,000) mobile units in the New England area, Towing, Lock, and Glass service, resulting in approx. 8M /Yr. To start with, then move to other regional markets. |
| How will you target your first users? |
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| Auctions (Live automotive auctions) anchor all the above mentioned trades - we will start there, where I have personal contacts. We will recruit towing and other trade drivers as seed subscribers, incenting them to recruit other drivers. For the job submitter agencies, we will provide superior tools to manage jobs and save money via open bids and ratings for job and vendor reliability. |
| How will the company generate revenue? |
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| Mobile subscriptions @ 20-30 /mo. Crredit card handling of third party billing, value added tools for virtual fleet composition. Sale of mobile handset upgrades. Much more, including mobile ads to subscribers for all the capital and consumable items they use. High CPM. |
| How long until the company becomes profitable? |
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| I think my budgets see better than break even in under 18 months if R&D proceeds apace. |
| If you had a beta completed, how much money would you need to launch? |
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| About 600K is needed for a fully formed regional rollout to scale to 30k users. Probably better capped at 1m. |
| Who is and will be your competition (write as much as you'd like): |
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| THis sector is unserved - how do I know this, I have been in partnership talks will most of 'old line' central dispatch companies. I have been to terms with VC, no deal. I am, in all honesty and modesty, probably one of the best versed in the independent automotive services sector regarding dispatch systems, both central, web based, and now, a proposed architecture for automated dispatch to decoupled, casually affiliated submitters / executors. |
| Why is this company in a better position to succeed than the competition at this time? |
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| The entire dispatch industry has concentrated on captive fleets, to the exclusion of all other models. It is easier to capture corporate fleets, but there are fewer total units and the saturation point is lower. There are more Value added profit centers associated with the independent trades market, as far as mobile dispatch is concerned. I have been campaigning this for three years, and I know the competition intimately. They have stated to my face they are not interested in independents. The Virtual dispatcher architecture, arbitrage layer, and virtual fleet portal composer are unique concepts that are entirely novel concepts. |
| What domain expertise do you or your team have? |
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| I have a IT PM PM background, and am an analyst for strategic sectors. During a slump in the industry, I worked for 3 years at Interstate Automotive Auction of Salem NH as IT systems boss. I created a web based dipatch system that included a FAx to Nextel XSLT / SAX gateway. I know the business and have been refining the architecture since the beginning. |
| Does your company require users to learn new processes or adapt their behavior? |
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| Many automotive service independents are phone savvy, own broad band at home, and use text messaging. Many have used or currently use central dispatch J2ME apps. This ThruDispatch application would have to exceed expectations regarding ease of use and optimization of workflow. (For both submitters and executors). |
| Name the first three positions you'd hire today of you had the financial resources? |
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| J2ME Porgrammer, Back end systems database and application server engineer, software testing and sim engineer (Virtual Dispatcher is computationally costly and complex) |
| Do you have any ideas you consider patentable? |
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| Virtual Dispatcher, arbitrage portal, handset token flag parser. |
| What could go wrong (feel free to make this answer as long as you'd like)? |
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| The whole venture demands that a large enough mobile workforce is recruited and balanced with a suitable stream of jobs submitted by outside agencies. Any imbalance, poor execution, or awkward user interfaces, not to mention poor system responsiveness or reliability, could kibosh the whole deal - I will not let that happen, |
| What systems, special service, software, etc do you foresee needing? |
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| Oh, G-d: Blank check? Rational Rose UML, DB2 on blades, or similar reliable back end. Maybe leave the shopping to the quants. |
| Do any founders have other commitments between May 15, 2008 - Sept.1, 2008? |
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| I am available to do anything to get this venture finally off the ground. |
| Are any of the founders covered by non-competes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? |
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| I am free of any encumbrances. |
| Will any be working as employees or consultants for anyone else? |
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| I currently have to work as an analyst on contract to support myself. It had been a drag on realizing this venture. |
| What are your three biggest goals in life? |
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| To Launch ThruDispatch, to go to the industry and change the status quo, and to sleep the sleep of the just. |
| What was your first job and how old were you? |
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| I was a paperboy in the sixth grade. |
| Ever start a company before? If yes, what did the company do and what happened to it? |
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| I
have been self employed for many years now. I founded a new, blank
sheet independent division for CD publishing in 1993 at Vicom Multimedia in Edmonton Alberta, the TekDisc project. The division was sold off,, I worked for the buyer for three years. The options were ultimately worthless. |
| What was your biggest failure in life? How did you handle it? |
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| Two failed marriages. TekDisc was a failure inasmuch as I did not realize the dream of it becoming a standard. AIIM considered it. |
| What is your primary motivation in starting a business? |
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| To change the status quo with a clever turn of technology, to extend existing models of behavior with a system that amps up familiar work habits, and extends the users reach. |
| If you could have any job in the world what would it be? |
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| I
wish I could go back to university, but as an idea man, I like my
analyst consulting, just wish that I could close higher end contracts
without so much slack time between them. |
| Are you willing to work long hours? |
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| I always work long hours; but I think there is a rationale for a balanced life. |
| Canyou work without a stable income? |
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| Try being self employed like me for a few years! |
| Do you delegate easily or prefer to have hands on control of the details? |
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| I am a great quarterback, I often lead corporate teams, and can write and chart plans well. |
| If you don't win this contest what will you do career-wise? |
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| I will carry ThruDispatch on to the future, seeking partners in the industry, maybe turn the architectural principals into a seminar for mobile operators and ERP companies. |
| Use 250 words to say anything else you'd like to about the company or yourself: |
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| ThruDispatch came from the grass roots of the automotive trade, and my experience in dealing directly with the trades people. I got to know them, ate at their tables, went to their homes for holidays, and celebrated their kids occasions. My mind's natural tendency to create technical solutions formed the basis for the internal architecture of ThruDispatch as I worked in an organic way in the trade. Not even the big mobile workforce management software companies can say that! They have solutions that their own users often curse at. |
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