4. 25-50 people car-satisfied with one vehicle 10-20 cars off the road for each Zipcar Quality of urban life improves for all Parking paradigm changes
5. Zipcar ’s vision Make renting a car as easy and convenient as getting cash from an ATM
6.
7. 1999 September idea December business plan written 2000 Incorporation February tech try #1 two sets of engineers April beta June launch July test of hand-held
8.
9. The car unlocks with the right Zipcard at the right time on the right car
10. 1999 September idea December business plan written 2000 Incorporation February try #1 April beta June launch July #2 “test” August Broken? Or how it “works” January 2001 Box complete
12. The Idea: people who don’t use their cars much rent them to their friends and neighbors who need a car sometimes. Putting excess car together with not-enough car
End of dotcom – never was in it. Peer group – most went down within a year
When started, two reactions: Never gonna work; duh, I ’ ve thought of that Stats on value to economy Poll on company size: 5, 20, +
FOCUS & RALLYING – repeatable – took a long time to get these words right.
FALSE STARTS WITH TECHNOLOGY – (in-vehicle user interface & bet on movement towards cellphones) A LEARNING ORGANIZATION:
Work on getting this right. It should snap together and make sense in your own mind If it doesn ’t make sense, change it or drop it…. bad jobs, bad employees, bad marriages you are going to pour your life and soul into this. If it is a stupid idea, or won ’t work isn’t it better to face up to that quickly rather than live through the trauma and sacrifice of years? Dot-com Friend: “I’ve just raised $3m and I still haven’t figured out what the revenue model is.” Three years and one marriage later, company went bust. Writing a business plan can help force you to do this in a structured way (main reason writing a b-plan is worthwhile. Most funders only end up reading executive summary and maybe dip into a section here or there). Friends, Networks as Free Consultants – Honing pitch, which words work, which don ’t, problems, solutions, what you should known, etc.