Show your working outā¦.
The way I read it was that the business model is similar to JustEat?
So you order, āJustEatā go collect the parcel and bring it to you on their bike within the timeslot you choose.
On a basic level, the time taken to sit around couldāve been used to deliver X parcels for Y money each, so multiply the two to cover that loss. Then youāve probably complicated your deliver chain by allowing for customers to return straight away, so add some money on to cover for that. Etc etc.
It reminds me more of WeWork than anything else - make your business look app-y, but actually itās inherently physical which comes with limitations that canāt be magiced around.
That article gives us very little information about exactly what they will do
I doubt Tristan went to Tom and Jonas and said āI need money for a delivery appā
āSure, do you have a business plan we can seeā
āNah, I havenāt thought of costs or sales. Itāll be fineā
I suspect they may discover a large gap exists between their aspirations/plan and reality. I mean, take Yodel. They probably had a great plan, no one sets out to make an awful delivery service, but thatās what happened when reality intervened.
Glad youāre all pleased with the existing model of parcel delivery as it really doesnāt work well for me
DHL seem to take it in turns as to whether the redirect option is enabled and most offer no idea in advance of when it will arrive and even those who do are generally inaccurate
Oddly enough it is DPD Local thatās found themselves being the most user friendly and even then we skipped ahead twenty minutes last week as he was already on my street
I do genuinely find myself on unplanned calls or in meetings when a delivery arrives and I would appreciate a snooze option or a slot later on or whatever
First I too had heard of @hugo making a move, so my very best wishes in the new endeavour to him and @robinb
Someone clearly has no idea whatās involved in applying for a banking license.
Btw did everyone miss the part of the article which pointed out that the closest equivalent to Packfleet: Budbee is already making a profit?
OK something I have Opinions on!
I think thereās something really interesting about āLast Mileā delivery services, and frankly that is what I can see this becoming/being.
I think thereās a very solid and established infrastructure around global logistics that the only real bit that would change here, is the Last Mile.
You can see the advent of things like Gorillaz, Getir, Another One Whoās Name I forget offering ādisruptiveā Last Mile Grocery deliveries, on demand.
Weāve seen places like CO-OP offer last mile deliveries by bike.
DPD and Friends have started to up their game in what the āto-doorā delivery experience looks like, but I can totally see why an approach of ādo what Gorillaz are doing for Groceries, but with Parcelsā is compelling.
But I think that makes me ask, what is the Niche itās trying to fill? Small/Local independent shops, trying to deliver to customers āclose byā - I think this solution is actually pretty neat, and I could actually some elements of that working really well.
But yeah, I think (parts of it) could work, if youāre targeting the right consumers in the right place.
Edit: I say that with a āsupply chain optimisationā lens that is the day job, so perhaps biased.
The experience point is moot for me. Many people disrupt other industries. But the comparison to Monzo is way out.
What Monzo has improved is clear to see. āDo you want an instant notification when you spend?ā āDo you want to segregate your money?ā Iām not sure how many of these things were there at the very Mondo beginning but they are obvious improvements.
This just screams of people with a lot of money, good connections and wanting to create something themselves. And because they had a bad parcel experience, this is the one they pick.
If that day the washing machine broke, weād probably be looking at the Uber of home electronics repair business.
Those sorts of features were there from the very beginning. Which part of the comparison to Monzo is wrong sorry?
This is how most startups get founded.
Well there you go, this forum is made up of some of the smartest and dumbest people I know, choose who you listen to carefully 
Or course what will likely happen is that VC Money will slow park fleet to grow to a reasonable level but will never be profitable and at a certain point a logistics provider or Amazon will scoop them up to have a niche brand on their books catering to SMEās and hipster businesses. Everyone gets lauded as geniuses and walks away to do their next hipster start up.
I do find it frustrating that anything with even the most tenuous connection to Monzo gets put in that thread, rather than just keeping it for actual Monzo media reports and such, but sadly Iām not the boss of the world, the forum, or even my world so my frustration matters not a jot. Well done for getting it spun out into its own thread though! 
This topic is like Daily Mail bingo. Weāve had āwokeā, āveganā and āhipsterā so far, just waiting on āguacamoleā and āfancy coffeeā and Iāll have the full house. 
I donāt know enough about logistics to comment on the viability of this venture, and canāt get excited about it until I see something beyond an article and choice quotes, but the proof of the pudding and all that; if it works thatās great, and if it doesnāt then theyāll go and find the next thing to disrupt.
This reminds me of that Simpsons episode where Homer is in charge of the garbage men and makes them all go the extra mile, causing financial ruin.
Iād invest in this company based on the calibre of the team alone, whatever garbage idea they are peddling will probably turn to gold. Any mention of crowdfunding?
Yeah. The initial product concept sounds like garbage to me but the team looks red hot
, so Iād be keen to invest at a very early stage if that opportunity arose.
Iād much rarther (sic) invest in an apparently terrible product concept with a red hot team than a red hot product with a terrible team. I think with almost all crowdfunding you see the latter and imho itās why there are so many ādead in the waterā seed investment opportunities that shouldnāt be touched with a barge pole, but they get funded because people just think itās a good product so therefore itās a good investment opportunity⦠Sugru anyone? (or insert one of 1000ās of others)
The reason an apparently crap idea does not matter to me is because entrepreneurs who think a bit differently and have a history of success doing so are able to turn their seemingly terrible concept into something very good, very quickly.
For example they could easily pivot from having this man-bunned delivery driver, probably Tristan post-monzo-gardening-leave, who turns up with your artisan loaves of bread and stands outside waiting an hour in the rain while youāre on your zoom call, to instead having your furniture delivered by a driver with building expertise who builds it just like in the photo in 30 mins then sweeps up and carts off your old furniture. Or they could deliver your washing machine, plumb it in and show you how to use it, rather than dumping a huge box right in your doorway before having to run off ācos of the parkingā , as you might expect from any other courier.
There are a number of iterations of their general concept where Iād pay Ā£50-100 to get something delivered with style and expertise. And Iām a very frugal person (read tight barsteward) so Iām sure these hipster types with money burning a hole in their skinny jeans would pay a premium for all sorts of things to be delivered differently.
One other thing that Iād add to explaining why Iād invest in this despite the perceived crap concept⦠Buzz⦠They have barely put down the crayon they used to scribble this concept on the back of an envelope and they have influential investors writing cheques and dozens of random people talking about it on here. Where there is early buzz there is the chance of a big buzz and eventually virality / world domination.
So yeah, you read correctly - terrible idea but Iād invest in a heartbeat! ![]()
I didnāt realise they had such a history. Iām not sure where I got my first pack from but itās brilliant! Love it!
For anyone curious
Poor Sugru, damn!
Also have one pack which I love. Really is v useful/cool!
At the moment, I canāt see the USP of Packfleet compared to eCourier and Shutl (apart from the fact Packfleet seem to only offer next-day). In fact, for next day eCourier seems to offer near nationwide coverage (not just London).