Friends since middle school, the founders of Bringitt have always been intrigued by the idea of entrepreneurship and business development. In the summer of 2014, they turned this passion toward a problem plaguing college students, business professionals, and many others.
Transporting goods is currently mostly addressed by services like UPS, FedEX, or expensive courier services. For a college student that left something at home, or a business executive looking to have a package picked up, these aren’t always the most viable options (due to time or money constraints).
Bringitt wants to take the often complicated issue of transporting goods, and utilize a solution already available; the people already on the roads.
Bringitt lets students get paid for picking up items for other students and earn an income #greenlightmich @Greenlightmich
— Startup Lansing (@StartupLansing) March 31, 2015
Founded:
Jarett Lazare
Danny Meltser
The Problem Being Solved:
The current options for transporting goods can be both expensive and inconvenient from a user perspective, especially for college students on a budget. Bringitt’s goal is to take the hassle out this process in addition to cutting the cost. They are trying to create a more effective solution to the logistics of transporting goods.
Where The Idea Came From:
The idea for Bringitt was born when, during the summer of 2014, a coworker of Jarett’s dad needed a package picked up from Waterford, MI and brought to his office by the next morning. Jarett happened to be in the city of Waterford at the time, so Mr. Lazare called and asked if Jarett would pick up the package and bring it home with him so it could make its way to the office the next morning. Since the package was less than a minute away from him, Jarett gladly accepted the request. While driving home, Jarett realized that thousands of cars passed each other on the road each day, and situations like the one he was in also came up every day.
He came up with the idea to connect people who are already moving from City A to City B, with the goods that need to be moved along the same route, thus, creating an effective logistics solution.
Exciting Opportunities:
Jaret finds the magnitude of the courier and local delivery service industry very exciting.
“Creating an effective alternative has the power to change the way people transport their goods.”
At the same time, tackling such a large industry with a new, creative solution, pits them against much larger, capital heavy companies. “Being a small startup, we do not have the same resources or capital as others in the industry. Initially, this is a David vs Goliath tale, that will need to be overcome through creativity in our marketing strategies and the execution of our mission, connecting and uniting communities.”
Target Customer:
Their target customer consists of college students and their parents.
Biggest Challenge:
Bringitt’s biggest challenge has been coming up with the specifics of their minimal viable product (MVP) in order to validate a customer need for the problem. But, through target customer interaction and surveys, they have been narrowing down the features and requirements we need for a successful MVP.
Surprises:
The Bringitt team was surprised to find out the magnitude of the local delivery and courier industry. The industry produces $96 billion in revenue each year and is growing at a rate of 3% annually.
“Just getting a small percentage of this can turn nothing into something successful,” says Jarett.
Funding:
The money that they have invested into the company is currently owners’ capital and friends and family investment. “It is exciting to back our idea with some of our own money because this serves as further motivation.”
The Future:
In one year, Bringitt has hopes to be used by students and their parents at every university within the state of Michigan. After 3 years, they expect the service to be available to every university across the nation. Within this timeframe, they plan to expand their market penetration by making their service available to the general public, in addition to students and their parents.
“We want any individual to have an opportunity to transport their items from Point A to Point B in the most convenient and cost effective fashion, and we plan to offer that.”
In 5 years time, they hope to have an established network of drivers (from students, to parents, to everyday commuters) that can be tapped into in order to transport items across common routes. By this point in time, they expect to be positive in earnings and to offer a service to businesses that will rival their current usage of courier services.
Advice:
Jarett says that, “new entrepreneurs have to understand that entrepreneurship is an emotional roller coaster. There will be times when you feel great about what you’re doing and taking massive strides towards reaching your goals. There will also be periods of time where you feel like you may be stuck in a rut.” He urges new entrepreneurs to use these emotions as motivation rather than getting crippled by fear.
What a Great Idea!