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  • Supply Chain Innovators: Weft–Waze for Cargo?

    According to the Boston Business Journal, Weft, a startup which aims to become a
    "Waze for cargo" and has one of its co-founders in the Boston area,
    will be among those presenting at TechCrunch Disrupt's hardware alley in San
    Francisco on Wednesday.

    The company is building hardware sensors and software platform
    that aim to reduce costs and improve delivery times for the shipping of goods
    around the world.

    Company co-founder Lee Wright is based in Marlborough, Mass.,
    while the other co-founder Marc Held, is located in San Francisco. Held, who
    formerly co-founded Boston startup Zazu, will be presenting at TechCrunch
    Disrupt. Wright previously was VP of marketing for CoreStreet in Cambridge.

    In an email, Wright described the company's offering:

    Weft
    sensors track containers, crates, cartons, and coolers and report location and
    environmental conditions in near-real time. The platform, which supports both
    Weft sensors and those from other companies, integrates with ERP and CRM
    systems. Predictive analytics alert shippers to potential delays and recommend
    alternatives based on information from all of the shippers and cargo using the
    Weft platform. (Think Waze for cargo.)

    Weft is currently finalizing a reseller agreement with Abu Dhabi
    telecom provider Etisalat, Wright said.

    There is a "good chance" the startup will end up
    opening an office in Cambridge, with Held returning to the Boston area, Wright
    said. However, the company is in talks with investors in both Boston and San
    Francisco, and the decision on where to open the office will be based in part
    which investors take part in the first round, he said.

  • Supply Chain Innovators: Postmates’ local delivery service hits New York City

    Image representing VentureBeat as depicted in ...Image via CrunchBase

    According to VentureBeat, New Yorkers will soon have yet
    another way to get just about anything delivered to their door.

    Postmates, the local delivery startup that’s already made
    a name for itself in San Francisco and Seattle, is kicked off its New York
    City operations in June.

    So far, the company has 40
    couriers in NYC, and it’ll be offering deliveries in the greater Flatiron area
    (between 14th and 42nd street and from 8th to Lexington Avenue). It plans to
    expand its coverage area over the next few weeks.

    Postmates is a tech-savvy version
    of traditional courier services. The service is particularly useful for
    restaurants that don’t deliver (yes, there are still quite a few in NYC), and
    for when you need a random cable from the Apple store. It competes with
    NYC-based WunWun,
    which offers on-demand
    helpers    , and Taskrabbit to a certain extent.

    The company features something
    we’re seeing as a growing trend: Integrating a well-designed mobile app
    seamlessly with business model features such as commerce. (We’re focusing on
    this trend at MobileBeat 2o13,
    our executive event in SF next month. The event’s tagline: “How to building a
    Winning mobile experience”)

    Also expect plenty more companies
    to get into the instant gratification field. Amazon already offers same-day
    shipping for certain items in New York City, and eBay just kicked off its
    own same-day delivery service, eBay Now    , which promises
    deliveries in under an hour.

    Postmates employees rely on a
    custom mobile app for managing jobs and are equipped with a company credit
    card. Delivery fees are dependent on the duration and difficulty of the job, as
    well as on how busy the service is at a particular moment. (Expect higher fees
    during peak hours.) To give New Yorkers a chance to test out its service,
    Postmates is waiving delivery fees for the next week.

    The NYC launch comes on the heels
    of impressive growth for the company. Postmates says its delivery volume is
    growing 20 percent every month, and it has processed more than $1 million worth
    in deliveries over the past three months in San Francisco and Seattle.

    Postmates has raised around $6.75
    million so far. Most recently, it raised $5 million in a first round led by
    FoundersFund.

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  • Supply Chain Innovators:A History of Warehouse Automation

    Factory Automation with industrial robots for ...Factory Automation with industrial robots for palletizing food products like bread and toast at a bakery in Germany, robotics (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    For all those logistics geeks out there, here is a very complete historical timeline of warehouse automation, thanks to Symbotic.

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  • Supply Chain Innovators: Delivery.com moves into the dry cleaning business with its Brinkmat buy

    Image representing Delivery.com as depicted in...Image via CrunchBase

     

    According to VentureBeat, is the next big market in
    local delivery your neighborhood dry cleaner? Delivery.com seems to
    think so.

    The merchant delivery company has acquired Brinkmat, a
    service that lets people order laundry and dry cleaning services from local dry cleaners.

    Launched last year,  New
    York-based Brinkmat fits well into Delivery.com’s expansion beyond just food
    delivery. Since its launch in 2004, the company has also started
    delivering groceries, alcohol, and even flowers. Dry cleaning services,
    then, are just a natural extension of that.

    The move is also an interesting
    counterpoint to the merger between
    Grubhub and Seamless    , two food delivery companies that are now
    one big food delivery company. So as its competitors continue to bank on
    food delivery, Delivery.com is expanding beyond it.

    “Based just on our name, there’s
    no reason we can’t be doing other things [besides food],” Delivery.com CEO
    Jed Kleckner told me. ”The question we ask ourselves is this: What is
    a category of merchants that is still low-tech, but can be made
    frictionless by going online?”

    That question led to
    Delivery.com’s interest in the dry cleaning industry — and rightfully
    so. There are roughly 22,000 dry cleaning businesses in the US,
    and the industry represents roughly $8 billion in annual revenue, according to
    Pell Research. While tiny on a neighborhood scale, dry cleaning is still
    a pretty significant industry.

    Terms of the deal were not
    disclosed, but Delivery.com did note that Brinkmat founders Tim
    O’Malley and Jay Winters will be joining the company’s tech team.

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  • Supply Chain Innovators: NASA– Getting Rid of the Pizza Delivery Guy?

    English: The NASA insignia. Español: Insignia ...English: The NASA insignia. Español: Insignia de la NASA. Italiano: Logo della NASA. Русский: Логотип НАСА. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    According to Xconomy, NASA will transport 3D printers to space so astronauts can print tools — and potentially even food.
    NASA’s chief administrator Charles Bolden discussed the role of 3D printers during a recent press tour of the Ames Research Center. According to ComputerWorld, Bolden believes the technology could be “key,” particularly as the agency explores missions to Mars and beyond.
    “As NASA ventures further into space, whether redirecting an asteroid or sending humans to Mars, we’ll need transformative technology to reduce cargo weight and volume,” Bolden said. “In the future, perhaps astronauts will be able to print the tools or components they need while in space.”

    A recent NASA blog post supports his theory; the author writes that “the agency will need to make improvements in life support systems,” and the “current food system wouldn’t meet the nutritional needs and five-year shelf life required for a mission to Mars.”
    According to Space.com, NASA’s has been looking into printing technology for several years. The agency recently poured $125,000 into the development of a prototype 3D pizza printer to feed astronauts on long space journeys, such as the 500-day trek to Mars.

    To bolster this effort, a company called Made In Space recently published a blog post announcing that it has been testing the effects of microgravity on 3D printing. In February 2013, it claimed it scored a contract with NASA, and is scheduled to send a 3D printer to the space station in 2014.

    We may see more "individual-as opposed to mass-customization" with the advent of 3-D printer technology. Eliminating supply chains for common product is a likely trend in the next decade.

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  • Supply Chain Strategy: Slow Pay–Online Food Delivery Innovator Foodpanda goes Global

    Bicycle used by a restaurant deliveryman in NY...Bicycle used by a restaurant deliveryman in NYC (IPhone picture, Amsterdam Avenue and 81st Street, May 8, 2008) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    According to VentureBeat, online food delivery is a competitive space, with numerous startups trying to edge out the competition.

    Foodpanda, based in Berlin, has raised $20 million to continue expanding its delivery service around the globe. In the past few months, Foodpanda and its affiliated brand hellofood entered 15 new countries, and it’s now active in 27 different markets. It also released iPhone and Android apps. This funding will fuel that growth and support Foodpanda’s quest to become the dominant global food delivery service.

    The company operates like Seamless or GrubHub. Customers enter their city and browse through delivery options in that region. Before ordering, they can check out ratings, estimated delivery time and fees, look through the menu, and then place the order online. The approach is not only convenient for customers, but also helps restaurants increase their sales and distribution.

    There is a massive market for the taking here, and Foodpanda is not the only one trying to capitalize on the opportunity. Foodpanda faces competition from fellow food delivery startups Delivery Hero (also based in Berlin) and London-based Just-Eat, which have each raised over $100 million in venture capital. However, these companies are active in 12 and 14 countries respectively, with a focus on Europe. Foodpanda’s focus is on emerging markets in South America, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, and in a statement issued this morning, the company said it is the leading food delivery app in most of these areas.

    This financing will support Foodpanda as it adds more restaurants, countries, and customers into its systems. The startup emerged out of Berlin-based accelerator Rocket Internet, and this round was led by Investment AB Kinnevik and Phenomen Ventures. Foodpanda is based in Berlin.

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  • Managing Start ups: Valuing Startups

    English: Merovingian coin valuing at a third o...English: Merovingian coin valuing at a third of a golden sou. Found in the effigy of St-Eloi(c. 588 – 660), now in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Toul. Nederlands (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    One of the quandaries faced by entrepreneurs is how to value their start up. Dave Berkus details a popular method in his Blog, which increases valuation if a start-up reaches certain value creation levels.

    Bill Payne has an interesting 2012 survey of typical valuations given investments by leading angel groups in the U.S., another way to gauge if your estimates are realistic. The current average for pre revenue companies is between two and three million dollars.

    Finally, the Kaufman Foundation has a useful guide on valuing pre revenue companies, with lots of detail on alternative methods and approaches.

    Valuation of start-ups, however, is a fine art that should involve your mentors, lawyers and discussions with various angel investors before settling on a number, or just using the basic Berkus methods. The more advice, the better.

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  • Managing Start ups: Innovator’s Patent Agreements

    Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...Image via CrunchBase

    Twitter
    came up with a concept last year called the Innovator's Patent Agreement (IPA)
    and put a draft IPA up on GitHub. They have gotten a ton of
    feedback and have iterated and improved the concept since then.

    The basic idea of the IPA is that it is a
    contract between Twitter and the engineer(s) and designer(s) who developed the
    IP. The contract says that Twitter will not use the patent offensively nor will
    anyone who acquires the patent from Twitter. It goes on to say that Twitter or
    a subsequent owner could use the patent offensively with the engineer's and/or
    designer's approval.

    This is an important step forward in stopping questionable patent trolls. I'm not saying that all patent infringement actions are illegal…far from it. But there is a group of companies that exist only to prey on software companies using patents that should have never been granted.

    It's great to see some companies worrying about ethics, and not always just cash flow…

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  • Interesting Q & A site for entrepreneurs evaluating prior art before they file a patent application…

    http://patents.stackexchange.com/

  • Supply Chain Innovators: Postmates–Same Hour Delivery

    It's the picture of Italian ice-cream in a sho...It's the picture of Italian ice-cream in a shop of Rome, Italy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    According to Xconomy, on-demand delivery startup Postmates has a sweet new promotion starting tomorrow to help you get through the summer heat in New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle.

     

    In honor of National Ice Cream Day this Sunday, Postmates wants to help you stay cool by delivering ice cream to you in less than hour.

    Postmates sees it as a nod to the early success of the now defunct Kozmo same-day delivery service. Kozmo started in Manhattan and let you order a pint of ice cream from Ben & Jerry's online. It ended up becoming one of the largest distributors of Ben & Jerry ice cream.

    Now, Postmates is paying somewhat of a tribute to late Kozmo, CEO Bastian Lehmann tells Business Insider. 

    Though, it's worth noting that on-demand car service startup Uber tested a similar service last year. For one day across eight cities, you could hail a nearby ice cream truck to your location. 

    Postmates launched in New York at the end of May to deliver anything to you in your city in less than an hour. Before, it was only available in San Francisco and Seattle. 

    In order to get your free ice cream delivery, find the #SundaeLove store in the Postmates app. Here are the full details of Postmates's #SundaeLove promotion.

    On Thursday, starting at 2pm ET, Postmates will deliver free on-demand ice cream packs for the ultimate ice cream rager. Each pack will include:

    • Two pints of ice cream
    • Sprinkles
    • Italian wafers
    • Ice cream scoop
    • Gelato-man moustache and cap

    Friday through Sunday, Postmates will deliver free pints of ice cream all day. Here are the details:

    • Free pint of ice cream 
    • $4.99 delivery fee
    • 1 pint per person, but no limit on number of deliveries
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