Starting GMB Flashcards
1
Q
Demand Side: Value Proposition & Segments
A
- No efficient way to rent online a water experience (only ask friends, join boat club, talk to concierge, call marinas) - like having to go to a travel agent
- No mechanism to do price comparisons
- No source of reviews
- No photos/videos
2
Q
Origins of Idea for GMB
A
- Noticed boats not being used in crazy volume.
- Huge underutilized asset. (And, knew about AirBnB/ Uber) - Use boats 8% of the time. Sunken cost.
- Is there a more efficient system?
- Is there a marketplace? (boat clubs not enough)
- Boats expensive to buy and maintain.
3
Q
Supply Side: Value Proposition & Segments
A
- Monetary. Boating is middle class activity. Boatowners happiest day is the day they buy and sell their boat. Financial pain.
4
Q
Boundaries of Service
A
- Water experience: broad - canoes, stand up paddle boats.
- Not Bill Gates level
5
Q
Stimuli
A
- No efficient marketplace (a) peer-to-peer or (b) charter companies. Not just peer-to-peer.
- Aggregate all supply.
6
Q
Core Interaction
A
- Owner - listing - price - description (BASIC)
- Renter - search locations - product - price points - description - form or message the owner directly
7
Q
Facilitation
A
- All on you. We facilitate but that is it. We do not vouch for anyone.
- Originally - did not track success of a rental. We were not charging. Very rudimentary and bare bones.
8
Q
Startup Costs
A
- AWS - Startup Costs
- Costs on Sales
- Gnerated listings for owners
- Minimal cost initially
9
Q
Chapter 2: Challenges
A
- Early resistance
- Boat manufacturers have relationships with moorings.
- Entire industry, boat manufacturers, insurers, etc. against it. As an insurance c. I do not want to underwrite this.
- Not fear of the competition b/c they did not think it was a real threat
10
Q
Chapter 2: Getting the Momentum
A
- Not charging at the time. We did the listing. We will make money on the insurance later. Still had the door slammed in our face at the beginning 50% of the time.
11
Q
Chapter 2; Proving the Value
A
- Boat owners skeptical of value. But, believed they would ultimately have pricing power if they provided value.
12
Q
Chapter 2: Resources Restrained
A
- Funded by partners. Not eager to take VC funding. Both had done IPOs and had never taken money/funding. Did not have a $10M/$20M budget.
- Resource constraint really focuses the mind. Consolidate supply. Felt the demand was strong and would be there but getting the supply was going to be the challenge. No global database of owners.
- Looking for boats, marinas. Boat owner by boat owner.
13
Q
Chapter 2: Attempt to Monetize
A
- But, HAD TO HAVE INSURANCE!
- Did dabble in insurance 2013 - 2016.
- Felt opportunity to offer a new insurance product. Typically annual. Most insurance does not allow rentals. Hole in the market. Opportunity to offer by the day, by the hour. Like car rental insurance.
- A lot of claims came through. Did not want to be in the insurance business. Expensive, headache. Did not want to be in the middle.
- Moved away from this.
14
Q
Chapter 2: Doubts About Insurance
A
- Did not lose customer when they dropped insurance. There are other sources of insurance.
- Competitor does offer insurance. Each boat has to be underwritten and inspected. They underwrite the entire policy. All boats come under the policy. Not scalable. Limited in the # of boats they have.
- Rental companies all have insurance.
15
Q
Chapter 2: Local v Global
A
- They decided to go global. Demand side - felt they would drive away demand if we had a limited supply. Expected great success or great failure.
