I am stuck with the 'chicken-egg' problem on my new app targeted at Nomads. 🐥🥚
Hello indie makers!
I am building an app for nomads to easily find bike rentals in any city. I just launched the MVP.
Any local can post their spare bike on the app for nomads to rent them. Think Airbnb but for bikes.
I know the cold start is going to be tough.
I am in terrible need of your tips on overcoming the cold start problem. What are the best techniques worked for you? How would you market an app that is targeted at nomads?
Thanks in advance.
Wish I could give you a definite way to start, but I have zero experience in starting a double-sided marketplace like this.
One possible thing to try: start in your local town, and list your own bike. Get as many friends as possible to do the same. Maybe you could try some actual bike rental shops too. What's important is that those signing up to rent out their bikes won't be upset if they don't earn anything yet (i.e., they'll be patient). Then you could start reaching out to potential bicycle renters.
I agree with this. I think most two-sided marketplaces solve for the supply-side first. The demand side, aka the buyers, aren't going to come to an empty marketplace because it solves nothing for them.
On the supply side, however, bike owners have little to lose if they just agree to sign up and list their bikes. Maybe you could even offer to pay them out of your own pocket, initially?
Pay them to post a listing on the site?
They can charge the renters right?
Yeah like a minimum guaranteed income -- a flat monthly fee, for instance. I've seen some marketplaces use it as a short-term incentive to gain initial traction.
However, it comes with caveats. It undersells your marketplace's value. So, I don't recommend it wholeheartedly.
Are you sure you are aware that this is indie hackers and not YC startup school? 😜
Haha, you're right mate. But who knows, you might be an ex-big tech baller with enough cheese :))
Thanks for this. Will consider talking to my friends about this. I wish I could build a wide catalog in order to make it really useful.
I'd scrape nomad forums, sites and cold-email them.
Find places where they are more active and pitch it there.
Fake the initial activity, list a few ads/posts "User A looking for 2 bikes near X."
In a perfect world it's a great idea. However I wonder how do you keep the platform safe, in airbnb they can't really move the house, car rentals have insurance and gps locators. Bike rentals probably bake the cost of a few casualties.
If I were a user I'd be questioning;
How can I make sure my bike will return,
What will happen in a scenario that bike gets damaged,
Will I make enough to pay for a second bike lock, as passing my own keys wouldn't feel great.
What will happen in a scenario that bike gets damaged,
And seriously this question plagues my mind too. But there must be a way. Let's see.
What does Airbnb do when a house gets damaged by a guest?
Airbnb is prepared to pay the owner I think. (And then perhaps trying to get the money from the renter.)
Great advice. Any nomad forums you'd recommend?
And to answer your question. It is now just a rental finding service. But my goal is to make it an in-app booking service as soon as I have repeating users. The questions you raised are worth noting. Since some rentals are doing it here and there, those approaches can be replicated on a wide scale. But definitely not leaving visa as security. Other stuff like doing KYC inside the app. That's a good problem to have.
And after all, no foreigner can leave your country with your bike right?. Those who rent are aware that they can be caught if they try to do anything.
IDK. nomadlist, hoodmaps, r/digitalnomad, levelsio's followers...
I was more worried about locals trying to scam renters.
Thank you.
I was more worried about locals trying to scam renters.
How?
https://road.cc/content/news/bike-theft-falls-115-uk-2021-290481
~176 bikes/day in UK. P2P bike renting sounds like a wrapped gift for local thieves.
This platform should worry about theft?
Airbnb's major plus is the insurance they provide to convince homeowners to list their properties.
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Hi Nithur!
I'm the founder of https://qrono.dev/, we're trying to make it really easy for founders to build a rental system like this (our whole thing is trying to help indie hackers go from 0 -> 1 in <10 minutes)
Would you mind taking an interview with me? I'd love to get your opinion on the product and hear about your pain points so far
Best,
Andrew
@skulegirl created (and sold) a double-sided market place, essentially connecting RVers with places to park their RV. I know she's posted quite a bit on her journey. It might be worth checking out her profile. Best of luck! 🙌
Thanks for the tag Teela.
What worked for us was having an audience that we already were connected to. I know that’s not always possible though.
We seeded our host side first, enticing people by giving lifetime free access to use the platform as guests, as most hosts were also part-time RVers.
I think you could actually use a similar strategy, trying to get former nomads or wanna-be nomads who still have homes and bikes to seed your supply side, with the promise that when they travel they’ll have access to the demand side at a reduced rate.
That at least means you’re just marketing to one segment at the beginning, which makes life a whole lot easier.
This series of articles from Lenny is the best guide i've found on fixing this problem (it even has the same title as your post!).
Short version:
Try looking at bike shops with bikes as well as individuals with bikes too?
And I would widen from "nomads" to looking for people who want a bike for a day - those can fall into lots of categories! Nomads are targeted by a lot and are often in just large metros where they'd probably use an ebike instead.
Two edge case examples:
As other people (and lenny's series) have said - start with one city and perfect it before moving outwards.
Could see this working very well for cities that probably won't get ebikes because they're not a large metro.
I'd start with content marketing. Create your Twitter account and blog. In blog, write everything about renting bikes and biking: how to rent it properly and safe, how to bike safely, interviews with people biking in different cities/countries, reviews on bike rental companies, comparison prices, the best biking routes, when and where to bike, and when and where to not etc...
Share the content on your Twitter, contact people who can potentially be your users/friends/ambassadors... just keep going and one day you will have your first client.
Good luck!
There are already huge digital nomad communities on Reddit, Facebook and you have the nomadlis from Pieter Levels. I actually had a great interview with him where he shared a bit about how he built it.
Mcdonalds survey is the most efficient tool for the improvement of the facilities provided over there, and so it gives a tough fight to its traditional competitors like burger king, KFC, etc. You need to note down the steps mentioned below in order to participate in this survey. https://mcdvoice.vip/
"Do things that don't scale." (not me, Paul G)
Focus on your city. Make a list of all the places that rent bikes.
Get a list of people interested in renting. Validate the problem before writing any code.
When I go to a city I can easily search 'bike rental' on Google. Focus on what you provide on top of that.
And also listen to user problems. I wouldn't rent my bike because:
Maybe others are not like that. Maybe everyone is like me. You won't know unless you talk to people and convince them what you provide is worth it.
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Plus every major city has bike rental services with docking stations. Those services might charge less.
On the lender's side, you have to provide access to where the bikes are stored. Intermediate pick-up and drop-off. That's an extra hassle.
Airbnb works because it's housing. I can just buy a bike on credit and sell it when I leave that place if I'm a nomad. Maybe that's a service. Maybe you can pivot it any other way. That's the way I'd think about it instead of focusing on building a two-sided marketplace.
something similar with me as well . Built an app to connect like minded digital nomads. new users aren't able to find enough people nearby.
It's tough because you want to be a marketplace for nomads therefore global. Normally I would say make it work in one city, but in this case I don't know.