Scrappy Startup looking for Technical Co-Founder!
Hey Guys,
I am a solo-entrepreneur seeking a Technical Co-Founder who believes in my crazy idea called 'Junkr'. It is an app for on-demand junk removal. You snap pic of junk, set price and a crowd-sourced "Driver" in the area picks it up. You pay, tip and rate the Driver through the app. I believe it has disruptive potential in the very non-tech, sleepy, and EXPENSIVE junk removal industry. Check it out >> www.junkrapp.com.
To date, I have built the mvp with an agency, launched in a single market, validated the idea, acquired users and gained paying customers. I have self-funded the whole project so far. Next steps are to launch into new markets, raise money and keep scaling.
I am willing to split equity with the right partner. Let me know if this is something you're into!
Video of how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8eA9XxdBfU
This is an interesting idea with a lot of potential. Looking forward to seeing where this goes! We are junk removal company (https://stluciejunkremoval.com) and this could be a great addition to our services.
Hey Mike, Just checked out your website. I know you're looking for a co-founder and not feedback here, but you seemed very responsive to other people's feedback so I thought I would share my thoughts.
I think you're solving a real problem. People do need junk hauled from time to time and you can use tech to make it really easy. However I am not sure I am willing to download an app for it. So you should have a mobile friendly web based version. Also not sure I get the 'become a driver'. I dont think this need really is served with a marketplace platform of connecting drivers. Feels like you need to partner up with local haulers as opposed to trying to recruit people to become gig workers like uber. I would suggest keep the website and product consumer focused and get a few local contractors to do the work.
Thank you for the comment. You nailed 2 major challenges I have already come up against. Because it is a marketplace model, both sides needs to be clicking or else it doesn't work. Getting Drivers to sign up seems to be the easier side. Getting a rich supply of "junk on the streets" is more of a challenge. I do agree that downloading an app is friction and having a web based option is a must for next steps. Using local contractors rather than gig-workers has been something I've been looking at too. I'm up for iterating and pivoting to get it right. You're bang on and I really do appreciate the feedback and model critiques.
Hey Mike, I just sold my last saas business I coded out and looking to do something new. Been in the startup space multiple times via vc route and also via bootstrapping my own projects to profitability. Junkr looks interesting. If you are still looking for a partner, feel free to reach out, my email is in my profile
Awesome! Yes, still looking. Will email you right now.
MVP looks very polished and professionally done. Nice work.
How are you finding paying customers/planning to find more? Online advertising in the junk removal space (ppc etc.) seems very expensive - must be a pretty competitive space.
Thanks Alex! Appreciate it.
The paid media is very expensive but we have tried it. It works, but its definitely a burn and competitive with the big junk companies. The app takes 20% per pickup with 10% added to the Listers payment and 10% deducted from the Drivers side. There is a feature where either side can "share and waive" their fee before check out where if they share to facebook that they just used Junkr, their 10% fee is waived. The goal of this was to start creating some social viral loops to spread awareness amongst friends. It worked a bit but needs to be refined because some people would post to facebook, get the fee waived and then go and delete their facebook post after! Appreciate any further feedback or ideas.
Hey Mike,
Would love to learn more about the project. My email is [email protected].
Awesome! Will send you an email now.
Sorry to be a wet blanket, but in my country we have a big problem with people that offer rubbish removal but end up dumping it in the countryside instead of disposing of it properly. How are you going to prevent that?
Not a wet blanket at all! This is something I've been thinking about from the start because we struggle with the same problem in Canada. For the MVP we built in that the Driver has to enter their vehicle make, model and color and license plate number. To complete a pickup, the Driver has to post a picture of the junk loaded up in their vehicle. This triggers the Lister to confirm the pickup is complete and pay the driver. The app has all this info along with timestamps so if an illegal dump is ever reported, the driver know we have all this info and we could turn it over to authorities if we had to. It's not perfect, but it adds a layer of accountability that hopefully keeps the Drivers more honest. So far so good with no issues! But we can definitely improve the model as we iterate.
I'm not tech co-founder material, but I'm willing to work with you and the technical co-founder as a software developer. I just started a day job, so I'm ok with working on it for a few hours a week for free (for fun).
Email: [email protected]
Cool Evan! I'll shoot you an email
Hello Mike, Do you need a backend developer? If you do, I can help you.
Reach me at [email protected]
Cheers!
Thanks Mohammad! I'll shoot you an email.