5 Reasons Why Your Uber Type of Startup Will Fail!
This article shall offend you hence read it with a pinch of salt, and if you have any comments please feel free to leave them below. Also let me know your experiences with developers on your Uber like apps and business. Here goes nothing…
1. You are too cheap
The guys at Uber have raised over 11.5 Billion USD since inception, that’s 1.29 Trillion Kenya shillings, with marketing taking just 1% of the budget, while overheads took 75%.
Meanwhile the total budget of your Uber like startup is KES 25,000. I will just leave that here for you to digest.
2. You take software developers for granted
Most developers I know that will accept to do your Uber like startup have years of experience and most likely have worked on a similar idea, the fact that you do not respect or care about that is just disheartening.
Software developers just want you to respect their time and effort. You telling me that your 19 year old nephew can do the job in 2 weeks is not only an insult but also shows how ignorant you are. Remind me again why you’re not sitting with your 19 years genius nephew discussing the application.
Somehow you believe that giving a developer the job is a huge favor. The only reason one will listen to you is because you were referred by a friend they respect.
3. You do not know exactly what you want
Your idea is quite Nobel and will Change the world, however whenever someone asks you to clearly state your business model and your answer is “it’s like Uber, you order for a service and pay via the app”, my friend you’re in for the ride of your life.
Forget the Uber part, just for a minute and explain to me like I’m a 3 year old without mentioning the word Uber. How the business flows from a customer’s perspective through the supposed system.
Remember to include the information like how we collect customer details for traceability, how you get paid and the various checks and balances you have in place incase certain scenarios happen. Make sure not to forget people involved in making one customer happy from start to finish.
If you have an Uber like startup and this paragraph is too complex, then you are also in for the ride of your life.
4. You believe that the app will do everything for you.
You have this misguided conception that a mobile application will somehow magically make you a billionaire.
Did you know that Uber started operations in 2009? They did not metamorphose into this unicorn start app that is suddenly world famous.
The fact that you are reading this paragraph and still believe that you shall become a billionaire 4 months after launching your Uber like startup, done by your 19 year old genius nephew still amazes me.
Your Uber like startup needs a team of great people not your one man KES 25,000 budget show.
5. You are not willing to stay the course
5 months down the line with your genius nephew, you will realize that the first developer was onto something but you fired them, the second ICT consultant was a god but could not take your childish change requests every 10 minutes; change this, change that, return this, do this, do that etc. etc. so they ditched you.
You probably burned all bridges apart from your 19 year old genius nephew, who wants to party like a rock star and your Uber like startup was just a one day fling to them. You crash and burn are not willing to rebuild your idea.
Who are we kidding you love your job so much, you can’t live a day without your salary, so your idea dies a slow painful death.
You see Kinuthia from River Road excelling in your idea and feel jealous saying how you should have patented your idea and sold it for a billion dollars. Nobody buys ideas investors invest in businesses and people.
Nobody buys ideas, investors invest in businesses and people.
And that my friends are 5 reasons why your Uber like startup will fail. If you ever go to a software developer with an Uber like startup idea please read this and know what will be going through their mind as they painfully listen to you.
