[projectvrm] VRM and Uber

[Peter Cranstone < >]

Some interesting observations…

Lets look at what makes Uber to VRM'ish:

• Simple - open the app, it locates you and gives you a time for a car to arrive - 25 minutes to 'instant gratification'
  • Click on the Person or settings navicon to change your profile and or payment method

That's it. Probably one of the easiest mobile apps to build. Even the back end web service would be straight forward. This service incorporates three key things that apply to VRM:

1. Simple - no login after the first time and then only uses username and password. No OAuth or any fancy smancy stuff
2. Agile - instant gratification, instant cashectomy, all totally frictionless
3. Adoption - items 1 & 2 drive adoption

And there you have it. You could build this entire system for less than $500k. What you CANNOT do is scale the system - for that you need serious bucks. Also where things will get really interesting is what happens when you want to add other 'services' - that mobile app is going to get complicated very quickly and will probably multiply into multiple apps. From talking with the health care provider that's pretty much a non starter. He wants the app to be agile enough to support 'multiple' services under the same User Interface. Supporting multiple apps is of no interest to him as its expensive and slows down adoption. When I chatted with him he wanted 98% adoption rate within 6 months - why? So he can drive revenues and optimize his services.

Uber has a market cap of $3.5 billion dollars based on the technology you see below - that should tell you a lot. They figured out how to fill in the empty mobile sketch I talk about, and do so in a way that keeps things really simple.  

And one other really important note (this one's for you Britt) note the marriage of context and the ability to share (social) - it acts as it's own distribution channel. Everyone who has a great experience will simply share that experience with their friends. VRM will need to support the share option for sure.

Peter Cranstone