A strategy guide by Paul Gumienny of Cosmic Cat Group

Part I / IV – Reading time: 4 minutes
Author: Paul Gumienny

TAKE ME TO STEP 2 >>

Today – STEP 1

Maintain the mindset of a bootstrapper

Entering the sharing game without any ambition to perform excellent operations is not a good business strategy. Even if the pockets are full, it makes sense to behave like an early-stage, VC-backed start-up to stay in the game.

Let’s start by talking about corporate vehicle sharing spin-offs, and compare them with some successful VC-backed disruptors. Take Airbnb, Netflix, and Snapchat. Can you remember any of them bragging how efficient they were in their early days? Apart from some Germans, people will not tell the world with pride how much they are saving. 

The Problem is

success stories are, by their very nature, about conquering the world with massive new ships, not about the number of hardtacks you had left when you came ashore.

Well, future books about best practice in establishing asset-heavy fleet services will tell stories with much more similarity to LIDL, Zara, or RyanAir, and share their pride in excelling at everyday operations and increasing efficiency. And: Fleet sharing services will not be virtual-scalable business types any time soon until autonomy arrives downtown.

Now, here is a solUtion

Develop the habits of a Swabian and Save money. In everything you do.

Especially in early days high asset costs need to be compensated by a strong utilization ramp-up. And since humans are turning from careful into care-free beings when they switch from owning to using, the assets are wearing out quickly and demanding high maintenance. 

“When spinning off from a large, admin process-heavy corporation, ingrained knowledge about the essential assets of digital fleet sharing services is crucial for achieving a healthy bottom line.”

Inspect, clean, repair, repeat. To avoid having vehicles being abandoned in remote locations, it makes sense to ensure Frank, Jenny, or Lisa can use the vehicle again early the next day. Moving that vehicle into a lively neighborhood full of young professionals ready for the next morning is crucial to raising the chance of getting the bookings started early. Or, even more efficiently, hand that job over to the local fleet services company, which just popped up (if you do not run a vehicle redistribution AI as your core competence yet). 



Here is our Free Advice of the day

Develop strong local partnerships. It will save your Day. Or at least your Nights.

Offering this kind of service to the wide variety of running fleets in a range of cities, maybe including battery swap services for micro-mobility, allows these companies to reach a critical scale, and thus be profitable. And there are more service partners you can use to increase your efficiency. Establishing these partnerships and comparing the salaries of VC backed mobility start-ups with those of corporate spin-offs, will point you in the right direction cost-wise. Another common action is to copy the blown-up ERP systems and corporate processes into a little rocket. This can be avoided, too.

Especially when spinning off from a large, admin process-heavy corporation, it’s gold to understand the assets needed - in the very special industry of digital fleet sharing services - to achieve a healthy bottom line. Of course, money can buy you time. But as some of the latest back draws and takeovers proved, not too much, especially in this segment.

 

Recommendation of the day: Avoid a late learning curve, and be clear about your long-term, strategic goals.

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