Recently, startup companies are competing in the market for being the “Uber for children.” Parents work full-time, and they need to find a way to get their children to school or back home during their busy schedules.
The article, “Ride-Hailing Start-Ups Compete in ‘Uber for Children’ Niche” by Eilene Zimmerman, discusses the different startup companies that have trusted drivers who will pick up children and bring them to their destination. Uber and Lyft don’t specify in picking up children or minors so there is an opening in the market. Niche markets for driving have been done before such as Lift Hero which provides rides to older customers. Children are the next newest trend. An example of this start-up is Zum. It provides babysitting and also rides
for children ages 5 – 15. As of now it has funds of over $1 million and it provides 150 – 200 rides a day (Zimmerman). Another company is Kango which started as a carpool for parents and their children in neighborhoods. However, due to customer feedback, the company changed its model by providing non-shared rides and babysitting services.
On the other hand, “HopSkipDrive, The Uber For Kids, Picks Up $3.9 Million In Seed Funding” by Jordan Crook focuses on the success of the startup, HopSkipDrive. The company allows parents to set up scheduled pick up times for their children with trusted drivers. The children can identify their driver with a picture and a code word. Parents can track the ride in real-time using the app.
These articles relate to our class reading about start-up companies. According to “What is a Startup?“, “a startup is a company working to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious and success is not guaranteed” (Robehmed). In this case, these companies that are the Uber for children are startup companies. The problem was that parents had difficulties with finding ways to drive their children to where they need to go because they are busy themselves. Having a driving service just for kids could be the answer. For HopSkipDrive, parents can trust the drivers because of thorough background checks. With the other company, Kango, success wasn’t guaranteed. Their carpool idea didn’t satisfy all their customers. So with customer feedback, they changed their business model. Startups are basically the beta testing phase where feedback is needed in order to improve and become profitable in the future. These are companies that are just starting out. They branched out from Uber’s concept and focused on a more specific market. Their revenue is around $1 million, but once they grow, they will no longer be a startup.
I think that unicorn companies are the role models that startup companies aspire to be. In both current event articles, Uber, a unicorn company, was mentioned multiple times. Even describing these companies, one would say they are the “Uber for kids.” The Economist’s article, “The Rise and Fall of the Unicorns,” said that unicorn companies are startup tech companies that are valued at $1 billion. It also mentions that Uber is one of the successful unicorn companies that will not have any trouble raising new money. This is a reason why startup companies such as Zum, Kango, and HopSkipDrive have begun operation. They see that Uber is successful so they want to be similar to Uber but differentiate themselves. The flaws that Uber have are that they don’t pick up minors alone and that it doesn’t appeal to parents. However, the new startup companies can be the solution to those problems.