Shuddle (Uber for kids) is shutting down tomorrow

http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/14/shuddle-the-uber-like-service-for-getting-your-kids-around-is-shutting-down-tomorrow/

by philip1209 • 10 years ago

62 53 10 years ago

techcrunch.com

glibgil3• 10 years ago

Uber works for kids and provides the same guarantee as the rest of society– none!

WillAbides• 10 years ago

If only that were true. Uber doesn't allow unaccompanied minors to ride. Lyft has the same rule.

taxicabjesus• 10 years ago

The taxi company that I drove for required kids who were less than 12 years old to have a fingerprint-cleared driver, or to be accompanied by someone over 12 years of age. One time I did get a group of siblings who needed to get home from school, and the oldest one was 11. I asked, and learned that it was an exception that a manager in dispatch allowed to go through.

Some of the teenagers' case managers [foster care/etc] specified that their drivers also have a fingerprint clearance. I'm not entirely sure what the criteria was.

Parents in most cities can certainly contact a local taxi company and arrange for their kids to be hauled around by fingerprint-cleared drivers.

glibgil3• 10 years ago

Minors ride Uber and Lyft all the time. I have never heard of a driver denying a ride to any minor that I know. Like I said, it works for minors, de facto. You are not informed how the world works for the masses. Kid needs a ride? Parent works? Parent is going to stay at work and the kid is going to take that $5.75 ride, bottom line. That's the real market

467568985476• 10 years ago

Did they spend the $9.6m series A already? The CEO is apparently a cofounder of Sidecar and has experience in investment banking and at a VC firm. Maybe they're bleeding money and realized in today's climate they'd never be able to raise again, and so decided to return whatever is left under pressure from his friends/investors.

samcheng• 10 years ago

The founder stepped aside and brought in an outside CEO in November. Not sure how that affected their fundraising chances.

You'd need some awesome growth projections to raise a Series B on what looks like less than half a million in lifetime revenue!

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Shuddle-Uber-for...

Aelinsaar3• 10 years ago

What exactly was the logic with this company? It feels like a fundamental misunderstanding of the Uber business model, which thrived on the constant demand and ubiquity of a market. It also, frankly, is cashing in on people who uber when they know they'll be drinking. That's a giant slice of the market that, for obvious reasons, kids won't be a part of.

It seems like it would be tough for a "Shuddle" driver to make a lot of money, during the limited hours when they'd be needed.

wpietri• 10 years ago

The logic is that some parents will happily pay a premium to not have to drive their kids everywhere, but below a certain age they won't entrust them to random Uber drivers.

You seem to think that a driver can't do both Shuddle and Uber, but I don't see why that wouldn't be the case. During peak kid hours, they pick up Shuddle rides. When they don't have those, they do Uber, Lift, delivery, or one of the many other things you can do with a car and a cellphone.

narrowrail• 10 years ago

When you think about it though, it seems like a feature of Uber or Lyft. Just pay an extra fee for extra vetting for sensitive rides where the passengers need extra attention (maybe it's a monthly subscription?).

nsxwolf• 10 years ago

This business model has existed forever in the taxi industry. It is often school districts contract with taxi companies to fill gaps in bus routes.

Aelinsaar3• 10 years ago

That seems like a service a taxi company (Uber in this case) with a normal revenue stream could afford to offer. It doesn't sound like a viable independent model.

dbcurtis• 10 years ago

Ummmm... well, in California, anyway, anybody that works with kids needs to be fingerprinted and pass a Livescan and keep it current. My daughter's 80yo violin teacher has to keep her Livescan up to date, FFS. Now, how many Uber drivers have ever even heard of Livescan, much less have submitted to one? And jumping through all the hoops required to do activity sign-out, that is a bunch of paperwork, too. So the safety and security part of the equation is what makes it different from Uber. The regulatory landscape for a kid-oriented service is totally different.

But there are long-standing competitors like Kid's Kab, etc. Mostly they are a scheduled service, like to/from gym every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00PM or something, not a ride-on-demand like Uber.

eoghan• 10 years ago

I invested in this company. I love the idea and the founders. Startups are hard.

ec109685• 10 years ago

Why didn't you feel Uber would eventually be able to serve this niche?

cpncrunch2• 10 years ago

How does a company that has made $1.5M revenue and is growing 50% in the last 6 months go out of business? Raise too much money? Inaccurate business plan? Wishful thinking about future funding to provide economies of scale? Lack of due diligance by investors?

Not trying to be confrontational or rude, just genuinely curious.

lalala123994• 10 years ago

unit economics

I would make 1.5m in rev so fast if I gave each of my customers $1 for $.90!

tgb• 10 years ago

News of the shutdown comes by way of an email sent to customers this afternoon, and it all certainly seems pretty sudden — they’ll cease operating at the end of tomorrow’s business day.

A service to get your kids to and from school shuts down with 48 hours notice? That's going to cause a few headaches, and unfortunately is a great reason to not become an early adopter making such a business even harder to get off the ground. Shame, seems like it would fill a useful niche.

PhasmaFelis4• 10 years ago

At least they didn't write a rambling letter about how happy and excited they are to be kicking their customers to the curb. That's a common enough experience when you rely on a startup service. http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/

celticninja• 10 years ago

At least it is a Friday and the end of the week, so you have the weekend to find an alternative solution.

pjc50• 10 years ago

You don't usually get that much notice when the school is unexpectedly unavailable. Whether that's a snow day or (as we're currently experiencing in Edinburgh) catastrophic building problems.

zardo• 10 years ago

Those are temporary events, a canceled bus route would be a better comparison.

PhasmaFelis4• 10 years ago

Because those things can't usually be predicted in advance. There's no way that Shuddle thought everything was fine until they suddenly realized they had to shut down in two days. They knew this was coming, and they kept it from their customers, who now have to scramble to get their kids to school.

Naritai• 10 years ago

Very sad. I intended to use this service one my child became old enough to do so.

samstave• 10 years ago

As a user of uber since they were founded, and a father of three, I was super exited to start using shuddle, but I could only do so for my eldest child. (My younger ones are below their requirements)...

But I had planned on using them.

Uber should buy their whole fleet and their drivers.

I WILL use a service like this. I will be sad to see it not exist...

lalala123994• 10 years ago

I mean do you really believe the background checking was much better than Uber's? What exactly do you think was actually different? Seems like optics to me.

What if Uber gave you the option of a female driver/highly rated tenured driver/female tenured driver?

Just curious what'd make you actually feel better about leaving your kids in a stranger's car.

jijojv• 10 years ago

this really sucks. i was looking forward for my kid to turn 8 in a few months to be able to use this service daily.

bogomipz• 10 years ago

I'm surprised at the reactions. Are parents really that cavalier about putting their kids in some random person's car and entrusting them to some random person's driving habits?

dav• 10 years ago

You are technically misusing the word random, and that is the crux of the matter.

cha5m• 10 years ago

I hate the pedantry that surrounds the word random. Language is defined by those who use it, and clearly by a random person he meant "someone that the parent do not know"

Which is a real concern, and probably is contributing to the downfall of this company, because their market consists entirely of well-off, but also really apathetic parents, which is a niche market if I have ever seen one.

PhasmaFelis4• 10 years ago

What, you mean like a bus driver?

Also, "Shuddle’s main pitch point was their focus on safety: They did intense background checks on drivers, monitored drivers to ensure they stayed on route and didn’t speed or text while driving and offered real-time ride tracking to parents."

GFK_of_xmaspast• 10 years ago

Turns out to be a school bus driver takes a little bit of work: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-School-Bus-Driver's-License

burkaman• 10 years ago

Yeah, it's like babysitting, but with better background checks and oversight.

derrekl• 10 years ago

This is true. And to go a bit further I was attempting to build a Shuddle like service a bit over a year ago, and many of our early interested families actually requested that the driver double as a sitter after driving them. Drive the child home from school at 3:30pm and stay with them until 5:30pm when the parent gets home. I do still believe there is a niche here that's not simply an Uber "feature".

rmah• 10 years ago

When I was a little kid, I walked or rode my bike. Everyone did. And back then, crime was multiple times higher than today.

elwell• 10 years ago

http://www.hopskipdrive.com/

lalala123994• 10 years ago

oh geez...if only you knew why the new COO from Uber was fired you would not be promoting this company that clearly did not do a reference check.

ffumarola• 10 years ago

can you elaborate?

gjolund2• 10 years ago

They aren't far behind shuddle, they will be gone in 6 months.

hmahncke2• 10 years ago

Great service. Sad to see it go. I used it every week.

For people asking, another difference between Shuddle and Uber (as I understand Uber) is that you could schedule your Shuddle rides in advance, and be confident a driver would come at the appointed time.

raverbashing• 10 years ago

So, maybe now parents can talk directly to drivers they got to know through the app and cut the middle man

Shuddle (Uber for kids) is shutting down tomorrow

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