How to Get Funded in the Recession: The Frugal Mechanic Story

http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2009/02/12/how-to-get-funded-in-the-recession-the-frugal-mechanic-story/

by gthuang • 17 years ago

29 19 17 years ago

shimon• 17 years ago

+1 for providing a damn useful service. It is ridiculously hard to find even something as simple as a wiper blade or light bulb online, and a service that provides an amazon-quality shopping experience, especially across multiple sites, would be excellent. No reason everyone should be visiting the dealership for totally basic stuff that can be ordered online for super-cheap.

vaksel7• 17 years ago

"They settled on auto parts not because they were car enthusiasts,"

And it shows. As a car enthusiast I can tell you that their site sucks. They don't get the hobby and it shows. They have no idea about the industry at all.

dotpavan• 17 years ago

the site didnt seem bad.. all that matters is variety and price (primarily) for the customer (as it isnt a hobby site).. isnt craigslist or ebay bad (not Ajxified etc) as well, aesthetically?

vaksel7• 17 years ago

thats the thing, their variety is non-existent. Look for any real performance part, and you'll see that they have nothing but generic crap that noone wants to buy in the first place.

I'll give you an example. Lets say I own a 2004 STI(which is a pretty popular tuner car). And I want to buy myself some coilovers, well guess what...I can't! Because the only suspension product they have on that site for the car, is a set of cheap Eibach springs...which cost $20 bucks more than what you can pay on eBay.

ryanwaggoner• 17 years ago

Most people who drive cars don't do so because it's their hobby. Maybe they're targeting people who actually need to replace parts in their car.

vaksel7• 17 years ago

Those same people won't be fixing their own cars. Most people don't even change their own oil, you think they'll be changing their own clutch or a timing belt?

swombat• 17 years ago

This is not "how to get funded in the recession", it's "how one company got funded in the recession". Reasonably interesting article, but a bit of a linkbaiting title, don't you think?

goodgoblin• 17 years ago

That founders co-op - do they only fund companies that are in Seattle? Looking at their FAQ and application - doesn't come right out and say so, but it appears to be the point of their operation - or at least a driving point.

kennyroo• 17 years ago

Having worked at eBay Motors in the past, I can tell you that what these guys have accomplished is far from easy. The catalog work necessary to present results in this format is far from easy. Good work and great start. Congrats, guys.

I think the long-term trick for a company like this one is driving organic traffic. They'll need to create a good bit of quality content to start ranking in Google search results. Without it, they'll be forced to buy traffic.

How to Get Funded in the Recession: The Frugal Mechanic Story

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