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mmvvaa

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[dead] 9 years ago

Yep, no freebee's here. Just a good old book.

This is very cool. I recently helped a couple of visually impaired people pick a movie through a stack of DVDs they had at home, using the http://www.bemyeyes.org app.

I didn't know how they watched the movies, so they explain me that some come with some sort of aid that describes de scenes. Some kind of story telling, along the audio. I was fascinated.

However, they complain that there is not a lot of content that has this aid. I'm glad Netflix is bringing their content to this audience.

MiCarga cofounder here.

- We started development in nov '11 and only officially launched operations in May 16th, 2012, to be precise.

- Our current run rate is US$88,000 (as of our latest numbers). Run rate is an extrapolation of the most current numbers, if they are extended for a year.

- So far, we have grossed more than US$500K. I am not going to dig into our margin details here, but yes. We have grossed more than that since we started operations (may '12).

I hope this clarifies it.

MiCarga cofounder here.

Thanks for the feedback, and from a first read of what we do, yes. You are spot on.

We believe we can make use of a severely underutilized pool of resources (empty trucks) in developing countries, some of it as a result of a huge industry that has transformed very quickly to adjust to the organic growth, as well as to other factors like free trade agreements that have escalated the need for transportation companies to be much more competitive in a global landscape.

The same challenges apply to the cargo generators, which have relayed on excel sheets or custom tools to manage their logistics, but that are constantly struggling to find the right solution to manage their specific needs.

I won't bore you with details, but logistics is much more than just putting cargo on a truck (think of security, insurance, satellite tracking, etc...), and we are integrating several services to simplify this for our customers.

There are plenty of companies in the space. A quick browse on AngelList can give you a good idea of what's out there.

We certainly believe keychain is doing several things right. Even though they are focused in the US at the moment.

Our focus right now is LATAM, and would most likely head towards other developing markets before trying anything in the US.

MiCarga founder here. This is not a solicitation, and we explicitly put it here before the beginning of the letter:

"(Note: The information in this document does not constitute an offer or solicitation to purchase securities of the Company)."

We wanted to use a format to tell our story to potential investors, and we felt that this format was fitting. Once again, the format is an experiment, but in no way it is a solicitation. We see it more as a first step to start a longer conversation with potential investors (accredited ones, to be precise).

Thanks for the feedback. We just fixed some of the more obvious corrections, and look forward to discuss the ones that require a bit more time with the people that we speak with (timeline, etc...).

Are you speaking from personal experience, then? Care to share details? I appreciate that you are giving feedback, but it is very vague. What parts of the copy do you feel are not ok?

Thanks for the comment, Drakkal. We reviewed its legality carefully before making it public, and we trust that we are within the law.

MiCarga cofounder here. We wanted to tell our story, in a format that suited our position right now. It is an experiment, and we are fully aware that it may not be the right format for every investor. Regardless, we wanted a space to tell our story in more detail, and start better conversations with the right investors.

PS: We will update everyone in our progress.

Are you really going to try to keep repeating yourself in an attempt to compare this shady business to amazon?

Amazon is in it for the very long run (they just turned a profit this year). Good luck trying to continue to dance this song to the tune of amazon. It won't last. It is likely a legal practice, and your background might blind you into believing that unintended actions by well-meaning consumers is a perfectly reasonable business model to profit from (at least it is more transparent in the beating industry). At least you know that you are in it against the house, in most cases.

Shame on you.

"credits never expire. If you have 8 credits in your account, you can go get 8 pairs of shoes."

It is called breakage. If they do not expire now, they will start to expire soon. What good is it to accumulate some revenue, if you cannot claim it has no cost associated to it? Either you do not know what it represents, or you are playing a good card. Sorry for the sarcasm to start this, but it sounds fishy.

I have no ethical problem with sites that make it easier for customers to get an on-going service (a subscription), when it is more convenient to have it than the opposite. (cellphones, gas, electricity) In this cases, it is much more cool not to have to deal with $39 or whatever amount it is decided that the store wants to discount to call you upon that private VIP club. It is dirty pricing.

And yes, I did go to the link you provided, and I did noticed that it is not necessary to read 2,500 words to figure out that the company is walking a fine line in between ethics and law. Bravo, for the tack-team, probably composed of some 5th av creative minds and some hard knock lawyers.

But this does not exclude the fact that IF the site wants to be ethical, and IF it gets at least a very little percentage of its revenue due to this, it should try hard, very hard; to tell people that visit their site for their first time, that a little fuck you contract might fall in their lap that very day if they are not fully aware of what they are doing.

In fact, it it happened once, and you realize, it may be possible that it has been misleading, you should change it.

I really hope a more transparent player comes along and have you guys think about this very concerning issue deeply.

Sleep tight.