6 ms·

Shuddle (Uber for kids) is shutting down tomorrow

62 points by philip1209 11y ago

glibgil 11y ago
Uber works for kids and provides the same guarantee as the rest of society– none!
- WillAbides 11y ago
  If only that were true. Uber doesn't allow unaccompanied minors to ride. Lyft has the same rule.
  - taxicabjesus 11y 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.
    - glibgil 11y ago
      Cool story, meanwhile Uber and Lyft drivers just look the other way. Works really well
  - glibgil 11y 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 11y 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 11y 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-kids-service-reaches-end-7249450.php http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Shuddle-Uber-for...
Aelinsaar 11y 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 11y 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 11y 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?).
    - hmahncke 11y ago
      You'd think, but Uber and Lyft aren't doing it.
      - jrbapna 11y ago
        But it's somewhat probable that they could (given their mission), and that's what makes this risky. And even if they don't do it themselves, I imagine that uber will eventually release an API of sorts, allowing anyone to tap into their logistical network. The food delivery startups faced similar risks, it'll be interesting to see how they fare now that uber eats is gaining momentum
eoghan 11y ago
I invested in this company. I love the idea and the founders. Startups are hard.
- ec109685 11y ago
  Why didn't you feel Uber would eventually be able to serve this niche?
- cpncrunch 11y 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.
  - lalala12399 11y ago
    unit economics I would make 1.5m in rev so fast if I gave each of my customers $1 for $.90!
    - cpncrunch 11y ago
      That's always the risk with a business plan like this. Uber seems to have a similar business model, but the difference is that Uber is an easily scalable business that has become a household name. Investors are happy to keep throwing money at Uber until they have taken over the world, and then they can worry about profit. Not every business is going to be an Uber, so it's a big risk basing your business plan on requiring constant injections of cash until you become a billion dollar business.
    - mchahn 11y ago
      Just as Amazon does.
tgb 11y 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.
- PhasmaFelis 11y 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/ http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/
- celticninja 11y ago
  At least it is a Friday and the end of the week, so you have the weekend to find an alternative solution.
- pjc50 11y 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 11y ago
    Those are temporary events, a canceled bus route would be a better comparison.
  - PhasmaFelis 11y 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 11y ago
Very sad. I intended to use this service one my child became old enough to do so.
- samstave 11y 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...
  - lalala12399 11y 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 11y 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 11y 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 11y ago
  You are technically misusing the word random, and that is the crux of the matter.
  - cha5m 11y 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.
- PhasmaFelis 11y 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 11y 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 http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-School-Bus-Driver's-License
    - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
      Indeed, and so does being a Shuddle driver. It's not (wasn't) the equivalent of trusting your kid to some random cabbie.
- 11y ago
elwell 11y ago
http://www.hopskipdrive.com/ http://www.hopskipdrive.com/
- lalala12399 11y 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 11y ago
    can you elaborate?
    - apahwa 11y ago
      his comment is #2 on google when searching 'uber coo fired' and its only been 20min. so 2 takeaways: 1. google is damn impressive 2. he is probably just trying to stir shit
      - lalala12399 11y ago
        1. 99.9% of tech workers in SF have 1 degree of separation from an Uber employee or is one. 2. any one of those people would tell you the same thing.
      - DiabloD3 11y ago
        Don't you hate it when you Google for an answer to your problem, find a promising StackExchange post, and it's your question you asked a few days ago and there are still no answers?
        toyg 11y ago
        Obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/979/ https://xkcd.com/979/
      - gjolund 11y ago
hmahncke 11y 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 11y ago
So, maybe now parents can talk directly to drivers they got to know through the app and cut the middle man

62 points by philip1209 11y ago

glibgil 11y ago

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

WillAbides 11y ago
If only that were true. Uber doesn't allow unaccompanied minors to ride. Lyft has the same rule.
- taxicabjesus 11y 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.
  - glibgil 11y ago
    Cool story, meanwhile Uber and Lyft drivers just look the other way. Works really well
- glibgil 11y 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 11y 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 11y 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-kids-service-reaches-end-7249450.php http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Shuddle-Uber-for...

Aelinsaar 11y 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 11y 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 11y 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?).
  - hmahncke 11y ago
    You'd think, but Uber and Lyft aren't doing it.
    - jrbapna 11y ago
      But it's somewhat probable that they could (given their mission), and that's what makes this risky. And even if they don't do it themselves, I imagine that uber will eventually release an API of sorts, allowing anyone to tap into their logistical network. The food delivery startups faced similar risks, it'll be interesting to see how they fare now that uber eats is gaining momentum

eoghan 11y ago

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

ec109685 11y ago
Why didn't you feel Uber would eventually be able to serve this niche?
cpncrunch 11y 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.
- lalala12399 11y ago
  unit economics I would make 1.5m in rev so fast if I gave each of my customers $1 for $.90!
  - cpncrunch 11y ago
    That's always the risk with a business plan like this. Uber seems to have a similar business model, but the difference is that Uber is an easily scalable business that has become a household name. Investors are happy to keep throwing money at Uber until they have taken over the world, and then they can worry about profit. Not every business is going to be an Uber, so it's a big risk basing your business plan on requiring constant injections of cash until you become a billion dollar business.
  - mchahn 11y ago
    Just as Amazon does.

tgb 11y 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.

PhasmaFelis 11y 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/ http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/
celticninja 11y ago
At least it is a Friday and the end of the week, so you have the weekend to find an alternative solution.
pjc50 11y 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 11y ago
  Those are temporary events, a canceled bus route would be a better comparison.
- PhasmaFelis 11y 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 11y ago

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

samstave 11y 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...
- lalala12399 11y 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 11y 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 11y 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 11y ago
You are technically misusing the word random, and that is the crux of the matter.
- cha5m 11y 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.
PhasmaFelis 11y 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 11y 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 http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-School-Bus-Driver's-License
  - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
    Indeed, and so does being a Shuddle driver. It's not (wasn't) the equivalent of trusting your kid to some random cabbie.
11y ago

elwell 11y ago

http://www.hopskipdrive.com/ http://www.hopskipdrive.com/

lalala12399 11y 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 11y ago
  can you elaborate?
  - apahwa 11y ago
    his comment is #2 on google when searching 'uber coo fired' and its only been 20min. so 2 takeaways: 1. google is damn impressive 2. he is probably just trying to stir shit
    - lalala12399 11y ago
      1. 99.9% of tech workers in SF have 1 degree of separation from an Uber employee or is one. 2. any one of those people would tell you the same thing.
    - DiabloD3 11y ago
      Don't you hate it when you Google for an answer to your problem, find a promising StackExchange post, and it's your question you asked a few days ago and there are still no answers?
      - toyg 11y ago
        Obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/979/ https://xkcd.com/979/
    - gjolund 11y ago

hmahncke 11y 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 11y ago

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