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PayDragon (YC S11) raises $1.35M so hungry people can skip lines
- fijal 14y agoIs it just me or building such an app should cost $50k-$100k? Why do they need $1.35M?
- nicholassmith 14y agoI'm following these guys with interest as I'm British and detest queuing. It's a waste of useful time, and frequently I'll bail out before purchase. Something like this is good for employment stats (you still need staff to handle the transaction) compared to automated checkout machines.
- kurtvarner 14y ago>The round included Rustic Canyon Ventures, Ron Conway’s SV Angel, Yuri Milner, Mark Schwartz, and a follow-on investment by Y Combinator. A follow-on investment from YC? I wasn't aware that they do follow-ons.
- Retric 14y agoI wonder if this refers to YC investing money to avoid being diluted by this funding round?
- dmazin 14y agoI thought YC specifically did not do follow-on investments because of (paraphrase) what it'd indicate about the companies they don't follow-on with.
- hamiltonchan 14y agoThere was a mistake in the article. The additional investment was from SV Angel and Yuri Milner, not Y Combinator. We apologize for the confusion, and the mistake has been corrected.
- tatsuke95 14y agoSo, this is online ordering on your phone? >"Users skip to the front of the line, receive their item, and get on with their lives." How will that work in practice? I'm quite sure if I'm constantly skipped over in line by people getting priority over me because they have an iPhone app, I'll discontinue business at the establishment.
- sachingulaya 14y agoYou order on your phone, you wait, you pick up your food. If people don't order in advance then they stand in line. Its a long overdue concept. Being able to have my order ready without waiting would make me far more likely to eat out.
- tatsuke95 14y ago>"Its a long overdue concept. Being able to have my order ready without waiting would make me far more likely to eat out." Maybe I'm missing something, but I've been placing orders online for years. Order, go pick it up (or even have it delivered!). Obviously the app could simplify that by having all my restaurants there in one place, but I'm not sure the "concept" is new.
- aaronblohowiak 14y agoThis is the essence of take-out. Except, on the phone instead of calling, faxing(!) or ordering online. See: chipotle
- seiji 14y agoThe original online ordering systems for pizza places would actually generate a fax to the restaurant with your order.
- prodigal_erik 14y agoAh, i remember reading about xpizza. The manpage included BUGS: Some of the staff at the pizza place don't know how to operate the fax machine.
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- ihodes 14y agoThis seams like a nice version of seamless.com, no? Seamless could doubtless be made better, but I'm curious as to why a merchant would go with these guys rather than Seamless (which has tons of users already.) As a frequent Seamless user, I'm also not sure why I'd give another app a shot—why would I switch (and I'm to switching, too)? Regardless, it looks nice and quick. Best of luck!
- cdeonier 14y agoI think one of their main objectives is providing speed to ordering. Instead of providing a full menu experience, they would provide something like six items without customization.
- kfox2010 14y agoThis is funny since one of General Assembly's first blog post was about how this concept of skipping lines wasn't a viable lean start-up idea. Take a look. http://generalassemb.ly/blog/a-case-study-on-getting-started-with-lean-startup-methodology/ http://generalassemb.ly/blog/a-case-study-on-getting-started...
- binarysolo 14y agoApples and oranges -- I think framing is a big issue: "I ordered 30min in advance from my phone and will take food to go" vs "I would like to pay a premium to get ahead of others waiting in line". The latter obviously stings of people's differing time value of money (or I guess more appropriately, money value of their time).
- kfox2010 14y agoYea you are right to some extent, but then what is the difference between seamless pickup or calling and ordering(human interaction, scary i know) and PayDragon? Seamless has a great mobile app too. I think they are entering a red sea.
- jturn 14y ago>PayDragon is based on the premise that waiting in line to purchase items is neither good for the customer or the merchant. In NY when you see a place with a line you get intrigued. Sometimes a queue is a great advertisement for people walking by.
- FuzzyDunlop 14y agoIn the UK, you will generally avoid places that don't have a queue. They must be quiet for a reason, right?
- citizens 14y agoA hungrier person (from waiting in line) might also buy more food (good for the merchant).
- Hominem 14y agoThe interesting thing about this is that 80% of the restaurants are food trucks. This is perfect for trucks where you inevitably wait on line to order, then stand around in the cold for your order to be ready. Couple with that fact that this can act for a discovery service for trucks, which tend to move and as of now rely on twitter to broadcast their location. But you have to know the food truck exists before you can even follow them. This is a food truck guide and order service in one.
- andrewhyde 14y agoAnd if everyone uses it, there will be lines. Of hungry people.
- ars 14y agoThe idea is the computer will wait in line, not the person. i.e. you still have to wait for the food to be ready, you just don't have to do it in person.
- potatolicious 14y agoGenuine question: how is this different from companies that already have significant traction for pickup-orders like GrubHub and Seamless?
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- vwoolf 14y agoI just downloaded the PayDragon app, and the "Discover" feature is one of the more intriguing aspects. I regularly look for interesting, convenient food, and aside from walk-bys, it's not all that easy to find in my neighborhood. EDIT: In Manhattan, however, PayDragon only has one restaurant in the "Discover" category right now—it's Murray's Cheese, which might be delightful, but it's also somewhat far and not especially appealing.
- unabridged 14y agoI'm still waiting for major fast food companies to start making their own ordering apps like this. No having to explain complicated orders through an intercom. No having to wait in long drive through lines.
- ippisl 14y agoMcdonnalds in europe has installed touch screens you can order from.
- iiilx 14y agoI think they're competing with at least one company who is pretty far ahead in the market like gopago. Their presence seems pretty big in SF at least...I've used it in SF a few times and it's pretty convenient.
- StavrosK 14y agoThis app would, for example, never happen in Greece. Every fast food/street food shop here delivers, and I would be surprised if any restaurant denied phone orders. The norm here is that you order by phone and your food gets delivered, nobody waits for food.