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I'm trying to understand the relationship between "Uber for trucks" and software platform, is this just some name dropping to get people's attention?

logicallee 13y ago
They're solving the last mile problem recursively. Very elegant.
fbuilesv 13y ago
Hi, Federico (one of the co-founders) here. We thought a lot about talking in terms of Uber (or Heroku in the add-ons part) and we are aware of this fear of name dropping. The reality is that we think Uber is a whole lot more than a simple "Connect X driver to Y passenger". They've created a mesh of human transport infrastructure that can take you from point A to point B in the most efficient way. Trust me, the technology behind this is not trivial and their system is almost like a living being, constantly changing itself to meet demand. We're doing the same with trucks and commercial cargo. We don't have the "I need a ride now" problem (although we do have schedules to follow) so it makes it a bit easier for us. On the tech side this means that we have to predict supply/demand for the products we move. We also have to take the 2000+ trucks we have and treat them like a big pool of resources so we can get volume pricing, make good use of deadhead miles (done with location/route info.) and optimize underperforming routes (by getting more customers A -> B/B -> A.
bjfish 13y ago
The relationship is that they are taking an underutilized resource (trucks) and increasing utilization through their network much like Uber is filling cars. The current "our business model" section in the letter is confusing and I think the letter should be more up front about what their value proposition is. I had to read their "nosotros" page to figure it out: Más del 25% de los camiones en Brasil, México, Colombia y Argentina viajan vacíos cada semana, dejando de lado ganancias potenciales de US$4.5 billones cada mes. Nuestra tecnología pone en contacto a quien tiene la carga con quien la puede transportar, así el transportador nunca viajan vacío,... More than 25% of trucks in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina travel empty every week leaving behind potential profits of $4.5B dollars. Our technology puts people with cargo in contact with transporters, so the transporter never travels empty,... It appears they are filling empty trucks which I find similar to "empty leg flights" which are sold by private jet operators.
- mmvvaa 13y ago
  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.
- yogo 13y ago
  Thanks. This reply cleared a lot of things up quickly. I couldn't really pinpoint what this company was doing from the copy. Btw, it was a good read. I'm definitely not the target audience but it kept my interest.

logicallee 13y ago

They're solving the last mile problem recursively. Very elegant.

fbuilesv 13y ago

Hi, Federico (one of the co-founders) here. We thought a lot about talking in terms of Uber (or Heroku in the add-ons part) and we are aware of this fear of name dropping. The reality is that we think Uber is a whole lot more than a simple "Connect X driver to Y passenger". They've created a mesh of human transport infrastructure that can take you from point A to point B in the most efficient way. Trust me, the technology behind this is not trivial and their system is almost like a living being, constantly changing itself to meet demand. We're doing the same with trucks and commercial cargo. We don't have the "I need a ride now" problem (although we do have schedules to follow) so it makes it a bit easier for us. On the tech side this means that we have to predict supply/demand for the products we move. We also have to take the 2000+ trucks we have and treat them like a big pool of resources so we can get volume pricing, make good use of deadhead miles (done with location/route info.) and optimize underperforming routes (by getting more customers A -> B/B -> A.

bjfish 13y ago

The relationship is that they are taking an underutilized resource (trucks) and increasing utilization through their network much like Uber is filling cars. The current "our business model" section in the letter is confusing and I think the letter should be more up front about what their value proposition is. I had to read their "nosotros" page to figure it out: Más del 25% de los camiones en Brasil, México, Colombia y Argentina viajan vacíos cada semana, dejando de lado ganancias potenciales de US$4.5 billones cada mes. Nuestra tecnología pone en contacto a quien tiene la carga con quien la puede transportar, así el transportador nunca viajan vacío,... More than 25% of trucks in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina travel empty every week leaving behind potential profits of $4.5B dollars. Our technology puts people with cargo in contact with transporters, so the transporter never travels empty,... It appears they are filling empty trucks which I find similar to "empty leg flights" which are sold by private jet operators.

mmvvaa 13y ago
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.
yogo 13y ago
Thanks. This reply cleared a lot of things up quickly. I couldn't really pinpoint what this company was doing from the copy. Btw, it was a good read. I'm definitely not the target audience but it kept my interest.