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Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

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Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#31

Post by timgriffin77 »

Nilef wrote: post #29

Aren’t coffee shops just seeing this as yet another PoS or interface to manage? How are you making this easy to integrate into mom and pop shop processes? Struggle to see how you can scale without nailing that!

Really good point, scaling around existing tech has been a focus for us since day one. Of the 300+ shops that have committed to using Cloosiv, 90% of them are on Square. This makes the upfront work easier, because they can just run our merchant app in the background of their iPad.

As we scale, it'll be important for us to integrate directly into software like Square (which we're currently working on, we're partnered with them), so shops can just install the Cloosiv app from their terminal and have orders and reporting flow through the existing software in place.

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#33

Post by timgriffin77 »

ddoran wrote: post #32

Congrats on the launch. How can I see whether you are in my neighborhood without first installing the app, accepting the t&c's, creating an account (and in the process giving you my email address)?

Thanks! It's not super obvious (working on a redesign), but you can tap on the "explore" button from the homepage to take a look at the app without creating an account.

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#34

Post by Nilef »

timgriffin77 wrote: post #31
Nilef wrote: post #29

Aren’t coffee shops just seeing this as yet another PoS or interface to manage? How are you making this easy to integrate into mom and pop shop processes? Struggle to see how you can scale without nailing that!

Really good point, scaling around existing tech has been a focus for us since day one. Of the 300+ shops that have committed to using Cloosiv, 90% of them are on Square. This makes the upfront work easier, because they can just run our merchant app in the background of their iPad. As we scale, it'll be important for us to integrate directly into software like Square (which we're currently working on, we're partnered…

Awesome, sounds promising then! Thanks

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#35

Post by Kiro »

bb88 wrote: post #27
timgriffin77 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We certainly keep an eye on delivery apps, but we didn't start gaining traction until we solved for customer expectation issues that owners were worried about. They're primarily concerned with making sure the latte you order is still hot when you get it, and as skeptical as they are about order ahead and pick up, they won't even consider delivery.

I appreciate this, I really do. But that is a problem that could be solved by just adding more Starbucks and Dunkins, who already have their own platform. I travel a lot. And one of the unsung features of the Starbucks app, is that the density of stores and the app means I'm never more than 15 minutes away from a consistent coffee experience. I also did exactly what you were doing back in 2012ish. We even had an app.…

> It turns out that not waiting 5 minutes for your order kinda leaves out the whole experience of talking to the barista, getting that smile at 6am when you're not feeling it yourself, and the personal experience of the hand crafted beverage.

I'm pretty sure you're in minority wanting this though. I absolutely dread getting too personal with my barista, to the point that I start going to another place if they recognize me. If I could choose I would not exchange a single word with them. Even saying what I want is too much.

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#36

Post by ryanworl »

timgriffin77 wrote: post #28
ryanworl wrote: post #26

I noticed a $0.40 service fee on each payment. I understand why you're doing this (fixed payment processor fee), but you could be a bit smarter about it. For example, eat it on the first order to validate the payment method and reduce a bit of risk. Then on subsequent orders, don't bill the card immediately. Allow the customer some amount of credit based on e.g. how many previous orders they have paid for successfull…

Really great suggestion, definitely something we could do in the future. We just rolled that service fee out this week, so we're watching it closely. Right now, we offer 5 free purchases regardless of how the user pays, but something that's already clear is that we'll need to remove it from the stored balance reload. As we add payment options like ACH, PayPal, etc. we'll have more wiggle room to adjust the fee based…

If you want to push your app's wallet (for cash-flow, loyalty, interest margin), you could offer additional reward bonuses for larger reloads.

i.e. a $10 reload gets no bonus, but a $30+ reload gets an extra dollar in rewards.

Presumably you've already seen the CUPS coffee app, but check it out if you haven't. They're dead as a company now from what I can tell, but they had a very streamlined experience. They even tried a fixed price model where each vendor would receive a fixed payment for each cup users redeemed and users would subscribe to a plan with a certain number of cups a month.

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#37

Post by tedmiston »

This sounds like a great idea and looks like a cool app so far. A desktop web app version would be nice to have.

One curious question would be how do you scale business onboarding with so many different coffee shops with subtly different menus?

> We're sometimes asked: why is no one else doing this? There are many mobile ordering apps, but they've all but ignored the coffee market.

There is also the Starbucks partnership with Uber Eats ("Starbucks Delivery") [1] in addition to the in-store pickup from the regular Starbucks app. What's your advantage if DoorDash enters or Uber Eats expands further into this market?

> You can submit a referral by clicking “Invite a Coffee Shop” on our website

I tried to submit a few referrals but didn't find this text anywhere to do it.

[1]: https://delivery.starbucks.com/

Re: Launch HN: Cloosiv (YC S19) – Order ahead from local coffee shops

#39

Post by timgriffin77 »

ryanworl wrote: post #36
timgriffin77 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really great suggestion, definitely something we could do in the future. We just rolled that service fee out this week, so we're watching it closely. Right now, we offer 5 free purchases regardless of how the user pays, but something that's already clear is that we'll need to remove it from the stored balance reload. As we add payment options like ACH, PayPal, etc. we'll have more wiggle room to adjust the fee based…

If you want to push your app's wallet (for cash-flow, loyalty, interest margin), you could offer additional reward bonuses for larger reloads. i.e. a $10 reload gets no bonus, but a $30+ reload gets an extra dollar in rewards. Presumably you've already seen the CUPS coffee app, but check it out if you haven't. They're dead as a company now from what I can tell, but they had a very streamlined experience. They even tr…

Completely agree - definitely a feature, we're building (Bird as a great UX for this, if you haven't seen it).

Also familiar with CUPS, subscription plans were/are such a gamble for shops, but I can see why it was tempting to try. I think they're still operating in some capacity, but they definitely have a limited consumer presence.

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