I would say a messenger service. One dispatcher, 9 bikers. In an urban area, I bet you clean up and we have very few messenger businesses here. It's in the logistics area, but more specialized...so you would focus (ie: advertise) deliver of things like prescriptions etc. Drones haven't really taken off in this space and FEDEX and UPS are having issues around theft of medications.
Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?
41–47 of 47 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?
#42I worked for a company getting EB-5 investors and had to run multiple financial models for potential businesses as a MBA Grad Student. 100% a restaurant will get the most bang for your buck (job wise). I know what a TEA is and how we obtained those to cover what we were working with. Contact me @ raouldukenc@gmail.com and we can work something out.
I agree that you will get high jobs per dollar in restaurants but is that really the optimal approach? Restaurant are pretty risky right now as a business segment and you don’t really need to exceed the 10 job requirements. As a cookie cutter EB-5 Mill it makes sense as it’s easy to scale but it does not seem optimal for a one off.
Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?
#43My understanding is that EB5 program are currently in limbo. First step is to find a good lawyer. Good luck. https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent... "Alert: As of Dec. 30, 2021, Congress has not enacted new legislation authorizing the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program. As a result, USCIS is reevaluating the decision to hold, or not act on, any pending petition or application of t…
EB-5 visa has two investment options EB5 - Direct and EB5 - regional center. The regional center program is in limbo. The EB5 direct is permanently authorized and still running. The key difference between the two is that in regional center you are more of an investor, vs Direct where you should have a management or policy formulation role in the enterprise.
Got it. I stand corrected. Thank you for the clarification. Best of luck.
Liquor store seems to be recession proof.
Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?
#44A good place to be right now is in the logistics industry - a necessity that isn’t going away any time soon. And with the current logistics supply shortage in the USA (specifically for trucking companies) it won’t be hard to compete and start delivering shipments. With 500K you can afford to buy several freight trucks. All you would need is 3-5 trucks to start turning over real profit. The rest of the employees can b…
Great suggestion. I've been looking for a way to break into logistics/ltl freight. How did you deploy your first $10k?
Spent the money doing three things:
- building an application to assist with dispatching. Dispatching in the current state of the world is a human heavy process with a lot of phone calls. The application was built to make it easy to pick the correct shipment opportunities.
- paying for fuel and hotel stays. Fuel (other than labor, the drivers) will be your largest cost by far. Also, hotels for drivers that aren’t driving sleeper trucks (trucks with a built in sleeping cabin). This happened rarely but did occur when we took shipments late in the week. For the uninformed: never pick up a shipment on Friday, as it will likely extend over the weekend and your truck will stay full over that period.
- paying for trucks. Whether you rent or buy, the trucks have to be paid for. If you are brokering shipments only (as a broker vs as a carrier) this won’t be a cost
Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Great suggestion. I've been looking for a way to break into logistics/ltl freight. How did you deploy your first $10k?
Spent the money doing three things: - building an application to assist with dispatching. Dispatching in the current state of the world is a human heavy process with a lot of phone calls. The application was built to make it easy to pick the correct shipment opportunities. - paying for fuel and hotel stays. Fuel (other than labor, the drivers) will be your largest cost by far. Also, hotels for drivers that aren’t dri…
>Dispatching in the current state of the world is a human heavy process with a lot of phone calls. The application was built to make it easy to pick the correct shipment opportunities.
Can attest to the first part of this statement. What went into your decision making process in selecting the right opportunities? Focusing on a specific geography/lane? Type of cargo?
Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spent the money doing three things: - building an application to assist with dispatching. Dispatching in the current state of the world is a human heavy process with a lot of phone calls. The application was built to make it easy to pick the correct shipment opportunities. - paying for fuel and hotel stays. Fuel (other than labor, the drivers) will be your largest cost by far. Also, hotels for drivers that aren’t dri…
>Dispatching in the current state of the world is a human heavy process with a lot of phone calls. The application was built to make it easy to pick the correct shipment opportunities. Can attest to the first part of this statement. What went into your decision making process in selecting the right opportunities? Focusing on a specific geography/lane? Type of cargo?
Lots of stuff :)
Simply: achieving the highest profit margin for LTL loads across a range of factors + route optimization.
Re: Ask HN: Have to invest 500K in a business – what can I do?
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Dispatching in the current state of the world is a human heavy process with a lot of phone calls. The application was built to make it easy to pick the correct shipment opportunities. Can attest to the first part of this statement. What went into your decision making process in selecting the right opportunities? Focusing on a specific geography/lane? Type of cargo?
Lots of stuff :) Simply: achieving the highest profit margin for LTL loads across a range of factors + route optimization.
Appreciate your candor and wishing you success with your business! What do you think of this approach: I was thinking of starting off as an independent broker (I have a niche customer base I can serve) and using load boards to book independent truckers. Over time as I gain traction, add a customer facing layer for booking/tracking and retain full-time drivers.