Greentech and Web 2.0 collide with PickupPal.com
I’ve got a feature today on a Barbados-based company called PickupPal Online Inc., whose founders are based out of Ontario. The Web service takes a bit of eBay, a bit of Facebook, and a dash of online dating to create a rather slick service that matches up drivers with people who need a drive. Now, there’s no shortage of rideshare services out there, but what makes PickupPal so unique is its global reach and its unique application of Google Maps to find common routes. And unlike other rideshare sites, which tend to be non-profit and encourage workplace carpooling, PickuPal focuses on events: music events, sporting events, or any other gathering where a particular group of people are congregrating at a particular time and place. It’s a great way to reduce the number of cars on the road, and the amount of emissions.
The business model is a bit daring. They plan to take a 7 per cent commission from any driver who charges someone for a ride. The only problem is there’s nothing forcing a drive to charge for a ride, and nothing really forcing a driver to pay — except the fact that PickupPal has a rating system, so if you want repeat business and good reviews you’ve got to be honest. Bottom line is PickupPal is basing its future revenues on good will, and the ability to collect recurring commissions from a growing stable of loyal users. Now, there’s a reason they’re based in the Barbados: not only is it a tax haven, it also offers the company some protection from jurisdictions that frown upon anything that takes business away from buses and taxis. Imagine if people start using this service for airport dropoffs and pickups? Huge.
I also wonder about other legalities. What if somebody is assaulted, abandoned, or wronged somehow during a ride and decides to sue PickupPal? I guess it’s no different than a dating site — user beware. That’s something for the lawyers to deal with.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
April 30th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I found another article on EEstor and one of few to comment on seeing the facility, of course anonymous but consistent with lockheed martin, ian clifford.
http://greenlight.greentechmedia.com/2008/03/12/eestor-and-more-energy-storage-part-2/
A colleague and respected engineer had the opportunity to visit EEStor recently and left “highly impressed.” Although tight-lipped and preferring to remain anonymous he said that, “The facility goes well beyond pilot, and will support substantial commercial production when it comes on-line later this year.” EEStor’s CEO, Dick Weir, is notoriously non-communicative
May 1st, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Kleiner Perkins gets funds of 1.2 billion in 2 days, ,,,disruptive innovation, in 3 years. Hummm can you think of any company you could pitch and get 1.2 biilion in 2 days… “eestor perhaps”
Kleiner Perkins Goes Late on Energyhttp://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/kleiner-perkins-goes-late-on-energy/?ref=technology
Mr. Doerr said the wait would be a few more years at least. “We’re pretty confident with the forecast that in three to five years, there will be volume production of a disruptive innovation,” he said.