The “Platform Startup” & Why It’s Not For Me

Throwback to 1985: My parents with their first limousine after 10 years of marriage. They started Accent Limousine Service because my dad was a Stop & Shop truck driver and he was always working. Always. And he missed us. And we missed him. And hell, my mom really must’ve missed the shit out of him.

First, can we talk about how balla my parents are in this picture? What you don’t see are 3 little kids running around (me 5, Bob 6, Rick 7) and all of the life responsibilities that came with quitting a pension job to focus on what mattered the most to them. But these smiles were real because they were focused on family and delivering the best product and service imaginable.

“Our first reservation came from Boston Magazine business ads. We targeted the high-end market to correspond with our high-end professionalism. We drove to Milford High School and the various surrounding towns high schools to encourage interest and display our elegance.” ← — Mom

31 years later, my parents are long retired and my brothers run a huge (larger than ever), super successful company.

Their youngest grandson and the cutest recruiter I’ve ever seen.

What does this have to do with the rise of the “Platform Startup”?

My parents never expected their customers to do anything other than make a phone call to them and give their details. Accent Limousine took care of all the details. They called to confirm, made sure their cars were squeaky clean, and then arrived at their door ten minutes early.

All the customer had to do… was get.in.the.damn.car.

There’s dad again helping him get.in.the.damn.car.

No, but Julie, seriously. What does this have to do with the rise of the “Platform Startup”?

If I have to log into one more new platform, to learn one more new user interface, to pick the right product for my best use case, choose the right pricing plan, sign up, check spam, confirm my email, log back in, read the damn docs, wait forever to have someone respond to a chat when I get a little lost, get delivered outdated versions of the API, google to find my answer because no one has still responded, then find and report a bug in their software to someone that’s too busy to literally ever respond…. I’m going to chuck my computer out of the nearest window.

All that for the mere price of $99 a month for the privilege to use their state-of-the-art software on a platform.

We spend so much time using a service that we signed up for that we only signed up for on the promise of how much time we’ll save. That’s inherently broken.

What do you propose, Julie?

I propose we all start to take the work back in our hands and give the customers back their time. DO THE WORK FOR THEM. PLEASE.

In the on-demand economy (my experience written in BostInno and my 6 time SuperHost Airbnb rating — how’s that for social proof) we’re valuing our time more than ever. When we get online, we’re promised service married with automation. I just keep finding that getting real service delivered online (Fiverr being a prime example) doesn’t guarantee results where revisions are king and you still need to police and work on what you’re getting.

You can’t just get.in.the.damn.car. Let me not have to think about a decision for a minute…. yeah, that would be cool.

My solution.

I’ve started a company on the basis that we don’t need much information from our customer. There’s no platform. The pricing is straight forward. There’s no “Surprise! Technology!”. All I need for you to do is give me your info and I’ll take care of what you’re looking for because I’m following in the footsteps of my parents proven service model. Deliver the value. Deliver the most service. Deliver a user experience that when paired with technology and chutzpah will deliver peace of mind.

Go about your life while we make sure that your date has never robbed a bank… because once that happens, be prepared. Your dad will troll the hell out of you.

For a later medium post.

Aste.io is slowly getting its shit together in the backend. More to come on that in the next few weeks. If interested in being one of the first to join my little revolution, add your email on the homepage.

And if you made it this far, thank you for your time. ❤

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