MaxDelivery

First, if you just want to know what I like, then I will tell you to order your pencil sharpener, Tylenol, smoked cheddar, Woody Allen DVD, and anything else you need for a great evening at home by clicking on MaxDelivery right now. Someone will be knocking on your door with all that in about an hour.

But if you want to know why I like MaxDelivery, you should really understand the backstory: Those of us who remember Kozmo.com have long missed the convenience of free and fast delivery of almost anything. A prime example of the dotcom bubble, Kozmo rapidly spread to cities across the U.S., first delivering just movies and snacks within an hour, then expanding to deliver office supplies, hot food from nearby restaurants, even things like DVD players (gotta watch that DVD on something).

Two tragedies that came out of Kozmo’s popularity:

• Massive popularity and high growth pressure in the dotcom bubble forced Kozmo to expand too quickly, spend absurd sums to meet expansion goals (their $150 million partnership with Starbucks was just plain foolish),  and probably take on too much VC money too fast. When the massive downturn hit, Kozmo was reportedly profitable in Boston, New York and San Francisco, and had a reasonable chance to become profitable elsewhere with enough time and less wasteful spending. Kozmo had even filed for an IPO, but the bubble burst before they went public and suddenly nobody was going to invest in an internet retailer. In the end it was reported that an investment as low as $10 million could have carried the company through another year or two, but easy money had vanished. Another round had been lined up, but some suggested that when one of the investors pulled out it spooked the others and the deal collapsed. Kozmo shut down in the second quarter of 2001.
• UrbanFetch, an arguably superior service of the same ilk was run out of business by Kozmo just a few months before Kozmo blew up. Operating in London and New York City, UrbanFetch had some signature service features Kozmo did not, including complimentary fresh baked cookies and a steady stream of swag with many orders (I still have my UrbanFetch t-shirt). This company seemed at the time like a more responsible but financially handicapped version of Kozmo. Perhaps because UrbanFetch did not grow as rapidly, I often found the service far superior and was sorry to see them lose the market to Kozmo. But, hey, at least there is Kozmo! They’re about to go public and will be around forever, so my lazy ass is still excited because – crap, they’re suddenly out of business too.

Now, on to what I like. Even though Kozmo died from complications of growing pains, obesity and market panic, the business model was a good one. Thin margins, but high demand. So after the dotcom dust settled it was good to come across that familiar concept once again in the form of MaxDelivery. Former Kozmo CTO Chris Siragusa quietly launched this new variation in Tribeca back in 2005, and has slowly (dare I say cautiously?) been growing it since. I don’t know if it is self-funded or if there are outside investors, but I can tell you that for the first year I used MaxDelivery, Chris Siragusa himself would respond to my emailed suggestions and complaints at all hours of the day and night. Clearly the man believes in the model, and is putting more than just cash into it. In fact I should say that Rob Likes not only MaxDelivery, but Chris Siragusa himself.

MaxDelivery is not making the mistake of growing too rapidly, or trying to deliver electronics and other painfully bulky, low margin items. At the same time, the service has just enough of what most people need available, including movies, groceries, meals from a few nearby restaurants and basic office supplies. The big, big difference with MaxDelivery may be partnerships with gourmet suppliers of cheese, meat and chocolate. The fact that I can get high quality organic beef medallions, Humboldt Fog cheese, scotch tape, garbage bags, Cheerios and a family size bottle of Advil all at the same time and at relatively competitive prices means that Chris Siragusa and his team have ensured I never need to leave my home again. Perhaps more importantly, they are tapping consumers interested in more than just Whoppers and soda, which always seemed to be a problem for Kozmo.

Whether or not MaxDelivery will survive is hard to say, but I certainly think the company has better odds of long term success than Kozmo ever did.

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