⚡ How Cars Without Passengers Sparked a Ride-Sharing Revolution

Morning Innovators ⚡ In less than 5 minutes, we’ll cover…

🥳 The best funding opportunities, events and jobs in the start-up world
📰 The biggest news stories in the start-up world
🚗 How cars without passengers sparked a ridesharing revolution
👕 How this challenge went viral with huge numbers of views
👀 Our favourite start-up to keep an eye on this week
💻 A tool to help quickly integrate enterprise level features in your SaaS product

✨ Last weeks most clicked link was this link to the UnLtd awards, offering up to £18k for social entrepreneurs.

Happy hustling,
Rich & Gary

🎤 Events/Opportunities

🚀 Baltic Ventures is officially on the lookout for game-changing founders to invest in as part of their Accelerator 2024 cohort. They plan to invest £30k each into up to 12 scalable, digital tech start-ups from across the UK (and beyond) and support them through an intensive four-month programme between September and January 2025.

💷 Win £25,000 in start-up funding to accelerate your business with the AXA Start-up Angel competition.

🦌 Apply to Antler UK for the chance to find an amazing co-founder, get expert support, and access to Antler’s network of founders, advisors and investors.

💼 Job opportunities

💳 Startup Growth Hacker, Lopay
🏆 Product Lead, gocertify
🤳 Lead UX/UI Designer, Fanvue

🐝 With over a billion emails being sent monthly, beehiiv has raised $33M in Series B funding to make its newsletter publishing platform more sticky. TechCrunch

🚚 Europe’s best-funded speedy grocery start-up, Getir, plans to quit all markets outside of its founding country, Turkey, it said in a statement on Monday. Sifted

🧩 LinkedIn has launched gaming with 3 logic puzzles aimed at extending time spent on its networking platform. TechCrunch

📆 Appointment scheduling service Calendly has redesigned its browser extension in a bid to improve its schedule management features and make scheduling faster. TechCrunch

🚗 The Road Less Traveled: BlaBlaCar's Founding Story and the Birth of a Ridesharing Revolution"

In the winter of 2003, Frédéric Mazzella found himself facing a travel dilemma that would inadvertently lead to the creation of BlaBlaCar, a revolutionary ride-sharing platform. Stranded in Paris with no way to get home to the French countryside for Christmas, Mazzella was struck by the inefficiency of empty car seats traveling his way, while he, without a vehicle, was unable to find a ride. This moment of frustration sparked an idea that would eventually transform the way millions of people travel across Europe and beyond.

Mazzella, then a student with a scientific background and a stint at NASA under his belt, was no stranger to problem-solving. Yet, the solution to his travel woes wasn’t found in complex algorithms or cutting-edge technology, but rather in leveraging human connections and existing resources. The roads were packed, yet most vehicles were occupied by only the driver. Mazzella saw the potential for a system that could connect drivers with empty seats to passengers in need of a ride, optimising resource use and offering a more social and economical travel option.

The concept of BlaBlaCar was born out of necessity but grew through innovation and strategic partnerships. After the initial idea took root, Mazzella brought on board two co-founders: Francis Nappez, a skilled engineer, and Nicolas Brusson, a fellow MBA student with a keen sense for business development. Together, they began to shape a platform that would enable drivers to share their travel plans online, and passengers to book seats in those cars, effectively turning private vehicles into shared transportation resources.

The early days of BlaBlaCar were marked by a series of challenges and learning experiences. Convincing drivers and passengers to trust the platform was no small feat. The team implemented several measures to build this trust, including verified profiles, a rating system, and clear communication channels between users. They also introduced a novel feature that allowed users to indicate their preferred level of chattiness, from "Bla" for those who prefer to travel quietly, to "BlaBlaBla" for those who enjoy lively conversation, adding a personal touch to the service.

Despite initial skepticism from investors and slow user growth, the trio persevered, fueled by their conviction that the model could work. They were proven right. As BlaBlaCar gained traction, it became clear that not only was there a demand for such a service, but that it also had significant environmental, economic, and social benefits. By filling empty seats, BlaBlaCar was reducing the number of cars on the road, thereby lowering emissions and traffic congestion.

Attracting the first users to BlaBlaCar required a mix of grassroots tactics and digital ingenuity. Mazzella and his team started by tapping into their personal networks, encouraging friends and family to try the service. They targeted university communities where carpooling could appeal to budget-conscious students with travel needs. The team distributed flyers and spoke at student gatherings, presenting BlaBlaCar as a practical solution to travel woes. They also leveraged online forums and local online classified ads, areas frequented by potential users looking for travel options. This early adoption phase was crucial, as each positive experience and subsequent word-of-mouth recommendation helped build the platform's credibility and user base.

As initial users began to see the benefits of BlaBlaCar, the team shifted focus to broader marketing strategies to accelerate growth. They created profiles on social media to engage with users and share success stories, highlighting the economic and social benefits of shared rides. SEO strategies were employed to increase the platform's visibility in search engine results, capturing the attention of those searching for affordable travel options. The real turning point came when they began to utilise targeted online advertising, focusing on geographic areas with high potential for both drivers and passengers. This dual approach of community-focused engagement and strategic online marketing propelled BlaBlaCar from a niche service into a mainstream transportation option, rapidly expanding their user base across Europe.

The growth of BlaBlaCar has been nothing short of remarkable. From its humble beginnings in France, the platform has expanded across Europe and into other continents, reaching millions of users. The company's success has been driven by a clear vision, a strong focus on community and sustainability, and the ability to adapt to the needs and behaviors of its users.

BlaBlaCar's journey from a simple idea to a leading global ridesharing community highlights how looking at everyday problems through a new lens, and being willing to take the road less travelled, can lead to ground-breaking solutions.

Are you a new founder launching a start-up? The process of getting your product launched can be long and costly, particularly for those without a technical co-founder.

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We’ve all heard of influencer marketing, but have you ever seen it done like Shinesty have done it here?

After an influencer reached out to them claiming he could sell a load of their boxer short products, the Shinesty team got creative with it! They sensed an opportunity for a challenge that could go viral, and that’s exactly what they got. The Shinesty team member asked the influencer how many he thought he could sell, and when the influencer replied back with an answer of 1000, that’s where the competition began. The Shinesty team member went on to challenge the influencer with “If you sell 1000, I’ll wear a shirt with your face that says ‘This feller done taught me a lesson’ out to dinner and film myself explaining to the server that you done taught me a lesson. If you lose, you have to make a video saying that I rule and you drool”

This is obviously just a silly competition, but this video racked up nearly 4,500,000 views with the subsequent update videos going on to rack up big numbers too.

Can you set a challenge with an influencer or your audience to generate social attention?

Each week we’re featuring one start-up we love. We’d love this to come from community recommendations, so if you know a start-up doing something awesome who deserves a shout-out, please reply to this email. 

OGGS® offers innovative plant-based alternatives to traditional egg products, catering to vegans and those with egg allergies. Their flagship product, Aquafaba, mimics egg whites, ideal for baking and cooking. OGGS® also produces ready-made vegan cakes and a whole egg replacement suitable for scrambled eggs and baking. Their mission focuses on sustainability and ethical food choices without compromising on taste, aiming to make plant-based eating accessible and enjoyable for everyone.

Each week we highlight our favourite tools - either something we’ve been using in our businesses, or tools that our innovator community have recommended.

WorkOS is a developer-friendly platform designed to quickly integrate enterprise-level features such as Single Sign-On (SSO) and Directory Sync into applications. This allows developers to offer their products to enterprise customers with minimal coding and setup time. WorkOS supports a variety of identity providers and offers features like user management, audit logs, and multi-factor authentication through easy-to-use APIs. The platform is particularly valuable for expanding market reach by meeting the stringent IT requirements of large organizations.

Next week we’ll be trialling some new content 😍, but we’ll still be sharing the usuals including funding opportunities, start-up news, plus plenty of awesome tips, tricks and tools.

P.S. Connect with us on LinkedIn…