Based on the material covered in this chapter, what questions would you ask the firm’s founders before making your funding decision? What answers would satisfy you?

Business Idea: Create a shipping service that picks up, packages, and ships items for individuals and businesses via the most affordable option available.

Pitch: Who likes shipping? You must rustle up a box, pack the item you’d like to ship, drive to the post office or UPS, wait in line, and pay whatever price they ring up. If you’re a business that ships products to customers, it’s even worse. For many online sellers, shipping is one of their largest cost categories and biggest headaches. Given the continuing increases in online sales, shipping problems for businesses will no doubt become even more serious.

No more. Shyp has developed a shipping service that takes all the hassle out of shipping. Here’s how it works.

A customer accesses a mobile app, where he or she enters a package’s pick-up and destination addresses, and uploads a photo of the package to be shipped. In 20 minutes or less—that’s the goal—a courier arrives and whisks the item away. True to the company’s tagline—

“We’ll take it from here”—Shyp then places the item in a box, prepares a label, and ships it in the most affordable manner, which could be USPS, UPS, FedEx, or a local carrier. Shyp does all this for $5 plus the price of shipping.

Unlike Uber and Lyft, all of Shyp’s employees are just that—employees, rather than independent contractors, and receive benefits such as health insurance. By bypassing the independent contractor option, Shyp has built a healthy culture and has kept out of the contentious debate over contractors vs. employees.