i need the answers for Q3 and Q4 pleese, thank u
WHAT WENT WRONG? Prim: How a Lack of Passion and Resolve Can Kill a Business P rim's idea was to disrupt the laundry industry. A need to be repeated in each new market Prim entered. growing number of people in the United States are After two months of deliberation, Wu and Cao pulled using laundry services to wash and fold their clothes. The problems with these services is that they are a hassle. the plug. While they estimated that by constructing their own laundry service they could build a profitable In most instances customers have to bag their laundry, drop them off at the laundry service, and then pick them business in 5 to 10 years, with revenues of $10 million to $15 million, it was a direction they simply did not up later. Many services have lines at the busiest times of the day, which result in drivers having to wait to drop off or want to pursue. Both were computer science students in college and had no direct experience in the laundry pick up their laundry. Prim's launched in mid-2013, after passing through business. In an article published by CNNMoney, Garry Tan, a partner with Y-Combinator, reflecting on why Wu the prestigueous Y-Combiator business accelerator program earlier that year. Here's how Prim's laundry and Cao closed Prim, said, "They didn't want to actu- ally have to wash the laundry-they wanted to be the service worked. A customer bagged her/his laundry, connector." and then went online to choose a pickup and delivery time. The price was $25 for the first bag and $15 for each additional bag. The bags would be picked up by a driver recruited by a third-party delivery service. Questions for Critical Thinking (Rickshaw was the name of the delivery service in the 1. Why is passion such a critical part of entrepreneurial city where Prim started). Everything would be back, success? Prim's founders were apparently passionate washed and folded, later that day or early the next day. about building a company but not passionate about No cash changed hands between the customer and the laundry business specifically. In what ways is this the pickup or delivery drivers. Everything was paid for combination problematic? through Prim's website. Prim gained favorable press 2. How could Prim's co-founders have better anticipad and early momentum. When it closed, it was handling that laundry services would eventaully see Prim as 1,000 pounds of laundry a day from 40 clients and was siphoning off their own business and be reluctant to growing. What went wrong? work with them? Two things went wrong with Prim. First, once Prim 3. Rather than employ its own drivers to pick up and got your clothes, it went from a innovative disruptor deliver laundry for its customers, Prim relied on the to an old-school company. It would take your clothes use of third-party delivery services. In what ways do to a laundry service and utilize its wash and fold ser- you think this approach could have limited Prim's vices. Prim negotiated volume discounts with several growth in other markets? laundry services, but the discounts were verbal and 4. San Francisco, the city in which Prim launched, has were not in writing. What Prim didn't count on was the several innovative laundry services. These services partnerships going sour. While the laundry services include LaundryLocker, where you drop your clothes were initially receptive to working with Prim, they had in a public locker, Sfwash, a delivery service where their own delivery services and eventually saw Prim you pay by the pound, and Sudzee, which requires as siphoning off their customers and revenue. During special lockable bags. Spend some time studying its short history, Prim churned through three different LaundryLocker (https://laundrylocker.com), Sfwash laundry services. (https://sfwash.com), and Sudzee (https://sudzee. The second thing that went wrong with Prim was a com). Select the service that you think has the most lack of passion and resolve on the part of its founders. potential and explain the rationale for your selection. Faced with the reality that working with local laundry Compare the service to Prim's approach. services was a fragile business model, Prim's found- ers, Yin Yin Wu and Xuwen Cao, had a decision to Sources: J. P. Mangalindan, "Prim: Anatomy of a Folded Startup," make. Should they build or lease their own laundry CNNMoney, available at http://tech.fortune.com/2014/01/22-prim- service? This was a daunting prospect, given the hun- anatomy-of-a-folded-startup, posted January 22, 2014, accessed dreds of thousands of dollars necessary to build and March 14, 2014; J. Constine, "Prim Laundry Startup Throws in staff a high-volume laundry wash and fold facility. Even the Towel," Techcrunch, available at http://techcrunch.com/2014/ 01/06/prim-laundry-shuts-down, posted Jan 6, 2014, accessed more daunting was the prospect that this step would March 14, 2014