RE: UKNM: Iceland turns up the heat

[Elizabeth Van Couvering]

I think the real problem is that our fridges don't necessarily connect with

an outside wall -- esp if you live in a block of flats.  Otherwise, it's a

brilliant scheme.  Seriously.


E.


-----Original Message-----

From:

ownerchinwag [dot] com

 [

ownerchinwag [dot] com]On">mailto:ownerchinwag [dot] com]On

 Behalf Of Sean

Phelan

Sent: 08 September 1999 15:45

To:

uk-netmarketingchinwag [dot] com

Subject: RE: UKNM: Iceland turns up the heat



>The way to go must be like Streamline in the US where they give you a

>cabinet  to put in your garage. They have a key and you have a key and they

>deliver while you're at work. The cabinet has a full size fridge and freezer

>as well as shelves so everything you order is stored correctly and isn't a

>melted mess when you get home.

>

>I for one would sign up now if one of the chains here did the same thing.

>

>Maria


Hm; I can see it now - www.twodoorfridge.com - the Coolest internet

startup of the year!!!


The business plan:


     Background:  There are 100m households in North America and 100m

                  households in Europe.  They all have fridges.  Fridges

                  don't wear out; they are hardly ever replaced and the

                  manufacturers have boringly low p/e ratios.

                  Fact: companies with low p/e ratios just need to put a

                  .com on the end of their name to quintuple their value.


     The Product: Two Door Fridges are internet appliances with built in

                  refridgeration.  They are built into your kitchen wall;

                  one door faces into the kitchen; the other, with an

                  digital lock, faces the outside world.  When you remove

                  something from the fridge, pull up an online recipe or

                  whatever, the fridge re-orders over the net.


Manufacturing:   Oh, get GE to build the hardware and Apple can do the

                  exterior. In five different colours.


    Distribution: Centrica (British Gas, the AA, etc) will install them.

                  They seem to install and maintain everything else.


Pricing Strategy:Give 'em away for free; it's the only way to go from

                  zero to millions of users in months; call it the

                  "freezeserve model" :-)


Fulfillment:     Stage 1: major contracts with the supermarkets; get IBM

                  and EDS to integrate the JIT distribution nets.

 

                  Stage 2: bypass the retails and go straight to Unilever,

                  P&G, etc. Maybe let Scient bid for this bit.


Funding requirement:  Seed round: $10m, raised from the existing fridge

                  manufacturers. next round: just make it bigger than

                  Pangolin; subsequent rounds: high yield debt. (hey,

                  if Amazon can do it...)


Revenue model:   Standard biz plan boilerplate about a transaction fee

                  model, trusted intermediary, etc.  But in reality....


Exit strategy:   IPO within two years, of course. P/E in the high 100s;

                  valuation in the billions.

 

Management Team: Ah; that's a problem.... everybody who can spell .com

                  is already in an internet startup.  Maybe if we go

                  into Regents Park and shake a tree, a few LBS MBAs will

                  fall out.  Or maybe we'll just outsource everything.


Ok... that's enough of a business plan.   Now if www.twodoorfridges.com

doesn't get funded in the next month or so I'll start moaning about lack

of vision among UK venture capitalists, how great European ideas are

only exploited in the US, etc. etc.


=============================================================

Sean Phelan

seanmultimap [dot] com

     http://www.multimap.com

phone (within UK): 0171 433 0460      fax (UK): 0171 209 5194

phone (Int'l):  +44 171 433 0460      fax:   +44 171 209 5194 


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