Birth of DeliverHere

The big game is about to start in 30 minutes and I am starving. I grab my smartphone and open one of the many food ordering/delivery apps. I select several of my favorite food items from one of my favorite restaurants and enter my credit card info to pay and tip via the app. The app gave me an estimated time to delivery which was approximately 20-25 minutes. Perfect, since the game started in 30 minutes. With my anticipation growing, I’m watching the clock get closer to the 20 to 25-minute mark. Twenty minutes go by, food has not yet arrived. Twenty-five minutes go by, food has not arrived. Thirty minutes go by, the game has officially started, and my hunger pangs are intensifying. Thirty-five minutes and my smartphone start vibrating.

Me: Hello

Delivery Driver: Is this Brian?

Me: Yes

DD: This is Dan. I have your order. I am at your apartment

Me: (Enthusiastically) Gets up and run to the door [No one is there]

Me: Uhmm… I just checked, and you are not here at my door

DD: Yeah, I am in the complex, but I cannot find your building

Me: Building 10?

DD: Ok. I am by Building 2

Me: Ok. I have no idea where Building 2 is. Are you by the office?

DD: No. I do not know where the office is?

Me: Ok. Did you enter the complex off Main St?

DD: No. 8th Street

Me: Ok. When you come into the complex from 8th Street, you take a right, first left, next right and my building is on the left.

DD: Ok. I will try to find you.

Me: Ok

Forty-five minutes has now gone by. The game is well into the 1st Quarter and I have paid zero attention to it.

[Smartphone Rings]

Me: Hello?

DD: Hey it’s Dan, can you come outside, I think I found your building

Me: (Frustrated) Sure!

I met Dan outside and he apologizes for the delay and hands me over my food. Dan states that he hates delivering to apartments because it always takes extra time to find a customer’s building and unit.

I get back to my apartment, it has now been 1 hour since my order was placed and the 2nd Quarter of the game is about to start. I check my food and notice that it is lukewarm. I reheated my food and watched the remainder of the game (in which my team lost). As one can imagine, the experience was unsatisfactory.

I experienced similar situations several times over the years, however this specific situation is what prompted my light bulb to illuminate. I started by putting myself in the shoes of Dan the Delivery Driver. I then brainstormed ideas how the apartment delivery process could be improved. This led me to the apartment property/site map that I received when I first moved into my apartment. The property map showed all the building numbers, apartment units, and other buildings such as the leasing office. I figured if Dan had access to this property map, he could have found my apartment quicker and more efficiently, and I would have received hot food (and my team would have won ??) The dilemma was how could I get delivery drivers like Dan, access to my apartment property map. I knew it would not be feasible to give delivery drivers hard copies of my property map. I determined that the best method was to digitize the property map and make it available via a mobile app. One problem. I had no coding experience and did not know where to start to develop an app. I began writing down all my ideas and how I wanted the app to look and function. I then started researching app development and coding. I eventually taught myself enough coding to build a working app and was able to get a few delivery drivers to be beta testers and provide feedback. The feedback was pivotal and gave me the confidence to keep going with my idea. As a result, DeliverHere was Born!