Stephanie

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On December 14, 2015, Stephanie commented on Citi Bike – Potholes instead of Profits :

John,
Nice analysis. Any idea how well the government-owned bike-shares are doing? Are they just money sinks?

The question of rebalancing is a tough one. Meghan (above) brings up a good point about the density of stations. Seems like maybe they could alter the size and proximity of stations to help balance the load? Maybe they could even instigate some type of incentive system to encourage users to leave their bike at a less full location? I could also see how changing the amount of time a renter is able to keep the bike would change the way that people use the system, and potentially way that the stations are balanced.

On December 14, 2015, Stephanie commented on Hello Alfred: Or Should I Say, “Goodbye Alfred” :

Matt,
Nice job thinking critically about the business. People (myself very much included) are all too easily wooed by a cool concept or passionate entrepreneur and neglect to address such questions. My question is, what are we missing? These guys went to HBS; I’d imagine they’ve run some numbers on their business. Are they just hoping to achieve scale at an unreasonable price point? Do they think they can drive costs down if customers are more densely populated? I think it would be interesting to compare unit revenue / labor time spent for Hello Alfred to a company like Instacart as a benchmark. If labor costs are similar, there should be a “magic ratio” at which the model becomes profitable.
Steph

On December 14, 2015, Stephanie commented on PARIBUS — reclaiming $$$ that stores owe YOU. :

Mike,

Love the structure you used to assess the business and operating models as well as the diagram that explains it.

My question for PARIBUS is how are they delivering value to the retailers? I see this as a multi-sided platform that has clear benefits for one side (the end customers like you and me), but I’m curious how they got big retailers to sign on. If PARIBUS doesn’t create value for the retailers too, I expect that retailers might even actively try to shut PARIBUS down.

Steph