Kevin Gibbon
CEO & Cofounder of Shyp
Discussion
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Kevin Gibbon
@kevingibbon · CEO & Cofounder of Shyp
Hey, Im Kevin Gibbon, founder and CEO of Shyp. Ask me anything!
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Corley
@corleyh · COO @ Product Hunt
@kevingibbon thanks for joining us today! I'm a huge fan of Shyp and a secret logistics nerd. 🙊What inspired you to take on such an unsexy business? And when/how did you decide to make the brand so approachable and whimsical? Was that conscious or did it just happen?
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Kevin Gibbon
@kevingibbon · CEO & Cofounder of Shyp
@corleyh Hi, Corley! Once upon a time I was an eBay Power Seller. I was selling so much that I was even earning in the six figures doing it. The packing and shipping component was way to burdensome to continue though, so I ultimately shut down and thought to myself... shipping should be as easy as taking a photo of something and entering a destination. Thus, here we are!
Hang Zhao
@sgzhaohang
Hi Kevin, I'm interested to know how you guys attracted the first few bunch of users to Shyp, any hacks you did?
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Kevin Gibbon
@kevingibbon · CEO & Cofounder of Shyp
@sgzhaohang Good question! Facebook ads. :)
Russ Frushtick
@russfrushtick
@kevingibbon What will revolutionize the shipping industry in the next 10 years?
Pénélope Romand-Monnier
@penelope_rm · Associate @Hardware Club
Hello Kevin! I'm a huge fan of Shyp, I admire the fact you chose to integrate your delivery teams as employees (bold but best strategic decision I believe). I have already done a 6-month internship in a tech startup in SF. I'd really love to join your team as an intern, would you consider a spontaneous application?
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Kevin Gibbon
@kevingibbon · CEO & Cofounder of Shyp
JB
@barkerja_ · Developer, ChapterSpot
Do you see Shyp ever moving beyond the larger metropolitan areas and into more rural "Middle America" locations?
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Kevin Gibbon
@kevingibbon · CEO & Cofounder of Shyp
@barkerja_ Of course! It's just about making the unit economics work. This is definitely something we'll solve.
ryan kulp
@ryanckulp · retired developer turned musician
@kevingibbon I just used Shyp to move from NYC to San Francisco. Phew! Question-- when does Shyp stop relying on the Fedex's of the world and get their own trucks? We all see the writing on the wall. :)
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Kevin Gibbon
@kevingibbon · CEO & Cofounder of Shyp
@ryanckulp Right now, we are focused on the first mile of shipping - we pick up the items at your home and office and guarantee they'll be expertly packed and shipped to your preferred destination at the most affordable rate. Our overall goal goes far beyond that, so do we want to move into the last mile and execute delivery? Of course. But, focus is extremely important. So for now, we're going to continue what we're doing and make it as flawless as possible.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
Hey Kevin! Thanks for joining us today. How did you first start out with Shyp? What were the biggest initial hurdles to get things off the ground?
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Kevin Gibbon
@kevingibbon · CEO & Cofounder of Shyp
@ems_hodge Shyp started in a garage via a Google form that I put Facebook ads behind. We executed fulfillment with a very small team. A great deal of interest came in, so we knew we were onto something, and started building an actual product. The experience that our customers enjoy is very simple, but what happens on the back end to create that, is very complex.
Zev Lapin
@bbzeven · Cofounder, Parachute.co
Have you spoken to players like FedEx or UPS? Would these companies be potential acquirers or are they more likely to "pull an Amazon" and try to do this on their own?
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Kevin Gibbon
@kevingibbon · CEO & Cofounder of Shyp
@bbzeven We work very closely with the carriers, we consider them partners. We provide a new form of efficiency for them; they're able to pick up thousands of shipments at our warehouses that they otherwise would have had to pick up individually. We thereby save them money, and they return that in the form of volume discounts, which helps our margins and allows to offer such affordable rates to our customers. Our ambitions for Shyp are much larger than an acquisition, though.
Zev Lapin
@bbzeven · Cofounder, Parachute.co
@kevingibbon but could they not potentially aggregate these packages on their own? What is stopping them from adopting your model and integrating it into theirs?
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
Who would be your four fantasy dinner party guests (dead or alive) and why?
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Kevin Gibbon
@kevingibbon · CEO & Cofounder of Shyp
@ems_hodge Trevor Linden, an ex-Canucks player; I'm a massive hockey fan. Jerry Seinfeld and Louis C.K., the two funniest men to ever live. Steve Jobs, because, of course.