WEBVTT - Delivering Everything Right Now

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<v Speaker 1>Pushkin. If you live in a city, you've probably seen

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<v Speaker 1>ads for one of these new instant delivery companies. You

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<v Speaker 1>download the app, go on your phone and order the

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<v Speaker 1>kind of stuff you might buy at a drug store

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<v Speaker 1>or seven to eleven, and then in like twenty minutes

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<v Speaker 1>or a half hour, your stuff gets delivered to your door.

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<v Speaker 1>I have one of those apps open on my phone

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<v Speaker 1>in front of me right now. It's called gopuff. The

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<v Speaker 1>apps called gopuff. It's one of the oldest and biggest

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<v Speaker 1>of the instant delivery companies. And also right now I'm

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<v Speaker 1>talking on my computer to the co founder and co

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<v Speaker 1>CEO of gopuff. Can you hear me loud? Claire? Great,

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<v Speaker 1>thanks for doing this. I've been reading about you and

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<v Speaker 1>playing with your app. Can you just say your name

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<v Speaker 1>so I have it and so I don't say it wrong. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, Raphael illashayev. As it happens, I live in

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<v Speaker 1>Brooklyn and New York, and go Puff delivers to me,

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<v Speaker 1>and so I thought a fun thing to do, if

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<v Speaker 1>it's okay with you, would be that I order something

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<v Speaker 1>now and you sort of talk me through what's happening

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<v Speaker 1>as a way of understanding both your company, how it

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<v Speaker 1>works now, and also some of the things you're trying

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<v Speaker 1>to do. You know, It's sort of the thing of

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<v Speaker 1>the show is the problems people are trying to solve,

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<v Speaker 1>like I love it. I love it, problem too and

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<v Speaker 1>I love it. I'm Jacob Goldstein and this is What's

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<v Speaker 1>Your Problem, the show where entrepreneurs and engineers talk about

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<v Speaker 1>how they're going to change the world once they solve

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<v Speaker 1>a few problems. Raphael and as co founder started go

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<v Speaker 1>Puff back in twenty thirteen. They were college students delivering

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<v Speaker 1>munchies to their friends. Today you can go on the

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<v Speaker 1>gopuff app and order most of the things you'd find

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<v Speaker 1>at the drug store, snacks, diapers, advil, and the company

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<v Speaker 1>is trying to figure out how to add more stuff

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<v Speaker 1>like produce and hot food. Gopuff operates in hundreds of

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<v Speaker 1>cities and they've expanded from the US to the UK

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<v Speaker 1>and France. And the number of problems the company has

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<v Speaker 1>to solve boggles the mind. Competition, technology, logistics, hiring, politics,

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<v Speaker 1>it is all here and today on the show, we're

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<v Speaker 1>going to do it in real time as I place

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<v Speaker 1>in order to figure out how the business works and

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<v Speaker 1>the problems they're trying to solve this is fun. By

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<v Speaker 1>the way, I've never I've never done this a live order.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm enjoying too. I'm enjoying too. So okay, so I

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<v Speaker 1>got the app There it is, and it says on

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<v Speaker 1>here fifteen to forty minutes. So let me see. So

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<v Speaker 1>the first thing is like, what do I order? So look,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going to order. What I'm going to order oreos.

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<v Speaker 1>To me, the spirit of gopuff is oreos. I assume

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<v Speaker 1>you have you do have oreos, So it's seven to fifty.

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<v Speaker 1>So seven fifty for a bag of oreos is like

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<v Speaker 1>higher than the grocery store, right, I would say it's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty pretty in line to like middle tier retail, closer

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<v Speaker 1>to what you would experience in a drug store. And

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<v Speaker 1>then looks like my minimum order is twelve ninety five.

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<v Speaker 1>So let's see. I mean, I feel guilty about the

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<v Speaker 1>oreos we always need, say bananas, yeah, out of stock.

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<v Speaker 1>It looks like you have bananas, but they're out of stock.

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<v Speaker 1>You have let me see, should try they're too popular?

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<v Speaker 1>Let me just see? Am I just well? You have

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<v Speaker 1>fugie apples? Okay, eighty nine cents for fogie apples, So

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<v Speaker 1>let me just get some fujie apples here, maybe about

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<v Speaker 1>of water. You're a gatory appreciate cardon milk, maybe smokely

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<v Speaker 1>um Sky's hustling, always always be selling, always being um Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>so let's see. It looks like there's a two ninety

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<v Speaker 1>five delivery fee and then there's a tip which it's

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<v Speaker 1>auto populating at three ninety nine. So that's fine. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>gonna go ahead and place the order just so we can,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, pass go here, place order. Let's do okay,

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<v Speaker 1>my order is being placed in here just for fun.

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<v Speaker 1>Started the Stopwatch on the cassio twelve. Let's do it

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<v Speaker 1>two twelve. I love it. So I just well, first

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<v Speaker 1>of all, what's happening now? I just pushed a button

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<v Speaker 1>and something somewhere in the world just happened in what

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<v Speaker 1>warehouse that you want right? Tell me what's happening right now?

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<v Speaker 1>So there's a micro fulfillment center somewhere in your neighborhood.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know where you live. So in a neighborhood

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<v Speaker 1>in Brooklyn, they received an order and they got routed

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<v Speaker 1>to a packer. Okay, so like did a bell ring?

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<v Speaker 1>Did somebody like get a buzz on their Yeah, like,

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<v Speaker 1>what really happened? There's an actually a buzz. Yes, there's

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<v Speaker 1>vibrates vibrates on their handheld device. So I'll take you

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<v Speaker 1>a kind of step backwards. When we were building out

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<v Speaker 1>this thing, and we're building out all the technology within

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<v Speaker 1>the four walls of the building, and then later on,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the last mile, we realized that there was

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<v Speaker 1>nothing out there that can solve this for us. We

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<v Speaker 1>didn't want to build all this software to power all

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<v Speaker 1>these buildings. But the reality is, because nothing like this existed,

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<v Speaker 1>we had to build a whole bunch of proprietary software

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<v Speaker 1>to then pick and pack and then ultimately been in

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<v Speaker 1>batch so put it into a batch of orders and

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<v Speaker 1>then eventually send it out to the end customer. And

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<v Speaker 1>you have to do that constantly under thirty minutes, right,

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<v Speaker 1>So I just, oh, yeah, under thirty minutes. And also

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<v Speaker 1>I want to pause here just to make a distinction

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<v Speaker 1>clear that might not be obvious to people listening, and

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<v Speaker 1>that is this is not instacart. This is not You're

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<v Speaker 1>not a company that has people picking things up from

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<v Speaker 1>existing stores. Right. This is your MicroWarehouse and you own

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<v Speaker 1>the oreos and the apples. I just bought right, you're

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<v Speaker 1>paying for the warehouse, you're paying for the apples. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the opposite of like an asset light business, right,

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<v Speaker 1>you're buying all this stuff and reselling it. Just classic retail. Yeah. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>The problem with a third party delivery model it's notoriously

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<v Speaker 1>unprofitable and it's not consumer centric, right, So when you

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<v Speaker 1>don't own the inventory, you can't really tell the customer,

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<v Speaker 1>like the same way that you just saw the bananas

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<v Speaker 1>were out of stock. If you're ordering from a third

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<v Speaker 1>party app you know, twenty five percent at a time,

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<v Speaker 1>you're ordering an item and then you get in a

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<v Speaker 1>replacement item instead of the item that you've order, or

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<v Speaker 1>to ask you for something else because there's no real inventory,

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<v Speaker 1>so they don't know. I'm placing the order for a

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<v Speaker 1>thing that's not there, and it can a company that

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't know that it's not there. That's right, You know

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<v Speaker 1>that because it's your banana. That's not that's it is

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<v Speaker 1>it is our banana or as our milk. Wait, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>gonna pause and say my order is on the way.

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<v Speaker 1>We're running behind on the interview, it's going too fast.

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<v Speaker 1>But tell me, what does this fulfillment center look like, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it looks like somewhere in between of a retail location

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<v Speaker 1>and you would expect an Amazon warehouse to look like.

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<v Speaker 1>Think about you know, seven to twelve thousand square feet,

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<v Speaker 1>so larger than what you would expect the drug store

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<v Speaker 1>to look like, smaller than what you expect a grocery

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<v Speaker 1>store to look like. But we can pick a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more inventory inside of the building because there's no walk

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<v Speaker 1>in traffic that's going through the aisles. The building is

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<v Speaker 1>optimized for you know, rapid picking, because the key is

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<v Speaker 1>that you want to pick it as fast as possible,

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<v Speaker 1>throw it in the bin. Then you have an algorithm

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<v Speaker 1>that then determines like, hey, do we send out this

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<v Speaker 1>door order right away or do we wait another dirty

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<v Speaker 1>seconds to forty five seconds to an order work that

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<v Speaker 1>could come in that's from the same block or the

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<v Speaker 1>same name. A right, so we could have been and

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<v Speaker 1>batch it better. Okay, so the driver is on the

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<v Speaker 1>way or the delivery guy is on the way, let's

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<v Speaker 1>talk a little bit about that. I mean, first of all,

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<v Speaker 1>is he an employee of yours or not? So all

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<v Speaker 1>the folks that are working inside of the four walls

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<v Speaker 1>in the buildings are employees anyone that's delivering an order,

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<v Speaker 1>A driver partner there ten ninety nine d a contractor. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>So I mean, what are they making? Fifteen bucks an hour?

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<v Speaker 1>Twenty bucks an hour? So the national average is eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>to twenty four bucks an hour. How much of what

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<v Speaker 1>you eat do you order from? I order Go Puff

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<v Speaker 1>between two and four times a day. So wow, I

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<v Speaker 1>was a big user. If you got something on the

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<v Speaker 1>way Now, I ordered in the morning, I got coffee.

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<v Speaker 1>You try and break it, You try and do something

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<v Speaker 1>really hard when you order all the time, all the time.

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<v Speaker 1>I'll order from like a whole bunch of different categories.

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<v Speaker 1>I'll order from items that I know that are not

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<v Speaker 1>located in newar Introl inside of the warehouse. And I

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<v Speaker 1>always order from a pseudo account, so no one notes me.

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<v Speaker 1>So I'm constantly looking at things and then like, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>my operators, I don't know if they love or hate me. Right,

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<v Speaker 1>always always funkle, and you know how we're going to

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<v Speaker 1>move forward. So if your order comes and it's not

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<v Speaker 1>just right, you call the you call the warehouse and

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<v Speaker 1>be like, okay, right, it's not hot. First, I'm trying

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<v Speaker 1>to understand the root cause, right, it's not like like

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<v Speaker 1>what you don't want to do is like this is

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<v Speaker 1>just a blame game of like, hey, this person messed up,

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<v Speaker 1>and like what caused this defect? And then you drill

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<v Speaker 1>in like one or two layers deeper with like was

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<v Speaker 1>it a process issue? Was it a tech issue? Like

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<v Speaker 1>was it a staffing issue? Like like there's a whole

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<v Speaker 1>host of issues that could have caused that problem. Ninety

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<v Speaker 1>five percent at a time, when there's a problem, it's

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<v Speaker 1>within something new that we're trying to do. So it's

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<v Speaker 1>it's activated by me because I'm ordering a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>the new stuff. I want to be testing it, and

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<v Speaker 1>like they'll they'll be issue because it's like it's it's experimenting.

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<v Speaker 1>So like you don't want to like fault people too

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<v Speaker 1>hard for trying and like you want to fail fast

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<v Speaker 1>and learn quickly, you know what I mean. So you

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<v Speaker 1>don't want to hit people too hard for trying stuff

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<v Speaker 1>and not working out the first time around. That's okay,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, I mean, we'll learn and we'll move past them.

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<v Speaker 1>We'll you know, we'll get better. Dex Can you talk

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<v Speaker 1>about out a problem you're trying to solve now, one

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<v Speaker 1>of the hardest problems for us to solve is grocery.

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<v Speaker 1>Grocery meaning basically produce fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>so okay, first of all, tell me why it's a problem.

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<v Speaker 1>The products don't have an expiration date, so like a

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<v Speaker 1>banana might start looking bad, you don't want to start

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<v Speaker 1>delivering that product. So it's a whole host of new

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<v Speaker 1>technologies that we have to build in to go inventory,

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<v Speaker 1>to really make sure that, you know, we could deliver

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<v Speaker 1>it properly and profitably. And in two, the retraining of

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<v Speaker 1>all of our associates. You have to train people what

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<v Speaker 1>does a good banana look like versus what a bad

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<v Speaker 1>banana looks like? You know, you can't put it into

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<v Speaker 1>the machine, like you can't automate the meaning of a

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<v Speaker 1>bad banana. Yeah, and in some sense, yes, So okay,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just gonna pause here and say we're at seven minutes.

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<v Speaker 1>We're do a time check. Seven minutes looks like I

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<v Speaker 1>can actually see It's like when you're, you know, calling

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<v Speaker 1>an uber or something. I can see where the delivery

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<v Speaker 1>guy is and the dude has looks like moved away

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<v Speaker 1>from my house a little bit. So I guess I

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<v Speaker 1>was not first on his list. The order might have

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<v Speaker 1>been batched, so like the keys that still keep it

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<v Speaker 1>in the in the delivery window that they use it.

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<v Speaker 1>Like again, what a lot of people would do, or

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people that are entering the space for

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<v Speaker 1>the first time would do is just like optimize, like

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<v Speaker 1>bring it as fast as humanly possible, And that might not.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know what's happening specifically with your order, because

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<v Speaker 1>obviously I'm not I'm not I'm not looking at it.

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<v Speaker 1>But like the reality is is like we're optimizing to

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<v Speaker 1>build the best kind of consumer experience and build a

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<v Speaker 1>long staining, generational, profitable business. So, Okay, you were early

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<v Speaker 1>to this business, and tons of other people with huge

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<v Speaker 1>amounts of money are coming to copy you and do

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<v Speaker 1>what you do, like lots of you know, startup VC

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<v Speaker 1>funded businesses. But I also just read yesterday that like

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<v Speaker 1>Walmart is trying to get into instant delivery, and both

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<v Speaker 1>of those seem like potential problems for you in terms

0:11:02.556 --> 0:11:05.276
<v Speaker 1>of like competition. What I'll tell you is, like I

0:11:05.316 --> 0:11:08.076
<v Speaker 1>mean this in the most amount of respect, right, the

0:11:08.196 --> 0:11:10.996
<v Speaker 1>vast majority players just won't exist six to twelve months

0:11:10.996 --> 0:11:13.996
<v Speaker 1>from now, because the twelve months that is a fuego

0:11:14.076 --> 0:11:15.916
<v Speaker 1>take and you're not saying in five years, you're saying

0:11:15.916 --> 0:11:18.516
<v Speaker 1>in one year. Yeah, not all of them, but most

0:11:18.556 --> 0:11:21.676
<v Speaker 1>of them. And here's why. Right, this business, if you

0:11:21.796 --> 0:11:25.036
<v Speaker 1>don't focus on building out the tech early, and you

0:11:25.076 --> 0:11:29.236
<v Speaker 1>don't focus on fundamental economics early, right before you scale

0:11:29.276 --> 0:11:31.996
<v Speaker 1>the business, it's a fricking disaster. Right. You could be

0:11:32.036 --> 0:11:35.156
<v Speaker 1>losing twenty thirty forty dollars every order that you deliver.

0:11:35.796 --> 0:11:37.756
<v Speaker 1>So the easiest thing to do is to open up

0:11:37.876 --> 0:11:40.556
<v Speaker 1>the building, right, the hardest, like, it's much harder to

0:11:40.596 --> 0:11:43.796
<v Speaker 1>operate these buildings and operate improfitability and to deliver against

0:11:43.836 --> 0:11:46.796
<v Speaker 1>the consumer promise every single time. And that took again,

0:11:46.836 --> 0:11:48.476
<v Speaker 1>that took us a lot of years and a lot

0:11:48.516 --> 0:11:50.596
<v Speaker 1>of iteration, a lot of work to do. So I

0:11:50.676 --> 0:11:52.716
<v Speaker 1>just I just know what it takes to build a

0:11:52.756 --> 0:11:56.676
<v Speaker 1>business like this, and if you don't invest in the

0:11:57.076 --> 0:12:03.156
<v Speaker 1>fundamentals of the business early, the results are disastrous. My

0:12:03.316 --> 0:12:06.316
<v Speaker 1>order is still on the way, apparently according to the app.

0:12:06.556 --> 0:12:09.236
<v Speaker 1>The clock is still ticking, and we'll be back or

0:12:09.236 --> 0:12:11.716
<v Speaker 1>a break to talk about more problems and see how

0:12:11.716 --> 0:12:20.196
<v Speaker 1>long it takes my order to arrive, and now back

0:12:20.236 --> 0:12:23.276
<v Speaker 1>to my interview with Raphael. I will say, for those

0:12:23.316 --> 0:12:25.716
<v Speaker 1>of you keeping score at home tracking my order of

0:12:25.756 --> 0:12:28.556
<v Speaker 1>oreos and apples, we're going to skip ahead a few

0:12:28.556 --> 0:12:31.956
<v Speaker 1>minutes here and pick up the interview around twenty eight

0:12:31.956 --> 0:12:35.316
<v Speaker 1>minutes after I placed the order. At this point in

0:12:35.356 --> 0:12:39.036
<v Speaker 1>the conversation, we're discussing Gopuff's acquisition of this liquor store

0:12:39.116 --> 0:12:42.636
<v Speaker 1>chain called Bevmo. Gopuff made the acquisition a couple of

0:12:42.676 --> 0:12:45.356
<v Speaker 1>years ago. It costs them three hundred and fifty million

0:12:45.396 --> 0:12:48.836
<v Speaker 1>dollars and go Puff has been trying to solve this problem.

0:12:49.196 --> 0:12:52.476
<v Speaker 1>How do you keep this liquor store chain running as

0:12:52.556 --> 0:12:55.236
<v Speaker 1>retail stores where customers can go and chop well at

0:12:55.236 --> 0:12:58.476
<v Speaker 1>the same time using the stores as microwarehouses for its

0:12:58.476 --> 0:13:00.996
<v Speaker 1>delivery business. The reason we bought it was because of

0:13:00.996 --> 0:13:04.636
<v Speaker 1>the liquor licenses, so we could deliver alcohol in California

0:13:04.676 --> 0:13:06.156
<v Speaker 1>in an easy way. And we did the same thing

0:13:06.196 --> 0:13:08.636
<v Speaker 1>in Kentucky with a chain called Liquor Barn, and we

0:13:09.116 --> 0:13:12.836
<v Speaker 1>where did these retail locations And our biggest problem, and

0:13:12.876 --> 0:13:14.836
<v Speaker 1>the problem that we still have today, is how do

0:13:14.836 --> 0:13:18.156
<v Speaker 1>you keep the integrity of the retail location while making

0:13:18.156 --> 0:13:20.476
<v Speaker 1>it into what we call an omni store. So the

0:13:20.596 --> 0:13:23.556
<v Speaker 1>store like a micro of a filment center within a

0:13:23.716 --> 0:13:27.396
<v Speaker 1>very popular chain. Right, that's producing hundreds of millions of revenue.

0:13:27.796 --> 0:13:29.876
<v Speaker 1>What's an example of the thing that went wrong in

0:13:29.916 --> 0:13:32.756
<v Speaker 1>that in that setting? So I'll give a like an example.

0:13:32.836 --> 0:13:36.116
<v Speaker 1>Let's say like something exists on the store shelf. Right,

0:13:36.116 --> 0:13:38.676
<v Speaker 1>we never had walking customers before, and we have an

0:13:38.716 --> 0:13:42.196
<v Speaker 1>active inventory account that's integrated between bevmo and Gopa. Let's

0:13:42.396 --> 0:13:44.396
<v Speaker 1>let's say a customer there's a one bottle of something

0:13:44.476 --> 0:13:46.836
<v Speaker 1>left and he took it, and it's physically in the cart,

0:13:46.916 --> 0:13:49.756
<v Speaker 1>in someone's cart, So the inventory system is saying there

0:13:49.876 --> 0:13:52.436
<v Speaker 1>is one of these bottles that exists in the shelf.

0:13:52.476 --> 0:13:54.676
<v Speaker 1>So I go on the app and the app is like, yeah,

0:13:54.716 --> 0:13:56.876
<v Speaker 1>you can buy that bottle of whiskey, and I pushed

0:13:56.956 --> 0:14:00.276
<v Speaker 1>the order and then somebody who works then then would happen.

0:14:00.276 --> 0:14:02.236
<v Speaker 1>They would go to the shelf, they would scan the shelf,

0:14:02.276 --> 0:14:03.956
<v Speaker 1>they would look at the shelf and there's no bottle there.

0:14:04.396 --> 0:14:06.476
<v Speaker 1>So that like, that's what we call an inventory defect.

0:14:06.476 --> 0:14:09.356
<v Speaker 1>But the defect shouldn't exist because the bottle physically, like

0:14:09.516 --> 0:14:11.836
<v Speaker 1>the way that we solve that problem is like anything

0:14:11.956 --> 0:14:14.916
<v Speaker 1>under a certain amount, we're just gonna market out of

0:14:14.956 --> 0:14:18.076
<v Speaker 1>stock because we're not so sure one or two bottles left.

0:14:18.076 --> 0:14:20.796
<v Speaker 1>You just don't let anyone we're gonna market out of stock.

0:14:20.996 --> 0:14:23.156
<v Speaker 1>And like that took us, like we didn't we thought

0:14:23.156 --> 0:14:25.676
<v Speaker 1>there was something wrong with the system. And then the

0:14:26.396 --> 0:14:29.276
<v Speaker 1>engineers and product folks and everything we laugh about this

0:14:29.276 --> 0:14:31.236
<v Speaker 1>all the time. The best person to fix a packing

0:14:31.276 --> 0:14:34.036
<v Speaker 1>problem is the person that's packing the order, right, So

0:14:34.076 --> 0:14:35.876
<v Speaker 1>it took us speaking to the people in the ground

0:14:36.196 --> 0:14:37.956
<v Speaker 1>to like be like, hey, like what's wrong with it

0:14:38.076 --> 0:14:40.196
<v Speaker 1>with this, Like like wait, there's something wrong with our

0:14:40.236 --> 0:14:42.876
<v Speaker 1>inventory management software, and like somebody worked in the store.

0:14:42.876 --> 0:14:45.316
<v Speaker 1>It's like no, man, somebody some customer just had the

0:14:45.356 --> 0:14:48.556
<v Speaker 1>bottle in their cart. What that's literally exactly what happened.

0:14:48.676 --> 0:14:52.316
<v Speaker 1>Instead of like going to the MFC's and really figuring

0:14:52.356 --> 0:14:56.636
<v Speaker 1>out what the problem is, yeah, the stores, Yeah, yeah,

0:14:56.836 --> 0:14:58.316
<v Speaker 1>we try to solve it an HQ and that just

0:14:58.356 --> 0:15:02.276
<v Speaker 1>didn't work. So like you gotta have a bottoms up approaching. Sorry,

0:15:02.276 --> 0:15:04.396
<v Speaker 1>I apologize, but I have to interrupt. Were at thirty

0:15:04.396 --> 0:15:07.236
<v Speaker 1>one minutes. I'm gonna stop to stop watch. Just got

0:15:07.236 --> 0:15:10.116
<v Speaker 1>a text your non content Go Puff order has been

0:15:10.116 --> 0:15:13.236
<v Speaker 1>delivered to the address you provide it. You want to

0:15:13.276 --> 0:15:15.796
<v Speaker 1>just hold on one sack. I'm gonna go downstairs and

0:15:15.836 --> 0:15:34.316
<v Speaker 1>get it. Great, you're right back, and now back to

0:15:34.356 --> 0:15:36.316
<v Speaker 1>the show. I just went to get my order from

0:15:36.356 --> 0:15:48.116
<v Speaker 1>Go Puff. I think it worked. Let's see. Okay, let's see.

0:15:49.076 --> 0:15:52.756
<v Speaker 1>I love this. Yeah, right, it's action. It's like this

0:15:52.836 --> 0:15:58.996
<v Speaker 1>is this okay? So let's see at the apples. You'd

0:15:58.996 --> 0:16:02.316
<v Speaker 1>be glad to know the apples look good. Great, we'll

0:16:02.316 --> 0:16:06.916
<v Speaker 1>do the apple test here, you're ready, good crunch or

0:16:07.036 --> 0:16:11.956
<v Speaker 1>good apple? And we got the orioles. I love it. Yeah,

0:16:11.996 --> 0:16:17.076
<v Speaker 1>it worked. Were you worried at all? I think there's

0:16:17.116 --> 0:16:20.636
<v Speaker 1>like like like a sub level of worry, especially about

0:16:20.676 --> 0:16:25.476
<v Speaker 1>the apples because it's a new business. Great, let's do

0:16:25.556 --> 0:16:27.556
<v Speaker 1>a lightning round. We close this show with like a

0:16:27.596 --> 0:16:30.956
<v Speaker 1>bunch of fast questions, just fast. What's one piece of

0:16:30.956 --> 0:16:33.236
<v Speaker 1>advice you'd give to somebody trying to solve a hard problem?

0:16:33.916 --> 0:16:37.236
<v Speaker 1>Listen more than you talk. What's the hardest thing about

0:16:37.356 --> 0:16:41.716
<v Speaker 1>growing is physical real world business? Insanely quickly. I mean

0:16:41.796 --> 0:16:44.196
<v Speaker 1>I'm thinking I'm talking from my perspective more than anything else.

0:16:44.436 --> 0:16:48.316
<v Speaker 1>We're working sixteen seventeen hour days, seven days a week. Yeah,

0:16:48.436 --> 0:16:51.756
<v Speaker 1>and after months and months of doing it, it just waited,

0:16:51.916 --> 0:16:54.356
<v Speaker 1>Like you're like, the business hasn't gone into the place

0:16:54.356 --> 0:16:56.276
<v Speaker 1>where we got we wanted to get to, wen't raise

0:16:56.356 --> 0:16:59.996
<v Speaker 1>any money, and like you start to deteriorate a little bit,

0:17:00.036 --> 0:17:02.836
<v Speaker 1>you know what I mean, Like remaining mentally strong as

0:17:02.836 --> 0:17:06.836
<v Speaker 1>you're building these operationally complex businesses, especially if you're acting

0:17:06.876 --> 0:17:11.716
<v Speaker 1>as a founder operator, is probably one of the hardest challenges.

0:17:12.196 --> 0:17:15.356
<v Speaker 1>What's a thing in the world outside of your business

0:17:15.436 --> 0:17:18.516
<v Speaker 1>that you think should be faster. Maybe transportation probably should

0:17:18.516 --> 0:17:21.996
<v Speaker 1>be faster, right Like we had we had concords twenty

0:17:22.076 --> 0:17:24.556
<v Speaker 1>years ago, and I think we took a step backwards

0:17:24.636 --> 0:17:28.316
<v Speaker 1>on transportation. If everything goes well, what problem will you

0:17:28.356 --> 0:17:31.396
<v Speaker 1>be trying to solve in say five years. So I think,

0:17:31.756 --> 0:17:35.036
<v Speaker 1>you know, gobus business can become a lot more broad

0:17:35.316 --> 0:17:37.916
<v Speaker 1>than just what we're doing right now. What I mean

0:17:37.956 --> 0:17:39.916
<v Speaker 1>by that like if you look at Amazon's business right

0:17:39.956 --> 0:17:43.756
<v Speaker 1>like FBA fulfilled by Amazon is larger now than the

0:17:43.796 --> 0:17:49.356
<v Speaker 1>retail business than Amazon owned products. And by owning all

0:17:49.396 --> 0:17:52.476
<v Speaker 1>the infrastructure, we're starting to think about, like, you know,

0:17:52.556 --> 0:17:55.356
<v Speaker 1>what are ways that we can utilize all the infrastructure

0:17:55.356 --> 0:17:58.476
<v Speaker 1>and all the technology that we built to empower a

0:17:58.596 --> 0:18:02.636
<v Speaker 1>whole host of e commerce websites to power their delivery.

0:18:03.436 --> 0:18:05.316
<v Speaker 1>How will you know when it's time for you personally

0:18:05.356 --> 0:18:07.756
<v Speaker 1>to do something else. You know, it's a great question.

0:18:08.316 --> 0:18:10.236
<v Speaker 1>I used to think about that kind of all the time.

0:18:10.276 --> 0:18:11.956
<v Speaker 1>I think, you know, you get one chan unless you're

0:18:11.956 --> 0:18:13.636
<v Speaker 1>like Elon Musk, right, you get like one chance in

0:18:13.676 --> 0:18:17.316
<v Speaker 1>life to build something really really generational. And when I

0:18:17.316 --> 0:18:20.076
<v Speaker 1>said generation, I mean multi hundred billions in market cap

0:18:20.756 --> 0:18:22.756
<v Speaker 1>and like a lot of magic needs to happen for

0:18:22.756 --> 0:18:26.436
<v Speaker 1>you to get like timing, product, market fit, resources, damn,

0:18:26.556 --> 0:18:30.316
<v Speaker 1>Like a whole bunch of things need to like come together.

0:18:30.676 --> 0:18:32.236
<v Speaker 1>I'm not embarrassed to say I don't think I'll be

0:18:32.276 --> 0:18:35.836
<v Speaker 1>able to do this again at this Yeah, Like I

0:18:35.876 --> 0:18:38.596
<v Speaker 1>think this is our chance to do something really really

0:18:38.596 --> 0:18:41.236
<v Speaker 1>a generational once once in a lifetime. And it's like

0:18:41.396 --> 0:18:43.996
<v Speaker 1>it's so much bigger than money. It's so much bigger

0:18:44.036 --> 0:18:46.516
<v Speaker 1>than you know, like how I'm gonna feel on how

0:18:46.556 --> 0:18:49.876
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna behave if I sold this thing. So I

0:18:49.916 --> 0:18:51.996
<v Speaker 1>love doing this, not sounding a cliche, but like I

0:18:52.116 --> 0:18:54.476
<v Speaker 1>really enjoyed doing this more than anything. I don't really

0:18:54.476 --> 0:18:58.956
<v Speaker 1>have any other hobbies. It's a good thing, working sixteen

0:18:58.996 --> 0:19:01.596
<v Speaker 1>hours a day. Right, It's like family and go Puff

0:19:01.916 --> 0:19:05.036
<v Speaker 1>and most like go Puff. It sounds like, yeah, I

0:19:05.076 --> 0:19:08.436
<v Speaker 1>mean this is my life, so you know, it's uh.

0:19:09.276 --> 0:19:11.276
<v Speaker 1>I can't even imagine right now life would out it

0:19:11.516 --> 0:19:14.516
<v Speaker 1>as crazy as that sounds. Thank you very much. Great

0:19:14.556 --> 0:19:20.916
<v Speaker 1>to talk guys. Thank you. Rafael ilishaiyev Is, co founder

0:19:20.916 --> 0:19:25.756
<v Speaker 1>and co CEO of Gopuff. Today's show was produced by

0:19:25.916 --> 0:19:28.836
<v Speaker 1>Edith Russolo, engineered by Amanda ka Wong, and edited by

0:19:28.916 --> 0:19:32.116
<v Speaker 1>Robert Smith. The music by Luis Gara. What's Your Problem

0:19:32.196 --> 0:19:35.836
<v Speaker 1>is a co production of iHeartMedia and Pushkin Industries. If

0:19:35.836 --> 0:19:38.396
<v Speaker 1>you like the show, please leave a review or rate

0:19:38.476 --> 0:19:41.196
<v Speaker 1>us on whatever app you're using to listen. If you

0:19:41.276 --> 0:19:43.396
<v Speaker 1>do not like the show, I've taken enough of your

0:19:43.396 --> 0:19:46.396
<v Speaker 1>time already, no need to leave a raining. I'm Jacob

0:19:46.396 --> 0:19:49.156
<v Speaker 1>Goldstein and I'll be back next week with another episode

0:19:49.156 --> 0:19:54.516
<v Speaker 1>of What's Your Problem.