Startup Spotlight #155: Coco

Coco is dedicated to perfecting the last-mile delivery experience.

Sep 07, 2021

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I got the chance to speak with Zach Rash, co-founder and CEO of Coco, about what he’s working on at his startup, and any advice he has for emerging entrepreneurs.

Zach Rash is the CEO and Co-founder of Coco, a last-mile delivery service that deploys human-operated sidewalk robots to transport goods from merchants to their customers. Before Coco, he attended UCLA, where he studied computer science and electrical engineering and co-founded the Connected and Autonomous Electric Vehicles (CAEV) lab. While at CAEV, he and his co-founder Brad became interested in the application of robotics within the outdoor logistics space, but as they continued their research, they were surprised to learn how slow-moving and research-focused the robot delivery industry was, even after nearly a decade of testing. They set out to create a solution that could deliver immediate value for merchants and their customers. From there, the first incarnation of Coco was set into motion.

At about a year old, Coco has grown to over 100 employees, raised over $43M, and is successfully serving 50+ merchants across southern California. As Coco continues to grow, the startup remains focused on their mission to create a frictionless, consistent, reliable, and sustainable delivery experience for merchants and their customers in cities everywhere.

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Startup Spotlight: Coco

Problem: We strongly believe the delivery service industry in its current state is massively under-serving merchants with high commission rates, poor delivery reliability and consistency, compromised food quality, and inefficient pick-up logistics for restaurant staff.

Market: Coco is targeting the on-demand delivery market, particularly the food, grocery, convenience, and pharmacy segments, which provide over 4.5B deliveries per year. In the U.S. alone, roughly 6,000,000 deliveries happen within 2 miles of restaurants and grocery stores each day.

Solution: Coco provides a more reliable and sustainable delivery experience for both restaurants and their customers by using remotely-piloted delivery vehicles, touting a 97% on-time delivery rate and a 30% reduction in total delivery time. When merchants deliver with Coco, they can expect higher food quality, more reliable delivery times, streamlined kitchen operations, and a reduced cost burden.

Team: My cofounder Brad and I met at UCLA at a surf team meeting and eventually went on to found the UCLA Connected and Autonomous Electric Vehicles (CAEV) research lab together. Coco’s team of now 100+ people includes executives from Amazon, Uber, Snap, Apple, Postmates, Bird, and Skip.

Recent Success:

Rash: We’ve focused on building what matters and pushing off the rest. At the core of Coco is a strong desire to improve the delivery experience for merchants, which quickly propagates through the entire company. The result is an obsessive focus on the quality of service for our customers over building technology for the sake of technology (a common pitfall in the world of robotics). As proof, the owners of one of our earliest partner restaurants, Bangkok West Thai, recently named their cat ‘Coco’ in honor of us. :)

Recent Struggle:

Rash: One of the biggest obstacles has been overcoming the reputational challenges of the robot delivery industry. Merchants have been hearing promises of at-scale robot delivery for almost a decade, but existing players have struggled to move past the research and pilot phase. Coco has been able to overcome this perception by executing and expanding quickly with large merchant partners doing real deliveries at scale and showing the results.

Founder Advice:

Rash: Set a clear framework for decision-making. Setting clear guardrails allows you to stay focused and prioritize properly and also provides direction for the rest of the team. At Coco, we heavily prioritize quality, scalability, and cost - importantly in that order. Obsess over the details. Strive to understand your business down to the last detail; sometimes the smallest nuances lead to the biggest revelations. Acknowledge what you don’t know. Always stay humble and aim to surround yourself with people who possess the expertise you lack. Learn from each other.

Three Cool Founders You Should Know About:

Rash: Here are three founders you should check out next!

Arianna Jacchia, Founder of PetSwapp: PetSwapp creates a community of pet lovers, matching owners looking to take care of each other’s pets when needed: to pet swap.
Farbod Nowzad, Founder of Pludo: Pludo is a new platform for user-generated audio.
Tim Connors, Founder of Pearl: Pearl is virtual career assistant for life.

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