Yes man

Update: 9/4/2015

I wrote this post 5 months ago, around April of 2015. I've kept it in drafts until now, because nothing had been official, and I didn't want to ruin any good luck. But here it is- a post about the final pivot that led us to today's Morph.
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It isn't always easy to get yourself to work when starting a company. It often seems easier to stay in, or hang with your friends who are soon graduating and running off all over the country to their respective jobs (high paying and health-insurance-providing jobs, as my mother might remind me).

But like it or not, that's the job I chose. It can, admittedly, sometimes seem dull. Scanning the web for the best background check website isn't thrilling work. It can be disheartening, as it was when looking for technical partners, and being rejected time and time again. And it is often nerve-wracking- is the idea good enough, am I good enough, am I working hard enough, is my execution fast enough. All of these questions cross my mind a dozen times a day, but I ignore them all and push through, telling myself that the answer to all of these is a simple, "Yes." Because it has to be, so why bother making it anything else?

However, the fun of entrepreneurship is that the little wins mean so much more than the worst losses. One little win came a few months back and started with an email.

Someone, it seems, had noticed one of my posts in search of a technical partner, and took a liking to my business idea. Wes Garrison sent me an email, inviting me to speak to him and his partner, Charles, at their Chapel Hill office. They were both board members of the National Restaurant Marketing & Delivery Association (which, apparently, exists). They were interested in speaking to me further, and, perhaps, helping me out.

"Sweet." That was my first thought. I looked them up, and there they were- high up on the board of directors of an organization that represented major delivery services around the country. I answered immediately, and scheduled the meeting. But what did they want from me?

"Oh" was my next thought. In addition to their roles in the NMDA, they also happened to be the co-founders of Takeout Central (formerly Tar Heel Takout), the largest local to-be competitor Morph would have. If Morph was an up and coming cereal brand, these guys were Raisin Bran. Sure, they're not quite Frosted Flakes, but they're a force to be reckoned with.

I figured they must be asking to meet me in order to learn what I've already been able to do, and what my plans were. They either wanted to put me out of the business before I got into it and became a threat, or offer me a job with them, just to keep me close by. I had a minor freak out, and considered cancelling the meeting. Why should I subject myself to this? There is nothing I can possibly gain from giving away information to a competitor. This seems stupid.

I frantically started writing our pros and cons lists (like I do with all major decisions. Even today's lunch. I'm glad there were enough pros of the Cosmic mini-burrito to outweigh Jasmine Mediterranean Chicken Zakki, because it was delicious!) I started googling "meeting with competitors" and "getting to know competition", looking for advice in my decision where ever I might find it.

In the end, I decided to go. Not because I thought it was a good idea- I didn't- but because I had made a commitment. I'd rather be thought foolish than a flake. So, foolish me went to the meeting, resolved to stay quiet about any plans I had for Morph.

Walking into their office, I shook their hands, and had a seat. And then they started talking. And talking. Sometimes I listened. Sometimes I zoned out. But then, I started listening more. It seems, they were...pitching me? They were enticed by the idea of someone managing their drivers. It seemed great to them that no one had done this in the past, and this would relieve an enormous stress of their work, allowing them to focus on customer service and restaurant relationships.

"Have you noticed the recent investment into food delivery? Door Dash, Postmates, Munchery- everyone on the west coast is getting major investments and expanding cross country, but they're not doing anything different from what we've been doing for 20 years! It's infuriating!"

I agreed with everything they were saying, but couldn't quite wrap my head around it. They had misunderstood my business model, but what they had thought of was brilliant! We'd be seeling pick axes to the miners- they needed it like they needed any tool, but there was so much more to focus on! If we can provide drivers to Takeout Central and private restaurants with efficiency and at a cost to compete with doing it themselves, that could be huge! Even better is that with their contacts through the NMDA, Wes and Charles could help Morph grow. They'd recommend our service, and even invest in us, if it guaranteed that the big players couldn't gain access to the little markets.

I walked out of that meeting in slight shock. An opportunity just opened for an enormous pivot- to switch Morph from a tech-savvy restaurant delivery services to the company supplying RDS with their biggest need. I still hadn't said much the entire meeting, but that wasn't at all of lack of interest, or intent of secrecy. It was awe that I had missed such a brilliant business model, so much simpler and easier to implement than Morph's original.

And if I had missed that meeting? If I had declined it, or ignored the email in the first place? I'd build a product that would still work, but I'd be competing for a service that required triple the effort on my part. Here, there was an opportunity unmatched to anything I had previously considered. Now, we are on our way.

Let's see where this takes us. I'm as curious as you are.

Actually, probably a lot more curious.

-A