Ok, so I was/am, an investor in Yojee before my cider company...

Ok, so I was/am, an investor in Yojee before my cider company launched; I found out about them through a sponsored campaign they did for investors.


Here's a quick back story; It's not a pitch, I'm just sharing what my challenges were and how Yojee solves them.

Because we use very rare Apples we have no choice but to be a high end brand ( I don't like this but with our cost of production so high we have no choice) There is less than 3 orchards in the whole of Australia that grow our Apples as the lion share of the market is now dominated by dessert apples which is what you guys all buy in coles.... News Flash !!! All the cider that's made in Australia is made from dessert apples you should be making pies from ... not making cider !! granny smiths, pink ladies etc are not cider fruit.

So the reason ciders so sweet in Oz is that its made from the wrong apples (which is why as a bloke from Cornwall/Uk I went into the business to make REAL cider in Australia that's also grown here).

So... as a high end brand (single orchard heritage cider fruit aged in french oak for six months) I knew that delivery experience from our target audience was going to be a key element to our success because our cider costs $45-$60 per 750Ml bottle in a restaurant.

I can sell it for half that price on line so we're dependent on selling through social strategy and our website.
This now means our sales model is high volume of transactions orders but typically a low value per order i.e case of 6 is $174. Can you imagine what that would be like logistically for me to manage?

I needed to outsource this to experts who understand that the "delivery experience" is part of an Artisans
"sales process" ... the customer will blame the manufacturer not the delivery company if it doesn't show on time (and not buy from you again).

Yojee met with me and made it pretty clear that boutique brands and artisans have a close place in their heart as its predominantly the boot strapped artisan that struggles to get customer connection due to restricted outreach (delivering your goods).

So although from an investment point of view I can tell many on HC want to see big corporate names popping out of Asia signing up that's not where Yojee will win the war. Yojee will triumph because chaps like me who put all their hard earned $$$$$ into product R&D and quality rather than a fleet of vehicles can now compete to a wider geographical audience (they help us punch above our weight).

If you think about Uber for example; it's taking an existing concept and re-framing it; same as Airbnb etc. It's accelerating the power of consumerism through the level of transparency in the customer experience... all of a sudden there's a much greater level of accountability because the customer rating system they can instantly post online...that's where Yojee's heading. All of a sudden every boat, plane, van, motorbike and scooter can collaborate on "one platform" that gives real time updates to the buyer on where their purchase/orders are.

There's nothing more powerful than effective collaboration :0)

Yojee is struggling in Australia because they haven't launched their proprietary technology yet here. So they're using the incumbents like Aus post which is not doing them any favours. That said in other more mature regions where it is launched like Singapore etc they're doing exceptionally well.

Post meeting Yojee the sign up as a new customer for me was pretty much 30 minutes; fill out a few forms online etc. I doubt it will be the same for corporates though as their pricing to customers is calculated via space required (cm3....length...x width....x height) and weight Kg's. They know the capacity of their fleet
and therefore can drive maximum consumption bringing costs down (more full trucks)

Finally we have to consider that a companies Intellectual property is what drives ebit these days. I gather
as Yojee will have thousands of small of medium sized businesses using them this IP (consumer spending patterns) will significantly increase the value of the company beyond the price of their technology.

Also note that Yojee staff do read HC regularly so you're voices are heard.. ;0)

SMDM ....AKA #REALCIDERLUVER