Snack cravings come when you least expect them, and you absolutely do not want to get up, put your shoes on and walk to the inconvenience store. What you want is a quick delivery that gets you that item in a matter of minutes. You want Ordego. Whether it’s that Snickers bar you can’t stop thinking about or a toilet paper roll you need now, Ordego puts their heads down and gets the job done for you in minutes. With service presently in Lower Manhattan, they plan to spread across America and get to your door as fast as possible.
Today we sit down with cofounder Daniel Nelson about the on-demand market as well as the future direction of their delivery business.
Tell us about the product or service.
Ordego is the fastest way to get convenience items delivered straight to your door, currently operating throughout the East Village and rapidly expanding to other parts of New York City. We deliver products including drinks, snacks, candy, medicine, bread, milk, toothpaste, paper towels, and much more in 15 minutes or less. We are all about simplicity and speed: just enter your address, choose the products you want, and check out! It’s convenience, delivered.
How is it different?
At Ordego, we leverage New York City’s pre-existing convenience infrastructure to get people the products they need as quickly as possible. By partnering with local merchants who perform our deliveries, we are able to connect you to the products that you know and love in minutes. Ordego automatically pairs you to the nearest merchant to ensure your order of ice cream is still frozen when it arrives. We don’t promise convenience in “under an hour” for exhaustive premium fees like the other guys. In a matter of minutes, Ordego delivers.
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
There are around 16,500 convenience stores in New York City alone, with more than 150,000 nationwide. We are supplementing these businesses by helping them satisfy more demand for their products. Rather than attacking any market in particular, we are entering a unique convergence of markets within the on-demand delivery space that is just starting to mature.
What is the business model?
Ordego is able to deliver convenience in a matter of minutes by putting our merchant partners first. Rather than take a commission for our service, we let our merchants keep 100% of their product prices. Ordego generates revenue by taking a portion of the service tip generated by performing each delivery. By building a network of satisfied delivery partners, we plan to expand throughout NYC and eventually get people the products they need in minutes nationwide.
What inspired the business?
Ordego was inspired by the frustration with the NYC reality that my roommate and I had plenty of options to order food to our apartment but still had to leave to go buy a half-gallon of milk. We then realized that the general idea of convenience as a whole in New York City was actually inconvenient in light of the modern on-demand economy surrounding us. In essence, Ordego was born to satisfy the instant need for convenience: not getting products shipped in two days, or delivered in “under an hour” – but actually in my hands when I need it.
What’s the strangest product that you have been asked to deliver through the service?
So far we were most surprised to receive an order around 1am on a weeknight for Boar’s Head bacon strips. But as always, Ordego delivered!
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
We are currently undergoing a rapid expansion beyond the East Village where we operate today to bring our service to more people citywide. Making our service available to all New Yorkers is the most ambitious goal we plan to achieve within six months. Soon, we also plan to introduce beer and cigarette delivery in 15 minutes or less!
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
Every piece of advice you receive should be taken with a grain of salt. Many people will try to tell you how you should pivot or think differently about your product along the way, and yes, it is important to be flexible and open to new suggestions. However, it is more important to remember that as a founder, you must be the industry expert, you must understand your market better than anyone else, and you must realize your vision for your company.
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
Jason Finger – a fellow NYU alum who founded Seamless. We’ve been pretty obsessed with ordering from his site for the past four years as students in NYC and would love to hear his feedback about Ordego.
Why did you launch in New York?
The entire Ordego team met (and launched) as undergrads at New York University. Spending most of our time in the East Village, we saw a huge demand and feasibility of a service like this in our area. Our friends constantly get things delivered and were enamored by the idea of finally being able to get convenience delivered. This on-demand mentality has a universal appeal, and New York’s heavy convenience and delivery mixture created the perfect environment to launch a business like this.
Where is your favorite bar in the city for an after work drink?
The Penny Farthing is one of our favorite East Village happy hour spots.
