
Why YourMechanic (YC W12) Chose to Grow Slowly - CrocodileStreet
http://fortune.com/2016/03/01/yourmechanic-24-million/
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AlexMuir
I think this is a great example of finding an unglamorous problem and then
relentlessly executing on it. It's been a pleasure to watch.

\- There is clearly an opportunity here and it's more work than simply writing
a webapp, putting stripe on it and pumping VC money into Facebook ads. These
guys have been doing the dull background work and that's a long-term slog, but
an even longer-term win.

\- Unlike a lot of startups, there's no clear acquirer on the horizon. I'd bet
on a profitable business quietly growing into an IPO and then staying
independent. I see some Buffett factor here!

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marcell
YourMechanic is interesting in that, unlike many other "on-demand" startups,
the economics make a lot of sense. They are able to pay their mechanics more
than a standard shop (eg. dealer) can pay, and at the same time generally
offer same or lower rates for the consumer.

This is probably a combination of two factors: (1) unlike driving, repairing
cars requires quite a bit of skill, so the mechanics have some protection
against wage cuts (compare to Uber), and (2) a standard mechanic shop has
overhead that YourMechanic does not.

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artag
Hey Marcell! You nailed it. 80% of the money that consumers pay in the shop
goes to the shop, not the mechanics (because of the infrastructure cost). This
allows us to pay more and charge less, still have healthy margins.

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aresant
"Chose to grow slowly" is a great headline but that's not what happened.

Their business is fundamentally reliant on an accurate and high quality parts
sourcing operation, which took years to build:

"To ensure it can provide any and all parts a customer’s repair could require,
YourMechanic has had to build out a large catalog of parts from scratch, which
took awhile. At the same time, just like any other services startup, it also
had to perfect its operations before setting up shop in new markets."

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paulddraper
Right. More like "chose to not to force faster growth than made sense for the
business model".

Still, rare and commendable.

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littletinman
I used YourMechanic for the first time in Denver Co just a few weeks ago:
blown away by how easy it was. It absolutely felt like this was not a rushed
endeavor and that paid off big time. I will be using them for the foreseeable
future.

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artag
awesome. thanks for using the service!

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spdustin
Is it just me, or are news sites seemingly allergic to actually linking out to
the companies profiles in stories such as this? I mean, yeah, I can
GoogleDuckBing YourMechanic, but is a little external HREF action too hot to
handle? "nofollow" is a thing, they don't have to give it up by linking out.

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AaronM
I wonder how well this works with complex problems. Since many new cars run on
computers, how to mobile technicians have the equipment needed to diagnose and
fix those kinds of issues I wonder?

This would be great for things like getting your brakes replaced.

Also, I wonder how they handle waste disposal of fluids?

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JWLong
The diagnostic equipment needed to diagnose issues with the car's computer is
really small. [http://www.amazon.com/Foxwell-Diagnostic-Analysis-Scanner-
Re...](http://www.amazon.com/Foxwell-Diagnostic-Analysis-Scanner-
Reprogramm/dp/B0172DDBWQ)

Disposal is handled by taking the waste fluids to your favorite parts store.

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AaronM
Like I said, that will help with the easy to diagnose stuff. What about the
complex problems, that don't show up on a scanner.

For example, the equipment used to calibrate your air conditioning system. Its
more complicated then fill to the manufacturer spec. Newer machines will run
the air with a temperature probe, and modify the amount of freon to get an
optimal amount.

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colmvp
Congrats to the team. Can't wait till they expand someday (hopefully) to my
city.

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mathattack
Sometimes simplifying and standardizing the service before growing pays off.

