
PayDragon (YC S11) raises $1.35M so hungry people can skip lines - garry
http://pandodaily.com/2012/07/27/paydragon-raises-1-35-million-so-hungry-people-can-skip-lines/
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kurtvarner
> _The round included Rustic Canyon Ventures, Ron Conway’s SV Angel, Yuri
> Milner, Mark Schwartz, and a follow-on investment by Y Combinator._

A follow-on investment from YC? I wasn't aware that they do follow-ons.

~~~
hamiltonchan
There was a mistake in the article. The additional investment was from SV
Angel and Yuri Milner, not Y Combinator. We apologize for the confusion, and
the mistake has been corrected.

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tatsuke95
So, this is online ordering on your phone?

> _"Users skip to the front of the line, receive their item, and get on with
> their lives."_

How will that work in practice? I'm quite sure if I'm constantly skipped over
in line by people getting priority over me because they have an iPhone app,
I'll discontinue business at the establishment.

~~~
sachingulaya
You order on your phone, you wait, you pick up your food. If people don't
order in advance then they stand in line.

Its a long overdue concept. Being able to have my order ready without waiting
would make me far more likely to eat out.

~~~
tatsuke95
> _"Its a long overdue concept. Being able to have my order ready without
> waiting would make me far more likely to eat out."_

Maybe I'm missing something, but I've been placing orders online for years.
Order, go pick it up (or even have it delivered!). Obviously the app could
simplify that by having all my restaurants there in one place, but I'm not
sure the "concept" is new.

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aaronblohowiak
This is the essence of take-out. Except, on the phone instead of calling,
faxing(!) or ordering online. See: chipotle

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seiji
The original online ordering systems for pizza places would actually generate
a fax to the restaurant with your order.

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prodigal_erik
Ah, i remember reading about xpizza. The manpage included

    
    
      BUGS:
    
      Some of the staff at the pizza place
      don't know how to operate the fax machine.

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jturn
>PayDragon is based on the premise that waiting in line to purchase items is
neither good for the customer or the merchant.

In NY when you see a place with a line you get intrigued. Sometimes a queue is
a great advertisement for people walking by.

~~~
FuzzyDunlop
In the UK, you will generally avoid places that _don't_ have a queue. They
must be quiet for a reason, right?

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Hominem
The interesting thing about this is that 80% of the restaurants are food
trucks. This is perfect for trucks where you inevitably wait on line to order,
then stand around in the cold for your order to be ready. Couple with that
fact that this can act for a discovery service for trucks, which tend to move
and as of now rely on twitter to broadcast their location. But you have to
know the food truck exists before you can even follow them. This is a food
truck guide and order service in one.

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vwoolf
I just downloaded the PayDragon app, and the "Discover" feature is one of the
more intriguing aspects. I regularly look for interesting, convenient food,
and aside from walk-bys, it's not all that easy to find in my neighborhood.

EDIT: In Manhattan, however, PayDragon only has one restaurant in the
"Discover" category right now—it's Murray's Cheese, which might be delightful,
but it's also somewhat far and not especially appealing.

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ihodes
This seams like a nice version of seamless.com, no? Seamless could doubtless
be made better, but I'm curious as to why a merchant would go with these guys
rather than Seamless (which has tons of users already.) As a frequent Seamless
user, I'm also not sure why I'd give another app a shot—why would I switch
(and I'm to switching, too)? Regardless, it looks nice and quick. Best of
luck!

~~~
cdeonier
I think one of their main objectives is providing speed to ordering. Instead
of providing a full menu experience, they would provide something like six
items without customization.

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kfox2010
This is funny since one of General Assembly's first blog post was about how
this concept of skipping lines wasn't a viable lean start-up idea. Take a
look. [http://generalassemb.ly/blog/a-case-study-on-getting-
started...](http://generalassemb.ly/blog/a-case-study-on-getting-started-with-
lean-startup-methodology/)

~~~
binarysolo
Apples and oranges -- I think framing is a big issue: "I ordered 30min in
advance from my phone and will take food to go" vs "I would like to pay a
premium to get ahead of others waiting in line". The latter obviously stings
of people's differing time value of money (or I guess more appropriately,
money value of their time).

~~~
kfox2010
Yea you are right to some extent, but then what is the difference between
seamless pickup or calling and ordering(human interaction, scary i know) and
PayDragon? Seamless has a great mobile app too. I think they are entering a
red sea.

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potatolicious
Genuine question: how is this different from companies that already have
significant traction for pickup-orders like GrubHub and Seamless?

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nicholassmith
I'm following these guys with interest as I'm British and detest queuing. It's
a waste of useful time, and frequently I'll bail out before purchase.
Something like this is good for employment stats (you still need staff to
handle the transaction) compared to automated checkout machines.

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StavrosK
This app would, for example, never happen in Greece. Every fast food/street
food shop here delivers, and I would be surprised if any restaurant denied
phone orders.

The norm here is that you order by phone and your food gets delivered, nobody
waits for food.

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fijal
Is it just me or building such an app should cost $50k-$100k? Why do they need
$1.35M?

~~~
kapilkale
Sales and marketing. Engineering usually isn't the biggest problem with
companies who work with SMBs, particularly in local.

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iiilx
I think they're competing with at least one company who is pretty far ahead in
the market like gopago. Their presence seems pretty big in SF at least...I've
used it in SF a few times and it's pretty convenient.

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unabridged
I'm still waiting for major fast food companies to start making their own
ordering apps like this. No having to explain complicated orders through an
intercom. No having to wait in long drive through lines.

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ippisl
Mcdonnalds in europe has installed touch screens you can order from.

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andrewhyde
And if everyone uses it, there will be lines. Of hungry people.

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ars
The idea is the computer will wait in line, not the person.

i.e. you still have to wait for the food to be ready, you just don't have to
do it in person.

