Dropoff Delivered the Goods to Michelle Obama
This week, Dropoff was excited (and honored) to be asked by our client, Micklethwait Craft Meats, to make a very special Austin same-day delivery. An order of their amazing BBQ needed to be delivered to a very important person — FLOTUS herself, Michelle Obama.
Equally exciting? The Austin American-Statesmen published an article about it. Check it out:
Obama gig a boost for Austin courier startup Dropoff
Lori Hawkins American-Statesman Staff March 17, 2016
If you’re a courier startup, it’s the call you hope for: Michelle Obama wants barbecue. Can you get it to her?
Austin-based Dropoff made it happen Wednesday, delivering bags of brisket from Micklethwait Craft Meats in East Austin to the First Lady’s plane on the tarmac at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Michelle Obama was in Austin to speak at a South by Southwest event.
“We got the call, loaded up the van with the barbecue and headed straight to the airport,” said founder Sean Spector. “It was exciting because it’s not every day you’re delivering something to the first family.”
Last year, the company raised $9 million in funding from Greycroft Partners, Correlation Ventures, Wild Basin Capital, and other investors.
Now Dropoff is using that money to make a growth push. The company recently expanded beyond Austin and Houston to San Antonio and Dallas. This year it plans to add more Texas cities and expand outside of Texas.
The company is targeting food and grocery, healthcare, retail, and e-commerce companies. Customers include Whole Foods stores; pharmacy America and small retailers such as Sprinkles Cupcakes.
Airbnb, the short-term rental site, is also a Dropoff customer and has kept the company’s couriers busy during South by Southwest.
“All week we’ve been delivering VIP welcome to Austin gifts for the guests when they arrive,” Spector said. “We did it in 2015 and they asked us to do it again.”
Spector said he got the idea for Dropoff after having a bad experience with a courier service.
“I did a lot of research on the industry and realized not much has changed in the last several decades,” he said. “I felt like a shift was coming, and there was an opportunity, and we could be part of that.”
