mmMule connects locals and travellers with goods exchange service

TLabs Showcase on travel startups featuring Australia-based mmMule, a social network for locals to connect with travellers, exchanging goods and experiences.

Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?

Our elevator pitch:

mmMule is a social travel network connecting locals who want stuff with travellers who can deliver it. In exchange for delivery travelers are rewarded with fun, local travel experiences.

mmMule is a social travel network bringing together locals and travelers from around the globe. With mmMule we wanted to create a way for people to able to get all the things they’re craving from around the world whilst giving travelers the opportunity to experience real, local travel experiences.

Whether you're a local looking for your preferred brand of jeans from the US, your favourite wine from Paris or some makeup from duty free or whether you’re a traveler who wants to meet locals, find a place to stay or just get tips on where to hang out and what to do, mmMule allows you to connect with likeminded people in order to get anything you want from anywhere in the world or to experience authentic, local travel experiences, not to mention make awesome new friends from around the globe.

Started by a bunch of travel-obsessed friends, mmMule is about building a revolutionary community that will forever change the way you get stuff delivered, travel and interact.

It’s about making all those things you once thought you could only dream of accessible and affordable no matter where you are in the world. It’s also about providing you with genuinely exciting travel experiences and a real connection in every city you visit.

Welcome to the travel revolution. But it’s not all about self-gratification.

Introducing AngelMule: AngelMule uses travelers to deliver urgently needed supplies to grassroots organisations and not-for-profit projects who in turn reward travelers with fun, cultural travel experiences.

We recently had an AngelMule deliver sunscreen to a children’s cancer unit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In exchange for delivery he got to hang out with the kids and play music with them. He also got a tour of the project and the new cancer ward provided by Love Hope Strength foundation one of our partners.

Founders:

Avis – marketing director. An Irish girl who ditched her picture perfect life (and boyfriend of eeight years) in Ireland three years ago to run off and live in Africa where she taught English in a rainforest in Tanzania, travelled through 15 countries and ran a surf and yoga lodge in Mozambique before moving to Oz to set up mmMule.
Andrew – creative director. Australian born, Andrew has lived in four countries, traveled through 54 and is determined not to stop until he's seen it all. Andrew is a creative director with 15+ years experience in advertising and marketing, having spent the last 5 years living and working in New York City as Creative Director for multinational brands such as Pepsi, 7up, Doritos, HSBC, Microsoft and many more.
Alan – development director. An Irishman who fled the country nearly two decades ago to live in Australia followed by LA where he now lives in the sunny hills of Glendale and has spent the last 10 years building successful travel websites. He is known to eat books of code for breakfast.

What financial support did you have to launch the business?

We’re totally bootstrapped and the only money we have spent has been on domain registration, hosting and company registration. Oh, and we paid $30 to get our mascot Henry made.

What problem are you trying to solve?

It is twofold:

For locals: How often do you find yourself wanting something you can’t find in your city? mmMule enables you to get absolutely anything you want from anywhere in the world delivered right to your door for free. All you need to do is reward a traveller for delivering it.
For travellers: Travellers are constantly searching for more meaningful, genuinely local travel experiences.

People are sick of beating the tired tourist trails and are looking for real connections in the places they visit. mmMule enables travellers to enjoy amazing rewards from locals & make friends wherever they travel.

Not only this, through AngelMule, travellers can give back to the communities they visit by delivering supplies to not for profit projects and grassroots organisations in need.

Describe the business, core products and services?

We’re a social travel network connecting locals and travelers.

Our core service is that we enable locals to get whatever they need from anywhere in the world. We also enable travelers to experience once in a lifetime, genuinely local travel experiences.

With AngelMule we’re looking to provide an entirely new way to assist projects in need in a trusted, transparent way. We enable individuals to see first hand the difference their contributions can make.

Who are your key customers and users at launch?

Locals that need stuff (we are focusing quite a bit on the expat market)
Travellers in search of local adventures
Not-for-profit projects / grassroots organisations in need
Local travel businesses in need of supplies

Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?

Prior to launch we have been running test mmMule "missions" privately and have completed about ten deliveries from Ireland to Australia, South Africa to Sydney, Cape Town to Auckland, Sweden to Cape Town, Kenya to Tanzania, Sydney to Samoa and Sydney to New York.

We have had people deliver a variety of things and they've been rewarded with some pretty cool experiences including:

Request: Shiseido make up from Addis Ababa Duty Free to Sydney
Reward: A trip to a festival and afternoon tea and scones at The Rocks in Sydney

Request: Barry's Tea from Ireland to Sydney
Reward: Drinks with friends at Circular Quay in Sydney

Request: A bottle of Pinotage wine from Stellenbosch, South Africa to Sydney
Reward: A night out with friends at a local bar in Darlinghurst, Sydney

Request: A children's hospital in Dar es Salaam Tanzania needed suncream for the childrens cancer unit as well as toys and musical instruments
Reward: A tour of the new cancer unit (supplied by Love Hope Strength Foundation who we are partnered with) and got to spend the day with the children in the cancer ward

Request: Caramel Tim Tams from Australia to Samoa
Reward: A personalised tour around the island of Upolo in Samoa

Request: Vegemite from Australia to New York
Reward: Cocktails in Soho & introductions to friends

Request: Soap, toothpaste, deodorant and other toiletries for Afrika Tikkun a charity working in the townships in Cape Town
Reward: A tour of the project and a visit to the home of a family who have been helped by the project

What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?

We will be introducing a transaction based business model – we’re introducing the secure payment system in phase 2.

For each transaction that takes place on mmMule, we’ll take a transaction fee.

We also have plans to introduce a micro-donation platform for AngelMule, so individuals can donate to travelers who want to buy supplies for particular projects.

Basically a peer to peer donation platform leveraged on social media. We also intend to build a number of key affiliate partnerships.

SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?

Strengths:

Unique value proposition
Strong branding – key in building a loyal following
Travel industry is booming

Weaknesses:

Dual customers – more difficult to market to
Chicken and egg problem

Opportunities:

Leverage current global trend in collaborative consumption & peer to peer platforms
Globalisation – more global citizens and people on the move than ever before
Huge numbers of expats around the world looking for stuff from home

Threats:

Other more established travel networks

Who advised you your idea isn't going to be successful and why didn't you listen to them?

Our friends and families. They think we’ve lost the plot, have our heads stuck in the clouds, that we’re dreamers and that we need to settle down and get real jobs. We figure we must be doing something right if that’s what they think.

What is your success metric 12 months from now?

To have a loyal user base with our core, early adopters acting as brand ambassadors, spreading the word about mmMule and AngelMule organically
To have over 1000 users in each of our key target countries (ie US, UK, AU, NZ etc)
To have a presence in over 50 other countries
To have built a successful partnerships network
To have built AngelMule contacts in over 50 countries

Some background:

How mmMule was born.