I work with startups. My job is to find innovative hidden-gems in the tech industry.
In the following series of 101 Startups, I'll give you an overview of the best startups and apps I encounter, and I hope you will discover, and use these new services and innovative products.
List of previous episodes:
- Episode1 - VESTLY: monthly stock trading contests for real cash prizes.
- Episode2 - LUXE VALET, on demand car-valet services cheaper than parking garages.
For some of the first episodes, I kindly asked @knozaki2015 to help me publish in order to get visibility.
If you enjoyed the reading and want to see more of these startups in the future, please FOLLOW ME.
(clicking on the picture below will take you to my profile page)
This one is for the New Yorkers: Today's pick is a Ride-Hailing startup called JUNO
JUNO is a new competitor for Uber, still being in stealth mode, and operating only in NYC at this stage.
Juno was founded by Talmon Marco, who also serves as chief executive officer. The company headquarters is in New York City (in the new World Trade center building, with an AM-AZ-ING view on the big apple).
If you go on their internet page, you'll see something that looks like a company wanting to recruit drivers.
That is what they do. They are looking for the best drivers from Uber or Lyft, based on their ranking (stars) and they poach them with a crazy proposition:
- not only more money (better share for the drivers)
- but Juno plans to give them EQUITY from the company (right! equity: stocks, shares... you name it)
HOW DOES IT WORK ?
Like Uber, Lyft, and everything today except Steemit (Subliminal message to @ned and @dan ...), JUNO works with an App. You just have to download the app and to setup your credit card or apple pay credentials.
Then, it's pretty much like Uber: Hail your ride, go somewhere, pay with the app.
The very good news is that currently Juno gives 25% off all your rides. So if you are a heavy user of ride -hailing in NYC, this is the moment!
For the record, Business Insider tried the service and made a short article about it.
MY EXPERIENCE:
I used the service when I was in NYC (actually I had a meeting with the CEO, so I'd better had an idea of what this startup was doing.). Waiting times are very good, pretty much the same as the competitors.
Regarding the 25% off, it's a nice surprise, but it will stop sooner or later.
The real added value of Juno is the quality of the service.
Drivers are extremely nice, and by speaking with them, you understand that Juno is making a point: In a platform economy, it is not only about the customers of the service, it's also about the offer.
Drivers need to be happy and to make a living of this new job. In the end, happier drivers generate a WAY better service in the end.
Juno definitely has the best drivers in Gotham.
See my trips in NYC, including the ride back to the airport: $61 is a fair price, it is half the price I paid for the taxi for Newark-TheQuin Hotel
You can also see that the cancelled trip did not cost me anything, whil Uber sometimes takes a $5 or $10 fee for that.
Overall, I loved Juno. Service was way better then Uber. For instance, drivers sytematically had water bottles and iphone chargers available. I could also choose my music thanks to the jack cable available. All this was especially appreciable during longer rides like going to the airport.
Special perk for being part of the beta: impress the ladies when you move to another bar using JUNO... ;-)
BOTTOM LINE:
Uber is the ultra-dominant species in the ride hailing business in the USA, and the emergence of alternatives like JUNO is a great thing. I can't wait to see Juno in other cities, like San Francisco for instance.
Join the BETA HERE and get 25% of all your rides in New York !
@sebastien
I hope that you enjoyed and that you will try this cool app. If you did enjoy the reading, stay tunes to my account for more "101 startups" stories in the future.
Attention: This post has been written by @sebastien
@knozaki2015 features authors and artist to promote them and a diversity of content. https://steemit.chat/channel/academy (if you want to get in touch)
The author will receive 100% of the STEEM Dollars from this post
Don't just follow me, follow the author as well, if you like their post @sebastien