Q&A Wednesday :: Zehicle

Today’s Q&A Wednesday is with Rob Hirschfeld, the founder and CEO of Zehicle (http://zehicle.com/).

Q: Give us the elevator pitch for you company?

Zehicle connects people to their cars through their smart phones.  All cars since 1996 have a standard data interface and Zehicle figured out how to get that data to people’s phones.  We use the data to both give drivers feedback and can also share the data between drivers.  Ultimately, we’re connecting drivers together to create safe, efficient, and fun roadways.

Q: How did the company get started? Who had the idea? Was there an “A Ha!” moment?

We started with a vision for getting cars on the net to help build an infrastructure of electric vehicles.  The abundance of smart phones and lack of EVs sent us looking for a more, um, immediate opportunity of connecting smart phones to car’s standard diagnostic port.  Unfortunately, it’s not easy to connect these two items together and that set back progress for a long time.  Our “a ha!” came when we figured out how to get that data to the phone.

Q: Who are the founders of the company?

Rob Hirschfeld has been the driving force behind Zehicle’s Transportation 2.0 vision.  We have a team of 5, plus Tech Ranch Austin, who have been putting in sweat equity to make the vision into something practical.

Q: How has the company been financed so far? Are you looking for additional capital?

We’re bootstrapping with concrete deliverables.  We are cautiously seeking insightful Angels who can help us build our valuation.

Q: What was your first indication that you really had something interesting here?

When I could explain it to people in 30 seconds and they immediately came up with new applications.

Q: How has customer adoption been so far?

We’re just getting ready to launch.

Q: What can we expect to see in the future from your company?

We’re building a suite of fun applications centered on transportation.  Each one is a brick in our Transportation 2.0 foundation.

Posted by Amit Kooner I'm a recent MBA graduate and I'm passionate about startups - from the financing, to operations, to strategy, and to marketing. I have a background working as a consultant to startups or starting my own, and I hope to eventually get into business incubation or venture capital work. To read more posts click here.