How to Get Funded in the Recession: The Frugal Mechanic Story | Hacker News Reader

How to Get Funded in the Recession: The Frugal Mechanic Story

xconomy.com

29 pointsgthuang19 comments

This is not "how to get funded in the recession", it's "how one company got funded in the recession". Reasonably interesting article, but a bit of a linkbaiting title, don't you think?

Having worked at eBay Motors in the past, I can tell you that what these guys have accomplished is far from easy. The catalog work necessary to present results in this format is far from easy. Good work and great start. Congrats, guys.

I think the long-term trick for a company like this one is driving organic traffic. They'll need to create a good bit of quality content to start ranking in Google search results. Without it, they'll be forced to buy traffic.

+1 for providing a damn useful service. It is ridiculously hard to find even something as simple as a wiper blade or light bulb online, and a service that provides an amazon-quality shopping experience, especially across multiple sites, would be excellent. No reason everyone should be visiting the dealership for totally basic stuff that can be ordered online for super-cheap.

"They settled on auto parts not because they were car enthusiasts,"

And it shows. As a car enthusiast I can tell you that their site sucks. They don't get the hobby and it shows. They have no idea about the industry at all.

the site didnt seem bad.. all that matters is variety and price (primarily) for the customer (as it isnt a hobby site).. isnt craigslist or ebay bad (not Ajxified etc) as well, aesthetically?

thats the thing, their variety is non-existent. Look for any real performance part, and you'll see that they have nothing but generic crap that noone wants to buy in the first place.

I'll give you an example. Lets say I own a 2004 STI(which is a pretty popular tuner car). And I want to buy myself some coilovers, well guess what...I can't! Because the only suspension product they have on that site for the car, is a set of cheap Eibach springs...which cost $20 bucks more than what you can pay on eBay.

vaksel, you're missing the target market completely. You're not it. It's car parts for people who use price engines like Froogle, not for car enthusiasts.

There is and always will be sites for guys like you and me (and I'm happy you're building another), who want performance parts. This is for people who consider their car simply transportation.

At least with Froogle you can find parts. Search for STI coilovers brings hundreds of results. And they have the good stuff: D2 Racing, Bilstein, Cusco, JIC etc.

And to me, I don't see the guys who use their cars as basic transportation, working on their own cars in the first place.

I do.

I'm an engineer. A car is just a tool, a tool for transportation. I don't neglect it, but I don't pay any more than absolutely necessary to keep it running. I work on my car myself because I am cheap and practical. I can't stand paying for things that I can do myself.

does work include other things besides oil changes?

Replaced front rotors, calipers, pads, master brake cylinder. Currently contemplating replacing rear brake drums and shoes. Probably need to replace some suspension components soon. My car has developed a troubling squeak and click in the front left.

So I do only basic things. I draw the line at anything engine related. I have too much fear that I could screw something up. If I had old beater project car (like a VW bug), I might consider trying more difficult stuff.

working on the engine is no different really. Remove part a, b, c, d to get to part e. And then replace that with the new part and put everything back together.

Most things can be pretty much taken apart with a socket wrench.

Thats true. Maybe I'll venture further away from my safety zone in the future.

Problems get harder to diagnose in the engine, though. I find the diagnosing the problem is where the skill is.

Also, as repairs become more complicated, I have discovered that the chances of needing to replace something that you don't have a spare for go up. It sucks to have to bike down to the auto parts store and retrieve 40 lbs of parts in my backpack.

To tell the truth engine problems fall into two categories...serious ones, like engine knock which you really can't do anything about to something simple like a heat shield rattle or a loose gasket. There is really no middle ground. And for the "serious" problems, its usually cheaper to replace the whole motor, than to do the repairs.

Granted that mostly applies to japanese cars. You drive a BMW and to replace an engine will cost you 10 grand. While even the most rare JDM swaps will run you at most 5K.

For example, one guy I know never changes the oil on his daily driver civic. Why? Because he figured out that its cheaper for him to replace an engine every 80K miles, than it is to spend the money on an oil change.

The thing is: how many people look for performance parts, and how many look for parts to fix a car? Lots more of the second search than the first, would be my guess.

Most people who drive cars don't do so because it's their hobby. Maybe they're targeting people who actually need to replace parts in their car.

Those same people won't be fixing their own cars. Most people don't even change their own oil, you think they'll be changing their own clutch or a timing belt?

what's to stop my mechanic using it? Sure if I come in with a commodore/falcon then he'll be able to get parts easy - but come in with something exotic - and he might struggle / ring around heaps to find them.

That founders co-op - do they only fund companies that are in Seattle? Looking at their FAQ and application - doesn't come right out and say so, but it appears to be the point of their operation - or at least a driving point.

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