🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 31 - A Bold Pivot to Fix My Startup’s Core Problem!

After weeks of hustling, pitching, and refining, three key questions kept bothering me:

1️⃣ Ride seekers were mostly bus & two-wheeler commuters.

2️⃣ Car owners didn’t see a big reason to offer rides.

3️⃣ How was my app different from QuickRide, SRide, etc.? What was my USP?

And when I took a step back, I had a realization that changed everything.

❌ The Traffic Problem I Wasn’t Solving

My core goal was to reduce traffic congestion.

But if bus commuters or two-wheeler riders shifted to cars, it wouldn’t reduce cars on the road—it would just move people from one mode of transport to another.

📊 80% of road space is consumed by cars.

🛵 Only 20% is used by two-wheelers & buses.

If I truly wanted to reduce traffic, I had to make car owners share rides with each other—not just fill up their seats with bus riders.

🤔 Why Car Owners Weren’t Interested

Most ride-sharing apps (QuickRide, SRide, etc.) work on a simple exchange—car owners get a little money in return for offering rides.

But here’s the problem:

💰 Car owners don’t care about saving ₹5K per month when they’ve already spent ₹10L on a car.

🚗 For most, their car is a comfort & privacy zone, not a money-making tool.

I needed a fundamental shift in my business model.

🚀 The Big Pivot: Making Ride-Sharing Exclusive for Car Owners

I changed my entire approach—my app would now be exclusive to car owners.

Here’s why this was game-changing:

✅ Rides would be shared among equals (no awkward pairing of a 35-year-old car owner with a GenZ commuter blasting music 🎧).

✅ Mutual respect—when both people own cars, they understand the responsibility of keeping it clean and comfortable.

✅ A true give-and-take system—if you take a ride today, you’re expected to offer one tomorrow.

💡 And most importantly—this actually reduced cars on the road!

With a clear strategy, I now had to tackle the next big challenge:

👉 How do I finally get a ride matched?

(📢 Stay tuned for what's next)

💬 What’s the biggest business pivot you’ve made? Let’s discuss! 👇