Using iShip.com

www.iship.com

iShip.com is currently beta-testing a shipping service ideal for small businesses. Shown here is the shipping calculator that provides a graphic comparison of shipping costs from the three major overnight carriers, Federal Express, AirBorne and UPS.

We were testing the program on a Friday afternoon, seeing what it would cost to send a 2-lb package from Seattle to New York City. The prices ranged from $58.50 to have UPS deliver it by 9:00 am Saturday to $7.75 to have Airborne deliver it by end of day Tuesday.

The service is currently available on the iShip.com Web site and MSN’s Small Business Web, smallbiz.msn.com.

The Company: iShip.com founded in August 1997, is the brain-child of a triumvirate of ex-UPS Online exces lead by Stephen M. Teglovic, President & CEO. The company was recently funded with a $3.4 million equity investment from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Intel, and United Parcel Service ($800,000 share). The service is expected to go live with UPS by year-end and with the other carriers in early 1999. The company is headquartered in Bellevue, WA.

The Product: The service consists of three components:

•  a free shipping caculator (screenshot above) that allows users to determine the most cost effective method for shipping a specific package
•  a shipping utility that allows users to print shipping labels from their desktop and arrange for package pick-up (or packages can be dropped off)
•  a communication and tracking vehicle: package recipients will automatically receive an email notification that a package is on its way with imbedded links to track the package; senders will receive notification when packages arrive

Steve Jurvetson, Principal of iShip’s venture backer, Draper Fisher and Jurvetson, expects the service to grow in the same manner as HotMail, using what he calls “viral marketing.” The reason: recipients of each package will get an email from the sender that includes a “shipped by iShip” endorsement inviting the recipient to the iShip Web to do their shipping.

Financial Institution Opportunities:
The company sees financial institutions as ideal distribution partners for three reasons:

•  banks already have relationships with the vast majority of small businesses
•  banks need value-added services to beef up their small business banking Web offerings
•  banks have an extensive brick and mortar presence which could be used for package drop-off

You could license it as a co-branded or private-branded service for your Web as shown above at MSN’s Small Business Web, <business.msn.com>, or simply link to iShip.com.

Contacts: Stephen M. Teglovic is CEO, (425) 602-5011, stevet@iShip.com