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Travis Makes Money
INTERVIEW | Make Money by Solving a Problem Parents Hate with Nelson Nigel
00:22:21
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- [00:01]
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You're listening to the Travis Makes Money podcast presented by GoHighLevel.com for a free 30 day trial of the best all in one digital marketing software tool on the planet, just go to gohighlevel.com travis. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Travis Makes Money podcast, where it's our mission to help you make more money. Today on the show, I have a new friend of mine, Nelson Nigel. He is the founder and CEO of Kid Moto. Technology transformed a personal challenge into a thriving business. Back in 2016, as an Uber driver, he observed the absence of child car seats in taxis and car services, leaving parents in a vulnerable position, which I have also experienced many, many times. Recognizing the gap in the market left by Uber and Lyft, Nelson developed a mobile app to offer a convenient and safe solution for parents traveling with small children, particularly to and from airports. Kid Moto has since become a trusted brand, connecting parents with a network of skilled drivers, providing secure child car seats for airport transfers in 52 US cities. Despite Nelson's challenging background, growing up poor in New York and surviving a train accident left him in a coma for weeks, he maintains a remarkably positive mindset. Hard work and respect for his team have led Kid Moto to achieve remarkable milestones, including over 40,000 completed rides, seven figure revenue, and evaluation of $25 million. Nelson, what's up, dude? Welcome to the show.
- [01:49]
C
Thank you for having me, Travis. Thank you. Thank you, man.
- [01:52]
B
This is one of those. This is one of those businesses. Like when I, when I saw, when I saw this pitch come across my email inbox, it took me about a half a second to say yes to this because, bro, it's insane how crazy it is that you have to think about, like, bringing car seats with you when you travel somewhere just to go from the airport to the hotel. You know what I mean? Like, it was the. Traveling with kids is already, like, stressful and difficult enough, you know, and then it's like, oh, we gotta Lug these awkward ass big car seats with us just so we can get to the Airbnb that we're going to be staying at for a week and a half is just mind numbing. So man, first off, thank you for, for creating a business that solves this problem. And, and secondly, let's talk a little bit more about the journey here. So you were already an Uber driver before, right? So, so this is how you were making money, right?
- [02:49]
C
Yes, I was full blown Uber driver. Yeah.
- [02:53]
B
And was that full time, 100% of
- [02:56]
C
your income coming from Uber at, at, yes, at the time, yes, yes.
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B
And what, this is just a aside, just a. Something I've been curious about because we talk about different like side hustle opportunities and stuff like that on the show all the time. What type of money can you expect to make, like just being an Uber driver back then?
- [03:16]
C
Depends on the hours. Some guys could make 1600-1800-2000-2200 a week.
- [03:23]
B
Oh, really? Yeah, I mean, minus gas and stuff like that.
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C
Oh, minus gas. I, it depends on the vehicle that you have. Some guys have. Yeah. You know, gas could be like 100 bucks a week. 150 a week. Yeah.
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B
And how long did you do that for?
- [03:40]
C
I did that for a few years actually.
- [03:43]
B
A few years?
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C
Yeah, yeah.
- [03:45]
B
Uber, were you, at that time, were you, were you focused on the long term goal of entrepreneurship? Like, like, did you know? I, I eventually want to start a business. I just have no idea exactly what that is. I'm going to drive Uber in the meantime, have a flexible schedule, put some money away and see what happens. Or was that like, this is what I'm going to do for the next decade?
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C
Oh, no, I was, I, I was a, I was a professional entrepreneur. I just kept failing. Yeah, I just kept, I just kept failing and failing. And you know, this was after 2008. So I, I, you know, I was like, at that time I was a trained developer in real estate, so built, built the building. Lost a lot, lost everything actually. And I actually started driving a yellow taxi in New York City, which is by far, Travis, the best job I've ever had.
- [04:33]
B
Really?
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C
Oh, forget, forget about it. It's, it's still on the bucket list to go, you know, for me to go back and do it. So how come. It's incredible, Incredible. You know, the best architecture, engineering, the best people in New York City. The best food. Forget about it. The best, just the food. So. And from the, from driving a New York City yellow taxi, I transitioned over to Uber. As Uber came into the New York City. And I didn't even think it was going to be what it is now. And so I let it, I let it simmer and then I, I eventually I went, went to Uber and Lyft and I saw the, these issues in the market. So forget about it, you know?
- [05:16]
B
Yeah, yeah. That massive gap from, from real estate development to driving a taxi to driving Uber, building a technology company does not seem like it was one of the things that you had much experience in. What was first step for you to even figure out if you could validate this, let alone get capital to build software and make sure that it actually can function?
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C
Oh, well, the first step was just, I kept failing and had a business plan which I kept iterating. So just, I just kept iterating. At the time I had some other businesses and it was two or 300 pages. And I saw this opportunity. I said, let me just, you know, work on the business plan, put it together and, and forget about it. I think by the time I launched it, I was probably like 400 page business plan. Large font though, right? And, and the reason. And, and here's the hack back then, right? So I would, I would, I would grab these, like, you know, I got to, I got these lots of paper, right. So I would do. Here's the hack, Ariel. Narrow. Four pages on one, on one sheet. So it had the front and the back. So eight, eight now one page, eight sheets. So I'll be in the car when I'm not driving. I'll be just reading my business plan. So literally I can have like five pages, which is 40. No, equivalent to like 40 sheets. 40 pages. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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B
What was the first, what was the first iteration like? Like, did you have to go ra first or did you just start, you know, doing it over the phone first? Like what, what exactly?
- [06:59]
C
This, this business right here, I started. I. No, I didn't raise any capital. I just had, I just figured out how to get it done. You know, when you're an entrepreneur, you just figure things out and. Yeah, but I had that business plan which I was probably working on. You know, I would say 10 years be beforehand. Right. For other businesses. I just.
- [07:19]
B
Yeah.
- [07:20]
C
Oh, I, I just changed the product over and, you know, just kept working on it. Yeah, yeah.
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B
So was it basically starting off with just you?
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C
It was me.
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B
You basically were like, I got some car seats, let's go.
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C
Like, I think like it was five or six hundred bucks, two car seats. I remember now succinctly, because I couldn't even afford three Car seats.
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B
And then, and then how did you start getting business? Like online flyers.
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C
It online online.
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D
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C
I'm just seasoned, seasoned business person. And I figured out my, my target market and New York City and kept, kept pushing it and you can't do everything right. So I figured out the different strategies of digital marketing. There's probably like 60, 70, 80 now, but back then I think it was like 40 to 50. Figure it out. You know how we're going to reach this consumer base. And it was tough. It still is.
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B
I was going to say, tell me, tell me, tell me a war story, Nelson. Like, tell me, tell me a time where you were like, what am I doing here? This is insane. I should just go back to driving a yellow cab.
- [09:08]
C
That was the first few years. So it's, you know, it was every day, even up to now. You know, my day was like, I wake up 3:45, I'll be in the office at 4:15. I would be working until say 4pm and then I'll go over afterward and you know, every day, seven days. Seven days, Seven days. And it was like there was no, no stopping, no stopping, no stopping. Just kept doing it, doing it, doing it. And once we started monetizing, we. I would be in the office more and I didn't have to drive it as much. And I would just be first one in, last one out. Like, you know, they will shake, change security guards like three times a day. And I would be, I would still be right. So. Yeah, yeah. No. 4:15 in the morning till 11:00pm, 12:00pm at night and beautiful. You just have to like be relentless with it and just, you know, you gotta want it. You got, you have to want it.
- [10:05]
B
What, what was. Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah. What's the, what's the expansion strategy that you had? Like, like you start in New York City and you know, start getting localized market. Now you said you're in 52 cities, is that correct?
- [10:19]
C
We just launched. We're like 84 cities globally now. Okay, wow. We'll get like Lisbon, London, Budapest, you name it. No Not Bucharest. Yeah, we'll get you in Bozeman, Montana, Salt Lake. Yeah, like that.
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B
Okay, great. And so what was the, what was the first city that you decided to tackle and what was that problem?
- [10:38]
C
The first city was New York. Right. So now based on. I think it was based on football teams.
- [10:47]
B
Hey, you know what? That's, that's smart move, people. I mean, they don't put football teams
- [10:52]
C
in, you know, so New York City, we're going to do Philadelphia, the Washington D.C. you know, NFC East.
- [11:01]
B
Yeah, right, right. Yeah. Minus Dallas.
- [11:05]
C
Yeah. So, yeah, that's how I knew the cities. And, and, and Boston, the East Coast. Primarily the East Coast. And then. Yeah, moving out west. Out west. There was, there's not much cities at the time that we were. That I was interested in.
- [11:23]
B
Yeah. And then back and forth. I assume at first you're just trying to create like awareness and demand in the market to say that, like, there is an option for parents out there that does not require you to have to lug massive car seats through the airport. But then second step, I assume would be like, we gotta go get people who are willing to drive. Now what were the recruiting efforts like?
- [11:49]
C
That was excrucially. Excrucianly painful.
- [11:54]
B
Really?
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C
Because there was there no one in the industry, really. No. Took me seriously. And the entire industry like frayed away from car seats because in this industry, everyone's looking at. Looking for different consumer. Consumer consumers. And. Which was corporate.
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B
Yeah.
- [12:17]
C
So me doing retail consumers, families with children, forget about it. Right. So, you know, but I started out with a different approach. Now I was built out for children, car seats. And that's all we did.
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B
Yeah.
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C
One thing these other companies were built out for corporate clientele. So me going to a company with a different niche, they're like, you know, like car seats. Are you kidding me? So, and so I would just like basically get on a plane to Sacramento, Seattle, you name it. Austin, Houston, Dallas, Charleston, you know, Williamsburg, Virginia, you name it. I would be back and forth selling it to them, like, hey, man, do this. You know, let's, you know, like that. Did you.
- [13:07]
B
Did you basically just book a bunch of Ubers and then ask the Uber driver if they wanted to do it? Or like, what. Who are the people that you were trying to get to drive?
- [13:14]
C
Oh, that. That's a good idea. I didn't do that. I just, I, you know, I listen at that at the time. Uber doesn't have a, A good profile. Yeah. And Uber a decade ago.
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B
Yeah.
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C
And of course Uber outside of New York. It's not regulated like a new, like a New York City. New York City. Very highly regulated. But outside, you know, it could be John, John Doe working at Pep Boys. So you just don't know who. So I didn't really go that way because of the, you know, the vetting, the betting. So I went to actual companies that, that actually specialized in driving chauffeurs, like. Yeah, got it.
- [13:57]
B
Okay. And was the, Is the value prop like do. Do. Does some. Does a driver working for you make around the same, more or less than what an Uber driver makes? Is there more or less demand? Is there a different schedule? Like what's sort of like the pitch to say, like, hey, instead of doing that or that you should come do this with Kid Moto?
- [14:16]
C
Oh, of course. So they, you know, we are premium priced, so the drivers do make more. And, but, and so that's the pitch, right? We'll. You'll make more, you know, and you're
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B
probably not picking up drunk at 2 in the morning, you know what I mean? Like, you're picking up families from the airport.
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C
It's probably a little bit families and. Yeah, but at first, I'll tell you, it was excruciatingly hard. Excruciating. Yeah.
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B
Well, like I said, dude, speaking from experience, that was when the first time that we traveled with our kids like across country was when I like, I was sort of, I was sort of mind blown. I was like, wait, we have to, we have to like pack our car seats. Like, there's nobody that has like, how does Uber. This blows my mind. How is this not something that that happens? And then it was like, oh, okay, well, I guess we're gonna have to pack up these freaking car seats. And then in addition to the stroller and the dia bag and the kids themselves that you have to carry at the time.
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C
Yeah, pack and play.
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B
Yeah, right, exactly. Dude. It's like, it's like no wonder people stay home once they have kids.
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C
So.
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B
And in terms of now, like now the business is a decade old, you know, you guys doing seven figures revenue?
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C
Yeah. Yeah.
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B
Is there what's sort of like, you know, 10 years from now look like for you? Like, is it like, are you trying, is there a point where you're trying to raise capital? Are you trying to expand faster, bigger, better? Like, are you kind of chilling? Like, I'm happy that I built this business and I, and I good with it right now or like, what's the future look like?
- [15:55]
C
You know, life is very interesting, Travis, and I think we'll probably move more into. Because we have a global platform now. We'll move into other product offerings. More on the logistics side. Who knows, who knows what we might end up being because Nokia started out as a tire company, right?
- [16:19]
B
Yeah, yeah, that's right. So Slack started out as video game company, so Slack.
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C
Yeah, so. So there the. We have the infrastructure which is the most important. And like Uber in Uber, Uber eats, Uber Freight, you know, Uber Wave, Uber is just doing a plethora of different things. So.
- [16:39]
B
Yeah, the difference between you guys though, is that you're profitable and bootstrapped. You know what I mean? You haven't, you haven't been around for, for, for 20 years and never turned a profit before. You know?
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C
You know, I have a different take on that because they are a public company now, right? Yeah, yeah.
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B
I mean, they're massive, but I just feel like there's two different ways to build the business.
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C
Yeah, there's. Yeah. Different ways to do it. And I love doing this. This is being able to provide value to the consumer. That's most important because you can relate to me. Right. And I always say we're not Blue apron.
- [17:18]
B
Yeah. Yeah. The bottom line is like, this is, this is the bright side of entrepreneurship to me, man, it's just like you were experiencing a problem, saw the problem, came up with a solution to the problem, worked your ass off to solve the problem in a scalable way. And now you have a company that allows you to do the thing that you really enjoy for a living. And that to me is like, that's the end game. That's the solve. You know, it's not necessarily about the exit. It's not necessarily about the raising funds. It's just more about can you create a lifestyle where when you wake up in the morning, you're excited to tackle the day, Even if the day brings you lots of problems and obstacles, which inevitably it will, sometimes you still feel like, happy, fulfilled, and ready to rock and roll. That's the solve. You know, like, that's.
- [18:16]
C
You just hit it on the head, Travis. That. That's what it's about, right? When, when you're happy and you love what you're doing. And I, I just, you know, I just love what I'm doing.
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B
And it's like, I can tell, yeah, the, the. The energy that you have is contagious, man. Like, it comes through the screen because I can tell it's actually something that you genuinely care about.
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C
You know, I, I'm literally working 88am to 2am almost every day. And it's, it's just, it's incredible and just being able to learn all these new things in AI this, that all these new softwares together. Incredible.
- [18:48]
B
What was your, what was your background leading up to all of that? Like, I know you did some real estate development. Did you go to, did you go to school for any of this stuff like entrepreneurship, business, anything like that? Or were you just sort of like I'm just self admitted hustler from the,
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C
from the beginning, I would say more hustler. But my, my background, I do have a degree in cultural anthropology. Right. Cultural anthropology, culturally. And, and I studied design and construction. Right. So those two. But I did take like, I think class one, I, I would think was probably 18 years old and I remember one, one phrase from my professor, shoot for the stars because if you land on the moon, it's not a bad place to be.
- [19:30]
B
Yeah. Yeah. Well Nelson, dude, I appreciate you coming on and sharing a little bit. Like I said, energy is contagious. Love the story, love the, the concept, the business, the whole thing. So I appreciate you taking the time. I know you're a busy guy. Where can people go to get more from Nelson, what you're working on these days?
- [19:46]
C
Everyone can find it on Kidmodo Taxi. K I D M o T O dot T a X I and my LinkedIn is Nelson Nigel. Anyone, Shoot me a message, I'll be happy to respond.
- [19:59]
B
Nelson, Nigel over on LinkedIn and Kidmodo Taxi. I know we're, I'm literally. It did like this interview is what made me realize that this is a service that existed and we're literally taking a trip with the kids in like a few weeks. And so we're definitely gonna be hitting this up, bro. So I appreciate you for providing the service and for everybody else listening. Kidmoto Taxi. Go check that out. Go check out some of the stuff that Nigel's doing. And remember, money only solves your money problems. But it's a little bit easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got money in the bank. So let's solve that one first here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you guys next time. Peace.