A Spotlight on Fetch: Focus and Grit in Hard Times

Teem Ventures had the opportunity to work with Fetch, the self-service truck startup, during its initial pilot with Budget Truck Rental. Fetch has seen dramatic growth in spite of the challenges faced by the mobility sector during the global pandemic. Fetch is thriving.

So, we reached out to Adam Steinberg, Co-founder and CEO of Fetch, and asked for the inside scoop and to share his secrets to Fetch’s success.

What challenges were presented during the onset of the pandemic?
Fetch is a marketplace for self-service, contactless truck rental. We knew our contactless solution was an ideal solution to allow businesses and consumers to access vehicles during the pandemic.

But, uncertainty was the biggest challenge in navigating 2020. What would happen to the general economy? Would our customers maintain their businesses and need for using Fetch’s vehicles? Would there be a long-term shelter in place orders? Would our colleagues be able to stay healthy and productive while working from home?
We couldn’t predict what would happen in 2020, but we knew we needed to act quickly and decisively to ensure the long-term success of the company.

Pivoting was essential for the survival of many companies during this time. What priorities were changed and/or established and why?
In the April of 2020, we re-oriented the company’s focus around unit economics and profitability. Our goal was to improve underlying unit economics while waiting out the uncertainty with COVID during Q2 of 2020.

We immediately cut any non-essential costs out of the business. This would ensure that we could survive as long as necessary before business came back post-pandemic.
The company then focused on improving our customer experience and unit economics. Our engineering team focused on improving the customer experience to make it easier for first-time customers to rent with Fetch and for previous customers to come back and rent with Fetch. We also made it easier for vehicle owners to use our technology and rent their trucks through Fetch. Our marketing team focused on building organic acquisition channels, and our customer service team prioritized ways they could provide an incredible and safe customer experience.

This would put Fetch in an even stronger position to accelerate growth in the second half of 2020.

How has Fetch grown during this time? Would you mind sharing any key metrics with our readers that speak to engagement, margin improvement, and growth?
We were very fortunate in that our customers returned to work in the second half of 2020. We saw a tremendous surge in growth in the business, both due to the improvements in the customer experience we invested in – and also due to Fetch’s unique value in providing contactless, self-service vehicle rental.

Core metrics including customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, and revenue per vehicle all increased 200%+ in the second half of 2020.

Adam Steinberg
Co-Founder, Fetch