April 25, 2026 • 45 mins
What happens when coffee meets robotics, convenience meets customization, and the morning drive-through gets rebuilt from scratch?
In this 68th episode of Bald Ambition, Mookie sits down with Rob Whitten and Jane Lo, the founders of p!ng, a startup turning the ordinary caffeine run into something that feels straight out of science fiction. Their fully automated drive-through “Ping Pod” uses AI, robotics, geofencing, and smart design to deliver fresh drinks in under a minute—with no awkward ordering line, no guessing when your drink is ready, and no wasted time.
Rob brings deep engineering and robotics experience from companies like Amazon Robotics and iRobot. Jane brings customer experience, branding, and product strategy expertise. Together, they’ve created a model built around a singular obsession: speed, convenience, quality, and personalization.
You’ll hear how the p!ng app lets users order in advance, arrive whenever they want, and have their drink made only when they approach the location. The system recognizes their arrival, calibrates to their car window height, and serves their drink seamlessly. It’s convenience engineered with precision.
The conversation also gets frothy:
- Why traditional coffee chains are serving one type of customer while ignoring another
- How automation can create new jobs instead of just replacing old ones
- Why affordable franchising could unlock entrepreneurship for everyday people
- How robotics can lower startup costs and scale faster than legacy food models
- Why user behavior, not technology, is often the real barrier to innovation
- How p!ng's future could expand far beyond coffee into snacks, meals, and fully reimagined grab-and-go retail
This episode is a smart, funny, future-facing conversation about where commerce is headed—and how two founders are trying to meet people exactly where they are: tired, busy, in their cars, and wanting something better. If you’ve ever sat in a 20-minute drive-through line wondering why nobody fixed this yet, this episode is for you. And if you've ever wondered how AI and robotics could do more good than harm, give them a listen.
The Guests & Their Startup
Quick survey: Raise your hand if you’re fed up with waiting in long drive-thru lines. After sitting frustrated and annoyed in many coffee shop drive-thru lines with Rob’s three daughters, we knew there had to be a better way. So we built one. With Rob Whitten's experience in robotics and passion for food, and Jane Lo's dedication to creating great customer experiences, our goal is simple: a minimal-wait drive-thru that delivers quality without compromise. We’re opening our first location in Hudson, New Hampshire, with plans to raise the bar for fast, accurate, and genuinely awesome drive-thru experiences nationwide, no matter how many coffees it takes us. We are proud to be a veteran-, woman-, and minority-owned business.
Learn More About p!ng
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:01):
Hello and welcome to the Bald Ambition Podcast.
I'm your still very bald host,Mookie Spits.
And the ones with a whole lot ofambition today are Rob and Jane
from Ping.
unknown (00:16):
Hey, how's it going?
SPEAKER_03 (00:17):
Yep.
We got the hair too, you know,so we can balance out, yeah, and
aggregate.
SPEAKER_02 (00:23):
An immediate advantage.
I'm already jelly.
And I love your concept you guysdescribe for automating, using
AI, using robotics.
Ostensibly the Baristaexperience.
SPEAKER_03 (00:41):
Yeah, it's a fully automated drive-thru experience.
Uh, and this whole thing startedabout three years ago.
I had three teenage daughters uhin high school at the same time.
They made me go through a bunchof drive-throughs, and I have
like Joe Pesci level luck in thedrive-thru.
It's pretty horrible.
Uh, and then one day I waswhinging about having to wait 20
minutes for something that willprobably come out uh wrong.
(01:03):
And uh Jane said, you know,between the two of us, they all
you have all the robotics andtechnical experience, and Jane,
she has all the customerexperience uh background, like
we could totally fix this.
We started looking at it.
Turns out it's a hugeopportunity, so uh we're doing
it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:19):
And you've got a location up and running already.
So you guys aren't just concept.
This isn't smoke and mirrors,you guys are in operation.
Can you tell us the userexperience?
You got an app, they order,people roll up in their car,
they get their drink, turn us onto it.
SPEAKER_00 (01:39):
I mean, that's that's a pretty much it.
We tried to create the least, uhlike the most seamless
experience that you could have.
Like, we want you to wake up,feel it like needing your
caffeine fix, and this is likethe best way to do it.
You feel like Lee feelingvictorious.
Um, so yes, you order on ourapp, and then you just show up
on our site.
We detect who you are.
(01:59):
So you don't have to talk toanyone if you don't want to.
Um, you don't have to scan a QRcode, you just roll up to the
window, and the window willpresent your drinks at exactly
the right height.
Um, we have like a vision systemthat'll measure the height of
your car window so you can justlike easily grab it, whether
you're in a big pickup truck orin your low sports car.
Um, we've never had one drinkspilled as a result.
(02:21):
Uh, and we really try to userobotics and AI to complete an
experience that is less than oneminute.
You're so you're on site,hopefully less than one minute.
SPEAKER_02 (02:30):
As a country, we're ahead of the game in so many
ways and in ways behind.
And one way we're behind is invending machines.
Like I grew up with thosevending machines, you put the
quarters in and then you pullthe thing, and then you get
candy or cigarettes.
And meanwhile, a lot of theworld has really advanced.
Like Japan comes to mind, andthey have automated stores
(02:56):
pretty much in supermarkets.
There's other startups likeRoboBurger, where they're
bringing some of that dynamic,AI-driven, robotically
integrated customer service tobear.
And you guys are cutting theswath from what I can tell in a
unique way that it cuts into,and as you point out, augments
(03:18):
the Starbucks experience.
So, can you share how it'ssimilar and how it's different?
Jane, you just mentioned one bigbenefit.
You don't have to talk toanyone, it it's expeditious, you
don't have to go stand in lineat Starbucks, deal with the
crowds.
And it's all to your point, Rob,like in and out burger here in
(03:39):
California.
You could just roll in and getyour stuff.
How is how is it how are youguys changing the game?
SPEAKER_00 (03:50):
Yeah, so today, basically, like if you went to a
Starbucks or Duncan and youorder on a mobile app, well, you
basically have to time it towhenever they get the drink
ready, right?
They'll give you an ETA.
With our system, you don'tactually you can just like come
whenever you want.
So you we've had customers whoordered the day before and then
they show up and their drink ismade super fresh for them
because we don't make your drinkuntil we you enter our geofense.
(04:13):
Um, we've had moms want to likedrop off their kids, come get
something, or run errands first,come get something.
So it's really up to you whenyou want to get it.
Um, we're using technology tocreate that customer experience
that is completely catered toyou.
Um, and our whole thing, ourwhole mission is speed and
convenience.
Like Starbucks today, they'regoing back to that whole third
(04:34):
place, sit down, they're redoingtheir stores, they got rid of
their express to go stores.
So we're we are looking at adifferent customer segment that
they're not uh addressing today.
And it's a big segment.
SPEAKER_02 (04:49):
Starbucks has always been that in-between place.
That's how they started.
Like on my way to work, I canchill for a little bit.
And then it created a wholeambiance, and it's a physical,
lived experience of in betweencommuting and getting where you
need to go.
So it's kind of like a littlesafe place.
But you're highlighting adifferent customer segment,
(05:12):
which is immediacy,personalization, hyper
convenience with all the AIgoodies plugged into it.
So you describe analyzing howtall your car is.
So presumably, when you getserved, it's accurate.
You mentioned geofencing, soit'll act, it'll know where you
are and activate when you'renearby.
(05:33):
So that's an added orderingconvenience.
And what about the drinksthemselves?
I'm assuming it's automatedinside the little boxes.
There are no gnomes in there orno, it's it's pure magic
features.
SPEAKER_03 (05:48):
If you ever saw Star Trek, it's just like that, it
just magically appears, youknow, real gray hot.
That's all you have to do.
No, it's uh uh inside.
So our pod is about as efficientuh as we can make it.
And so um we made it out of ashipping container and it's a
giant refrigerator.
And so inside there, there arethese two robot work cells, you
(06:08):
know, one behind each window,uh, making the drinks.
And it looks like a giant 3Dprinter for drinks, rail-mounted
systems, you know, moving thecup around underneath a bunch of
dispensers.
Uh, it all happens, you know,pretty quickly, between you know
30 and 60 seconds.
Uh, you know, we can make adrink and we put it out into the
window.
And our goal is to make thatjust before you get there.
So it's nice and fresh, uh, youknow, kind of perfectly timed,
(06:31):
and you can adjust the drink towhatever you want.
Eventually, there's a ton ofcool things that we can do.
Like right now, we're working onthe you know, the basics uh uh
of the experience, buteventually, you know, now you
can take AI and uh dial thewhole menu to your sweetness
level.
You could um, you know, tell ita few things that you like and
it can create new drinks foryou, uh, you know, using you
(06:52):
know just a you know 10different ingredients and
varying amounts that have neverbeen used before.
Or uh the other fun part iswe're putting uh labels on the
side of the cup.
Now we can do an AI-generatedlabel based off of a couple of
prompts uh you know to make itreally personalized for you.
SPEAKER_02 (07:08):
It sounds super fun and it sounds wired into
somebody's lifestyle.
So some people might push backand say, hey, I got a courage at
home, right?
And in your office, especiallycorporate situations, they have
those bigger kind of automatedmachines, right?
To make espresso, latte,americano, and then you go
(07:28):
through the menu manually and itit pumps it out for you.
But it seems like your focus isvery experiential too.
So you got the soccer momdriving, you got people
commuting, they don't want towait and have that in-between
experience of Starbucks.
So you have a nice niche target,which is people who are on the
(07:49):
fly in their cars and want aquick drive-through experience
with a nice fresh customized cupof coffee with extra kudos for
your little label and withpreventative maintenance so it
knows how to serve you and itdoesn't mess up your brew.
Does that sound about right?
That's what you guys are goingfor.
SPEAKER_00 (08:09):
That's right.
And we wanna um we want todeliver high-quality drinks too.
We know that people thinkautomation leads to poor quality
drinks, right?
Like you mentioned the carry,for instance.
And we know that taste iscompletely subjective, so we're
not out here telling anyone thatlike the carry isn't great, but
like we went out there and wesourced the best quality
ingredients that we could findto do this as well.
(08:30):
And not only are we serving uplike traditional coffee shop uh
favorites like your lattes,things like that, we have energy
drinks, teas, lemonades, like wehave a whole category for the
family.
Um, so you can't necessarily getthat out of a Keurig, right?
So, like it's all aboutpersonalization and feeling uh
really appreciated and valued asa customer.
(08:52):
Like everything around theexperience is tailored to you.
SPEAKER_02 (08:55):
And it sounds like you guys are scaling up too.
So now you have a basic menu,you've got one location and
crawl, walk, run, I'm assuming,is a sound business model.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So so what's the current menulike?
How I'm an espresso guy.
When I go to Starbucks, I alwaysdo the triple iced espresso in a
(09:17):
grande cup with a splash of uhskim milk.
That that's how I roll.
That's my thing.
Uh, I know others like theirAmericano, they like their
mochas, they like their flavoreddrinks, and Starbucks has done a
pretty good job at matching menuitem with audience expectation
without it turning into a supplychain disaster, right?
(09:39):
You gotta you gotta balancefeasibility with inventory, with
supply chain, and customerinterest.
So, how'd you guys get thatgolden golden mean out of the
gate?
And what can customers expectnow and as your kiosk experience
evolves?
SPEAKER_00 (09:58):
Yeah, you could do a lot with just a few ingredients.
Um, like put putting togethercoffee shop drinks, sort of like
uh Mexican food.
Like it's all kind of the sameingredients, and you're just in
like different formats.
SPEAKER_02 (10:10):
So that's kind of what we're modular and scalable.
SPEAKER_00 (10:13):
Exactly.
So if we have lemonade, it canbe lemonade with like tea, but
we can also put lemonade in ourenergy drinks, which is somehow
like how people like it.
No, we could also use our likeour the same syrups and energy
drinks as well as yourlemonades, as well as your teas.
So there's a lot of like crossuh like capabilities there that
we so that it can like enhanceand uh make our menu uh like
(10:37):
more attractive to more people.
So we really are trying tomaximize the ingredients that we
can that we have in there.
SPEAKER_02 (10:45):
You mentioned that they're top quality, so you're
differentiating from just the uhR2D2s that people have in their
homes, which is which is whichis cool.
And let me let me bring up somepotential concerns that that
folks obviously do that you guyscan address off the top.
The first one is what happenswith no people around?
(11:06):
What if uh you know the cup'supside down or it spills or it's
the wrong drink?
What what do you do?
What's the backup since uhcustomer service has to be so
indirect?
SPEAKER_00 (11:19):
Yeah, we found that well, we've done tons of
customer testing, by the way,like tons.
Um, and we talk to our customersevery single time.
Um, so we do plan to have a sitehost, uh, in that they'll be
there during peak hours becauseyou do need someone to, you
know, direct people who haven'tdownloaded the app yet to a
specific spot on our site.
And then for people who havealready downloaded, you usher
(11:40):
them through the line quickly.
Um, but you know, just likeanswering pretty typical
questions and um figuring outany queuing issues, things like
that.
So we will have during peakhours a site host.
And we found that even thoughpeople are or oriented to the
speed and convenience, likethat's why they came, sometimes
just like a quick, like humantouch, like they really like
that.
(12:00):
Just this hello.
Um, they love it when youremember things about them.
And we can do that too with AI,but having a human presence is
of course still very necessaryand something we will need.
And that, but we don't need asmany people, we just need that
person to be like a rock star.
SPEAKER_03 (12:18):
Yeah.
And then we can operateovernight and uh you know, we
have a big friendly help buttonbasically by each window, and
then also through the app, youknow, if you're if you drive
away.
SPEAKER_02 (12:27):
Don't panic.
SPEAKER_03 (12:28):
But exactly.
And it's 42, right?
SPEAKER_00 (12:34):
Yeah.
And just make sure that we haveas many channels as possible for
customer service, right?
Today I get texts, I get phonecalls, people uh we just make
sure that in the app, peoplereally understand how they can
reach out to us immediately sothat we can fix any problems
before they leave the site.
Um, we have like two customerservice like parking spots so
that if they aren't happy withsomething, they can park, we can
(12:55):
take care of it right awaybefore they leave.
Um, so we just want to make surethat customer service, but we're
both very accessible and thatthe service is really good.
SPEAKER_02 (13:03):
AI and robotics is a double-edged sword.
So people love them when itbenefits them, and then they
freak out when they sensedisruption, uncertainty, and
even a threat to theirpocketbooks and even jobs.
You guys did a great jobdelineating your positioning as
being distinct from Starbucks,let's say.
(13:26):
It's not the in-between spot.
People who would normally not goto Starbucks anyway would think
of doing a ping stop becauseit's a different kind of market
experience.
It's a different kind ofsegment.
But I'm sure some people areexpressing concerns that you're
taking away barista jobs.
The Starbucks union just had ahuge situation.
(13:50):
They had strikes of employees,they feel their jobs are
threatened, their benefits,their pay.
And now you guys are introducingan AI robotic.
I'm doing air quotes if you'reon audio, replacement for the
barista.
Can you address some of thoseconcerns and calm people down
and show how you're not eatingother people's lunch with your
(14:13):
startup?
SPEAKER_00 (14:14):
Yeah, I think it's a really fair question.
And um, I think that there willthere will always be a need for
baristas.
Absolutely.
Like there are always people whowant to go to their neighborhood
coffee shop or they want to sitdown and work or talk or catch
up with a friend.
That's why we're always gonnaneed baristas.
So I don't we don't think thatum it's necessarily like we're
(14:37):
taking away the jobs, they stillexist.
Uh baristas today are alsoreally stressed because they're
metric on the drive-thru time,right?
And so all they do today is theymake drinks as fast as they can
and get it out, and then theyhave less time to focus on the
customer service aspect, whichis actually what they're really
good at.
Um, so this will help alleviatesome of that as well.
(14:57):
Um, and last of all, like I justthink that uh we don't have as
many baristas on site, but westill will have uh site hosts,
we will have technicians thatcome to the pod and service the
pod, resupply the pod.
There'll be a lot of like supplychain and logistics behind all
of that.
So we still will need to hire alot of people and really
creative people to fill in forstuff.
(15:19):
So um I think that it's notnecessarily taking away jobs,
it's just creating a wholesubset that supports the
robotics and what we have goingon.
SPEAKER_03 (15:28):
And uh, you know, on top of that, our original
business case was to address the30% of line bulb, meaning the
customers that wanted an orderinstalled along line and went
without, they left, you know,because they they just couldn't
wait in that line, right?
So we're really trying toservice the people that aren't
being serviced right now.
Yeah.
But the other really cool partabout this, and it it's my you
(15:50):
know kind of personal passionbecause um I I I like that our
site can actually be um you knowcreated and put into operation
for under 200k of opening, uhpre-opening cost.
And so if you compare that to aDuncan's, you need at least a
million liquid in the bank.
You have to be rich to franchisethe Duncan's.
(16:10):
Whereas we're going to be ableto offer like an affordable
franchise option for otherpeople like us that have some
money, just a lot of motivation.
And now instead of you knowhaving a job and a shop, you
could own it, right?
And you could start with one podand you can grow and grow and
grow.
So I feel like this is like theperfect example of robotics
(16:30):
creating opportunities, uh, youknow, serving us in a way that
uh will allow people to grow,right?
You know, not only you knowprofessionally, but you know,
financially.
Um, and and I I just thinkthat's super exciting.
I I think this is exactly whatrobots should be used for, for
serving us, for you know, beinghelpful in that way and letting
humans do what humans are goodat.
(16:51):
This talking, you know, thatsite post piece where they're
interacting with other people,that sort of thing.
I I I think that's exactly howuh automation should be used.
SPEAKER_00 (16:59):
I think back to when I got my MBA in 2009, and being
a social media manager was not athing.
I'm of course dating myself, butlike it wasn't that thing.
Like nobody, but now there'sthis giant ecosystem of social
media managers and directors,influencers, right?
Like that that did not existbefore.
And I think that that is goingto be true for robotics.
Like, we're just gonna have awhole new ecosystem that people
(17:22):
can participate in.
SPEAKER_02 (17:24):
I totally agree.
There's tons of disruption, anddisruption freaks everyone out,
but with every technologicalquantum leap or milestone,
there's a realignment of humancapital.
And that's happening in AI now.
And you guys illustrate the keybenefits.
So, number one is a almoststrategic shift.
If the lines are shorter atStarbucks or it's not as crowded
(17:46):
because you're taking off theextra, extra burn on that,
baristas will have more time torelate and do the barista thing,
which is what customers want isnot just a cup of coffee, but a
human experience.
And that's endemic for a lot ofAI.
In the corporate world, AI isnow enabling people to do less
grunt work and concentrate onmore customer-facing work, maybe
(18:09):
think more strategically.
Then you have the businessangle.
You're going to be hiring abunch of people, but in
different roles.
So you're not hiring baristas,but you're hiring supply people,
you know, people maintaining andservicing the pods, and even
potentially marketing people,because you have a burgeoning
franchise business.
(18:30):
And that enters the otherbenefit I heard, which is this
is a viable business opportunityto entrepreneurs who might not
have a million to slam down fora Dunkin' Donuts, let alone a
Starbucks, if they even could.
But uh, own your own businessfor uh for one-fifth the capital
(18:53):
expense.
And you guys are built to scale,so it's lock and load, right?
Like Mookie the Podcaster.
All right, I'm gonna roll my401k into ping.
SPEAKER_03 (19:04):
Hey, that sounds great.
SPEAKER_02 (19:06):
So you guys sold me already.
It's it's basically anopportunity to grow with you and
then participate in that kind ofgrowth.
And the growth is kind ofautomated like your business
model.
It's plug and play.
It works here, it'll work here,and then you build up brand
reputation and you do thefranchising thing.
SPEAKER_00 (19:26):
Yes.
I could have put a but better.
That was actually a greatsummation of what we said.
SPEAKER_02 (19:30):
Yeah.
Okay.
And on podcasts, it's goodbecause people are now cooking
and they're driving, and theydon't always hear everything.
So I try to.
I'm like the road runner withthe little sign meet me.
Turn the hood.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So let's look under the hoodnow.
You guys sold me on it.
(19:51):
I'm converting my retirementinto my first ping.
As far as consumers go, itsounds like a really viable
thing.
I'm sure most people listeningand watching would be like, that
would be awesome if I had a pinglike a mile away as an
alternative to pit stopping atStarbucks or or cranking out my
courig at home.
It's a nice kind of middlesolution to that.
(20:12):
Rob, how how did you think ofthis idea?
How'd you partner with Jane?
You've got that AI expertise,and and Jane, you've got your
customer service expertise.
So, how did uh peanut butter andchocolate come together to make
Reese's in this in this idea?
SPEAKER_00 (20:32):
Well, Rob and I actually met uh working together
on the same product developmentteam at Shark Ninja.
We were on the Ninja brandmaking kitchen appliances.
Um we had a small but likemighty team, just really enjoyed
it.
It was super fast-paced, superentrepreneurial.
Uh Rob set the tone.
He's a people leader.
So our the culture of our littleteam was great.
Uh we just really enjoyedworking together, so we knew
(20:53):
that we could.
Um so I think that's what reallyuh drove us.
And then there's the part of itwhere he's the technical founder
and he has all this amazingexperience from iRobot, Amazon
Robotics, um, BAE, like just aton of experience.
And then for me, I'm voice ofcustomer, I'm brand marketing,
product marketing.
Um, we worked on productdevelopment together.
(21:15):
I'm also uh, as you said,customer service as part of the
customer experience.
Um I used to be an analystleading a team of uh customer
experience analysts, and so um Ilend a very different
perspective than Rob, and we'relike the yin and yang of our
company.
So I think it's a good matchup.
Um we really do need more of thecustomer voice whenever we're
(21:36):
developing anything forcustomers.
SPEAKER_03 (21:38):
It's funny, I I brag to other robotics founders that
um that you know I have a chainand they don't because uh, you
know, I I think it's really easyfor robotics to get super
obsessed with the technology andget a little bit lost on what
they should be making, right?
You know, they they don't havethat direct uh line to the
(21:58):
customer, and so.
But with Jane, she she doesn'tcare how hard it is for us to do
technically.
Uh she she just knows like whatshe wants, like the customer to
have access to.
And she's gonna you know put herfoot down until we figure out
how to make it happen.
And she knows how to prioritizewithout you know um getting
obsessed about some cool newrobot or like ooh, lasers, you
(22:21):
know, like that's the kind ofstuff we do all the time.
And and Jane kind of reels usback in.
So yeah, it's it's a greatpartnership and uh um it allows
us to move quickly.
I think we also have this uhsomewhat um uh uh you know
unfair advantage to otherrobotics companies because we're
using our own robots.
We're not we're not trying tomake a robot for somebody else
(22:43):
to try to figure out how to use,and we're not trying to match
their requirements.
We're actually the users, right?
So we're developing systems thatyou know we can make all of
these trade-offs almost in realtime in a lot of ways.
So uh, you know, it just givesus a ton of flexibility in terms
of what we're able to offer andhow quickly we can do that.
SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
I was gonna ask you, it's not like you guys plug in
Amazon robots from thewarehouse, and instead of moving
stuff around and from bin 86C to2912, it's uh they're making
coffee.
But you guys have designed anddeveloped the the ping, what do
you call them?
A ping pod, a ping kiosk?
SPEAKER_03 (23:23):
Ping pod, yeah.
Yep, it's a ping pod with twopodlets inside.
SPEAKER_02 (23:26):
Yeah, ping pod with two podlets inside.
Say that three times reallyfast, and then you get your own,
you get your own franchise.
So you guys have engineered itand built it up from scratch,
pretty much.
SPEAKER_03 (23:40):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I mean, uh you know, we what wedidn't want to do is what a lot
of so so there's other automatedcoffee out there.
So uh sort of my pet peeve ofautomation is when somebody
pulls a human out of a process,drops a six degree of freedom
manipulator, big robot armthat's super expensive in there
with two fingers, and uh youknow says, oh yay, I've
(24:03):
automated it.
It's it's usually not the rightanswer at all, right?
It's usually the right answer,is usually taking a process,
pulling it apart completely, uh,and then putting it back
together in a more efficientway.
And so that's what we've donewith our pod.
And we've also had an eye forscalability and manufacturing.
This thing was basically made togo in a contract manufacturer.
(24:25):
So that's the nice thing, havingscaled a bunch of programs and
things like uh Amazon.
I've seen things operate atscale because once the robotics
becomes boring, it's a logisticsand operations problem that you
have to solve.
And so that's where uh you knowI get to really leverage my
background uh at Amazon.
SPEAKER_02 (24:43):
And and what you mentioned is interesting.
There's often this conflictbetween the engineers, the
technical people, and then thefront-end customer service.
So, to your point, customersdon't really care about what's
going on inside, they just wantthat ideal customer service
experience.
If you go to a movie and yourmind is blown by the CGX, they
(25:05):
don't care how those things wereprogrammed.
They don't care about the workthat went into it, they just
want to be wowed.
And a disconnect that oftenhappens is the engineers get all
obsessed with the details andthe customer service people
don't understand how it works.
And it seems like you two have agood, a good conversation.
SPEAKER_03 (25:25):
Yeah, oh yeah.
No, it definitely it just helpsso much to actually see in real
time your product being used,your your robot or whatever
piece being used, and get directcustomer.
Like I'm talking directly to thecustomer on the site post right
now, right?
So I get to see what ishappening on the other end, and
um, you know, it it driveseverything we do, like uh, you
(25:48):
know, the customer feedback andyou know, the way uh all of that
works is just um it you know,it's right there in front of us,
and we just have to solve theproblems that we see.
We get to do an after-actionreview after every test and just
go through and we're like, oh,this dashboard didn't work quite
the way we want.
So let's do this, this and andthen you know, a couple days
(26:09):
later we have our new dashboard.
And and so, yeah, there'sthere's a lot, there's a lot
that we can do in very realtime, right?
SPEAKER_02 (26:17):
Take us through that experience.
So I know you guys got an app.
Obviously, you're app driven,you're a mobile app with a
physical ping pod with two podsinside.
Uh, take us through thatexperience.
So we're gonna have links in thedescription below for your
website for people to sign up.
I'm assuming you're it lookslike you guys are on the iPhone
(26:40):
iPhone app.
You're you're gonna have theAndroid version soon.
SPEAKER_00 (26:44):
We have one.
SPEAKER_02 (26:45):
I'm just doing you have it already?
SPEAKER_00 (26:47):
Yep, it's out there.
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (26:49):
I was trying to do my homework and I'm behind the
time.
So so what happens here?
They go to the app store,download your stuff, uh, they
start ordering.
Uh, and it's gotta be you haveone location so far.
So where is it and how canpeople start pinging up?
SPEAKER_00 (27:09):
It's in uh uh it's in Hudson, New Hampshire, uh
which is a pretty short drivefrom Mass up to uh Hudson.
Um yeah, you do we have both theiOS, we have the Android, just
down the app, come by, or if youjust want to come by uh when
we're testing with customers, umthen we can help you with the
(27:31):
download uh and take you throughit.
But it's really, really simple.
You can save as many favoritesas you like, and it's a
two-click reorder.
So we have a lot of uh returningcustomers who do that.
Um we made it simple because weonce were trying to reorder
something that Rob enjoyed, andit took 13 clicks on the uh
Starbucks app.
So how do we make this theeasiest experience ever?
(27:52):
So uh we think a lot aboutaccessibility in our mobile app
since it is the digital touchpoint for our customers.
SPEAKER_02 (28:00):
Cool.
So I'm a soccer mom, I don'tlook like one, but let's just
say I am.
And then I got your app on myiPhone or Android, got the
little icon, I click on theping.
And then if I've ordered before,I'll have my favorite.
And then I don't have to specifya time, it sounds like you guys
know when I'm around.
That's a super cool aspect ofthis.
(28:22):
So I know that between 10 andnoon, I'm gonna be in need of
caffeine.
I'm not quite sure when, but ifI do that setup, and presumably
I can even order days inadvance, right?
You guys have a scheduler, andboom, it'll be ready.
And then what exactly happens?
You mentioned geofencing.
So you come in and it recognizeswhen my car is near and it's and
(28:47):
your robots start to do theirthing.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_03 (28:50):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Uh, you share your location, andso when you start getting close,
you we see you on the uhgeofence, so that's a GPS, and
then we have some uh localsensors that help us figure out
exactly where you are in interms of the sequence, you know,
with the other cars, whether ornot two orders are in the same
car.
And so uh, you know, once wehave that all figured out, the
(29:12):
robot makes your drink, servesit in the window.
Like Jane said, you know, the uhAI figures out your your window
height, serves it at the rightheight, you just grab it and go.
No scanning, no waiting, notipping.
SPEAKER_02 (29:24):
That is very cool.
Now, this will bring up umconcern number two.
Concern number one was thedisruption caused by AI.
And you guys had three reallygood answers, including the
franchise one, which was uhwhich was which was enticing.
Um, in this sense, we're talkingabout data privacy and security.
(29:44):
So you guys know where I'm at,because you got to know when I'm
nearby to know the drink.
And then there's all the signupsand data.
So for those types of concerns,what's what's your response?
SPEAKER_00 (29:59):
Yeah, I mean, um we are very, very aware of uh
customer concern over dataprivacy.
We do know when you enter ageofense and when you leave the
geofense, and then when you'reon site, but we don't store any
of that data today.
So um we're not tracking anyone.
Uh we don't uh we don't scrapeuh your license plate, we don't
(30:22):
take images of your face, forexample.
So we're very uh very uh awareof that.
In terms of uh the data, that'sall stored in the cloud.
We use Square as our POS.
And so Square owns all of yourinformation uh in terms of like
the credit card and all thepayment information.
We don't own it, um, so all ofthat is secure.
(30:43):
Um so yeah, we really try tomake sure our customers feel
that they can come without anylike detriment to uh their own
privacy.
SPEAKER_03 (30:53):
Yeah, and you know, so the nice thing about having
worked at Amazon, um otherpeople from Amazon started uh
you know a software company thatuh they they wanted to help
support startups.
That's where we get oursoftware, you know, a lot of our
software work from.
And so um, you know, they have adeep understanding, you know,
from Amazon, you know, how tomake sure we're able to protect
(31:15):
you know the customers' uh dataon the app, how to um, you know,
do all this in in such a waythat it you're you're only
getting tracked when you getclose to the site and you have
an active order.
Uh, you know, nobody else canyou know come in and try to take
that data or do anything withit.
So uh, you know, having allthose protections in place and
also making sure that thesoftware you're loading onto
(31:37):
your phone, you know, that thatapp itself is uh you know in
good shape.
Uh isn't gonna have any malwareor any anything crazy like that.
And then um, you know, also likeuh just the way the app is
structured to make sure um youknow that you know it's actually
the one connecting to a beaconand then sending you the data.
(31:57):
So so all that app uh you knowwork is is just very much uh
structured to protect theprivacy of all of our customers.
And and you know, it's kind offunny because Jane uh will only
download an app when sheabsolutely has to, otherwise it
goes on my phone and even she'sdownloaded.
So that that's gonna saysomething, I think.
Oh, if Jane, if Jane considersyour app safe, then yeah, she
(32:22):
she refuses to download apps,and uh so that's the mindset.
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (32:30):
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say I'm a Luddite, but
I do have an iPhone 10.
That's an old phone.
SPEAKER_02 (32:36):
It's it's still probably they still even let you
use it and the battery isn'tlike at 12% all day long.
SPEAKER_03 (32:45):
It is possibly, but we use it for backward
compatibility for our old like,oh, what about our older users
who use Jane's phone for that?
SPEAKER_02 (32:55):
It's yeah, if they have to relaunch the space
shuttle, they're gonna they'regonna contact Jane to get her to
get her iPhone 10.
Yeah, that's right.
You're you're giving usassurance that your AI and
robotics aren't gonna take overthe world or take our jobs, and
you're assuring us that the datais private, you're using
proprietary safe services, anduh, and also different folks are
(33:21):
handling the data.
So Square is responsible foryour transactions, they've got
their own security situation,and obviously, your app is
available through the iPhonestore and the Android app
marketplace.
So, right on.
It's like uh you're at least assafe as the other apps that
people are already using.
That's right.
(33:41):
So that's good assurance.
SPEAKER_03 (33:43):
And it's pretty rigorous, right?
I don't know if you've evertried to get an app approved by
uh, you know, the app store orGoogle, but it's tough, it's not
easy.
You you have to go through likea series of, you know, there's
security requirements and youknow, performance requirements,
all sorts of things.
So we often have to go throughseveral cycles of making sure
we've met every requirementbefore it's approved.
SPEAKER_02 (34:05):
Yeah, and then you're not you're not sleeping
the night before because if theyreject you and you're not on the
store, then where are they gonnaget you?
SPEAKER_03 (34:13):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (34:15):
Yep.
And how are you guys scaling up?
So you got the one ping pod withthe two pods in there?
Are there gonna be you know moreping pods with lots of pods all
over the place?
And what's the timing look likefor your scale up?
SPEAKER_03 (34:32):
Yeah, yeah, ping, ping, ping, ping, right?
So uh right now we're working onuh you know making this thing
run perfectly.
And uh, you know, it's funny youwhen you first envision
something and exactly how it'sgonna work, um it changes
completely when you get on siteand you start actually operating
and you start serving customers,and we're like, oh, okay, I need
(34:53):
to change that a little bit.
And and you you find all theselittle corner cases like I never
thought to drive through thisbackwards, you know, those sort
of things.
Uh and and so working throughall of you know those
improvements and bug fixes andthat sort of thing, but uh we're
raising uh a seed round prettysoon to go ahead and uh make all
the improvements to the uhhardware design of the pod
(35:15):
because we built one, learned aton of lessons, but uh we really
want to make it much moremanufactual.
Uh, you know, we we learned allthe lessons on on how to put
this thing together and do it ina much more efficient way.
So all that will get rolled in.
We're gonna build three more uhthat the company uh runs
ourselves.
We're gonna get uh ouroperational process down super
smooth.
And so, like I said, when therobotics can become boring, then
(35:38):
it's an operations problem,right?
And logistics.
And so we'll get that runningsmooth.
We uh use a hub and spoke model.
So uh we have one hub that's acommissary, that's where we do
all of our cleaning and uhrefilling of all our containers.
Um, and then you know we bringthem out to the pod, you know,
wipe down the pod and do all thereplacements.
But one of the nice asidebenefits, I don't know if I
(36:00):
mentioned this earlier, but wedon't require uh water pursuer
because we bring all of our ownfiltered water uh to the pod,
and there's no waste becauseeverything goes directly into
the cup.
Uh so it's a very efficient uhsystem overall.
But, anyways, we're we're goingto uh get all those processes
down, and then after that, weplan to scale.
Like this thing is designed togo in a contract manufacturer,
(36:20):
you can crank these things outin a factory, and then uh, you
know, we we love the the um themodel of going out and uh
allowing people to find thesites for us, uh, you know, so
once we have the franchisees,you know, coming to find stuff.
And you'll do this.
Like now that you understand,like, oh, you could use this
little parking lot for a pod,you're gonna be like, oh, I can
(36:40):
put one there, I can put onethere.
You know your town, right?
So you're you're gonna find allthese sites.
Uh you'll know if the town is uhyou know open to this sort of
thing.
Uh that'll bring all the sitesto us and and uh it'll give
people you know opportunitiesand a place for a way for us to
scale very, very quickly.
So I think the next you knowthree to five years is just
super exciting in terms of likewhat we're going to be able to
(37:01):
do and how quickly one of thesewill start showing up in your
own neighborhood.
SPEAKER_02 (37:06):
Well, it sounds scalable, and you beat me to the
punch about investor capital.
So I'm assuming your singlelocation now is your beta test.
So it's live, it's working,you're experimenting, you're
tweaking, and then once you nailit down, then you're able to
replicate and and make it makeit more official.
SPEAKER_00 (37:25):
Exactly right.
SPEAKER_02 (37:26):
And you are taking investor capital.
So if you want, we can put thatlink in the link.
See the link below.
See the link below.
So uh, you know, look at look atit as an opportunity to check it
out at the location, look at itas an opportunity to invest
early, and then down the road,once things become operational,
(37:46):
participate in a franchisepartnership.
Absolutely.
Well, it's a great, it's a it'sa great model, and uh it's a
nice mid mid-range solutionbetween the Starbucks, where you
need to dedicate usually 15-20minutes of your life, whether
whether you settle down into itor not, and then rushing into
(38:08):
the kitchen and popping out acourig or an analogous kind of
kind of little custom coffeeexperience.
The next question is isaspirational in the sense of
what I was hinting at earlierwith the Japanese self-serve
stores and the super deluxevending machines, because not
only are you scalable in termsof these individual pod
(38:30):
locations, but you can expandyour menu and you can get into
other stuff too.
Is that kind of at the back ofyour mind?
Are when you're designing thesethings, are you thinking about
more than just coffee?
I mean, really, the sky's thelimit as we automate and
integrate AI into so manyaspects of our lives, especially
food and drink service.
SPEAKER_03 (38:52):
Oh, yeah.
I mean, it it's not just at theback of it.
It's like raw, like a swirlingaround inside.
And it and we have like thisincredible role because right
after we finish with drinks, wewant to go to package snacks,
convenience items.
I've always been excited.
I'm a foodie.
I even had a food truck, andI've always thought that food
and automation could cometogether in this like crazy cool
(39:15):
way and create these newexperiences for people.
So, oh yeah, we we we have a tonof things that we want to do, a
lot of things that we want tooffer in the future in the very
similar format because wefocused on making sure we have a
great pickup experience.
And so that is our number onefocus here.
You know, coffee and drinks,like they were fairly easy to
automate.
We thought people wouldunderstand, you know, ordering
(39:36):
from an app and driving up to apod and grabbing it, it more so
than like a convenience store.
Uh, so we thought that was theright place to start.
But uh, but yeah, the sky's thelimit.
And the hardest thing for us islike picking what to do first.
You know, it's like, okay, we'vegot to focus.
We gotta get the basic thingdown, and then we can do all of
this, you know, uh cool,expansive stuff.
(39:56):
Because, you know, we it can goall the way from offerings there
to like how you order, like justhey Siri, order my next ping, uh
my favorite ping.
Oh crap, I just set off Siri.
But you know, or or order myfavorite ping uh thing and I'll
stop at the next pot.
SPEAKER_00 (40:10):
I mean, I think that um yeah, from day one we've had
this vision that we could takeit further.
We just want we picked thedrinks because it was it didn't
require any change to customerbehavior.
But yeah, there's a long runwayahead of us, and we reimagined
the whole experience of pickingup a drink in your car.
We were like, why wouldn't wereimagine everything else?
So today, if you got like abreakfast sandwich, you're in
(40:33):
the car, you've picked it up,it's sort of like falling to
pieces, like in your hands.
It's very inconvenient, right?
I've had that happen to me alot.
And we're like, well, why doesit have to be in that shape?
Why does it need to be in thatformat?
So this could be a way forautomation to work makes you a
delicious breakfast sandwich ina way where it's not like
disintegrating all over theplace.
So I think that for everythingwe're envisioning going on in
(40:55):
the future, we can reimagine it,redefine what that experience
is.
SPEAKER_02 (41:01):
And tweak the end product itself as well as the
customer experience.
It's it's kind of cool.
Every every touch point in thetransaction, you can optimize
and you can integrate AI androbotics.
So, really, the sky is the limitin terms of offering that kind
of value.
And an even bigger obstacle, Ithink, and you bring this up,
(41:23):
Jane, and you hinted at this,Rob, too, is not only to get the
tech right, but to get peopleaccustomed to this huge change
in their lifestyle.
Like, look at the development ofevery digital application.
Like, remember Friendster?
SPEAKER_00 (41:38):
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02 (41:40):
What what what happened to that, right?
And and everyone evolved intoFacebook and Twitter, and the
technology was already there.
There was nothing revolutionaryabout it.
It was just getting people tochange their user behaviors,
catch up to the technology.
And your craw crawl walk runworks good for your beta
(42:00):
testing, but it also marketconditions your audience to get
used to the fact that thatAI-driven robots are gonna
prepare a drink, a meal, andprovide products and services.
That's a huge state change forpeople to get acclimated to.
SPEAKER_00 (42:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
Every time a customer comesthrough the first time, even
their second or third time, theyhave their phone out, taking
photos or video or sharing withsomebody.
They brought a friend, forexample.
But once you've got gotten pastthat first or second experience,
the next time it's like, if youknow, you know.
Like our customers come, uh, wehave customers that come almost
(42:35):
every day.
They hardly stop their car,they've got their arms like
stretched out of their window,and they they just like whiz by.
Like, like they've already beenconditioned to accept the new
norm.
Like this is their new norm.
It's like when Amazon uhlaunched Prime, everybody was
getting their packages in weeks,and then Prime was like two
days, and then everyone becameused to it, and that just became
(42:57):
the new norm.
That's really exactly what we'reseeing in our customers today.
SPEAKER_02 (43:04):
It makes sense, and it's exciting.
SPEAKER_00 (43:06):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (43:07):
And then and to your point, the sky's the limit.
It can be really, reallytransformative.
So good good luck to you guys.
This is uh an exciting startupthat is pushing the boundary not
only for technology and the userexperience, but our overall
evolution into a situation whereAI and robotics isn't the enemy,
(43:29):
but they're heighteningconvenience and they're shifting
roles and responsibilities andjobs even in the workforce, and
not necessarily for the worst,but it could even be better.
So you have people doing some ofthe menial stuff that could be
doing other and better things.
And meanwhile, to your primeexample, I mean, toilet paper in
12 hours.
(43:50):
Who would have thought?
And they sell just abouteverything now, and we're we're
used to it.
Yeah, how did we ever livebefore uh Google Maps?
And Amazon Prime.
And if you guys are lucky andsuccessful, then how could we
have ever lived without a nearbyping pod?
SPEAKER_00 (44:10):
I like that.
SPEAKER_02 (44:12):
I'm really hoping to do us.
You guys are great.
Thank you for making time on theBald Ambition podcast.
Like, subscribe, share.
And as we mentioned severaltimes, please check out the
links.
Go to their website, check themout.
They're already operational.
They're also soon to be takingmore investor capital if you
(44:33):
liked what you heard.
And be on the lookout when theygo full franchise so you can get
a piece of the action in a waythat's much more economical than
uh starting your own Dunkin'Donuts or coffee shop with all
the overhead and capital andhassle.
Just plug and play.
And you're not even stealing thelocal water, maybe a little
(44:57):
juice.
That's nothing compared to thedata center, which is across the
street.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (45:06):
We're very efficient.
We have solar panels, it's okay.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (45:10):
Now solar panels, and you got you know hamsters
and habit trails powering therobots.
Jane's out back on a treadmill,you know.
Thanks so much, Rob and Jane.
You guys are awesome.
Best of luck to you with Ping.
SPEAKER_00 (45:25):
Thanks, Muthie.
SPEAKER_02 (45:26):
Thank you very much.
Hello and welcome to the Bald Ambition Podcast.
I'm your still very bald host,Mookie Spits.
And the ones with a whole lot ofambition today are Rob and Jane
from Ping.
unknown (00:16):
Hey, how's it going?
SPEAKER_03 (00:17):
Yep.
We got the hair too, you know,so we can balance out, yeah, and
aggregate.
SPEAKER_02 (00:23):
An immediate advantage.
I'm already jelly.
And I love your concept you guysdescribe for automating, using
AI, using robotics.
Ostensibly the Baristaexperience.
SPEAKER_03 (00:41):
Yeah, it's a fully automated drive-thru experience.
Uh, and this whole thing startedabout three years ago.
I had three teenage daughters uhin high school at the same time.
They made me go through a bunchof drive-throughs, and I have
like Joe Pesci level luck in thedrive-thru.
It's pretty horrible.
Uh, and then one day I waswhinging about having to wait 20
minutes for something that willprobably come out uh wrong.
(01:03):
And uh Jane said, you know,between the two of us, they all
you have all the robotics andtechnical experience, and Jane,
she has all the customerexperience uh background, like
we could totally fix this.
We started looking at it.
Turns out it's a hugeopportunity, so uh we're doing
it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:19):
And you've got a location up and running already.
So you guys aren't just concept.
This isn't smoke and mirrors,you guys are in operation.
Can you tell us the userexperience?
You got an app, they order,people roll up in their car,
they get their drink, turn us onto it.
SPEAKER_00 (01:39):
I mean, that's that's a pretty much it.
We tried to create the least, uhlike the most seamless
experience that you could have.
Like, we want you to wake up,feel it like needing your
caffeine fix, and this is likethe best way to do it.
You feel like Lee feelingvictorious.
Um, so yes, you order on ourapp, and then you just show up
on our site.
We detect who you are.
(01:59):
So you don't have to talk toanyone if you don't want to.
Um, you don't have to scan a QRcode, you just roll up to the
window, and the window willpresent your drinks at exactly
the right height.
Um, we have like a vision systemthat'll measure the height of
your car window so you can justlike easily grab it, whether
you're in a big pickup truck orin your low sports car.
Um, we've never had one drinkspilled as a result.
(02:21):
Uh, and we really try to userobotics and AI to complete an
experience that is less than oneminute.
You're so you're on site,hopefully less than one minute.
SPEAKER_02 (02:30):
As a country, we're ahead of the game in so many
ways and in ways behind.
And one way we're behind is invending machines.
Like I grew up with thosevending machines, you put the
quarters in and then you pullthe thing, and then you get
candy or cigarettes.
And meanwhile, a lot of theworld has really advanced.
Like Japan comes to mind, andthey have automated stores
(02:56):
pretty much in supermarkets.
There's other startups likeRoboBurger, where they're
bringing some of that dynamic,AI-driven, robotically
integrated customer service tobear.
And you guys are cutting theswath from what I can tell in a
unique way that it cuts into,and as you point out, augments
(03:18):
the Starbucks experience.
So, can you share how it'ssimilar and how it's different?
Jane, you just mentioned one bigbenefit.
You don't have to talk toanyone, it it's expeditious, you
don't have to go stand in lineat Starbucks, deal with the
crowds.
And it's all to your point, Rob,like in and out burger here in
(03:39):
California.
You could just roll in and getyour stuff.
How is how is it how are youguys changing the game?
SPEAKER_00 (03:50):
Yeah, so today, basically, like if you went to a
Starbucks or Duncan and youorder on a mobile app, well, you
basically have to time it towhenever they get the drink
ready, right?
They'll give you an ETA.
With our system, you don'tactually you can just like come
whenever you want.
So you we've had customers whoordered the day before and then
they show up and their drink ismade super fresh for them
because we don't make your drinkuntil we you enter our geofense.
(04:13):
Um, we've had moms want to likedrop off their kids, come get
something, or run errands first,come get something.
So it's really up to you whenyou want to get it.
Um, we're using technology tocreate that customer experience
that is completely catered toyou.
Um, and our whole thing, ourwhole mission is speed and
convenience.
Like Starbucks today, they'regoing back to that whole third
(04:34):
place, sit down, they're redoingtheir stores, they got rid of
their express to go stores.
So we're we are looking at adifferent customer segment that
they're not uh addressing today.
And it's a big segment.
SPEAKER_02 (04:49):
Starbucks has always been that in-between place.
That's how they started.
Like on my way to work, I canchill for a little bit.
And then it created a wholeambiance, and it's a physical,
lived experience of in betweencommuting and getting where you
need to go.
So it's kind of like a littlesafe place.
But you're highlighting adifferent customer segment,
(05:12):
which is immediacy,personalization, hyper
convenience with all the AIgoodies plugged into it.
So you describe analyzing howtall your car is.
So presumably, when you getserved, it's accurate.
You mentioned geofencing, soit'll act, it'll know where you
are and activate when you'renearby.
(05:33):
So that's an added orderingconvenience.
And what about the drinksthemselves?
I'm assuming it's automatedinside the little boxes.
There are no gnomes in there orno, it's it's pure magic
features.
SPEAKER_03 (05:48):
If you ever saw Star Trek, it's just like that, it
just magically appears, youknow, real gray hot.
That's all you have to do.
No, it's uh uh inside.
So our pod is about as efficientuh as we can make it.
And so um we made it out of ashipping container and it's a
giant refrigerator.
And so inside there, there arethese two robot work cells, you
(06:08):
know, one behind each window,uh, making the drinks.
And it looks like a giant 3Dprinter for drinks, rail-mounted
systems, you know, moving thecup around underneath a bunch of
dispensers.
Uh, it all happens, you know,pretty quickly, between you know
30 and 60 seconds.
Uh, you know, we can make adrink and we put it out into the
window.
And our goal is to make thatjust before you get there.
So it's nice and fresh, uh, youknow, kind of perfectly timed,
(06:31):
and you can adjust the drink towhatever you want.
Eventually, there's a ton ofcool things that we can do.
Like right now, we're working onthe you know, the basics uh uh
of the experience, buteventually, you know, now you
can take AI and uh dial thewhole menu to your sweetness
level.
You could um, you know, tell ita few things that you like and
it can create new drinks foryou, uh, you know, using you
(06:52):
know just a you know 10different ingredients and
varying amounts that have neverbeen used before.
Or uh the other fun part iswe're putting uh labels on the
side of the cup.
Now we can do an AI-generatedlabel based off of a couple of
prompts uh you know to make itreally personalized for you.
SPEAKER_02 (07:08):
It sounds super fun and it sounds wired into
somebody's lifestyle.
So some people might push backand say, hey, I got a courage at
home, right?
And in your office, especiallycorporate situations, they have
those bigger kind of automatedmachines, right?
To make espresso, latte,americano, and then you go
(07:28):
through the menu manually and itit pumps it out for you.
But it seems like your focus isvery experiential too.
So you got the soccer momdriving, you got people
commuting, they don't want towait and have that in-between
experience of Starbucks.
So you have a nice niche target,which is people who are on the
(07:49):
fly in their cars and want aquick drive-through experience
with a nice fresh customized cupof coffee with extra kudos for
your little label and withpreventative maintenance so it
knows how to serve you and itdoesn't mess up your brew.
Does that sound about right?
That's what you guys are goingfor.
SPEAKER_00 (08:09):
That's right.
And we wanna um we want todeliver high-quality drinks too.
We know that people thinkautomation leads to poor quality
drinks, right?
Like you mentioned the carry,for instance.
And we know that taste iscompletely subjective, so we're
not out here telling anyone thatlike the carry isn't great, but
like we went out there and wesourced the best quality
ingredients that we could findto do this as well.
(08:30):
And not only are we serving uplike traditional coffee shop uh
favorites like your lattes,things like that, we have energy
drinks, teas, lemonades, like wehave a whole category for the
family.
Um, so you can't necessarily getthat out of a Keurig, right?
So, like it's all aboutpersonalization and feeling uh
really appreciated and valued asa customer.
(08:52):
Like everything around theexperience is tailored to you.
SPEAKER_02 (08:55):
And it sounds like you guys are scaling up too.
So now you have a basic menu,you've got one location and
crawl, walk, run, I'm assuming,is a sound business model.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So so what's the current menulike?
How I'm an espresso guy.
When I go to Starbucks, I alwaysdo the triple iced espresso in a
(09:17):
grande cup with a splash of uhskim milk.
That that's how I roll.
That's my thing.
Uh, I know others like theirAmericano, they like their
mochas, they like their flavoreddrinks, and Starbucks has done a
pretty good job at matching menuitem with audience expectation
without it turning into a supplychain disaster, right?
(09:39):
You gotta you gotta balancefeasibility with inventory, with
supply chain, and customerinterest.
So, how'd you guys get thatgolden golden mean out of the
gate?
And what can customers expectnow and as your kiosk experience
evolves?
SPEAKER_00 (09:58):
Yeah, you could do a lot with just a few ingredients.
Um, like put putting togethercoffee shop drinks, sort of like
uh Mexican food.
Like it's all kind of the sameingredients, and you're just in
like different formats.
SPEAKER_02 (10:10):
So that's kind of what we're modular and scalable.
SPEAKER_00 (10:13):
Exactly.
So if we have lemonade, it canbe lemonade with like tea, but
we can also put lemonade in ourenergy drinks, which is somehow
like how people like it.
No, we could also use our likeour the same syrups and energy
drinks as well as yourlemonades, as well as your teas.
So there's a lot of like crossuh like capabilities there that
we so that it can like enhanceand uh make our menu uh like
(10:37):
more attractive to more people.
So we really are trying tomaximize the ingredients that we
can that we have in there.
SPEAKER_02 (10:45):
You mentioned that they're top quality, so you're
differentiating from just the uhR2D2s that people have in their
homes, which is which is whichis cool.
And let me let me bring up somepotential concerns that that
folks obviously do that you guyscan address off the top.
The first one is what happenswith no people around?
(11:06):
What if uh you know the cup'supside down or it spills or it's
the wrong drink?
What what do you do?
What's the backup since uhcustomer service has to be so
indirect?
SPEAKER_00 (11:19):
Yeah, we found that well, we've done tons of
customer testing, by the way,like tons.
Um, and we talk to our customersevery single time.
Um, so we do plan to have a sitehost, uh, in that they'll be
there during peak hours becauseyou do need someone to, you
know, direct people who haven'tdownloaded the app yet to a
specific spot on our site.
And then for people who havealready downloaded, you usher
(11:40):
them through the line quickly.
Um, but you know, just likeanswering pretty typical
questions and um figuring outany queuing issues, things like
that.
So we will have during peakhours a site host.
And we found that even thoughpeople are or oriented to the
speed and convenience, likethat's why they came, sometimes
just like a quick, like humantouch, like they really like
that.
(12:00):
Just this hello.
Um, they love it when youremember things about them.
And we can do that too with AI,but having a human presence is
of course still very necessaryand something we will need.
And that, but we don't need asmany people, we just need that
person to be like a rock star.
SPEAKER_03 (12:18):
Yeah.
And then we can operateovernight and uh you know, we
have a big friendly help buttonbasically by each window, and
then also through the app, youknow, if you're if you drive
away.
SPEAKER_02 (12:27):
Don't panic.
SPEAKER_03 (12:28):
But exactly.
And it's 42, right?
SPEAKER_00 (12:34):
Yeah.
And just make sure that we haveas many channels as possible for
customer service, right?
Today I get texts, I get phonecalls, people uh we just make
sure that in the app, peoplereally understand how they can
reach out to us immediately sothat we can fix any problems
before they leave the site.
Um, we have like two customerservice like parking spots so
that if they aren't happy withsomething, they can park, we can
(12:55):
take care of it right awaybefore they leave.
Um, so we just want to make surethat customer service, but we're
both very accessible and thatthe service is really good.
SPEAKER_02 (13:03):
AI and robotics is a double-edged sword.
So people love them when itbenefits them, and then they
freak out when they sensedisruption, uncertainty, and
even a threat to theirpocketbooks and even jobs.
You guys did a great jobdelineating your positioning as
being distinct from Starbucks,let's say.
(13:26):
It's not the in-between spot.
People who would normally not goto Starbucks anyway would think
of doing a ping stop becauseit's a different kind of market
experience.
It's a different kind ofsegment.
But I'm sure some people areexpressing concerns that you're
taking away barista jobs.
The Starbucks union just had ahuge situation.
(13:50):
They had strikes of employees,they feel their jobs are
threatened, their benefits,their pay.
And now you guys are introducingan AI robotic.
I'm doing air quotes if you'reon audio, replacement for the
barista.
Can you address some of thoseconcerns and calm people down
and show how you're not eatingother people's lunch with your
(14:13):
startup?
SPEAKER_00 (14:14):
Yeah, I think it's a really fair question.
And um, I think that there willthere will always be a need for
baristas.
Absolutely.
Like there are always people whowant to go to their neighborhood
coffee shop or they want to sitdown and work or talk or catch
up with a friend.
That's why we're always gonnaneed baristas.
So I don't we don't think thatum it's necessarily like we're
(14:37):
taking away the jobs, they stillexist.
Uh baristas today are alsoreally stressed because they're
metric on the drive-thru time,right?
And so all they do today is theymake drinks as fast as they can
and get it out, and then theyhave less time to focus on the
customer service aspect, whichis actually what they're really
good at.
Um, so this will help alleviatesome of that as well.
(14:57):
Um, and last of all, like I justthink that uh we don't have as
many baristas on site, but westill will have uh site hosts,
we will have technicians thatcome to the pod and service the
pod, resupply the pod.
There'll be a lot of like supplychain and logistics behind all
of that.
So we still will need to hire alot of people and really
creative people to fill in forstuff.
(15:19):
So um I think that it's notnecessarily taking away jobs,
it's just creating a wholesubset that supports the
robotics and what we have goingon.
SPEAKER_03 (15:28):
And uh, you know, on top of that, our original
business case was to address the30% of line bulb, meaning the
customers that wanted an orderinstalled along line and went
without, they left, you know,because they they just couldn't
wait in that line, right?
So we're really trying toservice the people that aren't
being serviced right now.
Yeah.
But the other really cool partabout this, and it it's my you
(15:50):
know kind of personal passionbecause um I I I like that our
site can actually be um you knowcreated and put into operation
for under 200k of opening, uhpre-opening cost.
And so if you compare that to aDuncan's, you need at least a
million liquid in the bank.
You have to be rich to franchisethe Duncan's.
(16:10):
Whereas we're going to be ableto offer like an affordable
franchise option for otherpeople like us that have some
money, just a lot of motivation.
And now instead of you knowhaving a job and a shop, you
could own it, right?
And you could start with one podand you can grow and grow and
grow.
So I feel like this is like theperfect example of robotics
(16:30):
creating opportunities, uh, youknow, serving us in a way that
uh will allow people to grow,right?
You know, not only you knowprofessionally, but you know,
financially.
Um, and and I I just thinkthat's super exciting.
I I think this is exactly whatrobots should be used for, for
serving us, for you know, beinghelpful in that way and letting
humans do what humans are goodat.
(16:51):
This talking, you know, thatsite post piece where they're
interacting with other people,that sort of thing.
I I I think that's exactly howuh automation should be used.
SPEAKER_00 (16:59):
I think back to when I got my MBA in 2009, and being
a social media manager was not athing.
I'm of course dating myself, butlike it wasn't that thing.
Like nobody, but now there'sthis giant ecosystem of social
media managers and directors,influencers, right?
Like that that did not existbefore.
And I think that that is goingto be true for robotics.
Like, we're just gonna have awhole new ecosystem that people
(17:22):
can participate in.
SPEAKER_02 (17:24):
I totally agree.
There's tons of disruption, anddisruption freaks everyone out,
but with every technologicalquantum leap or milestone,
there's a realignment of humancapital.
And that's happening in AI now.
And you guys illustrate the keybenefits.
So, number one is a almoststrategic shift.
If the lines are shorter atStarbucks or it's not as crowded
(17:46):
because you're taking off theextra, extra burn on that,
baristas will have more time torelate and do the barista thing,
which is what customers want isnot just a cup of coffee, but a
human experience.
And that's endemic for a lot ofAI.
In the corporate world, AI isnow enabling people to do less
grunt work and concentrate onmore customer-facing work, maybe
(18:09):
think more strategically.
Then you have the businessangle.
You're going to be hiring abunch of people, but in
different roles.
So you're not hiring baristas,but you're hiring supply people,
you know, people maintaining andservicing the pods, and even
potentially marketing people,because you have a burgeoning
franchise business.
(18:30):
And that enters the otherbenefit I heard, which is this
is a viable business opportunityto entrepreneurs who might not
have a million to slam down fora Dunkin' Donuts, let alone a
Starbucks, if they even could.
But uh, own your own businessfor uh for one-fifth the capital
(18:53):
expense.
And you guys are built to scale,so it's lock and load, right?
Like Mookie the Podcaster.
All right, I'm gonna roll my401k into ping.
SPEAKER_03 (19:04):
Hey, that sounds great.
SPEAKER_02 (19:06):
So you guys sold me already.
It's it's basically anopportunity to grow with you and
then participate in that kind ofgrowth.
And the growth is kind ofautomated like your business
model.
It's plug and play.
It works here, it'll work here,and then you build up brand
reputation and you do thefranchising thing.
SPEAKER_00 (19:26):
Yes.
I could have put a but better.
That was actually a greatsummation of what we said.
SPEAKER_02 (19:30):
Yeah.
Okay.
And on podcasts, it's goodbecause people are now cooking
and they're driving, and theydon't always hear everything.
So I try to.
I'm like the road runner withthe little sign meet me.
Turn the hood.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So let's look under the hoodnow.
You guys sold me on it.
(19:51):
I'm converting my retirementinto my first ping.
As far as consumers go, itsounds like a really viable
thing.
I'm sure most people listeningand watching would be like, that
would be awesome if I had a pinglike a mile away as an
alternative to pit stopping atStarbucks or or cranking out my
courig at home.
It's a nice kind of middlesolution to that.
(20:12):
Rob, how how did you think ofthis idea?
How'd you partner with Jane?
You've got that AI expertise,and and Jane, you've got your
customer service expertise.
So, how did uh peanut butter andchocolate come together to make
Reese's in this in this idea?
SPEAKER_00 (20:32):
Well, Rob and I actually met uh working together
on the same product developmentteam at Shark Ninja.
We were on the Ninja brandmaking kitchen appliances.
Um we had a small but likemighty team, just really enjoyed
it.
It was super fast-paced, superentrepreneurial.
Uh Rob set the tone.
He's a people leader.
So our the culture of our littleteam was great.
Uh we just really enjoyedworking together, so we knew
(20:53):
that we could.
Um so I think that's what reallyuh drove us.
And then there's the part of itwhere he's the technical founder
and he has all this amazingexperience from iRobot, Amazon
Robotics, um, BAE, like just aton of experience.
And then for me, I'm voice ofcustomer, I'm brand marketing,
product marketing.
Um, we worked on productdevelopment together.
(21:15):
I'm also uh, as you said,customer service as part of the
customer experience.
Um I used to be an analystleading a team of uh customer
experience analysts, and so um Ilend a very different
perspective than Rob, and we'relike the yin and yang of our
company.
So I think it's a good matchup.
Um we really do need more of thecustomer voice whenever we're
(21:36):
developing anything forcustomers.
SPEAKER_03 (21:38):
It's funny, I I brag to other robotics founders that
um that you know I have a chainand they don't because uh, you
know, I I think it's really easyfor robotics to get super
obsessed with the technology andget a little bit lost on what
they should be making, right?
You know, they they don't havethat direct uh line to the
(21:58):
customer, and so.
But with Jane, she she doesn'tcare how hard it is for us to do
technically.
Uh she she just knows like whatshe wants, like the customer to
have access to.
And she's gonna you know put herfoot down until we figure out
how to make it happen.
And she knows how to prioritizewithout you know um getting
obsessed about some cool newrobot or like ooh, lasers, you
(22:21):
know, like that's the kind ofstuff we do all the time.
And and Jane kind of reels usback in.
So yeah, it's it's a greatpartnership and uh um it allows
us to move quickly.
I think we also have this uhsomewhat um uh uh you know
unfair advantage to otherrobotics companies because we're
using our own robots.
We're not we're not trying tomake a robot for somebody else
(22:43):
to try to figure out how to use,and we're not trying to match
their requirements.
We're actually the users, right?
So we're developing systems thatyou know we can make all of
these trade-offs almost in realtime in a lot of ways.
So uh, you know, it just givesus a ton of flexibility in terms
of what we're able to offer andhow quickly we can do that.
SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
I was gonna ask you, it's not like you guys plug in
Amazon robots from thewarehouse, and instead of moving
stuff around and from bin 86C to2912, it's uh they're making
coffee.
But you guys have designed anddeveloped the the ping, what do
you call them?
A ping pod, a ping kiosk?
SPEAKER_03 (23:23):
Ping pod, yeah.
Yep, it's a ping pod with twopodlets inside.
SPEAKER_02 (23:26):
Yeah, ping pod with two podlets inside.
Say that three times reallyfast, and then you get your own,
you get your own franchise.
So you guys have engineered itand built it up from scratch,
pretty much.
SPEAKER_03 (23:40):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I mean, uh you know, we what wedidn't want to do is what a lot
of so so there's other automatedcoffee out there.
So uh sort of my pet peeve ofautomation is when somebody
pulls a human out of a process,drops a six degree of freedom
manipulator, big robot armthat's super expensive in there
with two fingers, and uh youknow says, oh yay, I've
(24:03):
automated it.
It's it's usually not the rightanswer at all, right?
It's usually the right answer,is usually taking a process,
pulling it apart completely, uh,and then putting it back
together in a more efficientway.
And so that's what we've donewith our pod.
And we've also had an eye forscalability and manufacturing.
This thing was basically made togo in a contract manufacturer.
(24:25):
So that's the nice thing, havingscaled a bunch of programs and
things like uh Amazon.
I've seen things operate atscale because once the robotics
becomes boring, it's a logisticsand operations problem that you
have to solve.
And so that's where uh you knowI get to really leverage my
background uh at Amazon.
SPEAKER_02 (24:43):
And and what you mentioned is interesting.
There's often this conflictbetween the engineers, the
technical people, and then thefront-end customer service.
So, to your point, customersdon't really care about what's
going on inside, they just wantthat ideal customer service
experience.
If you go to a movie and yourmind is blown by the CGX, they
(25:05):
don't care how those things wereprogrammed.
They don't care about the workthat went into it, they just
want to be wowed.
And a disconnect that oftenhappens is the engineers get all
obsessed with the details andthe customer service people
don't understand how it works.
And it seems like you two have agood, a good conversation.
SPEAKER_03 (25:25):
Yeah, oh yeah.
No, it definitely it just helpsso much to actually see in real
time your product being used,your your robot or whatever
piece being used, and get directcustomer.
Like I'm talking directly to thecustomer on the site post right
now, right?
So I get to see what ishappening on the other end, and
um, you know, it it driveseverything we do, like uh, you
(25:48):
know, the customer feedback andyou know, the way uh all of that
works is just um it you know,it's right there in front of us,
and we just have to solve theproblems that we see.
We get to do an after-actionreview after every test and just
go through and we're like, oh,this dashboard didn't work quite
the way we want.
So let's do this, this and andthen you know, a couple days
(26:09):
later we have our new dashboard.
And and so, yeah, there'sthere's a lot, there's a lot
that we can do in very realtime, right?
SPEAKER_02 (26:17):
Take us through that experience.
So I know you guys got an app.
Obviously, you're app driven,you're a mobile app with a
physical ping pod with two podsinside.
Uh, take us through thatexperience.
So we're gonna have links in thedescription below for your
website for people to sign up.
I'm assuming you're it lookslike you guys are on the iPhone
(26:40):
iPhone app.
You're you're gonna have theAndroid version soon.
SPEAKER_00 (26:44):
We have one.
SPEAKER_02 (26:45):
I'm just doing you have it already?
SPEAKER_00 (26:47):
Yep, it's out there.
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (26:49):
I was trying to do my homework and I'm behind the
time.
So so what happens here?
They go to the app store,download your stuff, uh, they
start ordering.
Uh, and it's gotta be you haveone location so far.
So where is it and how canpeople start pinging up?
SPEAKER_00 (27:09):
It's in uh uh it's in Hudson, New Hampshire, uh
which is a pretty short drivefrom Mass up to uh Hudson.
Um yeah, you do we have both theiOS, we have the Android, just
down the app, come by, or if youjust want to come by uh when
we're testing with customers, umthen we can help you with the
(27:31):
download uh and take you throughit.
But it's really, really simple.
You can save as many favoritesas you like, and it's a
two-click reorder.
So we have a lot of uh returningcustomers who do that.
Um we made it simple because weonce were trying to reorder
something that Rob enjoyed, andit took 13 clicks on the uh
Starbucks app.
So how do we make this theeasiest experience ever?
(27:52):
So uh we think a lot aboutaccessibility in our mobile app
since it is the digital touchpoint for our customers.
SPEAKER_02 (28:00):
Cool.
So I'm a soccer mom, I don'tlook like one, but let's just
say I am.
And then I got your app on myiPhone or Android, got the
little icon, I click on theping.
And then if I've ordered before,I'll have my favorite.
And then I don't have to specifya time, it sounds like you guys
know when I'm around.
That's a super cool aspect ofthis.
(28:22):
So I know that between 10 andnoon, I'm gonna be in need of
caffeine.
I'm not quite sure when, but ifI do that setup, and presumably
I can even order days inadvance, right?
You guys have a scheduler, andboom, it'll be ready.
And then what exactly happens?
You mentioned geofencing.
So you come in and it recognizeswhen my car is near and it's and
(28:47):
your robots start to do theirthing.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_03 (28:50):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Uh, you share your location, andso when you start getting close,
you we see you on the uhgeofence, so that's a GPS, and
then we have some uh localsensors that help us figure out
exactly where you are in interms of the sequence, you know,
with the other cars, whether ornot two orders are in the same
car.
And so uh, you know, once wehave that all figured out, the
(29:12):
robot makes your drink, servesit in the window.
Like Jane said, you know, the uhAI figures out your your window
height, serves it at the rightheight, you just grab it and go.
No scanning, no waiting, notipping.
SPEAKER_02 (29:24):
That is very cool.
Now, this will bring up umconcern number two.
Concern number one was thedisruption caused by AI.
And you guys had three reallygood answers, including the
franchise one, which was uhwhich was which was enticing.
Um, in this sense, we're talkingabout data privacy and security.
(29:44):
So you guys know where I'm at,because you got to know when I'm
nearby to know the drink.
And then there's all the signupsand data.
So for those types of concerns,what's what's your response?
SPEAKER_00 (29:59):
Yeah, I mean, um we are very, very aware of uh
customer concern over dataprivacy.
We do know when you enter ageofense and when you leave the
geofense, and then when you'reon site, but we don't store any
of that data today.
So um we're not tracking anyone.
Uh we don't uh we don't scrapeuh your license plate, we don't
(30:22):
take images of your face, forexample.
So we're very uh very uh awareof that.
In terms of uh the data, that'sall stored in the cloud.
We use Square as our POS.
And so Square owns all of yourinformation uh in terms of like
the credit card and all thepayment information.
We don't own it, um, so all ofthat is secure.
(30:43):
Um so yeah, we really try tomake sure our customers feel
that they can come without anylike detriment to uh their own
privacy.
SPEAKER_03 (30:53):
Yeah, and you know, so the nice thing about having
worked at Amazon, um otherpeople from Amazon started uh
you know a software company thatuh they they wanted to help
support startups.
That's where we get oursoftware, you know, a lot of our
software work from.
And so um, you know, they have adeep understanding, you know,
from Amazon, you know, how tomake sure we're able to protect
(31:15):
you know the customers' uh dataon the app, how to um, you know,
do all this in in such a waythat it you're you're only
getting tracked when you getclose to the site and you have
an active order.
Uh, you know, nobody else canyou know come in and try to take
that data or do anything withit.
So uh, you know, having allthose protections in place and
also making sure that thesoftware you're loading onto
(31:37):
your phone, you know, that thatapp itself is uh you know in
good shape.
Uh isn't gonna have any malwareor any anything crazy like that.
And then um, you know, also likeuh just the way the app is
structured to make sure um youknow that you know it's actually
the one connecting to a beaconand then sending you the data.
(31:57):
So so all that app uh you knowwork is is just very much uh
structured to protect theprivacy of all of our customers.
And and you know, it's kind offunny because Jane uh will only
download an app when sheabsolutely has to, otherwise it
goes on my phone and even she'sdownloaded.
So that that's gonna saysomething, I think.
Oh, if Jane, if Jane considersyour app safe, then yeah, she
(32:22):
she refuses to download apps,and uh so that's the mindset.
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (32:30):
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say I'm a Luddite, but
I do have an iPhone 10.
That's an old phone.
SPEAKER_02 (32:36):
It's it's still probably they still even let you
use it and the battery isn'tlike at 12% all day long.
SPEAKER_03 (32:45):
It is possibly, but we use it for backward
compatibility for our old like,oh, what about our older users
who use Jane's phone for that?
SPEAKER_02 (32:55):
It's yeah, if they have to relaunch the space
shuttle, they're gonna they'regonna contact Jane to get her to
get her iPhone 10.
Yeah, that's right.
You're you're giving usassurance that your AI and
robotics aren't gonna take overthe world or take our jobs, and
you're assuring us that the datais private, you're using
proprietary safe services, anduh, and also different folks are
(33:21):
handling the data.
So Square is responsible foryour transactions, they've got
their own security situation,and obviously, your app is
available through the iPhonestore and the Android app
marketplace.
So, right on.
It's like uh you're at least assafe as the other apps that
people are already using.
That's right.
(33:41):
So that's good assurance.
SPEAKER_03 (33:43):
And it's pretty rigorous, right?
I don't know if you've evertried to get an app approved by
uh, you know, the app store orGoogle, but it's tough, it's not
easy.
You you have to go through likea series of, you know, there's
security requirements and youknow, performance requirements,
all sorts of things.
So we often have to go throughseveral cycles of making sure
we've met every requirementbefore it's approved.
SPEAKER_02 (34:05):
Yeah, and then you're not you're not sleeping
the night before because if theyreject you and you're not on the
store, then where are they gonnaget you?
SPEAKER_03 (34:13):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (34:15):
Yep.
And how are you guys scaling up?
So you got the one ping pod withthe two pods in there?
Are there gonna be you know moreping pods with lots of pods all
over the place?
And what's the timing look likefor your scale up?
SPEAKER_03 (34:32):
Yeah, yeah, ping, ping, ping, ping, right?
So uh right now we're working onuh you know making this thing
run perfectly.
And uh, you know, it's funny youwhen you first envision
something and exactly how it'sgonna work, um it changes
completely when you get on siteand you start actually operating
and you start serving customers,and we're like, oh, okay, I need
(34:53):
to change that a little bit.
And and you you find all theselittle corner cases like I never
thought to drive through thisbackwards, you know, those sort
of things.
Uh and and so working throughall of you know those
improvements and bug fixes andthat sort of thing, but uh we're
raising uh a seed round prettysoon to go ahead and uh make all
the improvements to the uhhardware design of the pod
(35:15):
because we built one, learned aton of lessons, but uh we really
want to make it much moremanufactual.
Uh, you know, we we learned allthe lessons on on how to put
this thing together and do it ina much more efficient way.
So all that will get rolled in.
We're gonna build three more uhthat the company uh runs
ourselves.
We're gonna get uh ouroperational process down super
smooth.
And so, like I said, when therobotics can become boring, then
(35:38):
it's an operations problem,right?
And logistics.
And so we'll get that runningsmooth.
We uh use a hub and spoke model.
So uh we have one hub that's acommissary, that's where we do
all of our cleaning and uhrefilling of all our containers.
Um, and then you know we bringthem out to the pod, you know,
wipe down the pod and do all thereplacements.
But one of the nice asidebenefits, I don't know if I
(36:00):
mentioned this earlier, but wedon't require uh water pursuer
because we bring all of our ownfiltered water uh to the pod,
and there's no waste becauseeverything goes directly into
the cup.
Uh so it's a very efficient uhsystem overall.
But, anyways, we're we're goingto uh get all those processes
down, and then after that, weplan to scale.
Like this thing is designed togo in a contract manufacturer,
(36:20):
you can crank these things outin a factory, and then uh, you
know, we we love the the um themodel of going out and uh
allowing people to find thesites for us, uh, you know, so
once we have the franchisees,you know, coming to find stuff.
And you'll do this.
Like now that you understand,like, oh, you could use this
little parking lot for a pod,you're gonna be like, oh, I can
(36:40):
put one there, I can put onethere.
You know your town, right?
So you're you're gonna find allthese sites.
Uh you'll know if the town is uhyou know open to this sort of
thing.
Uh that'll bring all the sitesto us and and uh it'll give
people you know opportunitiesand a place for a way for us to
scale very, very quickly.
So I think the next you knowthree to five years is just
super exciting in terms of likewhat we're going to be able to
(37:01):
do and how quickly one of thesewill start showing up in your
own neighborhood.
SPEAKER_02 (37:06):
Well, it sounds scalable, and you beat me to the
punch about investor capital.
So I'm assuming your singlelocation now is your beta test.
So it's live, it's working,you're experimenting, you're
tweaking, and then once you nailit down, then you're able to
replicate and and make it makeit more official.
SPEAKER_00 (37:25):
Exactly right.
SPEAKER_02 (37:26):
And you are taking investor capital.
So if you want, we can put thatlink in the link.
See the link below.
See the link below.
So uh, you know, look at look atit as an opportunity to check it
out at the location, look at itas an opportunity to invest
early, and then down the road,once things become operational,
(37:46):
participate in a franchisepartnership.
Absolutely.
Well, it's a great, it's a it'sa great model, and uh it's a
nice mid mid-range solutionbetween the Starbucks, where you
need to dedicate usually 15-20minutes of your life, whether
whether you settle down into itor not, and then rushing into
(38:08):
the kitchen and popping out acourig or an analogous kind of
kind of little custom coffeeexperience.
The next question is isaspirational in the sense of
what I was hinting at earlierwith the Japanese self-serve
stores and the super deluxevending machines, because not
only are you scalable in termsof these individual pod
(38:30):
locations, but you can expandyour menu and you can get into
other stuff too.
Is that kind of at the back ofyour mind?
Are when you're designing thesethings, are you thinking about
more than just coffee?
I mean, really, the sky's thelimit as we automate and
integrate AI into so manyaspects of our lives, especially
food and drink service.
SPEAKER_03 (38:52):
Oh, yeah.
I mean, it it's not just at theback of it.
It's like raw, like a swirlingaround inside.
And it and we have like thisincredible role because right
after we finish with drinks, wewant to go to package snacks,
convenience items.
I've always been excited.
I'm a foodie.
I even had a food truck, andI've always thought that food
and automation could cometogether in this like crazy cool
(39:15):
way and create these newexperiences for people.
So, oh yeah, we we we have a tonof things that we want to do, a
lot of things that we want tooffer in the future in the very
similar format because wefocused on making sure we have a
great pickup experience.
And so that is our number onefocus here.
You know, coffee and drinks,like they were fairly easy to
automate.
We thought people wouldunderstand, you know, ordering
(39:36):
from an app and driving up to apod and grabbing it, it more so
than like a convenience store.
Uh, so we thought that was theright place to start.
But uh, but yeah, the sky's thelimit.
And the hardest thing for us islike picking what to do first.
You know, it's like, okay, we'vegot to focus.
We gotta get the basic thingdown, and then we can do all of
this, you know, uh cool,expansive stuff.
(39:56):
Because, you know, we it can goall the way from offerings there
to like how you order, like justhey Siri, order my next ping, uh
my favorite ping.
Oh crap, I just set off Siri.
But you know, or or order myfavorite ping uh thing and I'll
stop at the next pot.
SPEAKER_00 (40:10):
I mean, I think that um yeah, from day one we've had
this vision that we could takeit further.
We just want we picked thedrinks because it was it didn't
require any change to customerbehavior.
But yeah, there's a long runwayahead of us, and we reimagined
the whole experience of pickingup a drink in your car.
We were like, why wouldn't wereimagine everything else?
So today, if you got like abreakfast sandwich, you're in
(40:33):
the car, you've picked it up,it's sort of like falling to
pieces, like in your hands.
It's very inconvenient, right?
I've had that happen to me alot.
And we're like, well, why doesit have to be in that shape?
Why does it need to be in thatformat?
So this could be a way forautomation to work makes you a
delicious breakfast sandwich ina way where it's not like
disintegrating all over theplace.
So I think that for everythingwe're envisioning going on in
(40:55):
the future, we can reimagine it,redefine what that experience
is.
SPEAKER_02 (41:01):
And tweak the end product itself as well as the
customer experience.
It's it's kind of cool.
Every every touch point in thetransaction, you can optimize
and you can integrate AI androbotics.
So, really, the sky is the limitin terms of offering that kind
of value.
And an even bigger obstacle, Ithink, and you bring this up,
(41:23):
Jane, and you hinted at this,Rob, too, is not only to get the
tech right, but to get peopleaccustomed to this huge change
in their lifestyle.
Like, look at the development ofevery digital application.
Like, remember Friendster?
SPEAKER_00 (41:38):
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02 (41:40):
What what what happened to that, right?
And and everyone evolved intoFacebook and Twitter, and the
technology was already there.
There was nothing revolutionaryabout it.
It was just getting people tochange their user behaviors,
catch up to the technology.
And your craw crawl walk runworks good for your beta
(42:00):
testing, but it also marketconditions your audience to get
used to the fact that thatAI-driven robots are gonna
prepare a drink, a meal, andprovide products and services.
That's a huge state change forpeople to get acclimated to.
SPEAKER_00 (42:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
Every time a customer comesthrough the first time, even
their second or third time, theyhave their phone out, taking
photos or video or sharing withsomebody.
They brought a friend, forexample.
But once you've got gotten pastthat first or second experience,
the next time it's like, if youknow, you know.
Like our customers come, uh, wehave customers that come almost
(42:35):
every day.
They hardly stop their car,they've got their arms like
stretched out of their window,and they they just like whiz by.
Like, like they've already beenconditioned to accept the new
norm.
Like this is their new norm.
It's like when Amazon uhlaunched Prime, everybody was
getting their packages in weeks,and then Prime was like two
days, and then everyone becameused to it, and that just became
(42:57):
the new norm.
That's really exactly what we'reseeing in our customers today.
SPEAKER_02 (43:04):
It makes sense, and it's exciting.
SPEAKER_00 (43:06):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (43:07):
And then and to your point, the sky's the limit.
It can be really, reallytransformative.
So good good luck to you guys.
This is uh an exciting startupthat is pushing the boundary not
only for technology and the userexperience, but our overall
evolution into a situation whereAI and robotics isn't the enemy,
(43:29):
but they're heighteningconvenience and they're shifting
roles and responsibilities andjobs even in the workforce, and
not necessarily for the worst,but it could even be better.
So you have people doing some ofthe menial stuff that could be
doing other and better things.
And meanwhile, to your primeexample, I mean, toilet paper in
12 hours.
(43:50):
Who would have thought?
And they sell just abouteverything now, and we're we're
used to it.
Yeah, how did we ever livebefore uh Google Maps?
And Amazon Prime.
And if you guys are lucky andsuccessful, then how could we
have ever lived without a nearbyping pod?
SPEAKER_00 (44:10):
I like that.
SPEAKER_02 (44:12):
I'm really hoping to do us.
You guys are great.
Thank you for making time on theBald Ambition podcast.
Like, subscribe, share.
And as we mentioned severaltimes, please check out the
links.
Go to their website, check themout.
They're already operational.
They're also soon to be takingmore investor capital if you
(44:33):
liked what you heard.
And be on the lookout when theygo full franchise so you can get
a piece of the action in a waythat's much more economical than
uh starting your own Dunkin'Donuts or coffee shop with all
the overhead and capital andhassle.
Just plug and play.
And you're not even stealing thelocal water, maybe a little
(44:57):
juice.
That's nothing compared to thedata center, which is across the
street.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (45:06):
We're very efficient.
We have solar panels, it's okay.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (45:10):
Now solar panels, and you got you know hamsters
and habit trails powering therobots.
Jane's out back on a treadmill,you know.
Thanks so much, Rob and Jane.
You guys are awesome.
Best of luck to you with Ping.
SPEAKER_00 (45:25):
Thanks, Muthie.
SPEAKER_02 (45:26):
Thank you very much.
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