Tap Q3 2020 Update
Tap has been extremely focused on product development the past few months. COVID has allowed me to focus during quarantine periods with time for deep thinking and strategy.
COVID has had an impact on the implementation of software for dispensers, e.g. public drinking fountains. As public facilities start to reopen we are back in discussions to launch a pilot on a university campus.
In response, in May/June I shifted our focus to the refiller / consumer side of software and product development.
The entire website was just relaunched. Check it out.
We’ve created a go-to-market strategy of a QR code that transforms a water bottle into a “smarter” water bottle to find stations nearby, track hydration and collectively tally plastic reduction.
This has been validated with $150 in revenue and these stickers sell for $4.99.
The margin profile will be in line with software margins as hard costs of a sticker are $0.20-30. Since everyone owns a water bottle, kids in particular love stickers, this item can be sold direct via Facebook/Instagram or wholesale via retailers. With a low burn rate (remote = no office, my salary = $0) and healthy margin profile, there's a chance of getting "ramen profitable" on the capital raised to date should these stickers take off.
Product Development Updates:
Website
Stations are now geofenced, so users must be within 25 meters to suggest an edit, report repair, or review station.
Upcoming business model of a marketplace for water: Users will be able to voluntarily tip $0.50 per refill to support the station, e.g. frontline workers who keep the stations clean. Stations will receive 70%, Tap receives 20%, and 10% goes into a sweepstakes reward program to encourage users to participate.
Set up a Tap Shop which ties together the e-commerce opportunities. Similar to oil, the value of clean water is in extraction.
This will host software, co-branded hardware, and merchandise.
Network
Added 200,000+ stations in July/August, a 5x growth from June.
Network analytics page now links to individual station pages. Leaderboards will link to City Pages, Ambassador Pages, etc.
Built new leaderboards -- for example, out of a total 266,500 stations, that Toronto, Canada is in the lead
Fountain OS
Scanning a Fountain OS QR code will launch an individual station webpage.
In process of finding university launch partners
Drinkware OS
Stickers are available for purchase and start shipping early October.
Whereas apps are expected to be free, a sticker is an extension of identity and is physical, thus we can charge the $4.99 price for a 2inch sticker. Will also create a larger sticker 3-4 inches for [$7.99].
Wholesale opportunity
Water bottle manufacturers (Klean Kanteen, Yeti)
Retailers (REI, Wholefoods)
Gift shops (Airports, National Parks)
Scan to find water nearby is the first feature with a hydration tracker and Lost & Found mode that we will update Over The Air (OTA) in November.
The future
A well known VC and prognosticator, is now public about waiting for a breakout QR code based company in the US. This is exciting because we are two steps ahead.
We have started with Public refill stations intentionally as they will be key to the lowest cost of user acquisition and every single person needs water. TAM = 7.8 billion
The double meaning of “Tap” is both rebranding tap water as a brand name (Kleenex, Xerox) and the verb of tapping one’s phone (Uber, Venmo, Google). QR codes = scan, but NFC = Tap.
Apple has been working with NFC tags that trigger Apple Pay without the need for downloading an app, another trend I identified with our pivot to QR codes early this year.