# Shotgun — Working Session Transcript

**Date:** May 7, 2026
**Project:** Shotgun — designated-driver app concept
**Tagline:** Your car. Your driver. Your way home.

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## Session summary

A working session to develop a startup concept: a designated-driver app where the driver drives the customer's own car (not theirs) — solving the "drove to the bar / shouldn't drive home / car stuck overnight" problem. Output is a complete seed-stage package across five artifacts.

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## Original idea (Jeffrey)

> friends app idea. lets make it. app idea is a driver app where rather than providing a ride via someone else's car, like uber, etc, they provide a driver for YOUR car (ie coming home from bar... need car in morning)

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## Clarifying questions answered

- **Deliverable scope:** Develop ALL of pitch deck, working prototype mockup, business plan + model, brand + landing page
- **Target customer:** ALL four segments — bar/nightlife, post-medical/DUI/elderly, long-distance/road trips, everyday errands/chauffeur
- **Geographic scope:** Open / not sure yet — recommended single-city pilot in Austin, TX

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## Decisions locked in this session

**Brand & positioning**

- **Name:** Shotgun
- **Tagline:** Your car. Your driver. Your way home.
- **Sub-tagline:** We drive your car. You ride shotgun.
- **Color palette:** Midnight navy (#0A1733), warm amber (#F4B33C) — evokes headlight glow at night, premium feel
- **Visual motif:** Round headlight glow, simple line car silhouette

**Product**

- Service tiers: Standard (one-way flat), By the Hour ($45/hr, 2-hr min), Long-haul ($0.95/mi, 100-mi min)
- Driver logistics: foldable e-scooter (replaces chase car) — driver scoots to pickup, folds scooter into trunk, drives customer home, scoots to next job
- Trust mechanics: VIN scan + 4 photos + insurance window activation + spoken PIN handoff before driver can move the car

**Business model**

- Marketplace, ~32% take rate (vs. Uber's ~28%) — justified because driver brings no vehicle so absolute pay can be lower while % is competitive
- Driver pay: 68% of fare + tips
- Per-trip economics at maturity: $60.68 blended fare, $13.28 contribution margin (21.9%)
- Insurance: $1.85/trip via custom commercial-auto policy on top of rider's personal insurance during active trip window

**Go-to-market**

- Single-city pilot in Austin (dense bar district, favorable insurance regulator, strong rideshare-driver supply)
- Expansion: Denver (Mo 10), Charlotte (Mo 13), Nashville (Mo 16)
- 4 cities live by Mo 18, $2.5M monthly GMV, Series A close target

**Financial summary**

- Mo 6: contribution-margin positive in pilot
- Mo 12: 2 cities, $900K monthly GMV
- Mo 18: 4 cities, $2.5M monthly GMV, Series A
- Mo 24: $13.3M monthly GMV, ~$30M annualized EBITDA
- Seed raise: $5.0M, 18 months runway

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## Deliverables produced

1. **shotgun-landing.html** — Marketing site with hero, segment cards, comparison table, three-tier pricing, FAQ, waitlist capture
2. **shotgun-app-prototype.html** — Two-phone interactive mockup: rider flow + driver flow, 6 steps each, click-through demo
3. **shotgun-pitch-deck.pptx** — 13-slide investor pitch deck, visually QA'd
4. **shotgun-business-plan.docx** — 13-section, ~2,800 word business plan with TOC, page numbers, structured tables
5. **shotgun-financial-model.xlsx** — 5-tab workbook (Assumptions / Unit Economics / 24-Month Operating Model / Sensitivity / Use of Funds), 344 live formulas, all valid

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## Open questions / flagged risks

- **Insurance pricing** — model uses $1.85/trip indication; firm written quote needed before raise
- **E-scooter logistics** — recommend a 1-week field test of the hub-and-scoot model before seed close
- **Segment focus** — pilot should focus 100% on the bar/nightlife wedge for the first 6 months; the medical, hourly, and long-haul tiers are real but each is a distinct GTM and shouldn't dilute pilot focus

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## Next-deeper-step options offered

- Detailed wireframes for designer handoff
- Per-state regulatory matrix (insurance + TNC-equivalent licensing)
- Competitor teardown of Dryver / BeMyDD / KeySober
- Cohort-retention financial model with retention curves baked in