FT Start-Up Stories A winning commute
Aug 20, 2017
Katie Hill-Gottesman, the founder of Commuter Ads, shares how a packed train ride inspired her transit advertising venture focused on low-capital solutions. She recounts pitching to transit authorities and navigating a memorable pilot mishap in Dayton. Simon Stockley from Cambridge Judge Business School discusses investor biases, particularly the gender dynamics in venture capital. Katie also highlights her experiences as a female founder, from fundraising challenges to defining work-life boundaries while collaborating with her husband.
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Found Opportunity In A Hidden RFP
- They found an RFP buried in Dayton's procurement documents that allowed them to propose a novel location-based audio and text-scroll advertising system.
- The proposal won a six-month pilot and three-year contract, prompting them to quit their jobs and move to Dayton.
Use Existing Transit Infrastructure
- Commuter Ads taps into existing transit announcement systems to deliver location-based audio ads, keeping capital costs low.
- Their patents focus on leveraging that infrastructure while managing creative constraints like 15-second, 30–39 word limits.
Pilot Played Ads Every 15 Seconds
- During their first Dayton pilot they mis-programmed tests and messages played every 15 seconds instead of every 15 minutes, causing disruption.
- Transit partners helped shut it down and gave them another chance; the next weekend it ran correctly and they've avoided that error since.