I grew up in a hectic household with my mom, dad, and younger brother. People often acknowledge that I am a fast (yet polite) eater. In my family, there was always a place to be or a person to see. Family dinners were few and far between. However, family vacations were a time to escape the noise and spend quality time with one another. As a family that prefers traveling over vacationing, we often found ourselves in new places each year. Upon reaching our destination, the first thing we did, regardless of where we were, was to head to a busy and unfamiliar grocery store.
Admittedly, at the time, the trip to the grocery store didn't seem too painful (my parents may disagree). However, as I look back and cherish those moments, I wish I had the chance to get back those two hours to make more meaningful memories. This same philosophy is why myco-founders (Mac Hoeweler and Evan Fix) and I built Noshable: to enable guests to skip the store and arrive to more… More being whatever matters most to you—time with family and friends, more time surfing, or that extra landmark while exploring a new city.
Noshable is built on a simple foundation: groceries don’t matter, memories do. We believe no vacation should start with errands, and that is why we have built and continue to build an affordable way for vacation rental guests and second homeowners to access grocery concierge services.
At Noshable, we were inspired to create a service that would make vacation rentals feel like home. With a background in hospitality, and CPG our founders understood the importance of a fully stocked fridge for a stress-free getaway. Because of this notion, we have grown into a trusted grocery concierge, providing convenience and peace of mind to travelers across the country.
Connor made a down payment to teach ESL in Hui Hin and Bangkok, Thailand for a year.
Connor recruited Mac to help work on an application to Main Street Ventures Launch it Cincy Program with an idea around groceries and Airbnb's. Having heard of the competition the day before the deadline, we cracked open some beers and completed the entire application. We were selected as finalists to pitch for one of three spots for $10,000 and a support package worth $28,000.
We pitched “Nosh” to the Main Street Ventures team and five judges, securing the win and earning a spot in the Launch it Cincy Program. In hindsight, the pitch deck wasn’t great, but it worked.
We lived together in downtown Cincinnati thanks to a housing stipend from Main Street Ventures. Connor participated in the Launch it Cincy Program to build the business while Mac worked for Procter and Gamble and helped on the weekends. We drank a lot of beer.
We pitched our idea to the community, VCs, and angels at the Main Street Ventures demo day. Shortly after, we closed a friends and family round of funding and Connor officially canceled his Thailand plans.
We recruited Evan Fix full-time as a co-founder and CTO. Evan brought nearly a decade of development experience from Kroger, although he was sad to lose his grocery discount.
We finished building and testing our MVP (minimal viable product).
We heard back from Y Combinator and were selected for an interview. Unfortunately, we did not get in.
We pivoted to partner with grocery concierge companies instead of relying solely on property managers for deliveries.
We built out our MVP into V1 and released the Noshable “Management Panel.”
We pivoted again, partnering with a soon-to-be-announced company to beta test delivery coverage across the US.
We heard back from Tech stars and completed our first-round interview. Meanwhile, we we regenerating revenue, had an average order size 48% larger than Instacart's, and had a substantial waitlist of properties waiting for us to enter their markets. Most importantly, guests seemed to value our solution.
