Understanding Context & Trust - Video 8
Summary
TLDRThe script narrates the inspiring story of Keller and Keenan, two American robotics enthusiasts who, after initial failures, successfully established Zipline, the world's largest commercial drone delivery service. Starting in rural Rwanda to address the critical need for timely blood and plasma delivery, they built trust with the government by honoring their delivery commitments, even during drone development. This trust led to a nationwide contract and expansion across Africa. Their innovative solution now extends to the US, with Walmart integrating Zipline for efficient, on-demand deliveries, showcasing how trust and technology can transform supply chains and save lives.
Takeaways
- 🤖 The script discusses the story of Keller and Kenan, two young American entrepreneurs fascinated by robotics, who built a drone company to address the problem of delivering medical supplies in rural areas.
- 🏥 Keller and Kenan identified a critical issue in public health, specifically the timely delivery of blood and plasma to remote locations, which is a common challenge in many parts of the world.
- 🚁 They founded Zipline, a company that uses drones to deliver medical supplies quickly and efficiently, starting in Rwanda and expanding to other African countries.
- 🛣 The conventional solution of delivering medical supplies via motorcycle was inefficient and often resulted in delays or spoilage due to the hilly terrain and long distances.
- 📱 Zipline operates with an app-based system where clinics can request the type and amount of blood needed, which is then fulfilled by a team and delivered by drone.
- 🔄 The company has two main teams: Flight Ops for pre-flighting and preparing the drones, and Healthcare Ops for managing the medical products and ensuring the right supplies are delivered.
- 📈 Zipline's success is built on trust, starting with a contract with the Rwandan government to deliver blood, even if it meant using trucks during the development phase of their drone technology.
- 🌟 Trust was established by honoring the contract and incrementally improving the delivery system, which eventually led to the launch of drone delivery services.
- 📚 The script highlights the importance of trust in entrepreneurial ventures, emphasizing that trust can transcend technological, application, and geographical settings.
- 🛒 The script also mentions the expansion of Zipline's services to the US, with Walmart partnering to install drone landing ports for various goods, not just healthcare supplies.
- 🚀 The future vision includes the development of more advanced drones capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), potentially revolutionizing the delivery of everyday items like groceries.
- 🌍 The script concludes by emphasizing that trust is a universal component of successful entrepreneurship, regardless of the setting or the specific challenges faced.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the example discussed in the transcript?
-The main focus is on the trust-building process and the innovative solution of using drones for delivering medical supplies, specifically blood and plasma, in rural areas, starting with Rwanda.
Who are Keller and Kenan, and what is their connection to the drone delivery service?
-Keller and Kenan are two American individuals with a background in robotics who teamed up to create a solution for delivering medical supplies using drones. They are the founders of Zipline, the world's largest commercial drone delivery service.
What was the initial problem that Keller and Kenan aimed to solve with their drone technology?
-The initial problem was to ensure that remote areas, particularly in Rwanda, could receive blood and plasma in a timely manner, which was previously a challenge due to the long and difficult transportation routes.
How did the conventional solution for delivering blood in rural Rwanda compare to the drone delivery system?
-The conventional solution involved transporting blood via motorcycle, which was time-consuming and could lead to blood spoilage due to the long travel times. The drone delivery system significantly reduced the delivery time, ensuring blood arrived fresh and on time.
What is the significance of the contract signed by Keller and Kenan with the government of Rwanda?
-The contract was significant because it demonstrated their commitment to deliver blood to the specified facilities, regardless of the method. This allowed them to build trust with the Rwandan government while they developed their drone technology.
How did the trust-building process with the Rwandan government influence the expansion of Zipline?
-The trust-building process allowed Zipline to establish a strong foundation in Rwanda, which then led to expansion into other African countries and eventually to the United States, where they are now working with Walmart for broader delivery services.
What is the role of the fulfillment team in the Zipline operation?
-The fulfillment team is responsible for receiving blood pack requests, loading them onto the drones, and ensuring the drones are prepared for flight. They are a crucial part of the operation that connects the demand for medical supplies with the drone delivery system.
What is the significance of the phrase 'plate level delivery consistency' mentioned in the transcript?
-The phrase 'plate level delivery consistency' refers to the high level of precision and reliability in the drone delivery system, where packages can be delivered directly to a specific location, such as a person's garden, with minimal noise and disruption.
How does the trust that Walmart has in Zipline relate to their previous success with delivering blood?
-Walmart trusts Zipline because of their proven track record in delivering sensitive and critical items like blood. This trust is built on the reliability and efficiency of their drone delivery system, which can now be applied to a wider range of products.
What are the broader implications of the success of Zipline's drone delivery system for other industries and services?
-The success of Zipline's drone delivery system has broader implications for the logistics industry, showing that drones can be a viable solution for delivering a wide range of goods, including medical supplies, consumer products, and potentially even food and other perishables.
What is the importance of understanding the context and addressing institutional voids in entrepreneurial ventures like Zipline?
-Understanding the context and addressing institutional voids is crucial for entrepreneurial ventures because it allows them to identify and capitalize on opportunities that may not be apparent in more developed markets. It also helps in building trust and creating solutions that are tailored to the specific needs and challenges of the target communities.
Outlines
🤖 Building Trust with Robotics: The Zipline Story
This paragraph tells the story of Keller and Kenan, two young American entrepreneurs from Harvard, who founded a robotics company that failed initially. They eventually teamed up with a PhD student working on the Robot Operating System (ROS) and identified a significant problem in global healthcare logistics: the timely delivery of medication, particularly in rural areas. They chose to address the challenge of delivering blood and plasma to remote clinics in Rwanda. The conventional method was inefficient due to the country's hilly terrain and long travel times. The founders created a solution using drones to deliver blood quickly and efficiently. The company, Zipline, now operates as the world's largest commercial drone delivery service, starting in Rwanda and expanding to other African countries. The paragraph highlights the innovative use of technology to solve real-world problems and the importance of trust in the success of such ventures.
🛫 Trust and Contractual Commitment in Drone Delivery
The second paragraph delves into the trust-building process that allowed Keller and Kenan to successfully implement their drone delivery service in Rwanda. Initially, they signed a contract with the Rwandan government to deliver blood without specifying the use of drones. They iterated on their drone technology while fulfilling their contractual obligations by driving the blood to the clinics. This demonstrated their commitment and earned the trust of the Rwandan Ministry of Health. The Ministry advised them to deal directly with the government to mitigate risks associated with individual hospital contracts. With the government's trust, they were able to launch their drone service, which has since expanded to the US, including partnerships with Walmart for broader delivery services. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of trust in business relationships and how a proven track record can open doors to new opportunities and partnerships.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Trust Building
💡Robotics
💡Drone Technology
💡Public Health
💡Supply Chain
💡Rwanda
💡Zipline
💡Harvard College
💡Contractual Reliability
💡Innovation
Highlights
Harvard student Keller Naldo's fascination with robotics and his initial failure in building a robot company.
Collaboration with a Stanford PhD student on developing the Robot Operating System (ROS).
The problem of inaccessible medication in rural areas, particularly the challenge of delivering blood and plasma in time.
Innovative solution using flying robots or drones to deliver medical supplies quickly.
The establishment of Zipline, the world's largest commercial drone delivery service, starting in Rwanda.
Zipline's operation with two teams: flight operations and healthcare logistics, ensuring efficient delivery.
The use of an app for clinics to request blood, demonstrating technological integration in healthcare.
Zipline's expansion to other African countries, showcasing the scalability of the drone delivery solution.
The importance of trust in entrepreneurial ventures, as illustrated by the Rwandan government's contract with Zipline.
The incremental development of drone technology, ensuring reliability before full-scale deployment.
The strategic advice from the Rwandan Minister of Health to deal directly with the government for efficiency.
Zipline's entry into the US market, starting with operations in North Carolina.
The potential for drone delivery to revolutionize supply chains, including for companies like Walmart.
The concept of 'plate level delivery consistency' for consumer goods, indicating the future of drone delivery.
The significance of building trust through reliable delivery records, as seen with Walmart's partnership with Zipline.
The broader implications of trust-building in entrepreneurship, transcending technological and geographical boundaries.
Transcripts
let's go to yet another example of uh of
of of trust building um so this one is
um one that I've been following for only
four or five years but it comes out of
Harvard College yeah uh which is right
there across across the perbal river yes
across the real imagine River in front
of us beautiful Bridge old brick
buildings and nobody ever walks across
nobody ever walks across except
me we live in a bubble here on buiness
campus um but there was a student uh at
at Harvard 10 all years ago uh Keller
Keller Naldo and he was fascinated by
robotics so he seems to have been
playing around with robots um uh pretty
much all his all his young life and uh
was trying to build a robot company and
guess what happened to the robot company
like any other Adventure it failed most
startups fail most startups fail just so
you know yeah so it failed a few times
and then he ran into this guy who was
doing a PhD in robotics at stand
yeah who was building uh Ros the Robot
Operating System and was one of the
people who managed to get it to work and
so they teamed up and again they started
with a problem right and the problem for
them was since they had as I recall um
Keller and Kenan both had family members
who were in public health yes maybe the
spouses I I forget but some in public
health and so they said okay well a big
problem is that in most parts of the
world you cannot get medication
uh two people in the right time this
goes back to my opening ice back example
right um I needed ice to for a family M
to keep medication cold yes somebody
else might need the actual medication to
stay alive um so the problem that they
they chose to address was how do we make
sure that uh places in rural Rwanda get
access to blood and
plasma when they need it and the
convention solution was what go on a
motorcycle or something from Kali to
some remote some place to the Ugandan
border and the Motorcycle
goes Randa is famously very hilly uh it
takes you know 7 hours yeah as old as
the hills yeah take 10 takes 10 seeds
good you're a good
student takes 8 10 hours the blood
doesn't get there in time or you stop
the blood ahead of time and it goes bad
because it only has a shell f for so
long uh so they said well you know let's
create a solution where we use our
robots flying robots drones and
essentially the the hospital selling of
the clinic that needs blood basically
sends on an app yes uh we need this kind
of blood and this amount and there's a
fulfillment team at zipline which is the
name of the company now the world's
biggest commercial uh drone provider
including in in the in the US but the
starting point just in Rwanda and the
Fulfillment team takes the blood packs
it in and shoots the Drone and it's
there in a few minutes yeah so they'll
watch the video of the zip line
working zip line is divided in two
different team we have the flight Ops
who carry about pre-flighting planes
packing loading the packages and make
sure that plane can fly and then we have
hair thops you can include more of the
people with the knowledge of the blood
product we make order to zipline by
using SMS or by using uh WhatsApp
the package handed to fly DRS you scan
the package and that's when we put the
vehicle on the
launcher vehic will fly autonomously up
to the
[Music]
hospital we can avoid expiries we can
avoid stock out
because the supply chain has improved
blood is life it is saving life for
[Music]
a you saw the video it's pretty
incredible like I
mean like we need this in the US right
and and I'll come to that I'll come to
that cuz they've done this this kind of
access to uh supplies is brutal America
needs it in a big way absolutely um but
going back to Africa so starting at run
then I think they went to Ghana next
then to Tanzania now in 8 or 10 African
countries over over over the past years
uh go back to the idea what why why
should someone believe that why should
someone trust Keller and Kenan who are
two American Kids yes young young
American Kids never built robots before
well they built built robots
unsuccessfully unsuccessfully in a
company sense uh but even so even if
they had even if they were amazing robot
Engineers I'm sure they were um why
would I why would I trust them to deal
with blood come to
Randa so what's what's really
interesting what I'm remembering now as
we're speaking is that the initial
contract that they signed with the
government of Rwanda yes right was we
will deliver your blood to X facility
okay it didn't say we will use drones it
just said we will deliver it yes and
they went through at least four
generations of drones
including flying the Drone across the
parking lot to see if it actually gets
to where it's supposed to to and because
they had committed to deliver blood they
would drive it in a truck in the
meantime and deliver it so they
satisfies their contract yes and the
Rwandan Ministry is looking at it and
saying these kids are real because they
are honoring the contract while they're
developing the science they're not
prematurely launching the launching the
drones and so the ministry began to
trust them once the ministry trusted
them I think it was the minister of
Health whose name Agnes I forget I
forget her full name the minister
probably advised them look don't do a
deal with individual hospitals it'll
take forever you have counterparty risk
you don't know when you're going to get
paid do a deal with the governor Rwanda
because we have an interest in solving
this we have unnecessary debts going on
we'll do that with you but it came out
of that trust building exercise of
saying because they were sending the the
I committed to do this come hell or high
water I I'll get you your blood there on
time yes for whatever I'm committing to
and then incrementally changes that you
keep on delivering and when you're ready
then you launch the Drone and now it's
like wow it's it's it's a Dr that's
really doing it um and that's what's
allowed them to then come to come to the
US and star I think the initial effort
was in was in North Carolina yes uh I
met um someone from the uh from the from
the Walton family a few months ago and
they were telling me how they are now in
Walmart and Arkansas they're
installing uh in the Walmarts they're
installing zipline portals where the
Drone can land and take some Goods not
just Healthcare stuff but any Walmart
stuff so it turns out that 90% of things
that are shipped on Amazon are are like
this size less than 5 lb or this
Dimension which the drones can do and
now they're working on like not just
fixed swing drones which you saw in the
video the initial things but fixed swing
come quadcopter drones that can do VTO
where take off a landing and then go a
little distance and then H down yeah and
so you have I love this phrase that I
heard one of them use which is um um
like plate level delivery consistency
what it means is you're sitting in your
garden and you realize I don't have
ketchup yes and you order the ketchup
from the Walmart and the Drone will come
it'll stop 300 ft above you it sounds
very science fiction yes it's real I saw
it it stops ft above you yes that's high
enough that you don't hear it it's a
quadcopter and then like a little Droid
comes down right just like this you hear
that and the ketchup drops into your
dinner plate and the Droid goes away in
five
minutes and you know what's what's great
about this and you know America yeah
exactly it sounds sounds science fiction
but again the core is trust right like
to get wmart trusts them right why does
Walmart TR them because it says you guys
have a track record of delivering
delivering blood but was hard things to
deliver right now all we're talking
about is ketchup yeah so exactly I mean
I'm exaggerating they do all kinds of
deliveries but uh but but you're
building on that trust mechanism and
living the contractual realities and not
violating that um in a way that
transcends settings technological
settings application settings
geographies communities people's
backgrounds so whether you think about
you know Bano and the Carlos's in rural
Mexico um you think about you know colam
Masha in in Northern Nigeria DTI doing
heart
surgeries Keller and Keenan delivering
blood supplies in uh different parts of
America um Shetty getting the patients
to trust him uh it's all about uh a
understanding the context uh B taking
steps to El at the institutional voids
and and capitalizing the opportunities
that they represent and stitching the
whole thing together in a fabric of
trust and making that the central uh
part of the entrepreneurial mission bous
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