Sophia Catherine

  • Alumni

Submitted

Instacart: Changing the game for groceries
Sophia Catherine
Posted on December 9, 2015 at 9:56 pm
Instacart promises to change the way we buy and sell groceries, but what can it really offer?

Activity Feed

On December 14, 2015, Sophia Catherine commented on thredUP – inspiring a new generation of consumers to think secondhand first :

So interesting. I had heard about this company, but hadn’t realized the operational choices it had made – particularly the partnership with USPS. In some ways, it reminds me of Rent the Runway, in terms of creating a model that is seamless for a user, but changes the way they would traditionally access the same service.

I also like your info regarding the brand selection. I have browsed the site before and noticed that it was limited, but it seems like they have actually capped on both the high and low ends for what they will accept. This would target a specific demographic, but I wonder to what degree that might limit them in the future.

On December 14, 2015, Sophia Catherine commented on LinkedIn: Capitalizing on All Value Streams :

John – really like this and so interesting to read. I have used LinkedIn personally and also for work – so interesting to get both sides juxtaposed with the third group. I think the thing that stuck out to me the most here was your comment about quality. I think that you make a good point about the services they have developed/ acquired, but I also think that much of the quality is derived from the sheer volume of members they have. Given the rival size of Facebook’s membership, if you think they developed a more robust professional offering, would that weaken Linkedin’s value prop?

On December 14, 2015, Sophia Catherine commented on Jana Care – Revolutionizing Diabetes Diagnosis and Treatment through Accessible Mobile Technology :

Love this, Sonali. Really interesting. I love the section in which you explain the benefits to having launched in India, where the speed to market was so much faster. I thought that was fascinating, and a great point to consider when thinking about the pros and cons of launching domestically or internationally.

Two questions for you. 1) Though this is a lower-price model, this still seems a relatively high cost ($50) per device for people well below the poverty line – especially in developing countries. Do you see a future in which a lower-priced model will be available, perhaps as a non-profit arm of the company? Given the partnership with NH, it seems as though there may be a similar mission orientation, and could be an interesting opportunity. 2) It may be far too early to know this yet, but are there any other applications for this technology that have yet to be explored? It seems as though Jana has really thought through the practical side of their product and the various use cases, and so I am curious to know what else these lessons could be applied to.