Dotcom post firm says no address is no problem

Nov 26 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

AN American millionaire has assembled an elite team of young entrepreneurs as he plots to transform the postal system forever.

If the eight-strong band of technology experts get their way, you may never have to remember a postcode, street number or road name again.

Losing an address will no longer be an excuse for not sending a Christmas card, and you may finally be able to return your ex’s CDs without having the awkwardness of contacting them.

Among the team behind SendSocial. com is successful teenage entrepreneur Jonathan Grubin, from Newcastle, whose involvement in the project started with a tweet.

Ben Way, a 29-year-old American dotcom millionaire who was reportedly worth £18.3m by the age of 21, posted the idea of address-less delivery on his blog. Mr Grubin and six other like- minded people engaged with Way through social networking tool Twitter and, within hours, a management team was born.

This week, just eight months after Way’s blog posting, a business has been launched – complete with a commercial partnership with a major courier firm.

SendSocial.com allows you to send parcels to your friends on Twitter or anyone else whose email address you have – without knowing their postal address.

Users can send a Twitter ID or email address to the website, which will automatically send a request to the recipient. Once they accept, the user will receive an address-less, barcode label to stick on the parcel, which is then collected and delivered by national courier firm myHermes.

The system means the sender does not find out the recipient’s address and also cuts out the time taken by asking individuals directly for their address and waiting for a response.

It is aimed at people who are constantly on the move and are heavily reliant on the internet to keep in touch with friends and loved ones. The company is hoping it proves popular with people who rarely send letters because of the convenience of emails, and so have lost track of addresses

Grubin said: “We want to make the concept of sending things to friends a lot easier. With Pay Pal you can send money through an email address – we are trying to do that with parcels.

“We are looking at people who use social networks a lot and how they can interact with people they are friends with.”

Grubin is currently in talks with a view to extending the service to Facebook and is also in discussions with online retailers in the hope of integrating the platform with them.

The company is also considering launching the system in the US and across Europe and is in discussions with an American courier firm.

Mr Way, who appeared as one of the first investors on Channel 4’s popular Secret Millionaire programme, said: “I’m truly excited about the launch of SendSocial.com. Like most people in the fast-paced world, I’ve lost track of the addresses of people I need to send things to and could not believe that there was not a better solution to the old-fashioned address.

“I predict that, with a little help from SendSocial.com, in another few years nobody will have to use a physical address to send anything again.”

According to Mr Way, hundreds of Twitter users have been given shares in the venture in return for feedback when he first mentioned the idea – and he aims to make them millionaires.

Alongside former Royal Grammar School student Mr Grubin, six other successful young entrepreneurs have invested in a stake in the firm. They are Glen Richardson from Cumbria, Antony Stevenson from Derby, Mark Falk from Denmark and Simon Campbell, Tom Beckenham and James Cranwell-Ward who are all from London.

Jon Tobbell, commercial director of MyHermes said: “Everyone at myHermes is bursting with anticipation with the launch of SendSocial.com.

“We’re ready for volume sales, given our existing corporate client base, which includes Next and QVC.”

Mr Grubin set up his first online business when he was 14 and has since launched a string of internet enterprises, including a mobile phone screensaver downloads website and an online rewards site, where members can win free iPods and flatscreen TVs.

His most recent venture is a loyalty card scheme based around retailers in Newcastle.