Zipcar Case

In the Zipcar Case, Chase is an emerging entrepreneur, with hopes of starting a successful company. They come up with the idea of timesharing a car, which will eventually get the name of Zipcar. Chase and her friend Danielson had initially funded the startup and forgone a salary for the company. While Chase and Danielson did not have a lot of experience in the car rental business, other than Danielson having some car sales experience, they sought out a lot of advice from many resources. Chase had a lot of good professional relationships that were able to start the business. For example Holland was able to provide the start-up with valuable questions that had not yet been considered, even though he did not invest any money. Eventually Chase was successful in obtaining $50,000 in a convertible loan. As of early 2000, this was the only money that Zipcar had successfully received for the company. Since there had been so little funding thus far, Chase often had to turn to those that would work without charge, such as her husband. By the end of September 2000, Chase had raised a total of $375,000 in investments, the majority going to the technology development. Zipcar also realized that in order to be successful they needed a stronger leadership team than what was currently in place. They made a mistake of hiring a big-company executive as their CEO, who was not concerned with saving money, which was a major issue for the start-up company. They realized this mistake and Chase was then named CEO of the company. Overall, as a potential venture, the company seems very risky. Neither Danielson, nor Chase had much experience with car sharing or starting a business venture. Because of this the company had a lot of difficulty funding the project initially, but through Chase’s persistence and determination the company was able to successfully start.
The initial business plan of Zipcar was to provide the convenience of owning a car, without actually having to