Does the coffee ever spill? Bobby Healy on friendships, rentals and drone deliveries – WiT

In the daily blitz of technological advancements, we sometimes forget just how far we’ve come in terms of mobility in the travel tech space. Bobby Healy, serial entrepreneur and founder of Manna Drone Delivery and co-founder of Meili Travel Technology, uses his fleet of drones to deliver everything from packages to groceries, but mostly, piping hot coffee.

In fact, coffee deliveries make up 30% of his company’s orders.

Simultaneously, Healy also manages Meili Travel Technology, a pure tech car rental company that he asserts was designed to fix the problems perpetuated by his previous venture, CarTrawler.

In a session titled “Cars, Drones, Coffee & Chat” Yeoh Siew Hoon (Founder, WiT) delved into the entrepreneurial adventures of Bobby Healy, starting with the tumultuous events of April 2020, when the COVID pandemic swept through the travel industry, reshaping its landscape. 

 

Lessons from adversity

Recounting the restructuring of his 15-year-old venture, CarTrawler, Healy reframed the narrative, emphasising, “That’s when new opportunities presented themselves.”

Despite financial setbacks, Healy highlighted the resilience of the business, ultimately recovering, preserving jobs, and leaving a lasting legacy in the industry.

“As a shareholder, I was wiped out,” said Healy. “There’s a lot of money lost. But I did okay, and I’m very thankful for the opportunity and very proud of the legacy that’s there now,” he continued. “We’ve created 1000s of jobs. It hasn’t recovered to where it was, but I don’t think there’s anything negative or bad, it’s just inevitable.”

Amidst the chaos, Bobby and his team saw an opportunity to reimagine the car rentals industry. They founded Meili Travel Technology, driven by a commitment to fixing what he described as the “ugly” broker model in car rentals. “We pissed off a lot of customers in our past because of the broker business model,” Bobby explained. The core philosophy of Meili is to provide a pure technology model, leveraging the expertise of a team mostly composed of ex-CarTrawler members.

“We’ve already signed six huge partners for large airlines, all of the car rental supply in the world, and we’re winning, and we’re gonna absolutely kill it,” Bobby confidently asserted.

Meili, now boasting a team of 35, aims to disrupt the industry with a focus on technology-driven solutions.

 

‘You’ve got a friend in me’

A recurring theme in Bobby’s entrepreneurial journey is the power of friendships. Reflecting on his long-standing relationship with his Meili co-founder Mike McGearty, Healy highlighted the significance of building businesses with a team that shares a common vision. 

“I’m very proud of the people that have worked for me for nearly 30 years are still stupid enough to continue working with me,” joked Healy. “Business is just a virtual collection of people at a point in time. And the next version of that business is usually the same people, certainly the best people,” Healy added, acknowledging the importance of a strong, dedicated team.

“We’re friends, you know, with good pedigree and building technology. That synergy is very important, because we’re all taking risks together.”

There’s an old saying that goes, “Don’t mix business with friends”, which is somewhat synonymous with “Don’t mix business with pleasure.” If some of the sessions, like Healy’s, at this year’s WiT Singapore were any indication, those quotes can be considered quite archaic. 

Just look at the duo behind Klook, Ethan Lin and Eric Gnock Fah; buddies running one of the most robust tours and activities bookings platforms in the region. Then there’s the trio managing Agoda, who were represented by Omri Morgenshtern at WiT, driving one of the most successful OTAs globally. 

 

 

 

Fixing the flaws in travel tech

Discussing broader industry challenges, Healy shared his views on the potential for disruption. He advocated for addressing issues in hotel search and suggested the possibility of a disruptive force challenging established players. With a nod to foundational technologies like large language models, he envisioned automating layers of shoddy systems to enhance customer experience.

“I think, out there, there’s a disruptive Booking.com killer,” said Healy, garnering a mixture of laughs and slight gasps from the audience. He continued, “There’s new technologies now that exist that could do the work of millions of humans and do it better than a well organised data founded company.” 

“I’m not saying that’s going to be easy, but I think there’s still disruption available in our industry.”

 

Does the coffee ever spill?

Shifting gears to Manna Drone Delivery, Healy illuminated the unconventional success story of delivering hot coffee in 2 minutes and 40 seconds via drones. Despite the challenges of hardware development, Healy expressed confidence in scaling Manna, emphasising the importance of pragmatic AI and computer vision in ensuring safe and reliable drone deliveries.

“Interestingly, the average basket value in our coffee shop is more than twice what the average basket value is in the coffee shop itself,” shared Healy. “Because people are ordering for home delivery. We don’t spill it and even the little design that’s on the foam is intact. We use the LIDAR as a laser for altitude when we deliver. So, we know exactly where the ground is relative to the aircraft. We drop it very fast. But coffee doesn’t mind gravity. And by the last eight inches, we slow it down. And so we don’t we don’t spill even a drop.”

 

 

 

Navigating the Future: AI Realities

Of course, a conversation at the ‘Human Revolution’ wouldn’t be complete without a discussion on Artificial Intelligence. Bobby Healy shared his candid views on the current discourse around AI, cautioning against overestimating its potential without a deep understanding of the technology. “Most people don’t know what they’re talking about,” he asserted. He emphasised the importance of learning the technology first before venturing into AI-driven business ideas, while underscoring the importance of learning the technology’s strengths and weaknesses.

“I don’t think that people are overstating the potential. But I think they’re overstating their understanding of the underlying technology. And you can’t build a product if you don’t understand the infrastructure you’re building around.”

 

Future predictions and funding climate

As the conversation turned to fundraising, Bobby discussed the current climate, stating, “It’s tough.” 

“Investors hate hardware businesses, not because they’re difficult. They’re iterative, like you can’t just build the first version and get it right. That’s not the way hardware works,” explained Healy. 

“It’s an uncertain science. Because you can build a washing machine and no one cares if it fails, right? If a drone fails, gravity takes over and it’s pretty visible. And we’re flying over the most densely populated areas like every flight flies over 120 houses on average.”

Healy also expressed confidence in Manna’s position, and his commitment to building a business that could potentially reach the trillion-dollar mark, while acknowledging the need for additional funding to scale the business further. 

 

 

 

Staying grounded in success

Closing on a lighter note, Healy shared his personal ethos, emphasising the importance of maintaining humility and staying grounded despite entrepreneurial success. With a touch of humor, he acknowledged, “If you come to Ireland, you’ll see why I got absolutely no respect from anyone.”

In the ever-evolving landscape of travel tech and drone delivery, Bobby Healy stands at the crossroads of innovation, steering his ventures toward new horizons while keeping an eye on the ground beneath. As the skies become a playground for delivery drones, and travel tech seeks to redefine itself, Healy’s journey promises to be one worth watching.