GrubHub: 8 delicious tips which turned two programmer’s $140 side gig into $3 billion

Hey rebel solopreneurs

Ever felt stuck wondering if your "crazy" business idea would actually work?

Mike Evans was squished in a packed bus in Chicago, getting way too familiar with a stranger's armpit.

All he wanted was some food delivered to his home.

But finding a restaurant that delivered was pure torture - flipping through a massive yellow pages book and calling seven different places!

You might be sitting there right now, second-guessing if your digital product idea is too simple or too obvious.

Maybe you're worried that someone bigger might steal it if it actually works.

Here's the thing - if you don't solve this, you'll keep watching others build successful businesses while your ideas collect dust.

But guess what? Mike and Matt turned this everyday annoyance into a $3 billion company that processes 175,000 orders daily!

Two regular programmers, Mike Evans and Matt Maloney, were just like you - working day jobs, dreaming of building something amazing.

They built GrubHub - a super simple website that helps hungry people order food from local restaurants with just a few clicks.

Ready to discover how they did it and steal their playbook? Let's jump in!

1. The "too simple to work" idea that became a goldmine

🔥 Problem

• Mike and Matt had a basic idea - help people order food delivery easily. But they worried: Was it too simple? Would Google swoop in and crush them? Would anyone actually pay for this?

🌈 How they solved it

• Started with zero fancy tech: just grabbed yellow pages and spent months calling 20,000 restaurants in Chicago, collecting juicy details about their delivery zones and special rules (they even found restaurants that would deliver to boats on Lake Michigan!)

• Built this amazing secret weapon: a super-detailed map showing exactly where each restaurant would deliver - down to specific streets and buildings

• Got clever about competition: knew big companies like Google would never want to spend months making phone calls - they'd rather buy the data than collect it themselves

💎 Your game plan:

• Pick the "obvious" problem you're solving and go deeper than anyone else would dare - that's your moat!

2. Why bootstrapping kept them laser-focused on what matters

🔥 Problem

• Mike quit his job to focus on GrubHub, making only $140 in the first month. He needed to make money fast or the dream would die.

🌈 How they solved it

• Created this super simple daily routine: mornings for chatting with restaurant owners, nights for building cool new features they asked for

• Gave themselves a fun challenge: "Make enough money in 2 months or go back to regular jobs" - talk about motivation!

• Kept a notebook of every single thing restaurant owners complained about, then stayed up late turning those problems into solutions

💎 Your game plan:

• Start charging from day one - paying customers are the best validation that you're solving a real problem

3. How they turned technical weaknesses into sales strengths

🔥 Problem

• As programmers, they knew nothing about sales or marketing. They had to convince restaurants to use their system.

🌈 How they solved it

• Learned their first sales trick from a $10 "Sales for Dummies" book: instead of waiting at the front desk, they'd walk straight through restaurant kitchens to find owners (that's where they actually spend their time!)

• Turned weakness into strength: when owners asked for features they didn't have, they'd smile and say "Of course!" then pull energy drinks and code all night to make it happen

• Made every sales visit a food adventure: tried the dishes, chatted with kitchen staff, and learned exactly what problems kept owners up at night

💎 Your game plan:

• Don't let what you don't know stop you - grab a book, learn the basics, and jump in!

4. The clever "let them feed you" growth strategy

🔥 Problem

• They needed to rapidly grow their restaurant network but had zero marketing budget.

🌈 How they solved it

• Discovered a magical time window: restaurant owners were super chatty (and generous!) between 1-5 PM, right between their busy rushes

• Made sales meetings feel like lunch with friends: while owners proudly served their best dishes, Mike would casually ask about their delivery headaches and what features would help them most

• Kept a special notebook just for "food discoveries": what dishes worked best for delivery, which ones customers loved most, and how to package everything perfectly

💎 Your game plan:

• Find creative ways to turn your constraints into advantages

5. The money-making switch that changed everything

🔥 Problem

• Their initial subscription model wasn't scaling fast enough to build a big business.

🌈 How they solved it

• Changed their whole pricing game: dropped the scary monthly fees and instead charged just a couple dollars per order - restaurants only paid when they actually made money

• Made it a total no-brainer: restaurants could join GrubHub for free, and the per-order fee was so tiny they barely noticed it (but with hundreds of orders flowing in, GrubHub still made plenty!)

• Created some incredible success stories: restaurants that barely did delivery before started making hundreds of thousands extra just from GrubHub orders

💎 Your game plan:

• Don't be afraid to change your pricing model if it helps both you and your customers win

6. The "uncomfortably simple" focus trick

🔥 Problem

• Mike was trying to do everything - adding tons of features, spreading himself too thin.

🌈 How they solved it

• Followed one super clear rule: every new feature had to help hungry people get their food faster - no exceptions!

• Did something kinda crazy: turned down easy money from ads because they made the site harder for hungry customers to use

• Created a 3-minute promise: if an order took longer than 3 minutes to reach a restaurant, their team would jump in and make sure the food was on its way

💎 Your game plan:

• When in doubt, cut features until it feels uncomfortably simple

7. The repeat customer secret sauce

🔥 Problem

• Getting the first sale was hard, but they needed consistent growth.

🌈 How they solved it

• Made an amazing discovery: getting a customer to order a second time was way cheaper than finding a new customer

• Created what they called their "happiness loop": happy customers told friends → friends ordered and loved it → they told more friends → and on and on!

• Built special features just for repeat customers: remembered their favorite orders, saved their delivery notes, and made reordering super quick

💎 Your game plan:

• Build your product so good that customers can't help but tell their friends

8. The "profitable from day one" mindset

🔥 Problem

• Most startups were focused on growth first, profit later. They needed a different approach.

🌈 How they solved it

• Used their coding skills like a superpower: built everything themselves instead of spending money on expensive developers

• Turned Mike's cozy apartment into GrubHub HQ: saved tons of money on office space until they absolutely had to move (at 7 people, it got pretty crowded!)

• Created a smart robot phone system: could handle hundreds of orders automatically while they slept, making money 24/7

💎 Your game plan:

• Use your existing skills to bootstrap - you probably have more resources than you think

That's it, my rebel friend!

Remember Mike's journey - from his frustration of ordering food when he was too tired to go out, to building a $3 billion company that helps millions of hungry people get their dinner easily.

Mike says "Make a product. Go sell it. Don't wait till it's perfect - it won't get perfect until you've tried to sell it anyway!"

And here's something else Mike discovered: "The mental difference between doing something cool and running a business to pay the bills is night and day. Once you decide to make real money, everything changes."

Your action step for today: Pick your simplest, most obvious product idea and commit to launching it within 30 days. Don't worry if it seems too basic - that might just be your superpower!

The world needs your "obvious" solution more than your perfect one sitting in your head.

Keep rocking 🚀 🍩

Yours "anti-stress-enjoy-life-while building a biz" vijay peduru