Dropping Out and Hitting TechCrunch Is the New Teen Summer Job
Youths are our greatest national resource, and the youth of today are making apps for effortless on-demand junk food delivery. I talked to one, 19-year-old Max Hellerstein, who captured today's tech headlines with his new startup, Push For Pizza.
As the spiffy, surprisingly funny promo video above says, "Yes, it's real." But since when did companies need to start promising that they aren't elaborate practical jokes? Since when did teens start making pizza companies? Since when did Yo stop being idiotic and start being mimicked? I hopped onto Gchat, hoping to impress Max with my teen software fluency, to talk summer jobs. The following has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
MJH NYC
hey man
12:31
Sam Biddle
hey hey
I take it you're based in NY?
12:36
MJH NYC
we're moving!
12:37
Sam Biddle
who is we?
12:37
MJH NYC
We are based out of N.Y
So Push For Pizza is comprised of 5 teenagers
Max (Me), Cyrus, Graham, Will, and Demitri
Graham, Will, and Demitri handle the back end, Cyrus and I are the business and creative
12:38
Sam Biddle
how old are you all?
12:38
MJH NYC
19
12:38
Sam Biddle
college buddies?
12:39
MJH NYC
Cyrus and I actually dropped out early on in freshman year of college
while Will, and Demitri are at MIT
and Graham is at Brown
we are all childhood friends
12:39
Sam Biddle
got it—what made you two drop out?
12:40
MJH NYC
So Cyrus and I are really entrepreneurs heart
we've been working on projects since 2011
our site is 367pro.com, includes a brief portfolio of our projects
but Push For Pizza in a sense is our prime
12:41
Sam Biddle
is this your first app?
12:41
MJH NYC
in other words, we take our pizza very seriously lol
Yes, this is our first app
12:43
Sam Biddle
how long did it take you to made this app, and how much weed-smoking was involved during its development
12:43
MJH NYC
haha
So we began developing the app in January, and since the devs we're in school we basically took a little while just making the thing actually work
then we reached out to Adam at Sandwich [Video]
and he loved the idea, and we just kinda rolled from there
12:45
Sam Biddle
(OK so I'm going to assume a moderate amount of weed, which is probably what I was smoking the last time I ordered multiple pizzas, so no judgment max)
how'd you pay for the video? adam's clients are usually established or venture backed
12:46
MJH NYC
Haha you said it, not me
and we worked out a cash + equity swap deal with Adam, fortunately we were able to pay a smaller amount!
Sam Biddle
yeah he's a pretty prolific guy. OK so you've already handed over some of your equity. have investors talked to you yet?
12:55
MJH NYC
We spoke to one VC briefly a couple months back but nope, nothing major yet
we look to raise some money in the coming weeks!
12:55
Sam Biddle
what do you guys need money for?
12:59
MJH NYC
We are looking to raise money to make a crazy new smarter UI
Card iO implementation, multiple languages
12:59
Sam Biddle
isn't the whole point just pressing a single button and then a pizza comes?
12:59
MJH NYC
and building a backend to begin collecting our own restaurants
12:59
Sam Biddle
or do you want the app to do more than that
12:59
MJH NYC
yes it is, but we want to make that process even easier
and give the consumer more options
12:59
Sam Biddle
ah OK
1:00
MJH NYC
the idea of writing in your CC info is a thing of the past
taking a picture, now, thats cool
1:00
Sam Biddle
how easy do you think you could make pizza ordering? what's the next step after just tapping a button?
ordering from seamless is now going to feel like planning a wedding
1:05
MJH NYC
Yes exactly!
The idea is like, we literally want you to open the app, press the button, and boom, pizza.
it knows what you like to tip
what you like to order
and where you are
geo-location, huge.
We just hate the idea of going through menus
1:09
Sam Biddle
but it seems like you guys already mostly do that already
1:09
MJH NYC
plus people never even like to order through phone calls anyway
1:09
Sam Biddle
so how much easier can it get
1:09
MJH NYC
its such a process
yea, but there are small details that will make it even better
1:09
plus we want to work on growing a huge pizza database
1:09
Sam Biddle
have you ever ordered a pizza over the phone before?
1:10
MJH NYC
yes
and usually is an annoying process
unclear messages
credit card risk
and delivery address risk
this, is all streamline
and getting a loyalty relationship is hard
1:10
Sam Biddle
what about just saying the word "pizza" at your phone, a la google now
1:11
MJH NYC
thats a great idea
1:11
Sam Biddle
I think giving me 5% of the company would be fair
speaking of money, how much do you think Push For Pizza should be worth right now
given that Yo is probably worth like what, $10M? and people are already comparing you to Yo
ballpark figure
(grubhub's market cap is $2 billion)
1:15
MJH NYC
$100 Billion
1:15
Sam Biddle
now you're talking
1:15
MJH NYC
just kidding, maybe, 1 million to start?
We are trying to revolutionize the pizza industry, not sell chicken nuggets
1:16
Sam Biddle
if grubhub wrote you a check for $1 million today in exchange for buying your entire company, would you take that offer?
(ps if you say no you're possibly crazy)
1:20
MJH NYC
I think we'd take it
But my team would have to agree of course
1:20
Sam Biddle
that's smart. why do you think a million bucks isn't considered a lot of money anymore?
I mean even if you divided it with all of your friends, you'd still have a lot of money for a 19 year old
1:22
MJH NYC
this is very true, audi's for the whole team
1:23
Sam Biddle
what made you want to start an app instead of doing other fun teen summer things? I think I spent my whole summer when I was 19 in a pool
then again you are probably smarter than me
1:25
MJH NYC
well we are all just kids who love pizza, and technology
i've been glued to a computer screen since I was 11
well have social lives, and go about jobs and obligations
but this was something that allowed us to free from that a little bit
1:27
Sam Biddle
it's impressive. beats most summer jobs at least. do you have other friends who are pursuing the startup life?
1:27
MJH NYC
Here and there, not really super common
I think people support us
we're getting love on facebook
from all the people who never said anything to use before
so i'm taking it as we're doing something right
1:28
Sam Biddle
and are you going to head west?
1:28
MJH NYC
Not sure yet, I think we really just need to see what the people think, and if they really like the idea
1:30
Sam Biddle
what do you think of Yo?
1:31
MJH NYC
and Yo is super cool
Or has already reached out to us
we're going to be working together on some promotion
1:31
Sam Biddle
do you see him as a competitor in the "click this thing that only does one thing" space?
1:32
MJH NYC
nope, we offer two completely different products, and if anything, work hand in hand
2 buttons are better than one
yo! for pizza
1:33
Sam Biddle
but isn't their argument that Yo can be for anything, including pizza?
1:35
MJH NYC
yes, true, so thats why our goal is to make us the guys they go to to make it happen
1:35
Sam Biddle
Are your parents down with this life plan so far?
1:36
MJH NYC
we've never quite met eye to eye
So originally the plan was to do this business thing until college
I went to college for one semester, a local school called Brooklyn College and that just wasn't for me.
so basically I did that kind of to put a smile on my parents face
more particularly my father
but he's grown to accept my path and respects my place
1:39
Sam Biddle
that's good. parents are hard to deal with sometimes. I mean, I am a blogger. I get it
1:39
MJH NYC
my fathers side is very traditional
1:40
Sam Biddle
How much money would it take you to screw over all the rest of your friends, a la Zuck or Evan Spiegel?
let's say instead of a $1M buyout seamless offered you $800k that you didn't have to share...
1:42
MJH NYC
I don't like that question lol
1:42
Sam Biddle
that question was a test and you have passed the test.
congratulations you are a good friend
1:43
MJH NYC
lol yea man i'm not about politics
showing love, thats the brooklyn way
1:43
Sam Biddle
OK next question: what do you think you will be doing in exactly five years? so, 1:43 pm, five years from now
or what do you HOPE you'll be doing at 1:43 pm, five years from now
1:47
MJH NYC
I hope to be in a really cool office with fancy drinks and ping pong tables and unlimited pizza
and potentially a pizza jet
that would be super cool
1:49
Sam Biddle
a pizza jet? can you explain what that means
1:49
MJH NYC
a leer jet
with our logo on it
used to fly around the world
1:49
Sam Biddle
oh hell yeah
1:49
MJH NYC
maybe, if you are nice to me you can come on it
1:50
Sam Biddle
I'm going to hold you to that
OK last two questions: are you surprised to see giant mainstream tech publications like techcrunch and the verge covering a pizza delivery app with one button?
and: why no breadsticks? c'mon man.
2:02
MJH NYC
A) We are super excited about it, had no idea it would get this big
this quick
really excited to turn the world upside down
and breadsticks, coming soon
If Hellerstein and his friends can sew up that promised breadstick option, he might be able to secure a multi-million dollar valuation before his 20th birthday.