EcoGofer · Delivery marketplace · A venture that stalled
The one that didn't launch.
EcoGofer was a two-sided marketplace for emission-free, same-day delivery: businesses post parcels, independent couriers on bikes — "gofers" — pick them up. We built all three apps. A field pilot with 30+ couriers ran without a single critical error. And then the venture stopped, one step short of the market. We keep it in the portfolio because the lesson is worth more than a trophy.
The idea
Same-day delivery, zero emissions — by people already on bikes.
A city has parcels that need moving and cyclists who'd move them for a fair price. EcoGofer matched the two: businesses post a delivery, nearby gofers get pinged, the fastest legs win. Bicycle routing only — the "eco" wasn't branding, it was the routing mode.
What we built
A real marketplace,
not a landing page.
Three applications — client web platform, courier mobile app, one backend — built for the full loop: post, match, track, deliver, pay.
Post a parcel, watch it move
The web platform let businesses create deliveries with QR-coded parcels, manage stores and see live progress — real-time tracking pushed over WebSockets, not polling.
A courier app built for the saddle
Nearby jobs by geo-distance, bicycle-mode navigation, barcode scan to verify pickup, signature capture on handover, a leaderboard for the competitive — and push notifications when work appears.
Money that settles itself
Stripe wallets on both sides — clients pay per delivery, gofers accumulate earnings and cash out. Webhooks kept the ledger honest.
Trust, verified
Document-upload verification wizards for couriers and businesses, two-way ratings after every delivery and full Croatian + English localization from day one.
The product
Built, branded,
field-tested.
The pilot put branded bags on real couriers and the app in their pockets.
How far it got
Everything worked. Except the part
that wasn't software.
Stack — Java · Spring Boot · PostgreSQL · WebSockets · Stripe · Firebase push · Angular · Ionic · Google Maps
Why we show you this
Most agencies only show wins. But EcoGofer taught us more than most launches did: a finished product with no go-to-market plan is an unfinished product. The code was solid, the pilot proved it, the couriers liked it — and none of that mattered without someone relentlessly selling it.
It's the reason we raise it out loud. We don't write go-to-market plans and we don't validate markets — that isn't our trade and hiring us is no substitute for it. But we will ask who sells this and what happens in month one after launch and we'd rather hear “nobody has decided yet” in a 2,000€ discovery week than after three apps. Building a startup? Start here →