When former TechCrunch editor-in-chief Matthew Panzarino joined a startup, we knew it would pique our interest. Panzarino, well-known among TC employees for his avid collection of everything from shoes to novel cooking gadgets to iPhones, recently became the newest member of TipTop, a new company launched by Postmates founder Bastian Lehmann. The app includes instant cash offers and pickup services, promising an easier way to sell your items.
Panzarino knows a thing or two about this kind of “stuff,” having once joked to employees that “shoes are my retirement fund.” But TipTop now focuses primarily on the consumer electronics category rather than collectibles, offering instant payments for smartphones, iPads, computers, gaming systems, cameras and more.
Lyman told TechCrunch that the idea was initially sparked by a desire to clear out a crowded garage, but he later narrowed it down to consumer electronics because their price drops were more predictable over time. A year and a half ago, TipTop’s team began tracking 50,000 consumer products (mostly electronics) and then used the data to predict what those items would be worth in six, 12, 18 and 24 months.
“We’re doing a really good job at this,” Lehmann said, adding that they also began to understand that an item has two values - what someone is willing to sell it for and what someone else is willing to buy it for.
Image Source: Dingding
This gave rise to TipTop’s first product, TipTop Cash, which allows you to easily sell items you own. The system works similarly to Shopify’s Shop app’s delivery tracking feature, in that you can also connect your Gmail account (or soon other email) as well as your Amazon account (optional). This is done through TipTop’s mobile app, which is currently only available on iOS. This process allows TipTop to access your purchase data via a digital receipt. From there, it builds an in-app catalog of items you know you’ve purchased and the cash offers you can get for selling them through TipTop.
When you’re ready to sell, you can ship your items to a UPS store or have an Uber courier pick them up at your door. The latter is built on Postmates’ delivery API (now Uber’s API), which Apple still uses to support delivery in the United States (Uber completed its $2.65 billion Postmates acquisition in 2020.)
“TipTop Cash works like Postmates in reverse,” Lehmann explains. “Postmates makes it easy to bring the best of the city into your home. TipTop Cash makes it easy to get your stuff out the door.”
Image Source: Dingding
While the founder acknowledges that sellers can make more money for their items if they handle the sales themselves, he believes the convenience of instant cash offers will appeal to consumers who don’t have the time or inclination to do so.
In an afternoon, you can unload your old phone, tablet, laptop, camera, or gaming system and easily make some changes. Compare this to the more complicated process of selling on marketplaces like eBay or Facebook, where people often spam you with low-price offers or don’t show up when you pick up your items. There are also safety concerns with interacting with strangers online, which is why many local buying and trading markets recommend meeting people in public places rather than at home, which is less convenient.
Lehmann said TipTop Cash has generated $50 million in user receipts since launching the app in September.
Next week, TipTop will add push notifications to proactively encourage users to sell when the price is right. Later, it will also add a camera feature that lets you point the app at items you own or scan paper receipts for cash offers. (However, due to the higher risk of fraud, these may not be instant cash offers.)
Image Source: Dingding
Helping consumers sell their products is just one part of TipTop’s larger roadmap. Of course, the flip side of selling is buying. This will come in the form of TipTop Pay, which will likely be a separate app and payment gateway where consumers can purchase items and pay monthly. That part will involve partnerships, which Lyman said he can’t discuss yet.
“You only pay the value minus the residual value,” he told us. For example, if a 128GB iPhone 15 retails for $800 and has a residual value of $400 after one year, then TipTop will give you $400 to buy the phone. But if a buyer wants to keep the phone for a year, it only costs $400 divided by 12 payments. When they no longer need the phone, they can uninstall it and buy a new phone through TipTop Cash.
“Think of it as an iPhone upgrade program for all products that we own or are offered by our business partners,” Lehmann suggested.
Now that Lehmann has successfully exited Postmates, raising money for his next project is no longer a challenge. The startup has raised $23 million in Series A funding to date from investors including Andreessen Horowitz (Marc Andreessen is a board member), OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant and Pinterest , Coinbase and DoorDash board member Gokul Rajaram. Other investors include Scott Banister, Cyan Banister, Nabeel Hyatt, Dan Romero, Jude Gomila, Sean Plaice, Andy McLoughlin, Jeff Clavier and Vivek Patel.
San Francisco-based TipTop, co-founded by Postmates veterans Mustafa (Moose) Rahman and Gregory Carlson, is currently a 16-member team, with many of the founding members being former Postmates engineers.
