Tim DraperFounder and Managing Partne, Draper Associate · I back the ideas that look crazy first

Planet Electric breaks down how lighter delivery fleets = massive savings on fuel & battery usage. 🔋

25 Oct 2025 · 0 min

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Startups building lighter delivery vehicles should target courier and manufacturing companies instead of the four dominant van makers. Direct partnerships with major fleet owners take two years of negotiations and expose your IP to theft despite NDAs.

Why you are targeting a courier company like a delivery and all, or to manufacturing companies, right? I think that would be a good idea. Absolutely. But when you see the delivery van business, right, you have 4 players who really dominate. They are such big behemoths that just to have that engineering conversation go to the end line, it takes about 2 years. And we really don't know whether our IP is going to be protected in that line or not, no matter what NDAs you do. So we have to do something as a startup to get out there.