Will Coleman | Alto
WILL COLEMAN
CEO of Alto, a ride-sharing company that uses a dedicated fleet, employee drivers, and elegant apps to provide safe, consistent, quality rides.
What Is Alto? Tell Us About What You Do And What Your Mission Is.
Alto is a membership-based, on-demand rideshare service that provides a safer, more comfortable experience for riders and sustainable employment for drivers. With a dedicated fleet of 5-star crash rated SUVs and a team of fully employed, rigorously vetted and trained drivers, Alto is rethinking the traditional rideshare business model with safety, consistency and personalization at its core.
How Does Alto Differentiate Itself From Other Rideshare Companies? Do You Aim To Be As Big A Company As Uber And Lyft, Or Are You After A Smaller Market Segment?
Alto brings employee drivers and a dedicated fleet to the ridesharing market, including W2 drivers that receive important benefits (like paid time off, paid sick leave, and health benefits) that contract-based employees from other rideshare companies wouldn’t normally get.
Unlike Uber and Lyft, we’re making a big bet on the passenger and driver experience as the future of rideshare. By being a fleet operator and controlling end-to-end operations, we are setting the standard to ensure that drivers and riders have the same, high quality experience each time they step foot into an Alto, a five-star crash-rated SUV.
In addition to launching in Houston and Los Angeles this year, we’re focused on new opportunities for growth including entering new geographies and expanding our service to include delivery and other products our customers need or want at this time.
What Is Your Background? What Led You To Starting Your Own Company, And How Did You Choose This Space?
As a former Partner at McKinsey & Company, I led the B2C travel practice and spent a decade advising airlines, hotel, and car rental clients. I’m a complete travel nerd, and was excited when one of my clients at McKinsey came to me to assess the US mobility landscape. After conducting deep research, I felt that Uber, Lyft, and existing taxi/limo companies were not the long-term solution to the mobility landscape. They each had their own set of structural problems, and the model we were looking for didn’t exist. So by the end of May 2018, Alto was born. From there, I started building a team with experts in the travel and hospitality space, including my co-founder Alex Halbardier.
Tell Us A Some More About Your Co-Founders.
Our Executive Team is myself, Alex Halbardier and Jonathan Campos. Alex has a background in travel and hospitality like myself and I had convinced her to take a leap and leave the consulting world to try the startup world with me. As for Jonathan, we were connected through Alex’s personal connection and he comes from a top development firm here in Dallas.
How Did You Choose The Name “Alto”?
Alto means elevated, and we are aiming to elevate the passenger experience with consistency and quality.
What Have Been Both Your Favorite And Least-liked Parts Of Your Entrepreneurial Journey? What Have Been Your Most Challenging And Most Exciting Moments For You And The Company?
The biggest challenge of my entrepreneurial journey was, at first, telling people my idea and having them say I was crazy. The rideshare market is so saturated and the competitors have spent tens of millions of dollars acquiring new customers. But ultimately, what got me excited is that after I explained the idea behind Alto, the smart people who said “you’re crazy” also said, “that makes sense.” We are disrupting disruptors—after starting from scratch and up against these huge companies, we’re proving to be successful.
One of my favorite parts of this journey thus far has been knowing that our product/service is making a difference. This past year, we were able to expand our offerings to Houston and Los Angeles, in addition to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We provided free rides to the polls on Election Day, helped keep small businesses in Texas afloat through our delivery services to customers, and so much more. Despite its challenges, we persevered through 2020 and were able to support our riders and drivers through a global pandemic.
What Was The Fundraising Process Like For You? Tell Us About Your Investors And What You Use The Money You’ve Raised For.
We’ve raised $14.5M to date and we’re fortunate to have Tuesday Capital, frogVentures and Road Ventures as our investors. The funding has been incredibly important as we grow our team, in addition to gearing up to expand to new markets across the country.
Anything Exciting Launching Soon?
Our goal at Alto is to become available nationally, and we are working tirelessly to determine where our next market launch will be. Just recently, we launched our dedicated 5-star fleets in Los Angeles. We’re excited to kick things off in that city, as we see that people there can benefit greatly from our services.
What Are Your Daily Routines? Walk Us Through Your Typical Workday Schedule.
I’m an early riser - my day typically starts as early as 4 or 5am (sometimes not by choice thanks to my loving children!). Then it’s a workout and email before getting my kids out the door to school, or logged into virtual school, depending on the week. “Typical” isn’t a word I use much during the pandemic so my work days can look pretty different from one day to the next -- but generally it involves a combination of being logged onto video conferences, stopping by our operations center and headquarters locations, and traveling between Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas. Early evening is about getting kids bathed, fed, and in bed before logging back on for a bit to finish out the workday.
How Do You Think Your Industry Will Change Post-COVID?
Pre-COVID-19, the rideshare industry was steeply climbing. While rideshare occasions might be lower during the pandemic, we see great potential with the B2B audience (specifically auto dealerships and medical practices) as well as delivering to/from restaurants who have had to physically close their doors due to the coronavirus.
COVID-19 is also accelerating the eventual autonomous future of the industry. By being a fleet operator and controlling end-to-end operations, we’re building capabilities within our vehicles to enable a future that serves both the customer and the driver.
Any Other Thoughts You Want To Share Relating To Current Events?
We built Alto with the mission to provide the cleanest, safest rideshare in the world, and we're seeing that many customers value this now more than ever. We have prioritized this need by adding custom plexiglass barriers to vehicles, along with HEPA filters (the same air filters used in airplanes and hospitals) and a semi permanent treatment to the seats called PermaSafe that kills viruses and bacteria on contact. While it's not as easy to plan for the future in this climate, we are focusing on what we can achieve while leaving plenty of room to learn and pivot.
What Are The Most Important Skills A Modern Day Entrepreneur Needs In Order To Be Successful? What Advice Do You Have For Entrepreneurs Who Are Just Starting Out?
Being able to quickly pivot and adapt, if necessary
Putting together a great team
Always thinking ahead and be ready to execute new ideas
Tell Us A Story Of Something That Happened To You, Something You Heard, Or Something You Saw, That Either Made You Laugh Or Taught You An Important Lesson.
Very early on at Alto, a friend of mine who worked for another startup told me that the best ideas for their company came from unexpected places in the organization. So a great Marketing idea could come from a junior Engineer or vice versa. I think this is an easy thing to potentially overlook, so we’re always looking for new ways to foster collaboration and cross-team brainstorming at Alto.
What Do You Do In Your Free Time?
Take Altos to and from my favorite activities!
If You Can Have A One-Hour Meeting With Someone Famous Who Is Alive, Who Would It Be And Why?
Lin Manuel Miranda - because all History in all schools should be taught in Hamilton format!
Who Is Your Role Model?
What Is Your Favorite Quote And Why Does It Resonate With You?
“A ceiling is simply a floor from below” - Elon Musk
What Does Success Mean To You?
Building a company that creates opportunities and advances the lives of others.
Will Coleman’s Favorites Stack:
Health & Fitness:
1. Peloton (it keeps me sane between roles as CEO and dad of four!)
2. Sleep-tracking wearables. I don’t often get the sleep I want to, but at least the data motivates me to try.
3. My dog, Stella, is always game for a run- and gets me out, even when I otherwise wouldn’t.
Brands:
1. Anything Alto-branded. Consider me a walking billboard.
2. My On Cloud sneakers.
Newsletters & Podcasts:
The Rideshare Guy- a great source for industry news from different perspectives
Corby on The Ticket- for some light-hearted listening
