A new spin on the delivery business

that flopped because it tried to expand too quickly.

Webvan, regarded as one of the greatest dot-com era flops, was an online grocery business founded in 1996. At its height, it had a valuation of $4.8 billion, but it filed for bankruptcy in 2001. Investors pushed the company to grow quickly, building out a warehouse and purchasing a fleet of delivery vans.

In 2013, Webvan’s founders joined Amazon to help form the Seattle-based e-retailer’s AmazonFresh grocery delivery service.

“The reason [Webvan] claimed failure was aggressive expansion,” Mr. Coticchia said. “But in the case of a Giant Eagle or an Amazon, they already have their own infrastructure.”

Mr. Parker said that although he already has seen independent contractors use the VendSpin platform in a few cities (even Hong Kong, to his surprise), he wants to wait before he intentionally expands into his next market. It takes a great deal of capital to scale, he said, and he wants to oversee operations in Pittsburgh until he has worked out every possible kink.

As for his next move, he plans to add a “community rating feature” to the VendSpin app so that users can reward drivers who give back to the neighborhoods where they deliver. Through volunteer work, helping at after-school programs or attending community cleanups, delivery drivers can earn positive reviews.

Mr. Parker said that type of transparency will allow customers to make informed decisions about where they spend their money.

“This world is all about consumption, whether it’s information or products ... and it’s important that we have the benefit of choosing who we consume the items from,” he said.

“If someone has a great feeling about where they spent that dollar, who wouldn’t choose that?”