Welcome to the Blast-off blog!
Here’s the place where you can keep up to date with all the latest rumblings at Shutl Mission Control. You can also follow us on any of the social networks linked to below.
Here’s the place where you can keep up to date with all the latest rumblings at Shutl Mission Control. You can also follow us on any of the social networks linked to below.
Muse! Pulp! Jimmy Eat World! It all kicks off at Reading and Leeds tomorrow, and we’ve got festival fever. Of course, your boss has just handed you a pile of work because you’re taking Friday off and you’re going to be in the office until at least 8… And you only discovered last night that your tent is mouldy and you have nothing to wear. Luckily, Shutl are looking out for you! Order from your essentials from Argos, get a quick makeover at Oasis, and snap up a bargain at Warehouse – all within 90 minutes!
1. Shelter
If you need a tent, you can’t go wrong with this stylish pop-up number. It will save you time pitching so you can arrive is style and get right into partying. It’s distinctive enough to stand out from the crowd, without screaming “steal me” and best of all, it’s less than half price!
2. Sleep
If it suddenly looks like the flimsy summer sleeping bag you packed just isn’t going to cut it, and have no space to pack wooly socks and a hat to sleep in, upgrade your sleeping bag to a 500gsm – it’s like a cocoon shaped hug, protecting you from the elements as those around you shiver in the August downpours.
If you just can’t get your head around Wellies, and are confident you’ll be able to blag your way into the carpeted bliss of the VIP section, these boots will look fantastic with some shorts and a vest top. What’s more they will last you all the way though autumn! Team them with this amazing cardy, and you’ll be the chicest chica in the arena!
Finally, if you’re really stuck for something to wear, there is always that fail-safe festival favourite – the humble playsuit. Comfortable yet stylish, it allows you to get a tan without stripping off, and you can piggy back on your mate’s shoulders without giving everyone trying to get a glimpse of Jarvis Cocker an eyeful! We love this one from Warehouse: and with the special offer on at the moment; it could be Shutl’d to you for just 90p!
Available exclusively to tradesmen, TradePoint offers highly competitive, trade-only prices across a huge selection of leading brands. From tools and supplies to kitchens, bathrooms and appliances, TradePoint caters for the needs of just about any job.

In partnership with Shutl, TradePoint customers can now order via phone and receive delivery within as little as 90 minutes, or choose a 1-hour delivery window of their choice, same day or any day. The service operates 7am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-9pm Sat, and 11am-5pm Sun, with customers able to arrange delivery to any location within the M25, including site or home (provided that somebody is there to sign for it). Ordering couldn’t be simpler:
1. Call:
• Beckton TradePoint 020 8709 1122
• Enfield TradePoint on 020 8362 4722
• Cricklewood TradePoint on 020 8438 3222
• Yeading TradePoint on 020 8842 7022
• Wandsworth TradePoint on 020 8875 8022
• Sutton TradePoint on 020 8770 2522
• New Malden TradePoint on 020 8336 8622
• Croydon TradePoint on 020 8649 5622
2. Place your order using the TradePoint catalogue.
3. Select either immediate delivery or choose a convenient 1-hr window.
4. Confirm the total price and pay over the phone.
5. Sign for your delivery when it arrives.

For more information and to sign up to TradePoint, visit www.Trade-Point.co.uk .
From our earliest days we have been keen as mustard to make Shutl available to shoppers around the world. We’re well aware, however, that we needed to be confident we could walk around the house before we were ready to head out to Kingston in search of Mr Bolt.
With this in mind, to date we have limited Shutl to the confines of London’s M25 while working tirelessly with our courier and retail partners to get the basics of our service right.
502 days on from our first delivery, we feel like we are finally there… and today we’re delighted to announce that Shutl delivery is now available to shoppers in and around Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
If you live, work or play in/around any of these towns and want to give our service a go, you can now find us at Karen Millen, Oasis, Coast and Warehouse.
Over the coming weeks/months we aim to launch across more cities and with additional high street names , so if you’re feeling left out please don’t panic! Instead drop us a comment with the towns & retailers you would like to see offering Shutl and we will do our absolute best not to disappoint.
Last week, the Shutl crew lost one of our first recruits; Rupert Greenhill, who joined us as an intern in July ‘09. Truth be told, at the time there really wasn’t very much of a crew. Although Guy, Steve and I were all working together, none of us were employees and we had no office. Instead we enjoyed the hospitality of Shoreditch House and my living room.
Rupert stood out among applicants for the internship “at a stealth tech startup” that we advertised on Enternships. For starters, he was 28… he possessed a law degree and had spent the previous 3 years enjoying success on a city trading floor. He was basically over-qualified to be doing any of the jobs we were doing, let alone be an intern! Intrigued, I set up an interview. Rupert explained to us openly that he had been unsatisfied by banking and wanted to find a role where he could develop his business skills whilst ‘making a real contribution to growing a successful and lasting business’. We knew he was right for us immediately and offered him the internship. Fortunately for us, Rupert accepted – despite the fact that we had no funding and so were paying next to nothing.
When we took on our first investment, we offered Rupert a full-time job. He asked if he could invest in the pre-business and so we were delighted to have him as a shareholder too. The following year his £10k came in very useful, buying us another much needed week as we finalised our second investment round.
Rupert’s named role was ‘business development’ which was our way of saying we weren’t creative enough to come up with a title for all the things we needed him for!
He went out and found several of our first clients and worked very closely with Start London, ensuring we were able to make our first delivery. He took bookings for them over the phone when their site was down or they wanted to offer Shutl to an in-store customer. He acted as our in-house legal council and saved us countless gazillions over the years in legal fees for capital raising, IP registering, agreements with our retailers, carriers & consumers. He took on with gusto the role of information / data compliance officer and everything else we threw at him; including regularly taking @Shutldog for walks (particularly when Hendryks was only a few months old and at his most attractive to humans of the opposite sex…).
Rupert was a great ambassador to clients, partners and potential employees. He was also responsible for recruiting our first development intern, the Crawfmeister, who like Rupert also joined our crew full-time.
Feeling tired at the end of last year, shortly after celebrating his 30th birthday, Rupert went to his GP who sent him off for tests. The results were not good. Although he was initially diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a relatively treatable form of cancer, subsequent tests showed him to have a rarer and more malignant form.
Soon after his diagnosis, Rupes came to see me to explain his situation. It was crushing, particularly since he was so healthy and full of life. He put on a very brave face and was matter of fact regarding treatment etc. I could only imagine what must have been racing through his mind. Rupert then asked me something surprising, whether he could continue working ostensibly so that he could maintain a degree of normality in his life. I agreed very quickly. The truth being that I just didn’t know how we could cope without him.

As Rupes’ treatment progressed and his prognosis worsened we saw less and less of him, despite always being at the other end of a phone call/email whenever there was a question that none of us could answer. His and our hope was always that chemotherapy and radiotherapy would weaken the cancer enough that he could undergo a bone marrow transplant. I received an email from Rupert last Sunday letting me know that his latest treatment hadn’t been successful and that he did not have much time left. He wanted me to pass on the news to his colleagues and also to make arrangements for his shares and let me know that there would be a ‘party’.
Alongside the rest of the Shutl team, I feel incredibly privileged to have worked with Rupert over the last two years and fortunate to call him a friend. We only wish that he would be around to see the fruits of his labour and hugely valuable contribution. He is already greatly missed.
Our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time are with Rupert’s parents, his brother & sister and his many, many friends.
Independent retailers are important because they pave the way for the future. They are the chain stores of the future that fill niches that we never thought needed filling, and now can’t live without! Hotel Chocolat, The White Company, Specsavers and Wilkinson all started out as independent retailers, and are now a staple on every high street. Even Clarks, a British Institution that has gone global was once a humble indie store. In the current economic climate, it is more important than ever to support the stores of the future. With fashion embracing the home made, ethically sourced, fairly produced and upcycled, independent retailers fit so comfortably with today’s trends and no encouragement should be needed for us to go out and and embrace indie!
