As Florida Fuel Grew Scarce, GasBuddy App Change Filled Gap
- Ex-venture capitalist draws governor’s praise for driver data
- Company raced to expand services to identify closed stations
Palm Beach a Ghost Town After Hurricane Irma
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As Hurricane Irma rushed toward a Florida landfall, GasBuddy LLC, previously known only for helping drivers find the lowest fuel prices, raced to put into action a lesson learned from Harvey just a week earlier.
A run on gas at stations in South Texas after Harvey struck convinced Walt Doyle, the company’s chief executive officer and a former venture capitalist at Highland Capital Partners LP, that GasBuddy needed to quickly expand its offerings to help Florida as it readied for Irma. The goal: Re-engineer their mobile app in a single night to help drivers escaping the storm identify which stations had run out of fuel, or had lost their electricity.