Since Uber was introduced to the universe, there has been countless attempts at creating the next Uber for X.
Some blew up to be unicorns, some fell flat. DoorDash, Instacart are a few that become unicorn Uber for X ideas. The market determines if the Uber for X idea adds value and votes with their dollars.
Testing an Uber for X idea doesn't have to cost a lot. Before you write one line of code, you need to see if there is a demand for your service.
Can you get customers that are willing to pay you for the service?
On demand cannabis delivery, furniture delivery, dog walking are some examples that come to mind for Uber for X ideas.
Put ads online, social media, try to sell to friends and family. Create a simple Google/WuFoo form where people can sign up for your service and pay.
If you can't get customers, get better at marketing or test another Uber for X idea.
When you do get your first customers, provide the service without having an elaborate software setup and routing algorithm, it's not needed at this point.
When you are getting overwhelmed with with paying customers requesting your service, now is the time to think about implementing technology to help you scale the idea.
Now you could develop software and try to raise money, but this may take a while. There is an easier way. Rather than develop software, use an off the shelf solution that can optimize driver routes and send appointments to drivers on their mobile device.
The software may not be custom to your specific use case, but it will allow you to service customers more efficiently, NOW.
In the background, you can start adding features to the existing out of the box solution. The market doesn't care what is happening in the background, they want the service, and they want it now.
Here's why:
1) There's always going to be demand for "Uber for X" as long as the price is low enough. Your experiments will almost always show a demand of hundreds or thousands of people.
The problem that 100% of these companies have is that they can't become profitable at a price customers are willing to pay. Uber, the original, isn't even close to profitable.
2) You shouldn't enter a business where you have zero competitive advantage. If you can use open-source software and ad networks, so can anyone else. Any business you enter with as low barriers to entry as this is going to become a race to the bottom.
3) There is no way to bootstrap something like this. It's capital-intensive by its nature, which requires massive economies of scale.