You mentioned your experience in this kind of business. Can you tell us more about it?

After college, I started a home renovation business and built it to 20 full-time contractors. During that time, I felt the pain of running a small renovation business first-hand and I realized that there were no good solutions for the problems that contractors face. This was the inspiration for my last company, Model Reno. We build some elaborate customer-facing software and took on all of the administrative work for contractors, but unfortunately the company failed, that happens and is always a risk when you build a Start-up. Many of the contractors we worked with at Model Reno still call me today to see if I can help them with their administrative work. That was part of the inspiration for homerenu. The idea is that we can automate their administrative work using software and avoid the pitfalls of many managed marketplaces (like Model Reno, and other well-funded competitors in the space). Anyhow Model Reno failed due to several reasons which is perfect for homerenu because I am able to bring all my learnings into our new venture.

What sets homerenu apart from other competitors?

homerenu is different because we have a keen focus on specifically the kitchen and bath industry. What we’ve noticed about our competition is that they try to solve everyone’s problems and have ended up creating bloated software that doesn’t solve any problem very well. Our intention is to create an extremely customer-focused platform that enables contractors to scale their businesses, make more money, and spend more time with their families, without having to learn new systems, or hire more people.

Can you tell us more about your mission to empower remodelling companies to improve their businesses and better serve their customers?

There’s a general fear from homeowners in the US about choosing a contractor because there are so many stories of renovations that became nightmares. After working with so many contractors, I know that they aren’t great at building business systems which is typically what causes renovations to go awry. If we can help them systemize their processes and automate important tasks, homeowners will have a better experience, contractors will earn a better reputation, and the whole industry will eventually have a more favourable view.

What "cutting-edge" technologies have you developed, and how do these support contractors?

Our first order of business is taking care of the monotonous and tedious everyday tasks that contractors have to do to keep their businesses running. We will be using artificial intelligence to accomplish this in a very simple and streamlined way.

You decided to go for a partner – why?

 We have decided not to start from scratch but to do an acquisition of a well known Kitchen & Bath remodeller in the DC area, GBC Kitchen & Bath. GBS is for us is a means to an end to finance, launch and scale our homerenu software business.

What does it mean exactly?

The goal in the short-term is to help finance the software development at homerenu, since GBC is a cash-flow positive business. In the mid-run, GBC will act as a real-life testing ground for the software – we’ll be able to develop and commercialize it based on real customer feedback. This will speed up and improve our software development and is a huge advantage comparing homerenu to similar start-ups. However, we’re not aiming to run an asset-intensive business like GBC in the long-term: once the software is developed and successfully commercialized, then the goal is to sell it profitably.

Why did you choose exactly GBC Kitchen & Bath?

After looking through more than 600 contractors, GBC stuck out to us as the most entrepreneurial and forward-thinking company. The management was open to making a deal because they believe in the future of homerenu and they wanted to be along for the ride.

Can you tell us more about the team behind homerenu? What does each person bring to the company?

Simon Ryschka was involved in the early data collection and business model development and also did the hard work of finding GBC and initiating the negotiations. In June, Diego Alarcon joined homerenu full-time to help with the development of the product and has been instrumental in launching our first website and the design and implementation of the first prototypes of the software platform. Diego has a long background advising startups and managing software products.

We also have an incredible team of freelancers who help us cover the bases, from marketing management to UI/UX design and software development.

In addition to this team, we also have great backing from our internal advisors at REHAU, Götz Thümecke and Svenja Winterbach, as well as some external advisors. There’s a long list of other advisors that have been extremely helpful in guiding our direction since the founding of homerenu. We like to make sure we aren’t building in an echo chamber.

Are there plans for international expansion?

Right now, we focus on the US market which is actually a big one. Basically, the idea born is made for the US market and tackles exactly pains existing in the US when doing renovation. However, there might be chance to scale homerenu to the Canadian market or even beyond that.
 

Thank you, Bradley, for these deep insights!