Ask any startup founder, and they’ll probably tell you that starting a company is one of the hardest things they ever did. But if your company is part of the sharing economy, the ‘ordinary’ startup struggles come in addition to the challenges of building an online community of strangers centered around trust.
That's the situation Marlon Taylor and Hameed Bello found themselves in when they started Frntal — a peer-to-peer rental marketplace for, well, pretty much anything.
Their solution? Transparency.
“We try to provide a friendly rental place,” said Taylor. “Similar to the timeline in Venmo, where you can see who’s paying money to whom, our app shows you what people are renting from each other.”
In addition to the timeline feature, renters and listers sign up for complete user profiles, which are tied to ratings and reviews left by other users.
Frntal was born out of Taylor’s difficulties finding ways to make money on the side while studying architectural design at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. As a student, Taylor took on a number of side gigs, including a stint as an on-campus barber. One day, he looked around his room and realized that it was filled with expensive electronics and other equipment that he didn’t use regularly.
While companies like Airbnb have popularized short-term apartment rental as an alternative to hotels, the peer-to-peer space outside of real estate is still dominated by companies like Craigslist and eBay, which primarily focus on buying and selling.
“But why should you have to sell your possessions in order to make money when they could be continuously providing you with residual income?” said Taylor.
Rental prices are set by the lister, who has the option to include a security deposit for the listing — in case the item is broken, lost or stolen. The company is also in the process of developing a feature that will let users request an item from people nearby if they can’t find what they’re looking for on the platform.
Taylor’s hope is that the timeline will help bring more items onto the platform by showing would-be listers what kinds of things people are interested in renting.
The two co-founders are planning for a major PR push at some big Chicago festivals and events this summer, and they are partnering with small businesses, like bike shops, that have equipment that could be rented out.
In keeping with its roots, the company is also making a push to get the word out at college campuses.
“We just started an intern at the University of Illinois, and she has been going full-throttle to raise our brand awareness out there,” said Taylor.
Frntal is currently only available for iOS devices. Taylor expects to have an Android version ready by the end of 2017.
Images via Frntal.
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