Summer was fast approaching in Seattle. In Seattle, summer means sun for the first time in several months and that means everyone heads to the water to soak up some rays. Late one evening the founder Stefan Cordova was talking with a few of his friends. One friend said, “Man! Summer if coming up fast, I wish I had a friend with a boat!”. Stefan thought for a second back to previous conversations he had with a few other friends. Two other times he recalled hearing someone say, “I wish I had a friend with a boat”, “I wish I had a friend with a boat”. It was that eureka moment when Stefan thought, yes! This is what the world has been waiting for, a boat sharing company! Thus the idea of “Boaties” came to life!
Well during the time when Boaties came to life, Stefan and his wife were house sitting for the summer for a friends’ parents. It was the first time taking care of an entire house on their own (Ex. Mowing the lawn, trimming the bushes, etc…). Well the neighborhood they moved into had a very cool little co-op within the cul-de-sac. Everything was shared amongst the neighbors. It was a common sight to see someone driving the riding lawn mower down the street from one house to the next. This was Stefan’s first glimpse into how a well-functioning sharing economy should work.
Well seeing this well-functioning sharing economy started to get the gears turning that maybe there was more than just Boaties. After doing a little digging and a few more conversations, he realized, wait, I’ve heard that saying before. On Facebook, “Does anyone have a friend with a truck?”, “Does anyone have a friend with a digital camera”, over at his mom’s house, “I wish I had a friend with a lawnmower” and then finally over at his friends’ house, “Why isn’t there a peer to peer rental platform out there? A place to rent anything? A place to borrow anything? The AirBnB for everything?”. It was at that moment that “Boaties” pivoted to bigger and grander ambitions, now come in the picture, “FriendWithA…”.
Friend with a is the place to rent anything and borrow anything amongst your friends, neighbors, church group, or workplace. Why does every neighbor need to own their own lawnmower in a neighborhood? Think about it. Each neighbor goes out to purchase their own riding lawnmower for $500 a piece? Then lets it sit around and take up space for one to two weeks at a time? It just doesn’t make sense. But what about going to borrow that lawnmower? Well that takes a little courage to go over directly to your neighbor and ask. Are you being an inconvenience? What if you break the lawnmower? How much do I pay for the lawnmower?
With Friend with a, all that is now a thing of the past. Only neighbors looking to loan out their items will put them on the app. If it’s on the app, it means they really do want you to borrow it! Well how much should I pay them? Don’t worry, with Friend with a, your neighbor sets a price, so you don’t have to wonder about how much to pay them. Well what if my neighbor breaks my lawnmower? Again, no problem! Friend with a will cover all your items with an insurance policy, and will reimburse you for 100% of the fair market value for your item.
Now with FriendWithA, you can harness the collective power of your trusted communities. Peer to peer rentals for anything are now an option. Rent anything, borrow anything, FriendWithA, your friend with a…
