Just a couple weeks after springing into existence at the TechStars Startup Weekend in Columbia, MO the newly formed Appreciate.io landed $60,000 in pre-seed from Scale Incubator… and a spot in its spring cohort.
Nick Farquhar, Appreciate.io CEO
“I’m currently looking for an experienced full-stack developer to come in as a co-founder,” CEO Nick Farquhar told the 4thEst8, indicating that much of the new capital will fund that salary. He adds that he’s getting great referrals from the supportive ecosystem in Columbia and around Scale. “John Hall from Calendar.com… both of the Schlacks brothers (from Equipment Share) have been immensely helpful.”
‘Appreciate’ is a platform to help landlords track costs and revenue from individual rental properties, rather than multi-family buildings as a whole, so they can accurately assess the value of individual tenants with hard data. It will have a tenant side too that communicates what behaviors make for good relations with the landlord.
Startup Weekend was a cattle call for anyone with an idea. A score of ideas were pitched then the 120 participants indicated which one they liked the most… the top 12 got to pitch again, this time to attract team members with specific skills. Then the 12 ad-hoc teams spent 54 hours making a business. Awards for the top teams were announced Sunday night. The Appreciate team came in 1st place. It consisted of Farquhar and Michael Lamb, Joel Herron and Rachael Ferguson. Farquhar says the other team members had obligations elsewhere but he picked up the company and is running with it.
Past competition winners include Zapier and Equipment Share — both valued in the billions. The CEO’s of both of those companies were active in this years activities in both mentorship and judging.
Links:
On the 4thEst8:
TechStars Startup Weekend – Where “Unicorns” Play
