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A bit like a nosy neighbour, I’ve been keeping an eye on the
In that same neighbourly way, I’ve also had the occasional kitchen conversation with co-founderNicolai Thomson, who currently works for a business-oriented mobile phone company.
It has been interesting watching and hearing of the tribulations and triumphs of putting togethera website and backend that firstly enables the owners of big ticket items such as motorhomes, boatsand holiday homes to register their items, and then for a borrower to do so.
And though (inevitably) the commercial motorhome rental industry will see LendYour ascompetition, Nicolai feels the owner-oriented site has a couple of advantages beyond around 30%cheaper for the renter.
“Firstly, we have greater accessibility than the national companies,” he says. “There maybe a motorhome in your home town, and you’re not restricted to taking onboard the amount ofbaggage you can take on a plane. Secondly, there’s a lot more character and individualisation ofan owner’s motorhome, and that will appeal to a great number of people.”
Building the LendYour infrastructure to do so has taken a group of global developers/partners anumber of months (though Nicolai’s originally British and is tapping into his contacts).
LendYour has had its first five paying customers, and Nicolai’s intention is to go worldwidewith the site – though tailoring it for individual countries.
Unlike some competing temporary lend/borrow sites, LendYour is starting with expensiveholiday-type ‘toys’, as this provides a better margin on which to build the business.Eventually, other, smaller, lower rental items will be included – essentially to flesh outLendYour’s total offer.
LendYour’s revenue model is based on owner members receiving 92% of the total charge foraccommodation, and 70% for a motorhome.
One interesting feature of the site’s development has been both the learning exercise andpartnering up for insuring items.
Nicolai says LendYour has obtained premiums through
Getting this liability/protection aspect of the business sorted out has been one of the solvedheadaches for the team, as up till now motorhome owners have had no way of insuring their vehiclewhen lending it out to a third party.
The full site is due to go live in February, and will eventually include the ability for hirersto add map-based travel information and photos – creating LendYour specific content which initself creates more reasons for site visits. Initially this will be through static information andphotos, with dynamic maps to be added later on.
The business is also up for inclusion as one of the Lightning Lab 2014 teams to be announced thiscoming Friday (31 Jan).
As well as the $18,000 ‘living costs’ (and commensurate acquisition of equity by theLightning Lab investors), Nicolai sees the process would be extremely valuable for quickly learningmore quickly on how to grow what has already been developed.
Using the neighbour analogy, it has been extremely interesting observing a type of toddler movingfrom crawling to now walking.
Whether the baby develops into a fully-fledged adult sprinting for all its worth – time willtell – and though I’ll no longer be a neighbour, I’ll watch with interest.