Advice on attracting first users

#1 · 03-12-2020 12:18am #1

Hi everyone. I recently launched a MVP for an online marketplace in Dublin where people can list space in their home for rent by the day/hour to remote workers (among others).

I'm trying to attract my first few hosts so that I can get some feedback on what works and what doesn't, what features people would like to see added to the website, whether there is an appetite for this type of hosting and so forth, but I'm finding it extremely difficult.

To date I've been using FB Ads to try and target what I believe is my audience for this. I've been getting some click-throughs from this but no actual sign-ups.

I've also asked some people on Airbnb groups on FB if they'd be interested in trying it out given the travel industry is on its knees and they are struggling to find guests while remote working has exploded, but I didn't have any takers. I have all the social platforms up and running and am slowly building them up with friends and family but that has its limits.

If anyone has experience with marketplaces I'd really appreciate any advice on how you went about getting your first users.

Cheers

Bawnmore · 08-12-2020 5:08pm

I'd wonder is it a particularly bad time to try find people willing to take strangers in their home considering.....everything. I like the idea, but the timing might make it a little difficult to get off the ground.

TheBoyConor · 08-12-2020 5:12pm

I think it is a crazy idea.

Why would anyone want to rent a room in someone's home to go there and work from home. Would they not just work at home in their own place?

Any way would anyone want to rent out space in their home to transient strangers coming in doing god only knows what on their internet?

Then you have them all complaining about poor internet, homeowner complaining about them hogging the internet etc.

I think it is a bit of a hair brained idea.

Bawnmore · 08-12-2020 5:36pm

I agree actually - I can see why it would work with public spaces that wouldn't otherwise be in use (e.g. hotels with a restaurant space unused during the day, or a cafe with a big space for presentations in the evening etc.) but listing your home for remote office space doesn't seem like it'd appeal to many.

benbutton · 08-12-2020 6:30pm

Haha, thanks for the honesty! But I disagree. That thinking also leads logically to "why would anyone stay in a stranger's home when they could just stay in a hotel?" Yet here we are 12 years later and it's become a multi-billion dollar industry.

Thousands of "co-working" spaces have popped up all over the world in the last few years frequented by freelancers and small teams. It has become a huge market. But those places are soulless, loud, can be expensive when you add on all the bells and whistles, and are often only located in urban centres.

Now we have a situation where people like me are forced to wfh but don't have the space. There are loads of empty Airbnbs in my building that I'd happily rent for a few hours to work from.

If you're concerned with what people do on your internet then I think, with respect, none of the various "sharing economy" companies would work for you as they are all based on some level of trust backed up by ID verifications, reviews etc.

TheBoyConor wrote: »

I think it is a crazy idea.

Why would anyone want to rent a room in someone's home to go there and work from home. Would they not just work at home in their own place?

Any way would anyone want to rent out space in their home to transient strangers coming in doing god only knows what on their internet?

Then you have them all complaining about poor internet, homeowner complaining about them hogging the internet etc.

I think it is a bit of a hair brained idea.

benbutton · 08-12-2020 6:40pm

Cheers for the feedback.

The website is actually aimed at both homes and businesses. Businesses feels easier to attract as there's a ready made market. But because that market exists there are a few companies already trying something like this. So we were starting with the home angle first, like an Airbnb for the day time, to try and carve out a niche. It also goes beyond workspaces, we have event spaces, meeting spaces etc. but have started with work given the huge numbers of people at home.

I agree with your first post though that with lockdowns/restrictions there is probably little appetite for having strangers in your home right now. However on the flip side of that I've talked to Airbnb hosts and a lot still have their places listed and if someone chose to book a stay with them, and wasn't breaking a restriction, they'd accept it. So it depends on the person really.

Bawnmore wrote: »

I agree actually - I can see why it would work with public spaces that wouldn't otherwise be in use (e.g. hotels with a restaurant space unused during the day, or a cafe with a big space for presentations in the evening etc.) but listing your home for remote office space doesn't seem like it'd appeal to many.

beauf · 08-12-2020 7:09pm

Wouldn't that cause all sorts of issue's with insurance and tax, using a residential property for business use.
Not insurmountable sure, but would they impact the viability of it.

I think the problem you have is, people with residential property get a better return on a 24/7 rental rate rather than a daytime only rate. So its not attractive to them. You're also competing with co-working and Teleworking Hubs. Some of which seem to have closed for Covid.

I think to start it off, you'd have to provide property and create spaces for people to rent. Test the model.

benbutton · 08-12-2020 7:19pm

From a tax perspective it's equivalent to any types of earnings i.e. you must declare and pay tax on it as you would any type of rental income.

Once the purpose of the building remains residential, which it would as people are either just sharing their home for the day or renting it for the day while they are at work themselves, then there wouldn't be issues with zoning/change of use from what I've been able to tell anyway; same with Airbnb really.

Insurance wise, again, as with Airbnb you need to check if your policy covers it, if not you should have cover that provides liability/damage protection. We'd eventually offer this through the platform.

WeWork have tried the leasing/sub-leasing model and nearly gone backrupt so I don't want to go down that route haha

beauf · 08-12-2020 7:51pm

benbutton wrote: »

....
WeWork have tried the leasing/sub-leasing model and nearly gone backrupt so I don't want to go down that route haha...

Your problem is neither does anyone else....

benbutton · 08-12-2020 7:56pm

Well that's exactly why I'm targeting underutilised space i.e. already paid for either by your rent or mortgage but lying idle for the day.

So no extra risk involved for the host by taking on an extra lease or anything like that; just turning their existing space into an income generator.

A room in an art gallery, function room in a pub, empty home office during the day, open plan living area you don't mind sharing, nice garden for a dinner party/BBQ in the summer etc etc.

beauf · 08-12-2020 9:00pm

benbutton wrote: »

Well that's exactly why I'm targeting underutilised space i.e. already paid for either by your rent or mortgage but lying idle for the day.

So no extra risk involved for the host by taking on an extra lease or anything like that; just turning their existing space into an income generator.

A room in an art gallery, function room in a pub, empty home office during the day, open plan living area you don't mind sharing, nice garden for a dinner party/BBQ in the summer etc etc.

For every pro of this there's a bigger con. Trying to rent gardens for parties and BBQ in a lockdown. If weren't in a lockdown then no one would need a garden anyway. Trying to sell the idea of being a host while saying it's not viable for you to do it. Etc. Ok that's a crass over simplification.

Most people here have said it's crazy. I'm on the fence. I've thought about doing this with vacant property I have, but never done it for a variety of reasons. I was even thinking of setting up a temp office in another property due to space constraints at home. But ran into a load of practical issues.

But you're not looking for opinions on the idea. You're looking how to sell it.

All I'm saying is to sell it, you'd have to prove it works and is viable. You'd have to build a narrative around a successful example, and if you can't get one, then you have to create one yourself. You don't know your market and thus how to sell to it, until you do this. Airbnb started with air beds on their apartment floor. They also started where there was a shortage of cheap very short stay accommodation. Conferences.

benbutton · 08-12-2020 9:08pm

Thanks for the feedback beauf, I do appreciate it. To be clear, the reason I haven't listed myself is because I have no space. But I'm actually moving soon to a larger place with more rooms so plan to have my own place as one of the inital listings.

That should help me get feedback on whether there is a market for this or not, what works, what doesn't etc.

By the way, there've only been a couple of other responses apart from yours, one of which was positive (initially), one totally negative and your own on the fence. So I won't be giving up just yet haha. Other groups I've chatted in such as Airbnb hosting groups on FB were v positive about the idea. The seasoned hosts could see the potential but they were hoping for a recovery in the travel market next year. I'm trying to position myself to take advantage of the coming post Covid era when the wfh trend continues (albeit not at the current level) and the economic climate means ppl are looking for alternative sources of income

ironclaw · 09-12-2020 6:46pm

I built a SaaS platform for venues to accept bookings, an all in one, for the leisure industry. We had to pivot to full service as you won't make it work with the margins involved. We've had three direct competitors start and fail since we did, so we've validated the flaw over and over.

I assume you monetisation route is getting 10% or so of the booking?

To make 100k, you need to sell a million worth of bookings. You're simply not going to sell that much in Ireland. If you were, someone would already be doing it. This is why every company in this space is going to be VC backed, they need the cash and burn rate to generate hyper-growth. Which brings me to the price point. I assume you are looking at this as a subscription model? What does that give the user? Bear in mind that WeWork gives a fancy office and some decent perks for €400/month. Is someone going to give you €200/month for John's spare room? Or is it by the day/hour?

Which leads me to the questions of standards. Everyone will need a good desk, a good chair and solid internet. Can a host guarantee this?

Your next barrier is insurance and liability. If someone falls in someone's home, office, shed etc and breaks a leg, who's going to pay out for it? You'll need a rock-solid policy and some walking around money to fight the eventual solicitor's letter. We got letters for people who hurt themselves at venues we just provide software for.

Another factor is your market. Are you going after Joe Soap Consumer? Best of luck. You'll spend your days answering support tickets and questions for cents on the dollar if they book at all. This sounds fun but it's costly, both in time and staffing if you plan to hire.

The route I'd go to is B2B. Small to medium-sized offices looking to put 10+ people in various offices around the place, or a single office. HOWEVER, this already exists and is an established market. Venue rental was a pivot we looked at but all our research told us that anyone in that space wasn't making any money except for huge players. Another potential pivot is working with larger coffee shops to sell tables by the hour. 2 hours in Starbucks cost me a single drink. But if a coffee shop guaranteed me a desk for half a day, a sandwich and a coffee, I'd probably buy-in if it was convenient.

I wish you luck and if you want any insight into the industry or tech, feel free to PM me. I've also been fully remote for 3 years, so there's that too if I can provide any insight.

Axwell · 09-12-2020 8:03pm

What's the typical charge going to be in one of these situations and what I am getting for my money - access to someone's apartment and use of their internet?

In these covid times is someone going to come and clean the apartment every day after I have gone or if I am only there a few hours and someone else has booked it later in the day - which will no doubt add to the cost.

Why would I do this versus just get a hot desk at a location that is equipped for all of this and more?

Advice on attracting first users

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