It is hard to build technology clusters. The CEO of a new company is leaving San Francisco to work in the Rockies. He isn't the only one.
Tim is the brother of Tim.
On paper, Miller was sitting down. Miller and his partners sold Pillow, a startup that managed short-term rentals in San Francisco, and he wanted to do it again. The South of Market district was whereAirbnb was located. I think it's easy.
Why is the young man sitting in Denver?
He believes that Showplace will benefit from the emergence of a small technology cluster for travel tech companies that focus on short-term rental properties in the Rockies. The first startup was Exclusive Resorts, which is now 20 years old, and the biggest startup is likely closely held Evolve, which has raised $222 million in venture capital but doesn't reveal its sales and earnings publicly. AirDNA, a company that does business analysis for investors in short-term rental properties and was sold to a private equity firm in March, is one of two companies that went public this year.
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Showplace raised $2 million in a deal on June 7. Showplace will be able to add engineers and build a sales team in the seed round, according to Miller.
Denver is seen as a travel technology hub. Showplace has access to industry brainpower and is able to share best practices. A lot of short-term rentals can be found in Denver.
Natty Zola said that technology clusters are hard to build and good for young companies when they happen. As people with relevant skills live near each other and generate ideas that lead to growth and jobs, they tend to promote a cycle of hiring.
They are the most important economic development leaders in the country. There are 25 different efforts by public officials to brand their local tech clusters as Silicon This or That, and 238 cities that bid on Amazon's HQ2 proposal, all of which have made little difference to Silicon Valley's supremacy. The Valley has 48 percent of U.S. venture capital compared to Denver's 1.1 percent.
The cities try so hard. Denver has less high-paid workers in R&D intensive industries than Seattle.
Zola ran a business incubator in Boulder, but there hasn't been an effort to get Denver into Travel Tech Central. There are some signs of workers moving between local firms in the industry, beginning with Exclusive Resorts, majority-owned by former America Online CEO Steve Case.
Zola said that it builds on itself when you have a lot of experience. You don't have to be in the same place as the incumbents.
Miller doesn't think that Denver needs to leave the Valley to add value. Even a relatively small pool of people with highly relevant expertise will help build his team. Showplace is Matchstick's first travel tech play. Zola was the founder of his own startup before going into coaching and investing in startups.
Showplace helps new short-term rental owners get their properties in good shape so they can be rented frequently. He compares the process of helping home sellers stage their houses by picking furniture, colors and other elements that will attract buyers, and photographing them in a way that grabs shoppers' attention, to the process of photographing homes in a way that grabs shoppers' attention. Most owners will hire a management company to help them run their unit as an ongoing business once the unit is set up.
Showplace is developing and taking advantage of the discounts it has arranged with leading furniture companies. Miller said that the deals allow owners to shave as much as 80 percent off the price.
Showplace will take a design fee that varies by the size of the house and a cut of the savings offered by furniture sellers and other vendors.
Miller said that they help the owner save money by helping onboard a property. New to the business are most owners.
Ten percent of the million units a year he expects Airbnb alone to add will be new units if the goal is to move quickly. He believes that software-driven design templates will help the business. Showplace can be a billion company within a few years with valuations in his sub-industry as high as 30 times revenue.
Miller needs help to do all that. He is betting that he can get some of it from his new neighbors.
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