The post was originally published in Russian on Startup of the Day. Alexander kindly agreed to republish what we think is of great value to our readers.
Wander, the American startup of the day, can serve as an example in not one but two chapters of a Startup Building 101 textbook. ‘A venture business doesn’t require any technological background’ and ‘A project has a much better chance of success if it follows the evolution of the world.’
Wander is a chain of country houses for short term rent. No blockchain, artificial intelligence or virtual reality. The guest simply picks dates, pays, and comes. Check-in after 15:00, check-out before 12:00, the rest of the rules are all too familiar as well. A usual offline business. The company even owns its houses, without using a franchise or delegating capital expenditures onto someone else.
Still, Wander brings in investments from respected venture funds and appears in articles by Techcrunch and not some resort town weekly. The reason is the non-typical nature of the target audience and the task that the startup solves for it.
In 2019, a country house was a place for family vacations or parties with friends. It needed to have a swimming pool, a barbecue, and some children’s leisure opportunities nearby. Along with that, such additions to a home might play an important role while deciding a selling price of a home. You can also increase your home value with a pool and a new HVAC system installed in your house. Today, in the age of home office, one can go to the countryside to work from there. The requirements for a house get partially updated and partially simplified, what matters now is the clean air, beautiful views, superstable wi-fi connection, and workout tools.
This is the kind of villas Wander has to offer. Of course, it will never be unique. If working via Zoom stays with us forever, then thousands of settlement opportunities will position themselves similarly, a good internet connection in a house isn’t that difficult. But regarding venture investments, Wander will be running ahead of everybody and has an opportunity to build an extensive chain with a solid brand in the new market.
As of now, the startup has only five houses, it brought in USD 30M in a recent round, so the new sport will obviously open soon.
#realestate #usa #rounda
Translation: Kostiantyn Tupikov
Alexander made his career in Russian internet companies including Mail.Ru, Rambler, RBC. From 2016 to 2018 he was Chief Strategy and Analytics officer in Mail.Ru Group. In this position, he worked on M&A, investments, and new project launches. In 2018 he became Deputy CEO in Citymobil, a Russian Uber-like company that was invested by Mail.Ru Group and Sberbank (the biggest Russian bank), then he left the company to launch his own projects. Now Alexander is a co-founder of United Investors – the platform for co-investments in Russian early-stage startups. His blog #startupoftheday (#стартапдня) is one of the most popular blogs about startups in Russia.
