Editor’s note: Leasify ceased operations in 2016.
If you’ve ever shopped for a car, you know dealers will do just about anything to simplify the process and close the sale. Leasing a car, however, can be more complicated affair.
That’s a pain point Seattle startup Leasify wants to resolve. The company’s app digests all of the metrics and factors that can cause headaches for consumers, and boils them down to one 0-to-10 rating of the deal.
“Leasify aims to be the go-to platform that Americans trust to help them get a fair deal when they are considering leasing a new car,” said CEO Truman Rendina.
Rendina, a five-year Boeing vet, founded Leasify with his brother Victor, a Ph.D organic chemist and self-taught programmer. Their shared passion for cars inspired this entrepreneurial journey.
We caught up with Rendina for this Startup Spotlight, a regular GeekWire feature.
Explain what you do so our parents can understand it: “Car leasing is much more complicated than buying because of complex terminology and the sheer number of rates and factors involved. We simplify the car leasing process with a single number — the Leasify Deal Score. We provide our users with a score on a scale from 0 to 10, explain whether or not their lease quote is a good one, and deliver expert advice to help ensure they get a great deal.”
Inspiration hit us when: “We have been helping friends and family negotiate car deals for years and the first thing they want to know is if they are getting a good deal. After working on several lease deals we learned that leasing was much more complicated than buying and realized there was no robust solution geared toward helping new car shoppers navigate the leasing space.
Soon after that, we conceptualized the Leasify Deal Score. We wanted to simplify the car leasing process by putting a powerful app in the hands of new car shoppers to help them determine if they are getting a good deal before they sign and drive off of the lot and think we have done that with our free iPhone app and Deal Score.”
VC, Angel or Bootstrap: “Bootstrap. We were passionate about getting our iOS app off the ground in the most efficient, cost-effective way and were able to do so with our own funding. After paying an Apple Developer fee last year we were really off and running, doing all of the work ourselves and it has been that way ever since.”
Our ‘secret sauce’ is: “We wanted to take a novel approach to empowering new car shoppers and needed to be able to answer the fundamental questions, “Am I getting a good deal? How do I know?” So we designed an algorithm to account for all of the rates and factors involved in a car lease then communicate the quality of the deal to users through our Leasify Deal Score. No one else in the automotive leasing space is doing this with a mobile app that users can rely on at home and at the dealership.”
The smartest move we’ve made so far: “Competing in the annual Edmunds.com Hackomotive event in Santa Monica in March 2015. This allowed us to tell our story and really showcase our unique product. The event gave us incredible visibility and informed our next steps in continuing to work with Edmunds.com in their FastLane Accelerator Program that kicked off on June 24.”
The biggest mistake we’ve made so far: “Originally when we launched the app, it was a paid app and although that gave us some great visibility in the “Top Paid Finance Apps” list, it didn’t really allow us to get the app into the hands of as many people as we wanted to from the beginning. As we thought about why we built the app — to benefit as many people as possible — we offered it for free. In hindsight we should have offered it for free from the start.”
Would you rather have Gates, Zuckerberg or Bezos in your corner: “Initially we thought Bezos because one may expect that even car leases are something Amazon Prime members should be able to search and shop for in the future. However, the word on the street is Bezos drives a late 90s Honda Accord, which may not bode well for a company that really encourages financing new vehicles.”
Our favorite team-building activity is: “We are really big fans of table shuffleboard and ping pong … I believe I am beating Victor in the sibling rivalry 110-91, but who’s counting (other than the type A finance co-founder).”
The biggest thing we look for when hiring is: “In addition to a passion for technology and developing financial decision-making tools that can help people, we look for high-energy individuals with a track record of not just coming up with incredible ideas but also implementing them successfully. Execution is key for any successful business!”
What’s the one piece of advice you’d give to other entrepreneurs just starting out: “Think about what you are an expert in and have a passion for, and then relentlessly pursue a business that involves those two things. We think everyone is an expert in something, so see if you can build a business around that. You’ll be much, much happier and more satisfied working on something that you are passionate about — prioritize this.”
