Bid My Cleaning Services

(Post: English)
"When Raymond Aker ran a cleaning business in San Diego, he was frustrated by how hard it was to find customers."

Akers solution became his next business: BidMyCleaning, a Web site designed to connect clients with cleaners in a transaction as smooth as buying books on Amazon.

Users select what type of cleaning they need, punch in their Zip Code, and BidMyCleaning spits out price quotes from vetted providers.

Customers schedule online and pay through the site after service is provided.

BidMyCleaning takes a cut of 20% to 30% on each booking. The average sale is $130.

Aker, 36, says he and three thirtysomething co-founders built the site in about six months with $100,000 raised from friends, family, and angels.

The company, which now has four employees besides the founders, was profitable nine months after launching in April 2008, with $390,000 in revenue in the first year.

Based in San Diego with a second team in Houston, BidMyCleaning is now seeking investors to expand to other services like lawn care or repairs.

Source: BusinessWeek
Photo: BidMyCleaning

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NoteHall

(Post: English)
"Launched in 2008, NoteHall is an online marketplace for college students who want to buy and sell class notes."

Sean Conway, who has ADHD and finds it difficult to comprehend a lecture and take notes simultaneously, says the impetus to start the company came when he noticed fellow students shared his frustration.

For initial funding, the founders used $70,000 they put together from Conway's inheritance and Miller's bar mitzvah money.

To access documents, users purchase credits via the site's virtual currency system ($3 buys 100 credits; notes from one lecture cost 25 credits; a study guide costs 100 credits).

When a student purchases credits and redeems them, NoteHall receives a commission that varies based on the product.

According to Conway, 20 colleges and universities are participating now, including Drexel University and the University of Arizona, and an additional 30 will be by December.

Last year, NoteHall had $40,000 in revenue, will be profitable this year, and expects to reach $900,000 in revenue in 2010.

INFO:
The Company: NoteHall
What It Does: Online marketplace for class notes
Founders: Sean Conway, 25; Justin Miller, 21; D.J. Stephan, 24; Fadi Chalfoun, 23
Based: Tucson, Ariz.

Source: BusinessWeek

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ModCloth for Indie Designer

(Post: English)
"You might not expect an indie clothing e-tailer to get the attention of equity investors."

But Eric and Susan Koger, the husband-and-wife team that launched ModCloth in 2002, near the end of their freshman year at Carnegie Mellon University, have managed to raise a little over $3 million from angels like StubHub co-founder Jeff Fluhr and venture capital firms First Round Capital and Maples Investments.

ModCloth's inventory strategy helps explain its success.

Eric says Susan and her buyers build rapport with independent designers, try to get payment terms of net 30, and normally sell 70% to 90% of the goods within the net-30 period.

"We can turn our inventory faster than we have to pay for it. That's enabled us to scale as fast as we have."

Being online only and located in Pittsburgh keeps operating costs low, too.

ModCloth employs 104 people—mostly young women who, Eric says, "come at it from a perspective that's truly aligned with the customer, because they are our customers" - up from 22 people a year ago.

The company became profitable in 2007 but wasn't in 2008, largely because it spent a lot of money to redesign its Web site - which now gets more than 1.25 million unique visitors a month.

Eric says ModCloth has around $1 million a month in sales and forecasts more than $15 million total in 2009.

INFO:
The Company: ModCloth
What It Does: Online marketplace for indie designer fashion and decor
Founders: Eric Koger, 25, and Susan Koger, 24
Based: Pittsburgh

Source: BusinessWeek

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