Constructable

Fantastic quantitative survey from SunRun reveals shifting attitudes toward access over ownership. 83% of respondents said they would rent, lease or borrow items instead of buying if they could do so easily.

Top reasons for renting: - Save money (53%) - Cut down on storage/maintenance (39%)

Most desired rentals: - Vacation homes (52%) - Heavy equipment tools like tractors/bulldozers (50%) - Books and textbooks (41%) - Household tools like lawnmowers (26%) - Cars and trucks (25%)

As of today, Getable is proud to share that it has a new Product Designer, Fred Zaw.  Formally trained in industrial design, Fred has a natural instinct for user experience. Most recently, Fred co-founded a startup called 1Upped, an app that helps people achieve their goals through tracking and quantification.  He is a passionate user experience and user interface designer who is as obsessed with the big picture as he is with each pixel.  Most importantly, Fred sees things from a human perspective, which is at the core of a user-centered product like Getable.

 I truly believe that as creators of software, we have a responsibility to improve these industries that have long been neglected and underserved.  I feel extremely lucky to be joining a team that is so passionate about solving a problem worth solving.

The needs of a construction professional are very different from the needs of a consumer or even a typical enterprise customer.  For us, the role of designer is as much thinker as creator since getting deep into the mindset of the end user is paramount.  Design is baked into product development from the very beginning so that existing workflows and processes can first be observed before new solutions are imagined and built.  As you can tell, Getable is a user-centric engineering organization which is why Fred is the perfect fit.

With a focus on the future, Getable couldn't be in better hands than those of its new Lead Engineer.  Today, we're announcing that Daniel Erickson is joining Getable.  Most recently a Senior Engineer at Yammer, Daniel's experience spans from working at startups like Storify.com to running his own custom design and development firm.  Daniel is an experienced web and application developer with big ideas and a user-based approach to building products.  Having learned web development in high school, Daniel is proud of the fact that most of his professional skills are self taught.  He's the type of person who is always learning new skills and never stops trying to improve.  

Having a family connection within the construction industry, Daniel saw the need for Getable right away.  

I'm excited to help increase efficiency in one of the world's largest industries and I'm looking forward to helping the team grow as it faces new and interesting challenges.

It's been an ongoing goal for Daniel to expand the usefulness of the web and to better integrate technology into people's daily lives in a balanced way.  He doesn't just want to build cool stuff -- Daniel has a desire to change the world.  Targeting one of the world's largest industries seems like a great place to start.

Coming from Yammer, Daniel brings a core understanding of how to build a great company culture through a commitment to values -- something Getable looks forward to cultivating further.  You can read more about Daniel's core culture principles and his reasons for joining Getable here.

Getable debuts to the construction rental industry

February 10, 2013

Getable is thrilled to announce its new Chief Technology Officer, Mikeal Rogers.  Mikeal comes from a long history in technology, holding positions at OSAF, Mozilla, CouchOne and Yammer, in addition to founding his own startup, Gather.  Mikeal brings extensive expertise in how to build superior products that meet the demands of mobile, transactional and real-time communication challenges.  He also knows a thing or two about hiring.  Best known for his involvement in the node.js community through events like his annual NodeConf.

Mikeal sees the opportunity for technology to disrupt the construction rental category.

Opportunities this big don’t come along very often and Getable is well positioned to do something great.  Construction represents the first mobile workforce and I can’t believe they don’t have great mobile products to help them manage such a key component of their job.”

Having recently run a VC-backed venture himself, Mikeal is well aware of the challenges faced by startups and has experience growing teams in such environments.  We couldn't be happier to have Mikeal's technology leadership here at Getable.  It's the perfect moment for the product, company and team.  

During the past couple years, Getable has served a wide variety of rental establishments and has learned a ton about the industry in the process.  Our customers have ranged from bike rental shops to party rental stores to hardware rental shops to limousine rental companies and more.  By casting a wide net, we were able to see where the greatest traction came from.  The tool & equipment rental category happened to generate the metrics we need to grow this business so we've made the decision to focus entirely on the construction market.  It's a massive category that's ripe for disruption.

To see this through, Getable is announcing an additional $1.8 million in funding.  We've been fortunate to have the support of existing investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Founder Collective, while welcoming new faces like Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital, who happened to work at rental shops growing up.  It's a fantastic group and we look forward to making them proud.