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It’s easy to grow weary or skeptical of the proliferative, (sometimes) law-bending sharing economy, but its momentum simply hasn’t stopped, and rental marketplace Wrent is eager to keep it going.
Akin to Craigslist (though its user interface is a far cry from those blue Times New Roman lists), Wrent is a two-way service: users list items for rent, or search for and secure items to rent. The company recently emerged from its beta period, during which it facilitated film and photo gear rentals under the name Wrent Film. Since then, the startup has broadened the types of goods it will carry (namely recreational, musical, or film production-related items; snowblowers, hammers, and violins are just a few examples the website provides), abbreviating its name to reflect that growth.
“Our partner, Kevin Pereira [who owns a production company], realized the need for the platform when he needed to replace a broken lens while on a shoot on a late Sunday night. We originally were focused only on rentals in the film and photo equipment vertical but realized a much bigger opportunity and expanded the idea,” said co-founder Jon Bradford.
Like much of its sharing-economy brethren, Wrent leaves much of the logistical decision-making to its users. Though the company suggests users price an item at 10 to 20 percent of its value, it gives them complete control over pricing. The lister, Bradford said, decides what level of protection (insurance and/or security deposit) she requires on a per-item basis. Furthermore, Wrent leaves delivery arrangements to the users who’ve made the transaction.
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“We only facilitate the communication so that users can agree on when and where to exchange,” Bradford said. “We tried to incorporate this into our process originally, but found there are too many one-off scenarios to list specific options. We wanted to focus more on our primary business, renting.”
The four-person company has raised $90,000, according to Bradford, and derives revenue from listers’ earnings; Wrent increases a lister’s price by seven percent, then takes eight percent of the revenue from her rental.
“Our incentives are aligned with our users. We make money when our users make money. Many of our competitors didn’t take this approach,” Bradford said.
Upon launching, Bradford and the other founders plan to incorporate two other verticals: Wrent Rec and Wrent Home. They hope to add “Wrent Music if we can get the initial inventory together in time,” as well as tech and fashion verticals. Bradford noted that Wrent will enact promotions for several local universities as well in an effort to stimulate the student user base.
Reveling in his company’s recent growth, Bradford beamed, “Wrent’s gonna be a big one.”
