Today’s Killer Startup: Flatbook
Elevator Pitch:
Flatbook sublets apartments on behalf of lease and mortgage holders so that they don’t have to pay when they’re away.
Why It’s A Killer Startup:
Every time my brother goes home to Vermont for a week in the summer (which is rare – he’s a startup founder and, therefore, pretty much never takes time off), he scrambles around looking for someone to rent his place on AirBnB. His apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is pricey, and the combination of his bootstrapped pay and his massage therapist girlfriend’s wages is barely enough to cover the cost of living in NYC.
We’ve all been there – young, pretty broke, and trying to figure out how to pay our rent and still afford the occasional craft beer on draft. While AirBnB can be a good option, you still have to do all the work of showing the apartment yourself, if someone even picks your place.
Oh, and then there are all of those horror stories.
Flatbook is like AirBnB without all of the hassle. If you’re approved to be part of their subletting program, they’ll come in, take out all your stuff and pay for it to stay in storage, furnish your apartment, and sublet it for you. That means your rent is paid while you’re away.
Unlike AirBnB, you don’t actually make money on Flatbook – although the thousands you could potentially save on rent could count as “making” money. Add on the fact that all of the hassle of subletting through Craigslist or AirBnB is totally absent and Flatbook starts sounding like a helluva good deal.
Flatbook also has longer-term options for people who don’t want to be locked into a 12-month lease. Flatbook has apartments that are fully furnished by interior designers that are available for four to ten-month leases. It’s a great option for people in town for a temporary assignment or digital nomads who just want to check out a new city.
Tweetable:
Want to go on a long vaycay but HATE having to pay rent while you’re gone? @FlatbookHQ will pay it for you.
Photo Credits
Flatbook | Alliance/Shutterstock
