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Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

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Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#101

Post by jayreno »

opportune wrote: post #36

What differentiates you from the dozens of other furniture rental services out there? This isn't exactly a new industry. From what I see online, your prices are pretty comparable to Cort's. But as a consumer I'm pretty sure Cort will still be around in 6 months, whereas I'm not so sure about you guys (no offense, I just mean because you're a startup, not because I think you are necessarily worse). Is there a reason y…

Re differentiators: reasonable question, for sure. Check my reply to Charia above.

Re established market: interestingly, Cort and most other rental cos don't have a very good hold on the direct to consumer rental market. They are primarily focused on B2B rentals. Their brands and experiences are under the weather and don't appeal to our target market of younger people who move a lot. There's a new breed of successful companies cropping up that simply refresh the experience and tailor it to the way people live and interact today.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#102

Post by mixmastamyk »

_sentient wrote: post #49
jbob2000 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this pricing makes 0 sense. I can furnish an apartment from Ikea and pay a contractor to assemble it all for a tad more than what it would cost to rent it all.

I'm not really in the furniture rental demo, but I don't think it's exactly fair to compare the price points of high-quality furniture with what you'd pay for some particleboard abomination from IKEA. There is definitely a market for a service like this, but I think it's more a question of whether they can compete against the likes of Cort et al. I agree that furniture rental is a slightly weird value prop though. Pe…

Ikea has cheap up to quality offerings. The choice of flimsy particle board or fancy wood is up to you.

Next, the type of people that move often are younger and poorer, and the extra schlepping and assembling are not as big of a problem to them.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#103

Post by vincentmarle »

> I've moved 5 times in 6 years

I've moved 10 times in the past 6 years so I can definitely relate to the problem. I ended up buying a lot of furniture over the years and donating it to a Goodwill store every time I moved. I moved most recently 4 months ago and would have used this service. I'll try to remember you in about 10 months (when my current lease is up).

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#104

Post by Animats »

The problem with this business is that the company ends up with warehouses of used furniture. Then what? Check it over, clean it, repair it, and send it out again? Customers are going to complain if you send them beat-up junk. You're going to need a cleaning and inspection operation, an upholstery shop, and an air conditioner shop. What to do with the rejects? Sell downmarket? Put on Craigslist? Goodwill?

If it takes you 2-4 days to deliver a bed, you're not competitive. A more useful service might be "we deliver a bed, a dresser, a table, and some chairs in 4 hours". Add in bed linens, towels, some basic dishes and tableware, and a starter kit of toilet paper, paper towels, laundry and dish detergent, and soap. Instant setup of light housekeeping, just what someone needs when they start a new job in a new place and have more urgent things to do than fuss with furniture shopping. You can sell them more stuff later.

You're in NYC and SF, non-car cities. Offer this primarily in places where people don't have cars but move often.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#105

Post by jayreno »

vincentmarle wrote: post #103

> I've moved 5 times in 6 years I've moved 10 times in the past 6 years so I can definitely relate to the problem. I ended up buying a lot of furniture over the years and donating it to a Goodwill store every time I moved. I moved most recently 4 months ago and would have used this service. I'll try to remember you in about 10 months (when my current lease is up).

Awesome, glad to see this resonate. Where are you generally moving to/from? Inter- or intra-city moves?

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#106

Post by rootsudo »

I just use the Ikea return policy and position myself around Ikeas.

Really missing out in the Philippines. Furniture here overall sucks.

"Return policy

NO-NONSENSE - 365 DAYS TO CHANGE YOUR MIND

mattresses purchases may be exchanged for another mattress one time within 365 days if you don’t love it. products that are returned or exchanged must be clean and undamaged. Refunds will be made in the same form of payment originally used to make the purchase. It’s OK to change your mind. If you’re not totally satisfied with your IKEA purchase you can return it within 365 days, together with proof of purchase, for a full refund*."

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/customer-service/about-shopping...

Japan is similar.

Singapore is 90 days AFAIK.

Not sure about Thailand, gunna find out.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#107

Post by rootsudo »

nathan_f77 wrote: post #37

When I moved to San Francisco a couple of years ago, I was really surprised by how difficult it was to find a fully furnished apartment. I really did not enjoy those trips to IKEA and putting everything together. In contrast, it seems that most apartments in Chiang Mai are fully furnished. We've moved 3 times so far, and it's always just one car ride with a small collection of personal stuff. It's really nice to neve…

I'm heading to Chiang Mai from Manila.

How is it? Everyone says it's a dream

Fast internet, cheap food and nice markets.

Is English only, no Thai really a limiting factor in surviving?

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#108

Post by vincentmarle »

jayreno wrote: post #105
vincentmarle wrote: post #103

> I've moved 5 times in 6 years I've moved 10 times in the past 6 years so I can definitely relate to the problem. I ended up buying a lot of furniture over the years and donating it to a Goodwill store every time I moved. I moved most recently 4 months ago and would have used this service. I'll try to remember you in about 10 months (when my current lease is up).

Awesome, glad to see this resonate. Where are you generally moving to/from? Inter- or intra-city moves?

I've moved from SF Bay to LA, moved back to SF, moved back to LA (probably going to move back to SF again). Within SF Bay and LA moved a couple times as well.

Re: Launch HN: Feather (YC S17), painless furniture rental for people who move a lot

#110

Post by jaredhansen »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #84
austenallred wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you know how to solve the problems of income volatility, low income, or high credit risk at scale, you should do that.

I intend to contribute towards fixing the problem of lacking social safety nets in the US. Real problems need solving.

It's easy to Intend to "contribute towards fixing" any large problem resistant to change (specific actions do you intend to take, at what specific dates in the future? how will you measure the amount of contribution to "fixing the problem of lacking social safety nets in the US"?).

Here's some lower hanging fruit, and more directly measurable too: https://www.givedirectly.org

Real problems need solving, indeed.

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