Meet Teddy Fitzgibbons of StreetFair

Today we’d like to introduce you to Teddy Fitzgibbons

Hi Teddy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Like many business ideas, StreetFair was born out of frustration. It was during the pandemic and I had just just become a first time homeowner and it didn’t take long to realize how unqualified I was to maintain a home!

I was struggling to find good contractors and couldn’t shake the thought, “there is nothing my house needs that one of my neighbors hasn’t already dealt with…So why do I have to start from scratch anytime I need something around the house? Why can’t I just use the companies my neighbors already use and trust?”

Then one day, it was a winter day just after the leaves had fallen, and I was sitting at my desk at home and looking out the window. I watched four different gutter cleaning companies come to my street in the same day, each servicing one of my neighbors.

I couldn’t believe how inefficient and uncoordinated it was!

All of our leaves fell at the same time, so why did we go find four different businesses? Surely if we had known ahead of time that one of our neighbors had already scheduled someone that week to clean gutters, we all could have just joined in on that service. And for a gutter cleaning business (like many home service companies), the most valuable next customer would be the house next to the one they’re working on — since their truck, crew, equipment, etc is already there!

I called my now co-founder, Mike, and we decided right then and there that we had to design a better way for neighbors to recommend and coordinate common home services. So we started StreetFair — a home services marketplace for neighborhoods. Homeowners can see which businesses their neighbors use and trust, when companies are scheduled to be in their neighborhood, and can join in on those services — often for group discounts.

Initially it was just something we tried out in our own neighborhoods, but it started to take off pretty quickly. Our friends started asking us if they could use it in their own neighborhoods, so we started bringing it to more and more neighborhoods and it’s grown from there. From a few neighborhoods in Charlotte, to now ~1,000 neighborhoods across 3 different cities.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I wish! Though the idea made so much sense, and the concept quickly resonated with our own neighbors, figuring out how to scale such a hyper-local marketplace (neighborhood by neighborhood) has been a challenge.

The value to homeowners is that it’s actually a private marketplace within their neighborhood, so we knew we couldn’t sacrifice that for the ease of expansion. People really value the recommendations and reviews from their real neighbors.

We’ve learned so much and gotten great feedback from users and local businesses over time. Over the past 6-9 months, we’ve really figured out how to scale the service and how to bring it to hundreds and thousands of neighborhoods without compromising on the product experience itself.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
StreetFair is a home services marketplace for neighborhoods. We make it really easy for homeowners to see which local contractors their neighbors use and trust, and when those companies are scheduled to be working in the neighborhood.

Neighbors can see and join in on upcoming services happening around the neighborhood, often for group discounts as more neighbors join in.

For local service businesses, we help them grow referrals in the neighborhoods they already service and help them get more customers scheduled together, improving their own efficiency.

While there are other places out there to find and hire a contractor, there is no other service that actually shows you which businesses your neighbors trust and that helps neighbors coordinate services together.

The main value we bring to homeowners is convenience and trust — quickly finding the businesses their neighbors recommend and getting in touch right from our app.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I would definitely classify myself as a risk taker. Starting a new company from scratch always requires some risk tolerance. Most startups fail, so you have to accept that very real risk and do it anyway.

We certainly had to make that decision when we started StreetFair. We were both working at the same large tech company, with great salaries and the full suite of benefits. Mike (my co-founder) had 2 young kids at home, and my wife was pregnant with our first. My daughter was 2 weeks old when I quit my job to commit to StreetFair full time!

In my view, there is no reward without risk. The most rewarding part of StreetFair so far is that we’re tackling a really difficult, but important, problem — and our solution is working!

Pricing:

• StreetFair is free for homeowners!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.streetfair.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/streetfairofficial/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StreetFairHomeServices
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/streetfair