Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach House.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Zach. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I opened a Kitchen and Bath Showroom in Austin back in 2010 that focused on “sustainable” interior finishes such as countertops, cabinetry, and tile that all met very strict criteria for indoor air quality, recycled content, and rapidly renewable materials. Over the eight years that we were in business, we experienced many successes but they didn’t come easy and I had grown exhausted and unhappy in a role that was split equally between the very challenging worlds of construction and high-end retail.
I knew that I needed to make a change and though I longed for the stability that many of my friends enjoyed at the companies they worked for, I had grown very accustomed to being my own boss and was sure that my entrepreneurial days were not behind me. But starting a business for the sake of starting a business is a recipe for disaster, every business HAS to solve a problem. Fortunately (or maybe, unfortunately) there was one problem that I had been encountering at least five times a week for as long as I had owned my store. It was one of those ‘pull your hair out, ‘scream at the top of your lungs’ problems that had cost me many thousands of dollars in potential revenue over the years and it had to do with the countertop supply chain.
Unless you’ve recently built a house or undertaken a remodel you probably won’t know this but the countertop industry requires you to purchase stone in “full slab” quantities regardless of the size of your countertop project. A full slab is a massive amount of stone (typically between 50-60sf) from which your countertops are cut. So for example, if your kitchen requires 2.25 slabs of stone to create, you’ll be charged for three full slabs. If you only need a bathroom countertop, you’ll pay for a full slab despite maybe needing 1/5 of that amount. It’s like if the pizza industry forced you to buy an extra-large pizza every time you wanted a Medium pie (or maybe just a couple of slices). To be clear, the countertop industry isn’t trying to rip you off. There are very valid reasons why it operates this way (it has to do with the diversity of SKU’s, inherent variation in the stone, and shipping/storage logistics). The industry is, however, guilty of a failure to innovate.
The answer has always existed in the remaining, unused portions leftover from all of these full slabs. In the industry, we call these “remnants” or “partial slabs” and the folks that cut and install your countertops (called “fabricators”) end up amassing these pieces of stone in their yards. But here’s where it gets really tricky… Even though you can currently search a fabricator’s remnant yard for these valuable portions of stone, it’s almost impossible to find what you’re looking for. Fabricators cut and install stone. Their yards are construction sites, not showrooms and their business is turning stone into the beautiful surfaces, not necessarily providing a pleasant retail experience.
I knew that we could solve the supply chain issue by providing users a digital marketplace to easily search and locate “remnants” from an aggregated group of fabricators in a specific locality. CountertopSmart works city by city (like Craigslist) and it’s easy to use. Our users browse the site for remnants or search using various filters and then set up an appointment time to view the stone in-person. It’s completely free to use and since all of our sellers are reputable countertop fabricators, they can quote you directly for cutting and installing your countertops but at guaranteed rates that all of our sellers adhere to.
We launched our marketplace in Austin in early 2018 and have since expanded into San Antonio. We’ll be moving into the DFW and Houston markets before the end of 2020 but we can still ship stone to both locations for a relatively inexpensive price. And since most of our users save between 60-80% on cost, it typically makes sense!
Since I’ve transitioned full time into CountertopSmart, the process hasn’t been easy. Every day we’re writing the rules for a product and process that has never before existed. No matter how stressful running a startup business can be, I can unequivocally say that every morning I wake up thrilled to know that we’re solving a real problem which, in only a short time span has saved our customers hundreds of thousands of dollars while generating significant revenue for the small businesses that sell on our site.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Our marketplace concept has never existed before so what we’ve had to write the rules from scratch which has come with a myriad of issues!
First, as with every new marketplace concept, we needed a large searchable inventory of supply to attract users. In order to create the supply, we needed to convince a handful of sellers to let us inventory their stone which involved using their heavy equipment (forklifts/slab pickers) and that comes with liability. Part of our strategy was to provide sellers with an inventory system for their remnants (that most have never had before) so we pitched an angle that, should we never show them a dollar in revenue, they’d at least have their remnant yards inventoried at no cost. Once we had a decent searchable inventory online, we knew that our sellers would lose interest quickly if they weren’t generating revenue so we had to constantly audit their inventories to make sure they were up to date and that our customers weren’t searcing unavailable stone. Even after showing our sellers consistent revenue, we still have occasional issues with their inventory upkeep but it’s 100x better than what it was when we first started and we’ll continue to engineer ways to improve on this front.
Another major issue has been making the process very clear for our users. CountertopSmart is an entirely new way to purchase countertops so for the industry professionals (Remodelers, General Contractors, Interior Designers, etc.) that use our site we’ve had to overcome decades of learned behavior. We’ve done this through educational videos, strong customer service, and offline outreach. For our homeowner customers that come into the countertop purchasing experience with no preconceptions, the process has been easier though we get a lot of users seeking to create larger projects using remnants (which is not ideal for many reasons). We’ll monetize those customers in the future but for now, we refer them to the various sellers on our website who are better positioned to provide the service they need.
Like most startup companies, our expansion plans rely on fundraising from Angel and institutional investors. Our company occupies a unique cross-section in technology and construction and many investors don’t feel comfortable outside of their area of expertise, so it’s taken some time to get certain investors comfortable with what we’re doing and where we’re headed. It took us longer than anticipated to complete our first round of funding but we’ve had very strong traction so far and should close on a second round of funding in the next several months that will provide ample runway and allow us to expand outside of Texas.
Please tell us about CountertopSmart.
CountertopSmart is an online marketplace where users significantly expand their countertop design options and typically save 60-80% on cost by purchasing stone in smarter quantities for their project.
We are hands down the best way to purchase countertops for any project that doesn’t require a full slab of stone such as bathrooms, kitchen islands, small kitchens, outdoor kitchens, bar tops, tabletops, fireplace surrounds, shower curbs & niches, etc.
Here’s what we’re most proud about:
1. CountertopSmart saves our users hundreds if not thousands of dollars on every stone and allows for unparalleled selection.
2. Our sellers generate 20-40% in additional bottom-line revenue by selling stone they were previously unable to sell.
3. In the United States, it is estimated that 60M tons of stone end up in a landfill annually. It shouldn’t be that way! At scale, CountertopSmart will prevent millions of tons of stone from being wasted while also dramatically reducing the quarrying and manufacturer of new stone slabs and the negative environmental consequences that go along with it.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have changed our fundraising approach and the investment vehicles that we used. While well known in the tech community, certain vehicles are confusing to many investors outside of that world. I also made a mistake when raising our first round of capital and took certain investor commitments at face value. As a lesson to all entrepreneurs currently raising capital: never take your foot off of the gas until the round is closed. A commitment is not money in the bank and you shouldn’t feel obligated to keep space in your round for anyone. “Drink when served” and take the money as it becomes available!
Pricing:
- There are 50,000+ types of stone on the market so make sure you’re comparing apples to apples. You can get some types of granite for $15/sf and other types for $200/sf.
Contact Info:
- Website: countertopsmart.com
- Phone: 512-399-4099
- Email: hello@countertopsmart.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/countertopsmart/
- Facebook: facebook.com/countertopsmart/
Image Credit:
Kitchen Photo: Michelle Olivia Design; Both Vanity Photos: Erin Hanrahan Design; All other photos: CountertopSmart (no credit required)
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