Startup Spotlight #180: Humming Homes
Humming Homes is reimagining what it means to own, maintain and improve your most prized asset - your home - and we’ve started by transforming the home services industry.
Latest F2F Case Study - Case Study: Telgorithm's Journey Towards Product-Market Fit Involves "Celebrating Your Successes And Losses"
I got the chance to speak with Adeel Mallick, co-founder and CEO of Humming Homes, about what he’s working on at his startup, and any advice he has for emerging entrepreneurs.
Humming Homes was founded in 2020 by Adeel Mallick, Kyle Carnes, and serial Entrepreneur, Kevin Ryan. Most of Mallick’s background has been tied to the world of real estate, both as an investor and operator and most recently at the intersection of real estate and technology. HH has raised close to $10M in venture funding since inception, and is live in 2 regions (Tri-state, South Florida) across 5 markets, and is scaling towards national expansion.
Enter Your Email Below To Receive Startup Spotlights In Your Inbox Once Per Week:
Startup Spotlight: Humming Homes
Problem: The next generation of homeowners are ill-equipped to manage their home - 1) Moving from renting to buying is a rude awakening (maintenance is 1%-2% of home value) - both stressful & expensive, 2) the process to get any home maintenance or improvement done around the house is opaque and offline and 3) 66% of households today now dual-income, and new homeowners just don’t have the time to do things the traditional way.
Market: The home services market (maintenance, emergency, and home improvement) is $600BN, of which $450BN is represented by home management.
Solution: Humming Homes is a subscription-based, end-to-end home management solution, powered by people and software to take care of all reactive maintenance, proactive maintenance, and home improvement needs.
Team: I co-founded with Kyle Carnes (Head of Operations) in 2020, and recently had Jibran Khan (Head of BD & Partnerships) and Aneesha Rao (Head of Marketing) join as a part of the leadership team.
Recent Success:
Mallick: Hiring remotely during COVID was not easy for any company, but for a service business, it felt particularly challenging. We launched in October of 2020, at the heart of the pandemic, and were able to mobilize teams quickly, meet customers in-person with safety precautions in place, and provide a high NPS service experience across all of our markets. With one of the tightest labor markets the tech world has seen, we've built a diverse and incredibly talented team to transform the home services industry. I'm super proud of the team and what we've been able to do in a very short period of time!
Recent Struggle:
Mallick: While the vast majority of our team is local to NYC, there are many team members across FL, Washington DC, and even LatAm. I've personally struggled with making sure morale is incredibly high for remote employees at all times and putting together team-building events that feel inclusive for everyone. With all of the "zoom" fatigue, making sure people feel included in company building at the early stages is so critical and we, like many, have struggled.
Founder Advice:
Mallick: Let go of resources that aren't working out sooner rather than later. Early on, founders have a tendency to fear if someone leaves, things break. But it's actually worse in the long run to keep that individual or set of resources around. I'm a firm believer that most problems in early-stage company building are people problems, so being able to pull the chord in a timely manner is critical when things are not working out.
Three Cool Founders You Should Know About:
Mallick: Here are three founders you should check out next!
Komal Kothari, Founder & CEO of Reside Health: Reside Health makes it effortless to take care of your health with an in-house doctor & care team, in your office building and online.
Peter MacRobert, Founder & CEO of Capable Health: Capable’s unified software platform empowers developer and product teams to build healthcare apps centered around the patient
Keith George, Founder & CEO of Cortina: Cortina enables brands and marketplaces to sell additional products on their own sites without inventory or capital risk
Who should I profile next? Leave your suggestion in the comments:
Why you should become a paid subscriber to Founder to Founder:
Get connected to elite tech entrepreneurs through in-depth Founder Case Studies
Receive exclusive documents crafted by top founders on how to build your company
Access a growing audience of venture capitalists, product managers, software engineers, and people passionate about technology
Hear real, raw experiences from entrepreneurs that you won’t see anywhere else
Previous F2F Case Studies:
Case Study: PatchRx CEO Andrew Aertker Warns Of Making Too Many Changes
Case Study: Pillar's Journey To Product-Market Fit Began By 'Living The Problems' Their Users Face
Previous Startup Spotlights:
Startup Spotlight #179: Orderlion - Orderlion was founded in 2018 by Stefan Strohmer (CEO) and Patrick Schubert (CTO) to make the global food supply chain more sustainable by helping food suppliers to digitize their key business process
Startup Spotlight #178: Mentorcam - Mentorcam gives you access to high-profile advisors and experts for 1:1 advice on professional growth.
Startup Spotlight #177: Tango - Tango’s free-to-use product is a Chrome Extension that automatically creates written, step-by-step how-to guides in real-time without the need for video recording.
Startup Spotlight #176: Ripplfect - Ripplfect is one of the first US-based companies attempting to disrupt disposables in the coffee industry.
Startup Spotlight #175: Scroobious - Scroobious increases diversity in the startup ecosystem with a virtual platform that mobilizes founders to be more investable and helps investors discover them through hyper-curation.
Startup Spotlight #174: BoldVoice: BoldVoice is a speech and accent coaching app that helps non-native English speakers be as well-understood and confident in English as in their native language.
Startup Spotlight #173: Mandla: Mandla is an innovative, black-owned e-learning language app created for those who seek to strengthen their unbreakable connection with their African roots.
Startup Spotlight #172: Maeve - Maeve is an elegant online platform offering titillating audio only to nourish women's sensuality.
If you enjoyed this article, feel free to check out my other work on LinkedIn. Follow me on Twitter @fredsoda, on Medium @fredsoda, and on Instagram @fred_soda.