When Happy Inspector (then known as Happy Landlord) first applied to Startmate they initially did not make it in as it was just Jindou himself. A year later and he had found Andrew and Phil Mayes and had begun to form the product that would end up as Happy Inspector. They were accepted into Startmate 2012 and moved families and themselves from Adelaide to Sydney and then on to San Francisco, where they are based now.
Happy Inspector is in an unsexy but extremely valuable space of mobile software that replaces pen and paper based forms. Large real estate asset management firms inspect their apartments on a regular basis to account for their quality and as part of due diligence in multi billion dollar deals. And now a lot of them use Happy Inspector to gain better data and insight.
Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact, describes the business of building a SaaS company the best in this video, “How to negotiate the long, slow, SaaS ramp of death.” Jindou and Andrew have done just that and are growing quickly, profitable and employ a growing, sizeable team. They’re well on their way to creating a wonderful, iconic startup that will help build Australia’s startup ecosystem.
There were many times where the company could have given up. Companies who raised more money, from more famous people and had better offices (theirs is in the back of a gym). But ultimately the most satisfying thing is creating a delightful customer experience and seeing them pay month after month. The sugar high of all the other stuff soon fades.
We’ve prepared this mini documentary of Happy Inspector to give you a better sense for the team and their experience with Startmate.
We hope you enjoy it because we’re looking for more founders like Jindou and Mackenzie-Ross. If you believe you have the grit and determination to create a great startup, then apply to Startmate 2015. Applications close September 30.
