⚡ How this Start-Up used Flyers to Change Renting Forever

Morning Innovators ⚡ In less than 5 minutes, we’ll cover…

🥳 The best funding opportunities, events and jobs in the Start-Up world this week
📰 This week’s biggest news stories in the Start-Up world
🏡 How did this Start-Up use flyers to change renting forever?
🍋 How creating a competition can win you plenty of customers
🏞 An AI tool that allows you to edit images by typing what you want

✨ Last week’s most clicked link, was this link taking you through to the FSBB and HSBC small business £10,000 competition.

🥳 We’re going LIVE in LONDON on the 24th of July with our Sharks, Snakes and Shareholders - Investor Horror stories show. We have Kristoff DuBose breaking down the ups and downs of his fundraising experience, with all the lessons and stories from along the way. We’ll have 100 Start-Up Founders and enthusiasts there on the night and only have a few tickets left, you can grab your ticket HERE!

Happy hustling,

Rich

🎤 Opportunities + Events

💰 Norssken VC have launched a €300m fund to invest in early-stage European AI Start-Ups - connect with the team here!

🤝 Evantic have just raised a $335m fund to invest in growth stage B2B companies. Their focus is mostly European companies but are interested in American ones too - contact the team here!

🌱 Sarah Smith has just launched a $16m fund and is investing $250k into Pre-Seed companies with irrationally intense Founders - contact Sarah here!

🎤 Rare Founders are hosting their Open Mic pitching event, you can register here!

We now have a community of thousands of Start-Ups and Founders, here are the hottest Start-Up job opportunities from the Innovators Uncensored community on our very own Start-Ups Job Board!

💼 Start-Up Jobs

📝 Business and Operations Lead, Planna
🧑‍🎨 Lead Product Designer, DevAlly
✍️ Founder’s Associate, Adclear

🤦 Starling mulls US listing in latest blow to European public markets. Sifted

🦄 Loveable becomes a unicorn with $200m Series A just 8 months after launch. TechCrunch

🚕 Uber makes multi-million-dollar investment in Lucid and Nuro to build a premium robotaxi service. TechCrunch
 
📍 British Business Bank makes £15m SME commitment. UKTN

Planning a trip for business or pleasure?

Finalrentals, a pioneering car rental fintech headquartered in Wales, has revolutionised the industry with its innovative approach and product-centric strategy. By addressing key challenges within the car rental sector, Finalrentals has experienced remarkable growth, increasing its size sixfold in the past 12 months. The company's expansion is not limited to growth metrics alone; it has also successfully established a robust global presence, extending its footprint across the EU and the Caribbean.

Book your rental here!

Ever done something that holds absolutely 0 relevance to your product in an attempt to get new customers? It’s worth a shot!

This coffee shop set up a jar of water and floated a lemon in it. They challenged customers and passers-by to balance a coin on top of the lemon, which is virtually impossible. If they did it, they’d win a free coffee.

Initially, it was just the regulars giving it a try. But when people started telling friends, it gave friends a reason to go in. After that, people started posting it on social media, which caused the challenge to go viral, and people were travelling from everywhere to give it a go!

How can you get people to complete a challenge and use it to draw attention to your business?

Each week we highlight our favourite tools - either something we’ve been using in our businesses, or tools that our Start-Up community have recommended.

Perium allows you to edit images by typing what you want. No tools or design skills needed. Fast, intuitive AI editing in your browser.

Houseshare: The Super App for Renters

Renting a place shouldn’t feel like admin hell. Whether it’s splitting bills, finding a new place, or dealing with broken boilers, the experience has barely moved on in decades.

Houseshare is fixing that.

Founded by Jaz Singh, Houseshare is the world’s first rental super app, designed specifically for modern renters. It helps people find, move into, and manage their homes, all in one seamless platform.

Whether you're living with mates, renting your first studio, or managing a shared household, Houseshare gives you a powerful toolkit: from bill tracking and maintenance logs to RentPass profiles and AI-powered home management.

It’s designed for renters, landlords, and co-living operators who want less hassle and more clarity.

Solo Founder, Strong Network

Jaz has been building Houseshare as a solo Founder - something that’s let him move fast, ship product quickly, and stay deeply connected to users.

Instead of rushing to find a Co-Founder, he’s leaned on a strong network of advisors and part-time collaborators to keep things lean but high-quality.

First Users: Flyers, TikToks, and Word of Mouth

Houseshare started by solving a real, personal problem. Jaz literally walked around his local area, dense with renters, handing out flyers to start the conversation.

The team also shared early versions across TikTok, LinkedIn, Reddit, and even WhatsApp groups. The product struck a chord, and before long, Apple featured Houseshare in the App Store, helping them gain real traction.

No paid ads. Just smart, scrappy, product-led growth.

The Flywheel that Powered Growth

To grow beyond the early adopters, Houseshare leaned into a product-led flywheel: when one housemate entered bill details, the app prompted them to invite their flatmates. That loop alone helped fuel organic growth.

The team continues to run experiments around virality and retention, always guided by UX and real-world behaviour.

Biggest Lesson? Ship Smaller, Sooner

Early on, Houseshare launched without the marketplace, and the result was confusing. Users didn’t fully get it. Feedback was slow and unclear.

Eventually, they stripped everything back to a core set of real-world use cases - and the metrics improved immediately. With that clarity, they were able to reintroduce features and later, the marketplace.

Lesson learned: build tight, iterate fast, and let UX lead.

Funding: Lean, Bootstrapped, and Global

Houseshare has been largely bootstrapped, with a focus on keeping things low-cost and scalable.

That lean approach has worked. Today, Houseshare has users across the UK, North America, and Asia, and it’s growing thanks to smart pricing tiers for both housemates and landlords, all based around a single design principle.

A Tough Pivot, and Why It Worked

The original MVP was focused on landlords, but it quickly became clear: bespoke B2B feature requests were a time sink. Worse, they were pulling the team away from the core mission.

So they made a bold decision - pivot to B2C, put renters first, and build for scale. Since then, growth and clarity have followed.

Hard-Won Lessons

If Jaz could start over?

• Solve one problem, well.

• Avoid risk-averse investors if you're trying to do something ambitious - they'll only slow you down.

• And maybe most importantly: never underestimate the power of storytelling and community. Great tech is essential, but it’s the “why” that people remember - and share!

Looking Ahead

The rental world is overdue for a rethink, and Houseshare is doing just that.

It’s building a future where renting feels empowering, not chaotic. Where renters have visibility, control, and simplicity. And where managing your home feels like it belongs in 2025, not 2005.

Next week I’ll be highlighting another awesome Start-Up, as well as sharing all the usuals including funding opportunities, Start-Up news, plus plenty of awesome tips, tricks and tools.

P.S. Connect with me on LinkedIn…