How many of you have a comprehensive home inventory? Taking home inventory is a pain in the ass but it’s a necessary evil. You never want to get to the point where it’s too late, and you’ve been robbed, or had a natural disaster destroy your home, to start calculating what you’ve lost, especially when an insurance company is involved. So if you don’t have a home inventory yet than perhaps you should read this story and then get off the computer and take one.
Vaultbox is a new startup in Miami Florida that assists with your home inventory and then keeps it in the cloud where it’s actually safer. You actually might run into a problem if your house was robbed and your laptop was stolen with the home inventory on it. Or worse, if your home was destroyed by fire, tornado or other natural disaster. By keeping this data in the cloud, you can access it later, when you need it, from anywhere.
Vaultbox makes it simple to email your complete home inventory to your insurance agent, friends, family or law enforcement. It also makes it easy to add things, and subtract them, from your home inventory as you upgrade the things in your home, or clean out the clutter.
There are hundreds of reasons that a comprehensive home inventory is important for everyone. Whether you have home owners insurance, renter’s insurance or no insurance (which you should get) a home inventory is a life saver in certain circumstances.
We got a chance to talk with Jacob Israel from vaultbox. Check out the interview below:
What is vaultbox?
Vaultbox.me is a cloud based inventory solution. We store relevant information about the items inside a users home; information like make, model, serial number and photos. In case of theft, fire or natural disaster, you can email a report to your insurance agent and law enforcement officer.
Who are the founders and what are your backgrounds?
Mauricio “MJ” Jimenez is an IT specialist with over 20 years of experience in IT and Project Management. He graduated from the University of Miami and has been working as a consultant for some time now. He says that he’s real background is basketball, but the guy can’t even make a lay up.
Jacob Israel has worked for several Marketing/PR/Advertising firms in South Florida.
Where are you based?
Miami Florida is where we call home.
What’s the startup culture/scene like where you are based?
The startup scene in Miami kind of resembles where the city is going right now. There is a small, but quickly budding scene right now, and is expanding very rapidly. A few years ago, Miami was lacking in everything from a music scene to a tech startup culture, but in the recent years we have seen our residents deciding against taking their talents to the west coast, and staying put in sunny South Florida.
Its a beautiful thing to witness and be a part of. A few years ago, it seemed that “I gatta get out here” was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. That attitude has flipped 180 degrees and people are becoming really proud of what their city is becoming.
What problem does vaultbox solve?
Every homeowner needs to have insurance, but having insurance does you no good if you don’t have an inventory of what you own. The whole idea behind Vaultbox came after I had my home broken into 3 times in one year. Every time I had a break in, I had to prove that I owned the items that were stolen, and since I couldn’t provide receipts, pictures etc I wasn’t reimbursed. All together I lost about $20k in property and was reimbursed $6k.
What is your secret sauce?
Connecting with all of our customers and going the extra mile to make sure they are happy. Not that big of a secret.
What is one dilemma you’re having in the startup process?
Funding. Plain and simple.
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome in the startup process?
Funding; we said lets not wait until we get money to start this company, so we gathered together our savings and went forward. We are completely bootstrapped and have been since day one.
What’s next for vaultbox?
We are in talks with a couple of insurance companies who are looking to provide the best customer service for their clients. Hopefully, you will see us working with a handful of insurance companies soon.
Linkage:
Kyle
