360Chestnut

We make homes more healthy, energy efficient & comfortable, often for free.

360Chestnut is an on-line resource for both consumers and service providers in the $185B home improvement market.  

For the consumer, 360Chestnut is a no-cost, trusted source where homeowners learn what to do to make their homes more healthy, energy efficient and comfortable; where homeowners can connect with qualified service providers, and access the more than 5000 rebate and incentives that will pay for this type of work.

For the service provider, 360Chestnut is a constant source of educated, nurtured customers; marketing & sales support; easy-to-use software and applications; online training; financing options and more. 

360Chestnut is a place that service providers pay to join and from where they purchase products and services.  The service provider offering can be found at http://360Chestnut.cammpus.com/

The two founders are serial entrepreneurs who most recently created a successful residential energy efficiency contracting business.  The CTO (in-waiting) has worked for numerous digital media companies including Boston.com and most recently cofounded a successful green website.  Our Advisory Board is led by one of the founders of Constant Contact and a veteran producer of This Old House.  It also includes noted experts in building science and online customer acquisition.

Our business model is similar to that of other intermediaries in two-sided markets, including Cars.com, CNET, Etsy, Houzz and others.  This means revenue can be generated on both sides of the market: the consumer and the service provider. 

We are currently generating revenue from the subscription fee our service providers pay to join our network.  Near term revenue opportunities include tuition from online training, and commissions from product sales.  We are now building a product roadmap for SaaS-style/mobile tools that will offer customer management and sales & marketing support to our network.  Future opportunities to generate revenue from our service provider network include financing options and other value-added services.

On the consumer side, we are already generating revenue from product sales.  As we reach scale, there may be advertising-sales opportunities and the ability to sell premium content.  Beyond this, we are collecting large amounts of data about what people do to their homes and what additional cross-selling opportunities may exist.  We believe we will be able to monetize this data. 

To understand our competitive advantage, one needs to understand the various steps in the home improvement decision process.  These steps include: need recognition; information search; alternative review; project funding – rebate information; project funding – loans; service provider search; purchase; evaluation; follow-on steps.  Our key competitive advantage is that we are a holistic solution to address all steps of the consumer decision process.