Behind the scenes at Rentcycle

How this triathlete, Tim Hyer, turned his frustrations finding a rental bike into a business

Rentcycle just announced a $1.4 million round from notable investors Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel, Collaborative Fund, and some prominent angels including, Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal and Farhad Mohit, founder of Shopzilla.

We've been watching Rentcycle's progress ever since the startup won our first-ever Vator Splash event in February 2010. Before Tim Hyer, CEO and founder of Rentcycle, managed to woo the likes of Jeff Jordan, former CEO at OpenTable and now partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Tim was a triathlete traveling the country in constant search of bikes to rent for his races.

Frustrated with the renting experience, he decided to build an online startup that would help him and others rent bikes and other equipment.

Check out our mini-documentary of Tim, filmed last year, and the early-day culture at RentCycle.

(Check out the Splash video and watch Tim pitch and respond to a panel of investors, including digital media investment banker and regular host of Vator Box Ezra Roizen, Dana Settle, a partner with Greycroft Partners, Patrick Chung, a partner at NEA, and Brian Ascher, a partner at Venrock.)