Homish
Overview
Homish is an app designed to help users easily buy and sell second hand, quality furnishings when moving in or out. It addresses a widespread issue in Australia: rental crisis! This project was made just within 1 week (from ideation all the way to pitching) for Startmate's startup pitching competition, with a specific topic of 'sustainability and Australia'.
My Role
Co-founder (team of 3)
Timeline
July 2024 (1 week)
Achievements
One of the 5 finalists amongst 100 groups! 🌟
Living in Australia, there’s one term that everyone’s all passionate about: rental crisis.
Australia is currently experiencing a severe rental crisis, with renters facing significant challenges due to rising costs and increasing competition. Rental affordability has reached critical lows, with over 70% of renters spending more than 30% of their income on rent, placing them under financial stress.
Rental vacancy rates are at an all-time low of 1% nationwide, making the market highly competitive, especially in major cities like Sydney and Melbourne. Properties often attract up to 30 applicants, intensifying demand and driving prices even higher.
Secondary research
We began by researching and brainstorming the major challenges faced by renters, particularly when moving into unfurnished properties. I focused on understanding affordability issues, the inconvenience of moving furniture, and the environmental impact of discarding items.
Primary research
We conducted a survey with 60 fellow students and renters to understand their experiences with furnishing rentals and moving furniture. I wanted to validate the pain points around finding affordable furniture, selling items, and the stress of moving. We found out that..
Defining 3 major problems
After gathering insights, we defined the core problems Homish would address:
Coming up with features
Based on the identified pain points, we brainstormed the core features that Homish needed to include to solve these problems. I focused on:
Prototyping
Due to the limited timeframe (only 1 week!), we skipped the sketch, wireframe, and jumped straight on to creating a high-fidelity prototype. The design prioritised intuitive navigation, allowing users to quickly list, buy, and sell furnishings with minimal effort.
Competitor benchmarking
To analyse how Homish stands out from multiple competitors and why the customers would prefer Homish over others, we conducted benchmarking for major competitors.
Unique value proposition
Revenue Model
Homish has multiple revenue streams including transaction and advertisement fees. This is possible because we offer a variety of services like AI inspiration and integrated logistics. For instance, we can put an advertisement banner for moving-out cleaning services, as it could benefit both the cleaning businesses and our users, given that our target users are those who are moving in and out.
Implementation Plan
Due to the strict time limit of 1 week, we were only able to develop the UX/UI Figma prototypes for the MVP and was in the process of developing the app. The development stage includes researching and developing our AI model and pitching for funding. For the initial Sydney launch, we will focus on marketing with influencers and achieving product-market fit. Looking ahead, we plan to expand nationwide and implement AR technology.
What makes Homish Special?
What did I learn through this project?
Thank you for reading!
