Cohort 14 Spotlight: Dynamic Rental Pricing with Quibble
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In Blue Startups’ Spotlight series, we highlight the people and stories that make startups possible. In this Spotlight, we interviewed Neal Cyr, co-founder of Quibble. Quibble is dynamic pricing like the airlines but for vacation rentals.
Can you tell us about the backstory and inspiration behind Quibble?
Gustavo and I started the business in Aug 2020. I have worked in pricing and revenue management for over 10 years in the airline space and have consulted for a dozen airlines helping them improve their revenue. So, I had a lot of experience in pricing and revenue management before we started the business.
Gustavo has worked in software development for over 10 years. He has extensive knowledge in developing applications.
We both had family and friends that owned and managed short-term rentals, that was our first introduction into the space. We were shocked to find how property managers in this industry are setting their prices. They are simply following the prices their neighbors are setting, like a gas station would do with gas prices. After discovering that, we knew there was a huge opportunity in this market to make a big impact, an impact as big as the airlines have been making for the last 40 years.
Long-term, Quibble will provide a fully autonomous pricing application. Things the analysts do now will all be incorporated into the Quibble model.
What were some of the notable challenges you’ve had to overcome in building the business?
Our inspiration for the pricing models came from the airlines, but it doesn’t map directly to the short-term rental space. We spent a lot of time fitting the models to a new industry.
What’s your long-term vision for Quibble?
Currently, all pricing applications on the market require an analyst to drive them. There are things the analyst knows about the markets that the machine doesn’t, and the analyst can adjust the pricing and make it better. Long-term, Quibble will provide a fully autonomous pricing application. Things the analysts do now will all be incorporated into the Quibble model.
How has Blue Startups played a role in developing Quibble?
Blue Startups has helped in many ways, but the biggest impact being on narrowing our focus. Through meetings with the mentors and other founders, we have trimmed back everything but what we need to build right now.
Anything you’re looking forward to in the next year?
Yes, we are just getting started. We have a pipeline full of new features we have been working on that will get released this year. There are also new integration partners that will be announced very soon, which helps us expand to more users.
For more information about Quibble, visit their website.
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