Interview with Andrzej Laszczuk, CEO and Founder of RENTO
1) How did you come up with an idea for Rento?
Like it’s often the case with apps, the idea originated from casual need — owning many unused items that could be put to work by letting other people use them and making some money at the same time. In fact, idea for an app that would make renting easy and convenient across unlimited scope of things was a concept presented to me by my business partner, Mariusz who is also a founder of Rento. Once he revealed it to me, I knew I wanted to bring this concept to life.
2) How does Rento work?
Our goal is to make Rento app as intuitive and easy to use as possible. We strive to arrange every single use case in a way that feels instantly familiar and natural to every user. Rento lets you discover potentially unlimited database of listings and gives users useful search tools to quickly narrow them according to their needs. At the same time process of adding your own listing is quick and seamless. We focused strictly on features related to renting process such as availability calendar, reservation management or booking cancellation terms with many fascinating things to follow in next versions. Rento will be available for both iOS and Android.
3) Why sharing economy?
Idea for Rento wasn’t directly related to the fact that sharing economy market is rapidly growing in recent years but the general need for a one-stop app for sharing variety of things (not just one type of them) perfectly explains why sharing economy thrives. Society’s attitude towards owning is significantly changing. People realized that surrounding yourself with belongings is not cost effective, is not environmentally sustainable and on top of that it clutters your living space which is becoming increasingly scarce today. Owning became a hassle which is not worth it when there are better alternatives available. That’s where Rento comes with a convenient tool meeting the need that already existed for some time.
4) What can blockchain do for Rento?
One of the biggest concerns for people willing to share is safety. Blockchain guarantees highest standards of data security and enables us to offer our users solutions increasing trust between parties and safety of transactions within the app. On top of usual reviews and ratings given to users and listings which then translate to overall account’s score and trust level, we will offer smart contracts to secure the booking transaction and eventual claims arising from it. Be it settlement of a deposit or payment of a cancellation fee, both sides of transaction should feel protected during whole process.
5) Why ICO?
There is no doubt that ICO is an attractive way of generating initial funds for a start-up. While presenting concept for Rento we were met with a very enthusiastic reaction from lots of people. Many of them asked if they could invest in our project. That’s all possible with ICO. While we keep full control of the company, ensuring that our principle of improving comfort and ease of participation in the sharing economy is being fulfilled, anyone can get involved with the project as an investor which wouldn’t be possible with other types of venture funding. Sharing economy is all about the participation and ICO fits that mindset perfectly.
6) How does the Rento token work?
As of now Rento token is a unit representing project’s value. Down the line we want to introduce security token which will grant its holders privileges like prospect of being granted a financial bonus based on project’s profitability. Current token holders would be given priority in terms of acquiring security tokens. Besides mentioned we are developing Rento blockchain that will introduce use for Rento token for transactions in the app. Token holders would also be eligible to become our franchise partners for Rento model rental stores later on.
7) What is the current stage of Rento project?
We are approaching launch date for the first version of Rento app which is planned for the end of the first quarter of 2019. There already is available pre-release version which allows us to get first opinions from users and prove our concept. We have a lot of fascinating features we want to add to the app in subsequent releases along with the Rento blockchain. Striving to be as user friendly as possible we will greatly focus on feedback and constantly work on improving the app so that it becomes benchmark in the business of sharing.
8) What are the plans for the future of Rento?
As I’ve mentioned before we have a lot of ideas how to improve and grow Rento platform in the future. These also include heavy use of AI and machine learning for displaying relevant listings to each user and improving process of managing bookings. Every new feature has to be well though-out and carefully designed so that user doesn’t feel overwhelmed guaranteeing that our original goal of delivering an app that would make sharing easy and fun stays our highest priority.
