By Carolyn Gray Anderson
When Brian Thomas (FEMBA ’14) was still enrolled in business school at UCLA Anderson, an angel investor handed him a $75,000 check to back his idea for an enterprise whose premise was “self-storage simplified.” In short order, Thomas secured additional angel funding before his degree was even conferred. Next, he found himself holding $2 million from a series seed round led in May by Resolute Ventures, with Amplify, Joanne Wilson, David Sacks, Matt Coffin, Wonder Ventures, Kombo Ventures and others participating. And, most recently, at the beginning of August, Thomas garnered his company another $1.3 million from the same groups of investors.
If Thomas made it seem easy, it’s because he’s in the business of simplifying people’s lives. Clutter, the full-service self-storage company Thomas co-founded with Tony Sziklai, manages the pick-up, documentation, storage and retrieval of clients’ extra belongings through a process “as convenient as pizza delivery.” But behind the scenes, Thomas worked hard to secure the funding, joining the startup accelerator Amplify and proving, by making the first year’s worth of Clutter pick-ups himself, that there was a market for this enterprise.
He was his own first customer, in a way. “I wanted a visual inventory of everything I had in storage and an easy way to have my things delivered to me.” The advantage over self-storage, says Thomas, is that ability to review your stored items online and have them delivered back to you on demand. “I want to help people be smarter about storage by making it easy to access and enjoy their things,” says Thomas. Clutter storage plans start as low as $7.00 per month for the Item Plan and up to $175 for a garage-size plan.
Clutter’s latest round of funding has enabled the Los Angeles-based company to launch service in the Bay Area as well. Thomas foresees greater expansion in future. “I remember talking to Professor Jeff Scheinrock in his office about Clutter. He hears a lot of ideas through his entrepreneurial venture initiation class and as CFO at Originate, but he shared a small vote of confidence, saying, ‘You’ve got a puncher’s chance.’”
What does Thomas squirrel away to keep his apartment clutter-free? Camping gear he uses during the summer. When it’s time to head to Yosemite or Mt. Rainier, he’s glad Clutter is keeping it safe the rest of the time.
Through October 31, 2015, Clutter is offering a Bruin promotion of one month free Clutter storage and free packing materials for UCLA students, alumni and parents.
i like it...?? :D
Posted by: art and culture | 08/26/2015 at 02:42 AM
Sounds like a great business idea. Great job and good luck!
Posted by: Mariana Corzo | 08/15/2015 at 08:06 AM