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Meet Turo, a Peer to Peer Car Sharing Platform Making it BIG in the US- Startup Story #48

By Guest User 2nd June 2016
turo | jungleworks

There’s no doubt in the fact that sharing economy is thriving at a pace that has never been experienced before. One such startup matching this pace is Turo, a car-sharing platform that lets car owners earn money by renting their cars to those who need them. From a small startup to acquiring 2 companies and raising $97 Million in funding, things are just starting up at Turo.

A peer-to-peer car-sharing platform, Turo was launched as RelayRides in the year 2009. It was featured as one of the top 15 on-demand startups by Forbes in 2015. Currently serving all major cities of the US, Turo is going all out to make it BIG. We talked with Andre Haddad, the CEO of Turo to know more about their mission and the journey so far. Read On!

Q1. What was your personal motivation for founding a peer-to-peer car-sharing platform?

Shelby Clark founded Turo in 2010. I joined as CEO in 2011. Before Turo, I was CEO of Shopping.com (an eBay company) and ran products at eBay. eBay had purchased a company I co-founded in Europe back in 1999, called iBazar. We created the largest European e-commerce marketplace. Joining Turo has been an amazing experience. We are proud of how we are improving travel and transportation.

Q2. Can you give us a rundown of how it works?

Turo connects travelers who need cars with car owners who are willing to rent their cars out. Across the country or town, travelers choose from a unique selection of nearby cars, while car owners earn extra money and help fuel the adventures of travelers they meet along the way. Travelers can rent the perfect vehicle for their next adventure, and car owners can turn their depreciating assets into earning engines.

Q3. What is the value proposition you are offering to customers?

We help car owners put their idle cars to better use. On average owners make $500 a month while renting out their cars that would otherwise be depreciating.

We offer an incredible selection of cars for travelers, everything from an A3 to a Z4, at amazing prices and in thousands of locations, in both cities and airports. Traveling with a Turo car is a unique experience as travelers connect with their Turo hosts, neighbors, or locals, making the travel experience much more personal and memorable.

Q4. How did you go about getting car owners on your platform? Is there a particular marketing tool or process you swear by that helped you get more users on the platform?

Delivering a great customer experience is hand-downs the best marketing tool to attract owners and travelers. We measure how successful we are at delivering a great customer experience with our Net Promoter Score (NPS). Through the years we have maintained an extremely high NPS score.

Q5. You were funded in Nov 2015. What are your future plans? Are you planning to integrate more features in the service?

We raised a $47M Series C in Nov 2015. Kleiner Perkins led our last round. In total, we have raised $100M in venture capital. We are going to leverage this capital to continue to improve our product experience, as well as expand internationally.

Q6. What is Turo’s biggest achievement to date? How did you go about accomplishing this?

We are making great progress in fulfilling our mission of putting the world’s 1 billion cars to better use. We have been growing the business at an annual rate of 3X for the past 4 years. We have formed an amazing team that is making all of this happen.

Q7. You are present in all major cities of the US as of now. Do you plan to launch services in new regions? If yes, what would be your strategy?

We are preparing to expand internationally in order to realize our mission.

Q8. Where do you see Turo in the next five years?

In 5 years, we imagine a world where you can rent the perfect vehicle for your next adventure from a trusted Turo host wherever you are.

Q9. Any advice for startups trying to make it big in the sharing economy?

Put your community first. We work hard to provide a marketplace that our community loves. We always engage with our community, get their feedback and suggestions to make their Turo experience great.

Q10. You rebranded RelayRides to Turo. What led you to do this?

The name Turo positions us firmly in travel. It is meant to evoke adventure—think “Turbo” or “Gran Turismo.”

Wanted to create a similar business? Don’t worry, Jungleworks is here for you.

Jungleworks offers a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) system, such as Online Marketplaces, Delivery Optimization software, and Marketing Automation software that allows users to create a new product using the SaaS’s abilities and features without writing even a single line of code, designing, and testing.

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