Anthony Gantt With At Ease Rentals

Intro: [00:00:04] Welcome back to the Startup Showdown podcast, where we discuss pitching, funding and scaling startups. Join us as we interview winners, mentors and judges of the monthly $120,000 pitch competition powered by Panoramic Ventures. We also discuss the latest updates in software Web three, health care, tech, fintech and more. Now sit tight as we interview this week’s guest and their journey through entrepreneurship.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:39] Lee Kantor. Here are another episode of Startup Showdown, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get into it, it’s important to recognize our sponsor Panoramic Ventures. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Startup Showdown, we have Anthony Gantt with At Ease. Welcome, Anthony.

Anthony Gantt: [00:00:58] Hey, thank you, Lee, for having me on your show.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:01] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about At Ease. How are you serving folks?

Anthony Gantt: [00:01:05] Well, that’s a great question. The way we’re serving folks are bringing them transparency, safety and compliance in the vacation rental space. What I mean by that is you have government travelers who are looking for the typical B and B style property whenever they’re traveling for work and have it, whatever situations it may be. The regulations don’t allow them to use the sites that offer B and BS. So we are providing that solution to them.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:31] So what was the genesis of the idea? How did you kind of figure out this was a problem that was important enough to be solved?

Anthony Gantt: [00:01:39] I lost 1200 dollars myself. How that happened? I served in the Marine Corps for 22 years, recently retired this past March, and back in 2018, I used one of those sites to get a home off of for temporary use and wasn’t reimbursed. And it kind of took me down a rabbit hole to find, why can’t I do this? How do I get my money back and build the solution?

Lee Kantor: [00:02:02] Now, is it a situation where they don’t want to reimburse, you know, Airbnbs and those kind of things? Or is it something that it’s just there’s a lot of paperwork and regulations to figure out how to exactly do it in a way that’s easy.

Anthony Gantt: [00:02:15] It’s a combination of all of that the regulations, the paperwork and the reimbursement, because they don’t go through the paperwork process to get their properties certified. So we are here to make it extremely easy for those individuals that have those properties and want to list them and kind of open it to an untapped of travelers so that they can capture this opportunity. And then the military folks and the government travelers can stay wherever they want, regardless of the situation.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:43] And this is a situation that happens quite a bit, right? Like military people change bases. They’re always kind of on the move. So this is something that happens a lot. And to open it up to other resources, then I guess the traditional places they stayed, it helps both sides of the equation here, right?

Anthony Gantt: [00:03:01] Absolutely. And it’s not just your military. It’s those government contractors who are traveling under a specific contract. So think your big guys, Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, and then think about the other departments, State, Treasury and so on and so on. And then if you come down to the state level and the local municipalities, they have similar travel restrictions. So we’re trying to open open this up to all government public servants.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:25] So now having a military background and was this your first startup or were you involved in startups before?

Anthony Gantt: [00:03:33] So it depends on what we call the startup, because I’ve done a couple of little things here that generated side revenue, I guess they call them a side hustle. But in terms of forming an actual company to go into actual business, this is the first of many.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:50] So what has the experience been like for you?

Anthony Gantt: [00:03:53] It’s been exciting, really. A lot of ups and downs, uncertainty, the unknown of the unknown. And for me, a combat veteran, the uncertainty of entrepreneurship is the closest I’ve been able to experience since being deployed overseas and in some really tough situations. So having that familiarity with like keeping calm has been cool. But just to see how things aren’t that different regardless of what you’re doing or where you are in the world.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:25] And what about the kind of starting something from nothing? You know, you don’t have a manual playbook. You’re kind of going with your gut. You’re going with maybe some advisors. Has that been a challenge?

Anthony Gantt: [00:04:38] Yes, it has. Like you said, you’re starting from nothing. So you don’t know if the stuff you mix together is going to come out and be this spectacular cake or it’s going to be something that everybody throws away. So far, we’ve been lucky when people dip their hand in the batter that we’re making their beer and saying, Oh, this stays good, keep on going. But it is a very interesting experience.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:58] Now, when did you start getting clues and you know that the batter was going to taste good, that you were on to something? Did you have some early wins or did you like what kind of feedback did you get that was saying that you were on the right track?

Anthony Gantt: [00:05:11] 2020 we launched and then everybody was kind of like, Hey, you can’t stay here. Hotels were closed down because of the situation of 2020, and for us we were fortunate. I was fortunate to still be active duty and was telling a couple of my buddies about at ease and they were telling their buddies and folks were moving from the East Coast to the West Coast and said, Hey, Anthony, do you. Have any properties in California near base X, Y and Z. I say, actually we do. They used it, they stayed in it, they got reimbursed. And I was like, Oh man, this is a business.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:47] So those were the kind of the the beta testers for you.

Anthony Gantt: [00:05:50] Yeah, they would have beta testing, but at the same token they thought we were in a long established. So that was funny. Like why haven’t I heard of at I’m like because it just started.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:01] Yeah, but it looked the part. I mean, you pulled it off. Congratulations. That’s hard to do.

Anthony Gantt: [00:06:06] Thank you.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:07] Now, this is a two sided marketplace, though, right? You have to get people to rent, but you also need places to rent.

Anthony Gantt: [00:06:15] That’s correct. That is correct. So we do that?

Lee Kantor: [00:06:19] Yeah. How do you do that?

Anthony Gantt: [00:06:20] We focused on the inventory. It’s almost like the Yellow Pages. It’s a good thing that I’m over my forties, so I remember what that is. It’s no purpose of using the yellow pages out of white pages if there aren’t companies in them for you to dial up and call. So I took that thought process and it’s like, Hey, let’s build the inventory. So when people come to it, they can have a place to choose from. We did it through conferences. We did it through both virtually and in person, and then just going on different podcasts that center around the vacation rental, corporate housing and alternative accommodation spaces.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:57] So you were going there to kind of build up your inventory inventory, right?

Anthony Gantt: [00:07:02] That’s correct. And once we got the inventory to a happy place, I started nudging my fellow service members that were still in uniform and some of the veterans who recently got out or retired. And it was like, Hey, I need you guys to start spreading the word and like your networks via Facebook, Instagram and other channels that we use as veterans until I got to like a happy place. And we’re still doing that today.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:25] Now, the folks that have the homes that these people are renting, is it are they putting it on a variety of sites, you know, like kind of the bigger players? Or is this something that they just kind of lock in with you because of the mission and what they’re trying? You know, like there’s a bigger Y associated a lot of times with the people that are renting from, you know, through at ease.

Anthony Gantt: [00:07:47] The ones we have are putting their their properties on multiple sites. We decided to focus on the professional manager who may have 1050, a couple of hundred properties that they manage for others. And that allowed us to kind of do some really cool stuff where we were able to integrate with their property management systems, which are the brains of their operations, which kind of makes it easier for us to kind of bring an inventory, bring in the photos and kind of sync up the calendars to prevent double bookings. But to your point, Lee, we’ve had some people say, I just want to market to the military. And I was like, all right, but I don’t want you to blame me when your area is not, like as productive as you thought it would be. So we’re still learning a lot and having a lot of fun as we go on and do this.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:35] Now, what is can you explain kind of the benefits for a person with a property to throw it into the ads mix like is there you’re getting, I guess, a higher quality person that’s renting that’s more reliable?

Anthony Gantt: [00:08:51] Of course. Of course. Absolutely better person, higher quality of renter there. They’re not going to kind of go back and say, hey, I need you to refund me. That happens a lot on other channels. In addition to that, if we look at it from a business standpoint, the B and B solutions right now cater to your traveler who is coming for leisure purpose. Well, if you are worried about the recession or another outbreak like what we’re talking about today, monkeypox, that kind of concerns you as an operator in the space. What we’re saying is, hey, during the pandemic, we saw an increase of military activity. We saw an increase of federal employees looking for places to travel and stay during all of that time frame. And we just need more inventory. So it kind of allows you to start saying, okay, I don’t have to be dependent on leisure travel. Now, I can get this government travel or corporate travel, whatever you want to call it, and kind of hold me over between that period or through my off periods where I can continue to generate revenue all year long versus just during the summer. If I’m a beach house or during the winter when I’m up in the middle of nowhere because we have a lot of bases in the.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:01] Middle of nowhere now, is there do I have to discount this or is this something that I’m going to be getting market rates for?

Anthony Gantt: [00:10:09] We ask them to discount it. You know, we say freedom isn’t free, but it is. So we say if you are compelled to give a discount, please do. So. It makes it easier for us to market that property to the traveler. If they don’t and they put it at market rate, we say, okay, cool, because we know that there are different pay grades within the government rank structures. So folks may look at this as an offset opportunity. What I. That is, if your property’s 105 at night, the government’s only give you 100. Some folks are not concerned about coming out of pocket. It’s $25 a night to kind of stay downtown somewhere that makes sense for them. So they do both right now.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:50] And then when you get on the site, do you kind of educate them saying, hey, these are the the if you hit this number, you’re you know, that what you just said is the ramification of that. But if you stay under this number or you’re at that number, that’s going to be easier for them to get reimbursed. So then it’ll be an easier decision.

Anthony Gantt: [00:11:08] We absolutely do. Everything that we’ve been doing for the last few years has been around educating the space to tell them how they can maximize the opportunity to get more government travelers in their properties.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:19] So now that, you know, as you’re solving the inventory problem, just what about the evangelizing the offering problem to the folks that have been typically, I guess they use hotels? Is that their normal play when they.

Anthony Gantt: [00:11:33] That is correct they use hotels. So the evangelistic like getting those started and kind of getting ambassadors and champions has been relatively easier for us to into properties because we’re talking to people who have gone through the same issues that I have. So it resonates with them. So if you look at what USAA did in the insurance space where it’s like, hey, we understand the problems that you’re having when you move from base to base with insurance. And then now today that are huge, they’re this huge business that not only offers insurance for US members, but also banking services. So we look at that model and say if we speak the language that we know to the people we know, it’ll generate more activity. And it has it’s just we’ve been telling people to hold on, wait a minute, let us get more inventory in the spaces you’re asking for so that we can ramp things up. So the users has been a lot easier than the providers now.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:27] When you were building the team, are you a technologist or did you have to find the technologist? Because this seems like, you know, this is a little bit of a tricky technology problem.

Anthony Gantt: [00:12:37] I’m fortunate to have an electrical engineering degree from the Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida, where I studied a few classes in computer engineering. And initially I took my own experience and limited knowledge to build the first application. And then once it got beyond my comfort zone, I started outsourcing it. And until we got to a position where I can start hiring people internally to kind of take it to the next level now.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:07] So how are you doing from that standpoint? I’m building the team.

Anthony Gantt: [00:13:11] We’re doing great. There are channels that exist and that kind of give me the opportunity to talk to veterans who are developers, military spouses, folks who are military dependent. So kids that grew up in the military that have a strong background in software engineering as well as marketing and sales and all of these different things. So we’ve been fortunate to go into those spaces, say, Hey, this is what we’re doing, we’re hiring, who’s interested in coming to join our team and we’ve been getting a lot of engagement from that.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:43] Now how did you hear about Startup Showdown and Panoramic?

Anthony Gantt: [00:13:49] There was an article that came out early 2021 that talked about the companies in Atlanta that raised millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, and panoramic was one of them. So I looked at the the folks on the panoramic team and one of the guys that is on my team that I hired, he went to Morehouse, which is a school in Atlanta. And I was like, Hey, do you know this guy that went to Morehouse? He’s like, Yeah, that’s my classmate. I definitely know him. And I was like, All right, I want to get in touch with college. So we tried to figure that out, so. Using my military abilities to kind of find people. I found his address and wrote a letter to his house. It was like, Hey, Paul, I want to talk to you. He still hasn’t answered my letter, but that’s how I found out about that.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:38] He’s kind of a busy guy.

Anthony Gantt: [00:14:41] He’s a little bit busy, but I was like, Hey, answering my mail.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:46] So. So you went through the start up showdown. What? What are some of the things you got out of it? Did you enjoy the process?

Anthony Gantt: [00:14:53] I enjoyed the process. I got to talk with Paul and ask the questions that I was asking inside of my letter, which was really beneficial and really helpful. And then during the actual event, so many people came from that opportunity that were like, Hey, we saw you doing this pitch competition. We want to learn more about the company. We want to talk to you. From an investor standpoint, also to potential customers and users and partnerships.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:23] Good stuff. That’s you can’t ask for more.

Anthony Gantt: [00:15:26] Exactly. So it was a win regardless of the situation. As long as I was participating, it was almost like Shark Tank.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:34] Now. Now, any advice for maybe other people coming out of the military if they want to pursue a start up? You know, it’s not for everybody, but it is for somebody. Any advice you could share that would help ease their road?

Anthony Gantt: [00:15:50] Yeah. Don’t stray away from the veteran community. I know a lot of vets, they get out and they kind of try to go find themselves. But what’s been beneficial to me is I leaned in heavily on other vets, especially with what I’m doing. And there are a lot of lot of experience and well-educated service members and spouses who are now like just doing the civilian world and can help people who have gone to some of the top schools in the country that I’ve been able to lean on and kind of share a war story with them to where they are coming in and giving me some pro bono support. So I say do it. And then if we just look at it from World War Two to today, when folks came out of the military in World War Two, they were more inclined to start businesses. Almost around 50% of all service members. But today that’s under 5%. So we got to get back to those service members starting businesses in their local community, because what they bring to the table is honor, courage and integrity, commitment and then ferocity to continue to work and persevere through the hardships of starting a business. And that’s what I don’t think most veterans realize is like, you got the grit and I’ll go do it.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:58] Yeah, that that’s shocking to me that it was 50% and now it’s 5%.

Anthony Gantt: [00:17:04] Yeah.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:05] It’s crazy that I mean, what do you make of that? Are they are they just getting regular jobs? I mean, that that’s.

Anthony Gantt: [00:17:13] When you look at it, you got the big players in the space that get government contracts that want to keep those government contracts. So when service members are getting out, they’re like, I got a person who already has a security clearance or a top secret clearance or some kind of clearance that I can just hire into my program to continue to work on the same airplane, the same tank, or whatever it may be that they use as an actual member. And I’ll just offer them a little bit more or a lot more than what they made in the military. So it’s a real easy transition. I was even tempted myself, was like, Do I go and work for one of the big, you know, companies that have these billion dollar government contracts and just live the easy life? Or do I actually get out here and start something new?

Lee Kantor: [00:17:52] Well, you chose grinding, so congratulations on that. That is definitely the harder, harder path. And best of luck.

Anthony Gantt: [00:18:01] Thank you, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:02] Now, if somebody wants to learn more, whether they have the inventory or they, they need a place to stay. As the website active in live.

Anthony Gantt: [00:18:10] Is active in live. The URL is picks at easy pieces, stands for Permanent Change, a station which is specific to government travelers. But Papa Charlie Sierra at ease. Alpha Tango. Echo. Alpha, Sierra. Echo. That’s the military.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:27] Well, Anthony, congratulations on the momentum and the success thus far. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Anthony Gantt: [00:18:34] Thank you. I appreciate this time. And thanks for letting me talk to your audience.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:38] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Startup Showdown.

Intro: [00:18:44] As always, thanks for joining us. And don’t forget to follow and subscribe to the Startup Showdown podcast. So you get the latest episode as it drops wherever you listen to podcasts to learn more and apply to our next startup Showdown Pitch Competition Visit Showdown VC. That’s Showdown Dot VC. All right. That’s all for this week. Goodbye for now.