MyVR solves a problem in property management that previously had no solution. It was created in 2010 by co-founders Jonathan Murray and Michael Stachowiak, who realized that it was difficult for them to manage vacation rental properties while also holding their full-time jobs. They had just sold their previous startup, and they didn’t know what they wanted to do with the next phase of their lives. They soon decided that this was an important issue that deserved their attention.
Around the same time, other people were noticing the same problem. A 2012 study by Global Radius Market Research showed that about 50% of the US’s professional property managers had no professional website, and two-thirds of them didn’t use any sort of booking or management software, despite needing it. Almost no owners who directly rented out their property (57 percent of the United States’ vacation property rental industry) even used software, and many of whom didn’t even have a website for their property. With the industry being a $100 billion industry, Murray and Stachowiak considered this a critical problem.
Features
MyVR’s software is made for both homeowners and vacation property managers, with different pricing based on how many properties will be managed through the application. It has different plans for different needs, with the flexible plan having many useful features plus optional add-ons. The core features of the flexible plan for homeowners are a branded system for bookings and payments, a calendar, features for email automation, analytics and calendar integration. The plan also features screening of potential renters and integration with Stripe.
The Everything Bundle has all of these features, plus all of the add-ons that are offered as an optional higher-cost feature with the flexible plan. It includes live training, an integrated website, email marketing, and syncing with other websites such as Airbnb, FlipKey, and HomeAway.
Development
MyVR raised $1.4 million in its initial funding round, with many different organizations and individuals supporting the startup, such as True Ventures, SVAngel, Y Combinator and Chris Dixon. MyVR is integrated with a domain registry, but the default option is using a subdomain of the site, where renters can list information about their properties. On such a subdomain, renters can upload photos, put information about their rates, and upload guides to the local area. MyVR graduated from Y Combinator, an early-stage startup funding program, in March of 2012, and has since been developing its features, such as enabling its users to create Facebook pages that promote the properties that they are renting out. The renter screening feature is also fairly recent and was developed due to the need for renters to be able to trust the customers that they are selling to.
More recently, MyVR has raised $6.1 million in its second funding round as of December 2017, with True Ventures as a major funder of the Series A round and SV Angel, Clem Bason, and Chris Dixon as fellow funders. MyVR offers integrations with sites such as Airbnb, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, and allows developers to build on top of their platform. Through this development, MyVR ensures that its customers have access to the best products, and the ability to connect these products to the fundamental service that MyVR provides.