Wayhome Profile

Wayhome logo.

Wayhome is a home services startup that provides users with personalized advice from experts during home construction or remodeling projects. 

Founder(s): Corbin Clay

Industry: Tech

Founded in: 2023

Location: Raleigh, North Carolina

Interview With Corbin Clay

Describe your product or service:

“When building or remodeling a home, there is often an imbalance in technical knowledge between the pro and the homeowner and sometimes that imbalance is abused. At Wayhome, we offer unbiased, personalized expertise to empower homeowners and provide them with the peace of mind that our team of experts is advocating solely on their behalf.”

How did you come up with and validate your startup idea? Tell us the story!

“Throughout my career, a friend or colleague would have a bathroom remodeled or new floor installed and, concerned with the quality of the project, ask me “does this look right to you?” While sometimes the project was done correctly, oftentimes it was not. I would explain what should have been done, and coach them on what to say to the person they hired to have them come back and do it properly. But, what about everyone that doesn’t have a brother or friend in the trades? Who do they reach out to for help? That’s exactly why we created Wayhome, to be that trusted expert for homeowners nationwide.”

How are you funded? I.e. type of funding, number of funding rounds, total funding amount.

“We are currently boot-strapped but are excited to start discussions for institutional capital to help us continue to innovate on behalf of our customers. For anyone considering funding, it’s important to portray a genuine confidence in your vision and the inevitability of its success. If you don’t know in your bones you will succeed, it’s much more difficult to convince others you will.”

How big is your team, and what qualities do you look for when hiring new employees?

“We have a small team today that allows us to be very agile. As you grow, it becomes much more difficult to maintain a healthy and productive culture, so when bringing on new team members, it’s very important to first codify your organization’s values and True North and have those precepts inform how candidates are considered.”

Who is your target market? How did you determine this, and what strategies did you use to reach and engage them?

“Our target market is primarily Gen X and Baby Boomers building new or remodeling their homes. We’ve seen excellent engagement and interest from market-specific Facebook groups, our own Facebook group, our blog, paid social strategies, and Instagram influencer partnerships.”

What’s your primary marketing strategy?

“Offering genuinely helpful content. We’re on a mission to inform and empower homeowners, whether they pay us or not!”

What has been your most successful marketing campaign, and why do you think it worked so well?

“We are currently running a paid social campaign highlighting a customer success story about saving a family $95k. Valuable content, a scroll-stopping dollar amount, and a dash of social proof all contributed to a successful outcome.”

What do you consider to be your company’s biggest competitive advantage, and how do you maintain it?

“The reality of the remodeling and building process is that it can often be a bit of a shock to homeowners. Sensitive to this, we’re careful to start every conversation, whether that be a question from Facebook or a paying customer, with empathy and a genuine desire to be helpful.”

What were the biggest challenges you faced in the early stages of building your startup, and how did you overcome them?

“Building credibility. It’s so easy these days to simply declare oneself an expert whether actually qualified or not. We would provide genuinely helpful advice hundreds of times over in our Facebook and others, build goodwill, and ultimately establish Wayhome as a credible resource that homeowners can trust.”

What is something that surprised you about entrepreneurship?

“How agile you can be. I’ve never been in a corporate environment but have colleagues that are. It’s astonishing to me the inertia involved in large, legacy organizations, often taking years to implement new initiatives, innovation, pivots, etc. In a start-up, a new solution can be thought up on Monday and an MVP deployed on Friday.”

What is your #1 piece of advice for startup founders?

“I would encourage anyone considering starting a business to really make sure they’re solving a problem for someone. Entrepreneurship is often very, very difficult. Knowing you’ve got a just cause helps keep you both optimistic and solution-driven.”

Tell Us Your Startup Story

Are you a startup founder and want to share your entrepreneurial journey with our readers? Click below to contact us today!

Request an Interview