We’re turning 2 years old and A LOT has happened

Flat-Club’s spent its first year with the LBS Incubator Programme which was invaluable. Support from the Incubator was critical to building our first working relationships with top tier universities, attracting our first customers and establishing credibility in the eyes of students, faculty, staff and alumni who we are building Flat-Club for.

Year 2 has been a rollercoaster.

Kicking off 2012 we were selected #1 in the TechCrunch One Sentence Pitch Competition in January. Though a small competition for TechCrunch, it boosted our profile and confidence that Flat-Club’s model of renting within trusted networks had mileage.

Through spring and summer of 2012 we raised our first round, grew the team and moved to Google TechHub London at the Old Street roundabout. It has been very exciting sharing space with other cutting edge start-ups and having access to the ecosystem resources for contacts and advisement.

In late fall this year we made our first major push into the US Market launching Flat-Club in over 30 top universities and business schools in America; our US30 campaign.

We’re proud to have earned the attention of great press during the year and find it extremely rewarding to see prestigious publications such as The Guardian, Forbes, and the Financial Times cover pieces of the Flat-Club story.

We are celebrating Flat-Club’s second birthday inspired by the team’s accomplishments and even more excited about where we’re headed for 2013.  So to celebrate turning 2 we want to express an enormous thank you to all of our advisors, partners, friends, staff and most importantly – customers. Our team is passionate about bringing the benefits of Flat-Club to the students, alumni, faculty and staff of many more top universities to come.

Search for your club and join today!

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Flat-Club Launches In The US!

Flat-Club is officially launching in America - today! The campaign, called the US30, will introduce Flat-Club into over 30 top universities and business schools in the USA all in one go.

Over the last eighteen months, word-of-mouth has taken the Flat-Club platform through University communities in Europe. We’ve grown from 5 apartments at London Business School to 3,000 accommodations with 50+ school clubs across Europe. Not only has Flat-Club’s European platform expanded so quickly, we’ve also earned some great coverage from the Guardian, Forbes, Financial Times,as well as winning the TechCrunch 2012 One Sentence Pitch Competition and being awarded a place in the top 16 start-up companies in Europe at the Pioneers Festival in Vienna.
It’s been a great year and a half and we’re closing 2012 with a big move into America. We’ve enlisted the help of 56 Launch Ambassadors - university students or alumni at our target US schools, to help with the launch. They are the friends and friends of friends of Flat-Club’s team and customers and all excited about bringing the platform to their school community. We are kicking off the campaign by opening a competition between the schools on our dedicated US30 page. Students, alumni, faculty and staff can earn points by for their club in 3 ways.

1. Joining the club - 100 pts
2. Spreading the word to others in the community - 200 pts
3. Posting a room or apartment during the launch - 300 pts

The top 3 clubs with the most points by the end of the competition win $25 travel credit for every member and there are also prizes for individuals. Those students and alumni who earn enough points will get entered into the Flat-Club Lottery for a mega prize of $500 travel credit and they can unlock the application to One Great Marketing Internship. Our selected candidate will become Flat-Club’s first International Social Media Correspondent and will be in charge of running a marketing campaign to tell the Flat-Club story – from the road. We’re providing the Intern with a new iPhone5 World Phone (that they keep), $1,000 to spend on accommodation and flight tickets and a lot of freedom to put creative ideas to work.
ith the US30 we’re taking the Flat-Club concept to the US and continuing to solve one problem. As CEO and Founder Nitzan Yudan puts it “we provide alternatives to hotels, hostels, service apartments and short term rental marketplaces by solving the biggest problem of peer to peer renting – trust.” Rather than inventing a new way to build trust between members, Flat-Club simply goes to where it already exists, like university student and alumni networks, and leverages it to create a great short-term renting marketplace.

Help us spread the message across America, join your US University club and grow it now!

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