One year after Rhode Island-based Surv’s rebrand, CEO and founder Pat Brown said the company is serving more communities than ever and has plans for expansion.
Surv, formerly known as Rent Sons, is a startup that connects neighbors looking for help with small jobs, such as shoveling or moving, with local workers. Over the past year, Brown said the company has expanded to new markets, fundraised and rolled out new services.
To fuel its growth, Brown said Surv has raised over $1 million, mostly sourced from past clients and workers through a community round on WeFunder.
"We’ve been gathering different social impact investors across the country plus our current customers. We’re hoping to raise up to $3 million for new initiatives to get the business ready for scaling to market across the country," he said.
In addition to Rhode Island, Brown said the company now serves cities throughout the eastern part of the country, including Nashville, Tennessee, and Charlotte, South Carolina. Brown said Surv has 100 workers in Rhode Island and 200 nationwide. These workers have “surv'ed” 10,000 people so far.
"We've seen some beautiful stories take place. Many people have moved up in the company, gotten great jobs directly with neighbors, or just found some really meaningful relationships that have helped their lives in a positive way,” Brown said.
The company's expansion includes Surv+, a new membership service Brown said pairs a pod of local workers to help with a full range of “honey-do tasks.”
"The main thing we’re most excited about is our recent focus on our core customer, which is 65+ [year old] homeowners aiming to stay at home," he said. "Surv+ and that has allowed us to really help people on a monthly basis enabling them to stay at home and also build deep relationships with people and their community."
Brown said the company is also in the process of rolling out Full Life, a program that enables young people to learn some fundamentals of home, work and life.
"Your young 20s really are such a special time. You haven't really entered the workforce, and it's a great moment to pick your direction for the next 5-10-plus years," he said. "We really want to impact people at that pivot point."
Over the winter, Brown got out from behind his desk and worked with an elderly woman who called on Surv to help her shovel snow.
"When I got to the door, a woman in her 80s started clapping and was delighted to see me. Her name was Vernie and she was actually stuck inside and couldn't do anything outside until the snow was shoveled," he said. "Once we were finished, she opened up about her childhood, her parents, her career, where she's lived and some painful deaths she experienced recently. We spent about 15 minutes in deep conversation. I walked away from that job so fulfilled. It was the most meaningful thing I did in weeks."
