In this member spotlight published in October 2021, the Whitewater University Innovation Center features William Bazeley, Co-Founder & CEO of RoofMarketplace, Inc.
What does the company do? What products/services do you offer?
RoofMarketplace is an online marketplace servicing the property insurance market. The purpose of the platform is to improve the claim process when roofs are involved.
How it works:
Homeowners file a claim with the insurance company.
Insurance carrier sends request to RoofMarketplace.
RoofMarketplace builds a package with aerial imagery and property data to be distributed to contractors.
Roofing contractors bid on the service. All bids include material type, warranties, start date, roofer rating, and pricing.
On average, three bids are delivered to the insurance carrier in less than 48 hours.
RoofMarketplace has processed over 50,000 bids through the platform. The company leverages the leading technology platform to connect insurers and policyholders with roof bids without any onsite visits. With aerial imagery and property data, roofing contractors can accurately bid the roof replacement cost in minutes. The cost savings in turn generates a 10% to 15% financial benefit.
Who do you serve? Who is your target market?
RoofMarketplace is a B2B solution for roofing contractors and insurance carriers. Roofing contractors appreciate the quick bidding process, qualified leads, and profitable work in their local market. Insurers appreciate the quick turnaround of actionable roof bids from locally vetted roofers for their customers.
Most of their market is currently based in coastal areas such as Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. As RoofMarketplace expands into new markets, they connect with insurance carriers who cover those markets and then connect with roofing contractors who service that market.
Roofing contractors are “very important to the ecosystem,” and are highly vetted. All the roofers in the network are certified with verified backgrounds, licenses, and insurance. To build a network of quality and engaged roofing contractors, the process is highly selective.
Who is the team?
RoofMarketplace was co-founded by:
Kish has over 12 years of experience as a Property Adjuster/Claim Representative and Bazeley has over 6 years of experience as a Sales Executive for an insurance carrier. With first-hand knowledge of the property insurance claim process, William and Dave “identified some gaps and knew there was a problem with the process.” Russell provides the technical vision and oversees the custom product development to ensure the system remains highly available, scalable, and secure.
The idea of RoofMarketplace started in 2013. RoofMarketplace initially started as a B2C platform to connect roofing contractors and homeowners. Over time, RoofMarketplace evolved into a B2B solution to connect insurance carriers with roofing contractors.
Going into 2020, the three co-founders worked part-time. As of March 2020, RoofMarketplace was a team of five. 2020 was the breakout year and today, the company consists of 19 team members including four developers, sales representatives, account managers, and customer service representatives.
In June 2021, RoofMarketplace announced its Seed Capital raise of $1.1M. The seed funding round was led by Rock River Capital Partners, LLC, a venture capital firm located in Southern Wisconsin, specializing in making early-stage investments in Wisconsin-based companies, and Peter Gunder.
What is your favorite aspect of your job and/or the company?
Bazeley shares his favorite aspect of being a co-founder is “The ability to innovate, push, and challenge things.” He is always looking for ways to push the status quo.
Why did you join the Whitewater University Innovation Center?
RoofMarketplace joined the Innovation Center in May 2020. Proximity was the key deciding factor. As a resident of Whitewater, Bazeley was looking for a professional workspace and a public address nearby. The Innovation Center is a great resource for being able to go somewhere for meetings and to have a public address. The Whitewater University Innovation Center was a great fit at a good price point.
The entire RoofMarketplace team works remotely. The three co-founders started as remote and part-time and continued to keep the culture of remote work, and work-life balance, as the company grew. As they take on additional employees, more and more remote workers share that they “like having a place to go and to get outside of the house to work.”
The Whitewater University Innovation Center serves as a corporate office, while an office at Ward 4 in Milwaukee provides a collaborative space for the developers.
What was your company's latest and greatest achievement?
The development of the team is the company’s latest and greatest achievement. According to Bazeley, “it has been incredible to see the team grow from the three co-founders working our second part-time job for free to our 19th employee.”
More recently, RoofMarketplace promoted Ron Young (LinkedIn Profile) to Chief Operating Officer. Young is responsible for the continued expansion into new markets as well as addressing the support needs to continue delivering exceptional customer service to carriers, contractors, and the insureds. RoofMarketplace continues to expand quickly and Young will help make sure they have “the right people in the right seats” to support that growth.