Several years ago, Danny Boice found himself in a disturbing situation:
As far as he could tell, his ex-wife seemed to be staying at the home of her new romantic partner—with her and Danny’s kids.
If this were the case, she'd be violating their child custody arrangement.
But Danny didn’t have proof.
What he did next, and where it led him, might surprise you…
It might even compel you to become his business partner.
Danny Takes Action
Danny’s an interesting guy.
He’s been a Harvard dropout, a professor at Georgetown, and the founder of two technology companies that have been acquired.
So when this problem came up with his ex-wife, he didn’t sit and stew…
He immediately went looking for a Private Investigator who could uncover the truth.
And that’s when his real journey began…
Searching for a Private Investigator
Searching for a PI, Danny quickly hit a roadblock:
The well-known investigative companies like Kroll and Pinkerton were out of his price range.
Meanwhile, the PIs he found online were of questionable repute, and they charged thousands of dollars upfront as a “retainer.”
But there was a silver lining to all this…
Stumbling Into a $5 billion Market
You see, Danny discovered something surprising during his search:
He discovered that he wasn’t the only one looking for an investigator.
As he learned, many people were trying to uncover the truth about something or someone—and they were willing to pay handsomely for answers.
In fact, as the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year, "Annual revenue from investigation services doubled to $5.2 billion in 2012 from $2.6 billion in 2002…”
Danny had unknowingly stumbled into a huge market—a $5 billion market that needed fixing.
So what did he do?
He started a company to take advantage of this opportunity:
He calls it Trustify.
Trustify
Briefly put, Trustify lets you go online to hire a vetted Private Investigator for small, inexpensive blocks of time.
Think of it like “Uber for Private Investigators.”
Once you’ve engaged your PI, they’ll start surveillance for you—
From looking into a suspected cheating spouse…
To doing background checks on potential nannies or employees…
To making sure the charmer you met on an online dating site is exactly who they say they are.
Just click a button from your computer or mobile phone—and within 48 hours, a Trustify PI will be on the job for you and quickly deliver findings and photos.
Current Status and Future Goals
Trustify launched its service a few months ago, in March 2015.
Now it has more than 1,000 PIs in its network.
The company charges customers $59 per hour. Of the hourly rate, $34 goes to Trustify, and $25 goes to the PI.
So far, the average revenue per job is $118—in other words, it takes just 2 hours to uncover a cheating spouse or naughty nanny.
Trustify’s revenues in May were $12,500, and it’s projecting 2015 revenues of $250,000, and 2016 revenues of $4 million.
But those projections might be the tip of the iceberg:
You see, Trustify is playing into the “mega-trend” Wayne wrote about last week:
A new economy is being built right now that’s fueled by freelancers.
These freelancers work “on-demand”…
In other words, they work part-time, whenever we need them, as taxi drivers, errand runners, and caretakers for our kids or elderly parents.
And before these folks get hired, they need to be vetted.
Given the size of the existing PI market, and the likely growth that will come from the on-demand economy, Trustify could potentially grow into a very large investigative business…
The kind of business that could go public or get acquired.
Kroll, for example, was acquired in 2010 for $1.13 billion cash.
But building a business like this will take time—and capital.
Which is where you come in.
Invest in Danny’s Business?
Thanks to “equity crowdfunding”—where investors like you back private start-ups in exchange for an ownership stake—you can invest in Trustify.
The investment would take place on a crowdfunding website called OneVest.
Trustify is currently raising $1 million, of which $900,000 is already committed.
To be clear, we’re not recommending that you invest in Trustify—this is a risky, early-stage venture and it requires diligence and a proper investment strategy—but if it piques your interest, it might be worth digging deeper.
Learn More
To learn more, you can register for free on OneVest and review the details here >>
At the moment, according to SEC regulations, you need to be an “accredited” investor in order to invest. That means you need to have a $1 million net worth, or earn at least $200,000 in annual income.
But if you’re not accredited, not to worry…
Due to a new set of laws called “The JOBS Act,” in just a few months, all investors will be able to invest in private deals like this.
In the meantime, happy sleuthing…
And happy investing.
Please note: Crowdability has no relationship with Trustify or OneVest. Crowdability is an independent provider of education, information and research on start-ups and alternative investments.
Best Regards,
Founder
Crowdability.com
