Q&A With the Render Competition Winners, Stuccco

Last fall, we announced the eight winners of the inaugural Render Competition. Each startup received a $100,000 investment to scale their solution within and beyond the Greater Louisville region. Now, we’re catching up with each of the winning founders to hear about their competition experience, lessons learned, advice to future applicants, and an update on what’s ahead.

First up, we’re excited to hear from Matt Langan, CEO and founder of Stuccco. Stuccco is a virtual staging and online interior design company enabling realtors and homeowners to get any room staged or designed in as little as one day, democratizing the antiquated $6 billion staging and $114 billion interior design industries, while creating an advertising channel for the $45 billion e-commerce home furnishing industry.

Why did you decide to apply for the Render Competition?

We applied because we had achieved product-market fit and were ready to scale our offer and improve our technology, so it felt like a good time to bring in and put capital to use. When we entered the competition, we had just started raising our seed round. We thought that if we could win, it would validate us for other prospective investors doing due diligence, and the funding would give us plenty of runway to complete the round. If we didn’t win, going through the application and interview processes would still be valuable. We saw very little risk and lots of potential upside, so we applied and, thankfully, we won.

What was something you learned from the application process?

We learned that the application process gifts you a lot of knowledge and assets you can use well after submitting. Since applying, we have repeatedly used knowledge, language, slide decks, and data we gathered for the competition, whether pitching to other investors, communicating with customers, and more. If you’re an entrepreneur considering applying, I’d encourage you to, because the application process itself is a valuable experience that births new knowledge, marketing assets, and confidence.

What did you take away from your interactions with the judges?

The judges are true pros who come prepared and want to see you succeed. Their questions were thoughtful, relevant, clear, and challenging. By pitching to them and hearing their questions and concerns, I was able to see what resonated and what could be improved. I used the experience to improve our pitch deck and practice my answers.

What’s your favorite part about Louisville’s startup ecosystem?

My favorite part is that other Louisville entrepreneurs and investors want to see you succeed. The Louisville startup ecosystem is very inclusive and encouraging, as opposed to hyper-competitive or alienating. Starting and validating an idea in Louisville is fairly affordable relative to other cities, which benefits a bootstrapping entrepreneur.

How are you using the $100K, and how will it help you scale?

We are using it to scale our virtual staging offer and to further improve our platform’s technology.

What’s next for your company in 2021?

We will be closing our seed round, hiring sales and marketing resources, and doubling down on product development, enabling homeowners to shop any virtually staged photo and helping real estate agents more effectively drive demand and leads for their listings.

What inspires you to continue to grow your business every day?

We have a lot of fun helping others and designing beautiful spaces and products.