Commercial property managers log on to manageStar.com through BOMA, create and post a RFP using a library of forms developed by the web-based company. The service then automatically notifies qualified providers that an RFP matching their skills is posted. Or the manager has the option of sending the RFP to a select group. Once the service provider reviews the RFP, a bid is submitted and manageStar notifies all parties when the property manager selects a winner.
Property owners and managers pay annual minimum fee of $99 and service providers who win the contract shell out a flat fee based on the size of the project. To date, the Walnut Creek-based manageStar has more than 70,000 Bay Area vendors offering more than 1,200 services.
ManageStar has netted nearly $10 million in venture capital and angel funding since it was founded two years ago. BOMA's veep of information technology Ed Turner says manageStar was selected from hundreds of Web sites. BOMA members own and/or manage 8.5 billion sf of commercial real estate and have $104 billion in purchasing power.
Greg Brown, one of four manageStar founders, declined to say how many registered users have logged on, but did say early adopters include San Jose-based Colliers International, Washington, D.C.-based CarrAmerica Realty Corp. and Lafayette's Bedford Property Investors Inc.
When Brown, his brother Brian, Kent Craven and James Norwood founded the company in August 1999, they invested an undisclosed amount of personal money and secured roughly $2 million from a group of angel investors. The founders – with the exception of Brian Brown, a former Wall Street Journal reporter – started manageStar in their Artech Design Group office in Walnut Creek, a $1.8 million company that Brown and fellow manageStar partners founded in 1995. Artech Design Group acted as an incubator of sorts for the fledgling company.
In October, manageStar secured another $8.5 million in venture capitalist and angel funding. Roughly $1 million came from angel investors while the remaining $7.5 million came from VCs. Greg Brown says the money will be used to continue upon the company's current services. Brown says manageStar plans to unveil subscription-based modules for registered users.
Privately held ManageStar – the first of its kind that focuses on software and not goods and supplies, according to Brown – has not yet turned a profit. While Brown declined to say when the company anticipates profitability, he did say that information would be released in the coming months after he takes another look at the company records.
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