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www.HartfordBusiness.com April 11, 2016 • Hartford Business Journal 5 Realty software startup sets up shop in Hartford By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com L ured by an early-stage investment from Connecticut Innovations, a real estate software startup recently established its headquarters in Hartford. My Home Pro Network offers a cloud- based software that allows realty broker- ages and agents to create online profiles listing their trusted contractors, attor- neys, mortgage lenders and other service providers. The site has social and referral elements similar to Facebook and Angie's List, but for the realty market. In February, My Home Pro Network moved into Park Street office space owned by business accelerator reSET Social Enterprise Trust. It's one of 21 compa- nies currently enrolled in reSET's flagship "Impact Accelerator" program. My Home Pro Network is already bring- ing in revenue and in the midst of a pre-seed round to raise $500,000 for product devel- opment and hiring. The company has six fulltime employees and wants to double that number by year's end, according to CEO Nick Pontacoloni, 34, who first launched the venture in 2012 with longtime friend Mike Zizzamia, 33. Ponta- coloni's younger brother, Mike Pontacoloni, 29, joined the company in 2013 and has been working there full time since last year. All three are Windsor natives, with var- ied backgrounds in technology marketing, real estate and education. "We believe we could have a company that employs 100 fulltime people within three years," Nick Pontacoloni said. Broader market Pontacoloni said My Home Pro Network software gives real estate agents a way to provide additional value to clients — poten- tially winning repeat business in the future — by acting as a referral source to contrac- tors and other service providers. Agents can list their most trusted contractors on their profile and refer clients to the page. It's also a marketing tool for contractors listed on broker's profiles, he said. Homebuyers can be lucrative custom- ers. On average, buyers of new homes spend more than $12,000 on furniture, appliances and other items in the year after closing, according to a 2008 study by the National Association of Home Builders. An early version of the software sought to allow contractors to bid on jobs posted by property owners, but it struggled to gain traction, Pontacoloni said. The company shifted its gaze toward real estate brokers, building a networking service on top of their original job-posting and bidding platform. It's starting to catch on. Brokers and agents from Maine to New Jersey are using the platform and related mar- keting services, the company said, including Keller Williams, which has created a network for its Greater Hartford agents and others. Investors have also taken note. Connecticut Innovations, the state's quasi-public venture capital arm, is leading the ongoing pre-seed investment round, committing up to $150,000. My Home Pro Network raised $100,000 from angel investors in 2015, and hopes to raise a larger Series A round in the next several years. Mike Wisniewski, a CI investment asso- ciate, said Connecticut Innovations hopes its investment, which comes in the form of a two-year note, will be converted to an own- ership stake in a later equity round. "I thought they were motivated, energetic, young entrepreneurs, but experienced," Wis- niewski said of the startup's founding team. "We want to try to build our pipeline of later- stage funds with companies that have good growth potential." Nick Pontacoloni, who has an MBA from Northeastern, has worked in sales for Linke- dIn and TechTarget, while Zizzamia has worked as a real estate agent. Mike Ponta- coloni has two master's degrees — one in teaching from UConn, and the other in fine arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. CI has released $75,000 to My Home Pro Network so far, Wisniewski said. The start- up will be required to raise at least $75,000 on its own. For its investment risk, CI would receive an ownership stake at a discounted rate in a future equity round, he said. n PDS has been meeting the needs of the construction industry since 1965. Our dedicated team of design and construction professionals welcomes the challenge of serving its past and future customers on their most demanding projects. Bloomfield Fire Department | Bloomfield, Connecticut PDS acted as General Contractor to complete renovations to the Bloomfield Fire Burn Building. PDS installed new fire resistant steel shutters, hollow metal doors and gauge gutters. The project was completed on time and within budget. 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002 (860) 242-8586 | Fax (860) 242-8587 www.pdsec.com DESIGN BUILDERS • GENERAL CONTRACTORS • CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS SPOTLIGHT ON: Public Safety PDS ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION, INC. THINK • PLAN • BUILD I am a philanthropist. At the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, we bring those who need, and those who give, together for good. Find out how you can be a philanthropist too at hfpg.org. Through the Latino Endowment Fund, I am engaging and empowering my community. (Starting from left) Mike Zizzamia, front-end engineer Mohammed Nasir, Mike Pontacoloni and Nick Pontacoloni of My Home Pro Network in Hartford. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D