Kimi
The one-stop shop for finding and renting items and services.
Startup Snapshot
Startup name: Kimi
Industry: Rental Marketplace
Business Model: B2C Marketplace
Founder: Victoria Mardueño
Location: Mexico
Founded: 2022
Stage: Pre-seed
Investors: Bootstrapped
Website: kimi.com.mx
What does Kimi do?
Kimi is like eBay or Mercado Libre for rentals. On Kimi, you can find and rent equipment and services ranging from clothing to events, sports, machinery, medical items, catering, bartenders, and DJs.
What's your backstory?
Vicky pursued a degree in administration at UNAM with a specialization in Marketing. Her journey started at Mondelez, where she spearheaded the digital transformation of the sales force, transitioning sales processes from traditional paper methods to cloud-based systems. Her scope expanded, overseeing optimization initiatives spanning tax automation to efficient direct distribution, impacting a vast network of over 1,500 sales representatives.
Furthering her education, in 2017, Vicky pursued a project management specialization in Melbourne, Australia. During this time, she met Stefan, a serial entrepreneur and advisor, who invited her to join Xplor, a SaaS catering to childcare centers, where she streamlined operations to align with stringent compliance regulations. Vicky worked closely with Stefan and Mark, the founder of Xplor, on onboarding and data intel. This experience equipped her with invaluable insights into growth strategies, procedural frameworks, and proficiency with essential tools like Zendesk, HubSpot to Salesforce migration, and SQL.
Before meeting Mark, Vicky had this notion that entrepreneurs had to be white men with engineering and master’s degrees from top universities. However, although Mark didn’t check all the boxes, she realized he had many qualities far superior to her preconceived conceptions: former military man, incredibly disciplined, resilient, charismatic, and outstanding leadership and communications skills.
It was there and then that she realized anyone can be an entrepreneur. All they needed was a good idea and the will to see it through.
Upon departing Australia due to visa complications, she began a remote position at Hotel Tonight before being acquired by Airbnb. After the acquisition, she transitioned into the Airbnb team based in Mexico, where she led the APAC sales operations. However, soon after the COVID pandemic hit and soon after, she, along with many of her peers, became another number in the mass layoff statistics.
Despite the uncertainty, Vicky landed a new job with DiDi Food in Mexico, where she experienced the breakneck speed of a startup in full growth mode.
After that, she joined Kavak, a used car marketplace, as a PMO. Later she moved to Kovena, a payment gateway, where she built the operations from scratch. At Kavak, she met Alejandra, who would two years later become her co-founder, leading the technology of their new venture, Kimi. This platform has become the premier choice to find and rent items and services ranging from clothing to events, sports, machinery, medical equipment, catering, bartenders, and DJs.
How did you come up with the idea?
“Kimi was born from personal necessity; during Christmas, I wanted to decorate my apartment with LEDs, but didn't have a ladder and didn't want to buy one.” So, Vicky began tinkering with a platform for short-term rentals where you could rent a ladder, a driller, or other everyday household items.
After interviewing potential customers, it became evident that although the interest to rent such items existed, there was little to no interest in offering them. It turned out that most people were unwilling to invest time and effort in renting out their belongings to others since the risks and the economics didn’t make sense.
However, based on customer interviews, it was evident that there was no real solution for renting items and services in the traditional B2C space, and thus Kimi was born.
How did you acquire your first customers?
Kimi’s MVP launched in July 2023; the first transaction was recorded shortly after. Vicky assumed friends and family would be the first customers. However, that wasn't the case; the first customer discovered the platform via Google Ads.
This customer was looking for chairs and tables for an event from Friday to Saturday and decided to call the phone number on the platform, which was Vicky’s number. She assisted and guided the customer since, as most first-time users, they have questions and concerns, so she explained the registration process and how to place an order step by step - this was a great learning experience and an opportunity to compile direct feedback.
What's your motivation?
Vicky strives for Kimi to become a truly great place to work. Her experience working in Australia and with European and Australian bosses highlighted a significant gap in the work culture in Mexico.
Ensuring work-life balance for people is essential. The idea is for the company to be a support system, not just a place to go—where employees are happy.
Your employees are your company's real competitive advantage. They're the ones making the magic happen as long as their needs are being met.
-Richard Branson
What's next for Kimi?
Short-term: Find product-market fit
Medium-term: Build the right team for that fit and beyond.
Long-term: Expand operations to other cities.
Tips for other founders:
Take care of your physical and mental health; it's often overlooked but crucial.
Focus on the problem rather than the solution.
Learn and unlearn. Be flexible and adapt.
There are always opportunities, even in challenging times. Chaos can create new opportunities.
Anyone can be an entrepreneur. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Special offer for our readers🚀
Special offer: 10% discount on your reservation. Please get in touch with us via chat and mention the code "Founders Launchpad."
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