Sure, the latest initiatives from the Teslas, Apples and Googles of the industry tend to dominate the tech news space — and with good reason. Still, the tech titans aren’t the only ones bringing innovation to the sector.
In an effort to highlight up-and-coming startups, Built In has launched The Future 5 across 11 major U.S. tech hubs. Each quarter, we will feature five tech startups, nonprofits or entrepreneurs in each of these hubs who just might be working on the next big thing. Read our round-up of Dallas’s rising startups from last quarter here.
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Jeep owners are known to be proud of their vehicles — waving at each other, leaving rubber duckies on each other’s hoods and souping up their rig with endless modifications.
Jake Hamann has been a proud member of this club for years. When he bought his seventh Jeep in 2016, though, he wasn’t able to get a detailed build sheet with a list of all of the specifications and modifications that made the vehicle special. After further research, he realized that auto enthusiasts of all persuasions had difficulty documenting their modifications.
“When people modify and they go to sell, they never get the value out of what they’ve put into it,” he said. “They’re either OK with losing money — which nobody should be OK with — or they’ll take the parts off and sell them separately.”
Hamann, an entrepreneur and tech ecosystem builder, launched AUTIX, a platform where auto enthusiasts can not only track their vehicle modifications but also get an estimate on the value of their souped-up vehicle. The platform currently has 35 profiles used by VIP users.
The cost estimate, which is powered by artificial intelligence, takes into account the value of the vehicle and its add-ons as well as the vehicle’s popularity with online audiences.
Hamann said an accurate appraisal is valuable not only to vehicle sellers and buyers but also to insurance companies and auto loan lenders.
Hamann, who launched AUTIX in 2018, has quickly gained traction in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since moving here from Peoria, Illinois one year ago.
Last year, AUTIX won CodeLaunch DFW, and last week, during Dallas Startup Week, it won the Capital One Accelerator Pitch competition. AUTIX was one of 10 companies that participated in the Capital One Accelerator program and one of eight companies to present at the pitch competition.AUTIX won $15,000 for winning the competition.
Hamann is currently raising a pre-seed round to launch a minimum viable product in time for the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show in November.
If you are curious to learn from Hamann’s successful pitches, you can view his pitch deck here.
