Meet the Member: Adopt a Contractor

If you've ever tackled a home renovation, you know how confusing and complicated finding reliable home improvement professionals can be. Enter

Adopt a Contractor, the platform that aims to simplify the entire process on both the home owner and contractor side. With a novel concept and impressive YOY growth, it's no surprise that platform took home second prize at the recent 10th edition of the 

French-American Entrepreneur Award, sponsored by the FACC as a Platinum Sponsor. In addition to a $5000 cash prize, Adopt a Contractor also won a membership to the FACC and CoWork credits.  Learn more about their concept, why they're primed to take on the toughest U.S. competitors and their advice for fellow members:   What inspired you to create Adopt a Contractor? Is it a translation of a concept hatched initially for the French market or a unique response to solving a problem in the U.S. market? AAC: The idea came up about 3 years ago when we first moved to the US. We had renovations to do for our new houses, and we faced very common and challenging questions: Who should we contact? Are they licensed and insured? Are they a scam? We had to come up with a solution. What does winning the FAEA Award mean to the development of your business? AAC: It's a recognition before all. When you are a business owner, especially in a startup, you think that what you're doing is normal, and you get used to it. But when you take your idea and your work to the public, and you actually win this type of award, it instantly gives some value to your project, and you realize that you got something there. That's an amazing feeling. How do you select and verify the contractors that are proposed on your platform? AAC: It's a very important process. We want that our users hire a contractor with confidence and trust. We require license and insurance to be provided before we activate the account. Also, we do run a criminal background, BBB rating, reviews, etc. Each contractor will also build his profile with new reviews/ratings he is getting from our users. What is one piece of advice you would give to other FACC members or entrepreneurs? AAC: I would say to have a very very complementary team. Mikael Boukhobza and Michael Chouraqui are taking care of the platform and all the technical aspects of our business, while Stephane works on our metrics and finances, and I (Raphael) deal with the Business Development. That's the perfect combination. Everyone brings value to the team and has an incredible motivation to give 150% of themselves, always. Having the best people in your managing team would be my biggest advice. See more photos from the FAEA pitch night & award ceremony on our

event recap & contact Adopt a Contractor through the

FACC Member Directory.