Over 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Nearly half will not be able to handle an unexpected $400 expense. With workers and their families operating on such tight margins, improving the timing of cash flows can be the difference between retaining an employee or having them quit. In the construction industry there’s also been an acute labor shortage.  Trunk Tools is a fintech platform for the construction industry that allows employers to provide real-time access to a portion of earned wages to their employees – gone area the day of waiting for every other Friday for that check or deposit.  With Trunk Tools, employees have the flexibility to access their wages with no extra cost as needed while employers can retain talent without having to have them worry about getting paid, changing the way businesses operate and workers get paid.    The platform integrates directly with existing payroll solutions and employees are given instant dedicated virtual debit cards to access their wages.

AlleyWatch caught up with Trunk Tools CEO and Founder Dr. Sarah Buchner to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, recent round of funding, and much, much more…

Who were your investors and how much did you raise?

We recently raised a $9.9M Seed Round. Our investors were Innovation Endeavors, Fifth Wall, Foundation Capital, and others.

Tell us about the product or service that Trunk Tools offers.

Trunk Tools offers companies an all-in-one platform to manage skilled labor and complex projects across industries such as construction and manufacturing. Our Trunk Performance products incentivize increased productivity by rewarding employees with a portion of cost savings and profitability, expediting payments, and providing earned wage access, ultimately enabling workers to earn more and access those earnings faster.  The overall Trunk Tools platform uses AI to help managers set productivity goals and safety rewards, which workers receive directly via SMS, eliminating the need for additional app downloads. Workers can conveniently view current and upcoming tasks, check their balances, review transactions, and perform other essential functions directly from their phones. Companies pay their employees instantly via dedicated debit cards, and Trunk Tools’ software seamlessly integrates into existing payroll systems, ensuring a smooth and efficient workflow.

What inspired the start of Trunk Tools?

While managing a large-scale project, a safety mishap led to the death of a construction worker on-site. This started Dr. Sarah Buchner’s journey to improve the conditions and livelihood of blue-collar industries while leveraging new technologies.  The construction industry is seeing historic declines in labor participation, with nearly 40% of the workforce slated to retire by 2028. Trunk Tools believes that it can help solve these problems and has been working to tackle them for two years now.

How is Trunk Tools different?

Trunk Tools started with a focus on the people first. Implementing behavioral economics and management best practices, Trunk Tools built a solution with workers and managers in mind, while leveraging the capabilities of cutting-edge technologies.  The solutions are recognized for their effectiveness, ease of use, and simple implementation. Onboarding takes minutes, management is automated, and results can be monitored in real-time.

What market does Trunk Tools target and how big is it?

Trunk Tools targets blue-collar industries such as construction and manufacturing with fully-developed project management and Enterprise Resource Planning processes, typically employing more than 100 skilled trades professionals. The TAM for this market segment is nearly $19B.

What’s your business model?

We are a B2B SaaS solution.

How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?

We are continuing to refine our sales and product development strategies. Since productivity and efficiency are key to weathering these downturns, our product becomes even more valuable to customers. Our ability to sign, implement, and drive value for customers is our core focus.

What was the funding process like?

Fundraising is always a fascinating process. We were so fortunate to receive a tremendous amount of interest from so many funds. The most difficult part of the process was choosing which funds to partner with. We are thrilled with the firms we ultimately partnered with and thankful to all the others who expressed their interest and believed in our strong team-market fit.

What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?

Traveling to meet with investors while continuing to run a startup is a huge challenge. Early-stage companies run lean, so the time investment for fundraising adds increased pressure to the day-to-day operations of building and scaling. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn what investors and others are thinking about the business, but we are happy that the round is complete so our team can focus on building and rolling out our products with more and more customers.

What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?

The combination of the problem and our highly-talented team that is working tirelessly to address it. The total addressable market for these solutions is substantial, while the problem facing customers in the space is worsening year-over-year.  Trunk Tools has found a demonstrably effective and simple solution to address these challenges, assembled an incredible team, and had substantial early success in demonstrating the future potential of our company.

The combination of the problem and our highly-talented team that is working tirelessly to address it. The total addressable market for these solutions is substantial, while the problem facing customers in the space is worsening year-over-year.  Trunk Tools has found a demonstrably effective and simple solution to address these challenges, assembled an incredible team, and had substantial early success in demonstrating the future potential of our company.

What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?

We plan to sign 25 enterprise accounts and continue to develop our products to constantly improve our support to existing and future customers.

What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?

Find a way to start selling your products or services as early as possible. This provides you with some revenues to decrease your debt and equity obligations, invaluable product-market fit feedback, and some metrics for annual recurring revenues that will increase your attractiveness to investors.

Where do you see the company going now over the near term?

We plan to continue to grow our technical platforms, our engineering capabilities, and growing the user base!

What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?

Sant Ambroeus in Soho.

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• Source: https://www.alleywatch.com/2023/09/trunk-tools-daily-pay-platform-construction-industry-labor-payments-management-sarah-buchner/