An MBA’s AirBnB For The Disabled

STARTUP AFTER STARTUP AFTER STARTUP

All the while, Madipalli continued developing Disability Horizons and working on some side ventures. He worked on a professional networking site called Globle for about a year. Then he developed FlyWave, a data collection and analyzation platform for “unmanned aerial vehicles.”

Then he taught himself to code. Through an online course offered by New York-based coding boot camp startup, One Month, Madipalli learned how to code and develop. He put his newfangled skills to work by co-founding and developing Lawreo, a Q&A app that allows people to get legal advice from trained lawyers.

But Madipalli continued to dwell on life as a disabled traveler. And all the problems that come with it. “They (disabled travelers) need adaptation, maybe medical devices and special insurance,” explains Madipalli. “And I thought, what’s the most important aspect? Accommodation. So let’s make a platform for accessible accommodation.”

GOING BEYOND THE ‘ACCESSIBLE CHECKBOX’

So Madipalli developed Accomable in March of 2015 and launched for users in June. And it’s grown rapidly. Madipalli says there are now about 400 properties listed on the site in 33 different countries. They’ve had more than 600 bookings and are currently speaking with “several major world hotel chains” while also raising there first seed round. Accomable has already gained the support from the Skoll Foundation, original President of eBay Jeffrey Skoll’s project to support early stage social enterprises, through a $30,000 grant.

Currently, the majority of the listings are in the United Kingdom and Europe, but also include the United States, South Africa and a few countries in Latin America and Southeast Asia. Of course, AirBnB has a checkbox option to narrow searches to “accessible” properties. But that’s not always good enough, Madipalli believes. In one instance in Los Angeles, Madipalli was staying at a hotel that was listed as accessible. Except there was a step up to the restroom in the room and Madipalli was unable to access it until a hotel employee created a ghetto-rigged ramp.

Accomable allows users to search with specificity. For example, a listing in Mill Valley, California includes step-ups to the bathroom, bedroom and kitchen. It also features a roll-in shower and grab rails. The listing also includes equipment such as multiple hoists and a shower seat as well as pictures to show each feature and item. It allows those with mobility disadvantages to truly see what the property offers. The one caveat is Accomable doesn’t personally screen the properties before they’re listed.

With the upcoming seed round, Madipalli hopes to hire his own engineers and developers to continue to scale and improve the product and site and essentially share what he’s been blessed with.

“Growing up as a wheelchair user in a developed country has allowed me to do things that are not available in other places in the world,” says Madipalli. “There is accessibility and I do have the opportunity to get the education. We want to take that and solve a problem for people with similar experiences, who have mobility difficulties.”

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