Growing fast, HUDU app lands grants from Google, state

DES MOINES, Iowa — It’s just the thing for a handy guy with extra time.

“If I have a free weekend coming up, I’m going to see what I can get for a job,” says Shawn Pruitt of Urbandale.

Skilled with hammers and saws, Pruitt reaches first for his smartphone and opens the HUDU app.

“Once you put in your home area,” he explains, “it’ll start popping up listings in your surrounding area and you literally can scroll through and be like ‘oh, I have the skills for this job.’”

Just 19 months ago, HUDU was little more than a simple idea in the mind of founder Derreck Stratton.

“I kept hearing people talk about how hard it was to make extra money,” he remembers. “And as I started digging into it I realized it’s also equally difficult for people to get these odd jobs done.”

Those people are called “listers” and HUDU connects them with skilled people looking for extra work: “Doers.”

For multi-skilled doers like Pruitt, the spectrum is broad.

“I’ve done anything from repairing printers,” he says, “to fixing bicycles, to fixing a cabinet door that popped off, tiling a shower, remodeling a whole bathroom.”

HUDU has done so well so far, everybody wants in. Earlier this month, the Iowa Economic Development Authority handed them a $50,000 grant. Google awarded them $250,000 this week.

Stratton says this money will keep the company from having to “live lean.”

“As an early-stage startup every penny counts,” he says. “However, with this money from Google, we’re able to really invest in our infrastructure.”

By that he means artificial intelligence (AI), which will help HUDU listers and doers alike.

“It will help write the text for your project,” says Chief Creative Officer Scott Siepker, “to make sure that you’re being as clear and concise as you possibly can so that the doer can put in a bid that’s accurate.”

With its army of doers growing and happy listers spreading the word, HUDU appears ready to jump to the national stage.

“HUDU will be to odd jobs what Uber is to rides,” Stratton envisions. “You need something done, you HUDU it.”

Siepker says while the first 18 months have been a battle, the company is hitting its stride.

“I feel like we’re on the launch pad right now and the rumble is starting from the engines kicking on,” he says, “and we’re just about ready to take off.”

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