In 2017, Tye and Courtney Caldwell of North Texas created an app to benefit self-employed salon owners. The app, ShearShare, has been able to help more than one million professionals since launching.
“For three years, we kind of served as a concierge service,” Courtney said during the couple’s recent interview with NBC 5. “We may have had a stylist who needed a place to work for the weekend in a certain location or city, but they had special needs for their clients. We just started cold calling and getting them to where they needed to be.”
The app was able to help many stylists and salon owners stay open amid the Covid pandemic, according to NBC. It currently hosts over 30,000 users in the United States, spread across 850 cities.
According to the ShearShare Facebook page, users can rent private suites, open stations, or entire salons.
Stylists can find work without weekly or monthly rent. A new feature also allows licensed cosmetologists and barbers to purchase liability insurance by the day directly through the app.
Courtney said, “People know us in the tech space as the ‘Hair-BNB’ of beauty apps and currently the #1 salon and barbershop booth rental app in the nation. We are helping stylists and barbers, nail techs and aestheticians get back to work safely. This also means because we are helping them find space when and where they need it and the price they want to pay, we are also helping these small brick and mortars to stay open as well. 40% of space goes unused every day in our industry. We figured out we could fill that gap by providing this tech solution.”
The couple said they enjoy being able to help others and inspire them to act on their ideas. Tye recently received a doctorate degree in barbering and cosmetology. He told NBC that when it comes to having an idea, the key is to jump right in.
“People have come up with great ideas from the smallest to the largest,” Tye said. “Go for it. Execute on that idea. Reach out to people who can help you understand what you want to do. You have to be the optimist and give yourself the confidence to move forward.”
The ShearShare website has testimonials from clients and stylists who have found success on the app.
“As a longtime owner, this business model is a win-win,” stylist Tu Anh N said. “And their outreach & customer support is top-notch! I highly recommend!”
Some of the current investors of ShearShare include Mark Cuban, Jaylon Smith of the Dallas Cowboys and more. According to NBC, they have raised over $3.4 million to date.
At the end of September, Tye became a finalist for the Tech Titan’s Start Up CEO Award. The recipient will be announced on January 19, 2022.