An automotive missionary

So Ramzi and I were talking about the AST site the other night after dinner with mom and dad, mostly telling them about the recent launch in Vegas. While discussing the enthusiasm expressed by so many folks before, at, and after SEMA for this much-needed service, we got to talking once more about the motivation behind the site.

"The goal," Ramzi insisted, "is to help people. It's less about making money and more about building a community of people sharing tools and knowledge."

"All the same, we do hope that it starts to cover the costs of setup and maintenance," I chimed in. It is a brand new start-up business after all.

"What? How is this venture going to make any money??" Dad was (almost) speechless.

An entrepreneur whose primary objective *isn't* making as much money as possible? Yes. I guess that would make my brother an automotive missionary of sorts. (Must be that Catholic upbringing....)

Back to reality...

Most people must have thought I was crazy when I said we were launching the site AND exhibiting for the first time ever at SEMA 2010... Well, we did it, admittedly with a few hiccups here and there.

What did we learn?

- 5 people managing a 10x10 booth is too much!

- Ergonomic flooring is an EPIC WIN (and a great investment!)

- People really like the idea and gave a few of their own!

- Switching from Paypal sandbox to "live" mode yields its own unforeseen issues (which we're dealing with!)

What does this mean?

- We're pumped that people like the idea and this fuels the fire in our hearts and minds to eliminate all of the issues associated with the site

- It also means that we have an even larger list of upcoming feature additions as this gets off the ground.

As Ibti mentioned above, the service is ABSOLUTELY FREE for lenders. This is kind of a shell shock to most people used to the Ebay-style fee structure that bills you no matter what.

In an effort to bring as many lenders to the table as possible, we made the decision a long time ago to allow fee-free posting of tool ads.

We really are dedicated to the guys on the ground level: DIYers, hobbyist racers, independant shop owners/mechanics, tool company franchisees, etc...

We are here to answer the call and help build and foster the DIY community by providing access to specialized, hard-to-find, expensive, or otherwise rent-worthy tools and associated information in a clear, concise, and user-friendly way.

I sincerely hope that this site succeeds in its goal of helping out the everyday hobbyist do what he/she loves for less money so he doesn't have to choose between fixing his/her car and going out or taking a trip, etc...