The Making of “HairBnB”

How do you tech up an old industry? This couple asked questions, stayed close to their customers, and refined relentlessly.

- LIZ BRODY

In 2012, Tye Caldwell thought he knew everything about the hair business. He'd started cutting his seven siblings' hair with his school Fiskars scissors at age 11 and opened his own salon in Plano, Texas, in 2001. That's even where he met his wife, Courtney, when she came in for a cut. But one day, a phone call briefly stumped him.

It was a stylist asking if she could rent a chair in his salon by the day. That was crazy talk; back then, this kind of arrangement was done by signing long leases. But the truth was, Tye had empty chairs. Better to collect dollars than dust, he figured. So he said yes-a decision that inspired Tye and Courtney to launch ShearShare, a platform that now helps 40,000 hair businesses and professionals play musical chairs across more than 900 cities. Here's how they went from random insight to reshaping the industry.

STEP 1/ Build the minimum viable product.