App Tries To Make Private Investigators Less Creepy
Picture in your head a private investigator. Does that mean trench coat, skulking behind a tree and snapping photos of a cheating spouse? A DC tech entrepreneur is trying to change that image.
Danny Boice, who left Speek last year as CTO, launched Trustify in March. After paying big bucks for a few private detectives (to keep tabs on his kids after his divorce), Danny never knew if they were actually doing what they were hired to do. Danny, who calls himself a “tiger dad,” started thinking about how to make private investigation more affordable and less skeezy. Trustify, based in Georgetown, is an Uber-like app that allows users in the DC region to hire a private detective for small, on-demand jobs for $59 per hour.
The jobs can range from catching a cheating spouse to finding out background on a soon to be hired nanny. Trustify has a network of over 2,000 private investigators in the DC region who are required to sign a contract and abide by certain policies and procedures. All customer interaction is anonymous and goes through the app. Danny, who has a team of 10 full-time employees, says Trustify gets 7-10 new customers per day. Eventually the app will be able to provide geolocation of a hired investigator and use a two-way chat app to exchange videos and pics. Danny also plans to hire 10 more people by the end of July.
