Fresh out of the Lester Center incubator, Carsala is on a mission to make buying used cars a little bit easier. They take care of the two biggest problems for you: locating the car and negotiating the price (they’ve gotten up to 27% off Kelly Blue Book values).
Carsala owes much of its progress to the Haas MBA program. The business school helped the founders find internships before they began their own venture, and the classes taught them how to turn an idea into a business. In particular they noted a course on Entrepreneurship, and another on Venture Capital and Equity.
Haas also introduced them to the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition, where they ended as a finalist. As they advanced through rounds of the competition, their business plan became more structured and polished, and they got more and more attention. The people they met along the way were also very valuable – OATV and Labrador Ventures, and a Cal alum who was their lead investor.
Carsala was started in the summer of 2008, and closed their first round of funding that August. They have moved out of the Incubator and now have their own office in Berkeley.
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