For team MisFix, a workshop program and app designed to train women in do-it-yourself troubleshooting, work didn’t end after the 54-hour Women’s Startup Weekend and a second place winning. In fact, they are officially launching their business at their first event on June 11, where a Lowe’s worker will teach participants how to patch a hole in a wall.

For Amanda McKinnon, team leader, these skills are old news. But that’s because she got her own training while growing up.

“I grew up with a dad who did not care that I was a girl,” she said. “I sheetrocked, I shingled, I did electrical work, plumbing, I flipped homes with him… I became very self-sufficient.”

McKinnon’s do-it-yourself ability always seems to be an envy of other women, she said. Her friends express how they wish they could do their own repairs, and have a better knowledge of troubleshooting.

This is what inspired McKinnon, as she sat at Women’s Startup Weekend, not intending to pitch. Dr. Sue Mathison caught her eye and questioned why she wasn’t pitching, and she said she was just there to help. But when the idea for a project based on her expertise in troubleshooting came together in her head, she had to share it.

“Sitting in that chair there, that moment, within about a 5-minute time frame, this all came to me. So I went and got up and pitched, and it happened, and we got second!” she said. “It really was so crazy.”

The MisFix Dream

McKinnon’s ultimate goal with MisFix, she said, is to create a physical space that will be half automotive and half a mock home set-up. On the automotive side, professionals would teach women and men how to change tires, wind shield wiper blades, check oil, and other useful procedures. On the flip side, the home set-up would have holes in the wall to teach hole repair, along with plumbing and electrical workshops.

She also hopes to create a MisFix app as sort of a mobile instruction manual, that would make the step-by-step procedures readily available in a tight situation. For instance, McKinnon said, if a wind-shield wiper breaks in a storm, it might be tough to recall everything you learned in a workshop. With the app, one could pull up the instructions and go from there.

After her pitch, the MisFix team came together to make what McKinnon says is the best team she could’ve asked for: Jon Walters, Cassondra Johnson, Evan Balko, Maranda McDougall, and Rachel Collier.

Validation & Launch

Over the next 54 hours they spoke with a variety of women about the idea. What they found is that MisFix caters to a huge need.

“I went around to women in our community, and they didn’t have a single positive thing to say about car dealerships, or when they have to have something fixed in their home,” McKinnon said, explaining that many single women feel uncomfortable inviting a man into their home to do repairs.

Evan Balko, who is working on marketing for the team, sees MisFix as a way to save people from paying through the nose for something they can do themselves.

“[MisFix] is something I believe in,” he said. “I think Do-It-Yourself is a great way to budget. There’s a lot of things you can do yourself, and this is a great way to teach people how to do repairs themselves rather than having them shell out hundreds of dollars to have a professional do it.”

Long term, the MisFix team hopes to set up physical locations here and across the nation, teaching women and men troubleshooting skill and giving them – as their motto states – “tools for empowerment.”

But short term, the team is starting small by hosting community events, like the upcoming event on June 11. The team started selling tickets for the event, which are priced at $39.99, before Women’s Startup Weekend had even ended.

“We were already making money,” McKinnon said with a laugh.

Both men and women are welcome to the workshops, although McKinnon said that based on the need she saw from women in the community, she is designing the events to appeal more to women. She hopes to create a comfortable setting by having a wine social after each workshop, and hosting events like mother-daughter car workshops for teens learning to drive.

McKinnon said she is already hearing from businesses who are interested in sponsoring this event and future events.

“I’m really excited about how it will evolve,” McKinnon said. “It’s nuts, but we’re rockin’ and rollin’, and we’re doing it!”

Check out the MisFix website and sign up for their launch party here!

Photos courtesy of  Amanda McKinnon, Women’s Startup Weekend and Jodee Bock.