House of shares

A few years ago, Matthew Heady found the perfect vacation getaway: A six-bedroom house on the sunny Caribbean islands of Turks & Caicos.

The only problem was it cost $1,200 a night. He tried to organize a group of friends to go in on the rental. “Everybody ended up backing out,” says Heady, shaking his head.

The busted vacation led the Naples technology entrepreneur to dream up VeryUs, modeled after Airbnb. Unlike the popular booking service of private homes, VeryUs helps individuals and groups rent rooms in large homes. A play on the word “various,” the service works by logging onto the website Very.Us.