Christina Reynolds, 39

“It’s the Uber of …” has become a common way to pitch a new idea, particularly in the tech space, and Christina Reynolds doesn’t shy away from describing her human resources app, ShortStaf, as an “Uber-ish” service. It’s an on-demand staffing app for hospitality companies and workers. It can also be a big help to people who entertain guests at private events in their homes, which is where Reynolds got the idea for ShortStaf. 

“I was dating somebody who had an 8-year-old, and we were throwing a birthday party at our house,” she recalls. The home required a key fob for entry, so she had to let each guest in while her boyfriend ran the grill, and most of the attendees had dietary restrictions. Reynolds says she insisted on making all the food herself, and it didn’t go well. 

Photo by Mark Wemple

“I’m making all this food; I’m sweating; I’ve already finished a bottle of wine,” she adds, laughing, “and I have, like, 15 8-year-olds I’m trying to keep from jumping off the balcony into the pool. It’s a nightmare. I need somebody to help.” 

That’s when it all clicked. 

“People need help, not just in restaurants, not just at events, but in their homes,” Reynolds says. “What if you could ‘Uber’ a server? I know a lot of people like me who would pick that up in a heartbeat.” 

Turns out, she was right. Very right. ShortStaf officially launched in 2016 and is now available in 36 states. It also includes elements of dating and job-search apps in that users create a profile that can be viewed by hosts and businesses who need help quickly. And like Uber, workers and hosts can rate each other. Pricing and payment, however, are not one-size-fits-all. 

“Everybody has a different level of pricing. Maybe [workers] are getting tips, maybe they’re not getting tips, so we have the host set their own price.”

Face-to-face conversations with restaurateurs up and down Main Street in Sarasota gave Reynolds a boost of confidence to move forward with ShortStaf. She says she deliberately refrained from promoting the project; rather, she asked them to describe their biggest business challenges. Some 90% indicated staffing, “and that was when I was like, ‘Yeah, this is definitely going to work.’”

The push to go to restaurants in-person stems from her mentor, Sarasota tech entrepreneur Rich Swier, says Reynolds in her 40 under 40 survey. She's learned a lot of other key lessons from Swier. "I learned that you do not have to be glued to one model, or your original vision. You learn as much as you can before you launch, but you learn the most after and build or make adjustments as you go, so that your product matches the true demand and needs of your users, not just what you predicted."