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The first neighbors

VAKA hasn't launched yet. They're already ready.

Rachelle, Alejandra, David, Felipe and Juan are VAKA's first neighbors. There are no success stories to tell yet — there's something better: what they hope to achieve, said before starting. When they complete their first rentals, these expectations will become stories with real results.

Rachelle François

Founding neighbor

"This comes to cover something that was truly missing. For every family celebration we ended up buying things that get used once and then sit unused."

In Rachelle's family the celebrations are big: birthdays, gatherings, dates that bring a lot of people together. And each one brought the same decision — buy chairs, canopies or sound equipment that you then have nowhere to store, or borrow and end up owing favors.

"What excites me most is that now the question changes. It's no longer who has it? or how much does it cost to buy it?, but which neighbor rents it? For the way we live, that changes everything."

The first thing she wants to rent

Equipment for family celebrations

Alejandra Villela

Founding neighbor

"I have equipment that cost me a lot and that I use only a few times a year. Knowing it can generate something instead of gathering dust feels fair to me."

Alejandra invested in good equipment — the kind of items you buy with excitement, use in season, and the rest of the year they live on a shelf. Selling them was never an option: she loves them. But seeing them sit idle didn't convince her either.

"When Christian told me the idea, the first thing I thought was: finally. I can keep being the owner of my things AND have them work when I'm not using them. I'm going to try it with what I'm least afraid to lend, and we'll take it from there."

The first thing she wants to list

Her seasonal equipment

David Cuellar

Founding neighbor · Videographer

"My equipment works on production days. The rest of the time — which is most of it — it's stored away. That can change now."

David is a videographer, and anyone who makes a living from images knows it: a video and photography agency's gear is never all used, every day. Cameras, lights, tripods, backdrops, set furniture — between project and project, a good part of it sits in storage.

"It's not just about the money that might come in. It's that it seems logical to me: if I have it and my neighbor needs it for a day, why would he go buy it? Let him rent it, use it well and return it. With the deposit and the handover photos that VAKA asks for, I'm at ease."

His expectation

That his gear works when he's not using it

Felipe Henriquez

Founding neighbor

"I'm the one who buys the tool for a project and never touches it again. Rent first and buy only if I really use it — that's how it should always have been."

Felipe knows himself: every new home project comes with a purchase that seemed indispensable and ended up being used once. The tally of "things I bought for a single fix" already hurts him.

"What I hope for from VAKA is simple: try before buying. If I rent a tool three times, then it makes sense to buy it. And in the meantime, what I already bought and don't use, I list it — so the story at least evens out."

His plan

Rent first, buy only what he uses again

Juan Perdomo

Founding neighbor

"I have camping gear for a battalion and we go out twice a year. It excites me that someone else gives it life — and that it leaves something behind instead of just taking up the storage room."

Juan put together his adventure gear over the years: tent, coolers, lamps, the things that add up trip after trip. He uses it, takes care of it and loves it — the two or three times a year he goes out. The rest of the time, the storage room.

"The idea that a neighbor who wants to take his kids camping doesn't have to spend a fortune on gear he might use once — and that my gear is what solves it for him — seems to me one of the best things about this. That's community, not just business."

The first thing he wants to list

His camping gear

The pattern

What the five hope for

  • 1.That what they have stored away and unused finally generates something instead of taking up space.
  • 2.Being able to rent before buying — and buy only what's really used often.
  • 3.Doing it with protection: verified identity, deposit and handover evidence — not a favor done blindly.
  • 4.That the neighborhood sorts itself out among neighbors — that's community, not just business.

Be among the first

Need something you'll use just a few times? Rent it. Have something stored away that wears out unused? List it. The first neighbors write the first stories.

Search to rentList what's mine

The first neighbors shared their expectations before launch and their names are published with their authorization. We don't yet include results or figures — we'll publish them when they're real. Do you want to appear here with your story? Tell us.

The first neighbors | VAKA | VAKA