Fast moving: Domm Holland returns with AI website builder Trady

Infamous Australian entrepreneur Domm Holland is back after the collapse of his former company, Fast in 2022. This time around he’s getting on the AI train with a new platform called Trady.

This is Holland’s third startup. His first was Tow —  a marketplace for tow truck operators off the back of a rise in demand due to hoon laws in Queensland. But it closed up shop in 2018.

A year later he founded Fast, a startup that offered one-click checkouts. During its three-year run, it raised $168 million from the likes of Index Ventures, Stripe and Brian Sugar. However, it was reported to be going through US$10 million per month with only US$600,000 in revenue in 2021. It shuttered in 2022.

But despite the US$160 million loss in his last venture, he’s returned with a fresh business that taps into the tech sphere’s favourite term of the year — AI.

Holland’s new business, Trady, builds websites for tradespeople using the generative AI platform ChatGPT.

“Trady launches powerful websites for contractors, faster than a hammer. Each website is conversion optimised so your customers will book or call you instead of your competitors, and uses AI to generate website copy and layouts so you don’t have to. We specialise in home services websites, with an online job booking engine specifically engineered for your trade,” The Trady website reads.

Speaking to the AFR, the former rich lister said that he was inspired to start this new business off the back of the popularity of Jim’s Mowing in Australia. According to Holland, no business like that currently exists in the US.

“I thought I could use tech skills and marketing skills to kind of build a better brand,” Holland said to the publication.

At the present time, Holland is said to have two angel investors in Trady — one named POPSUGAR founded by Brian Sugar, who was also an investor in Fast.