Evaluating only Yard Club’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Unit economics as the #1 likely cause. That’s exactly how it died.
Key Events Timeline
FOUNDING
Colin Evran founds Yard Club in San Francisco through Y Combinator as a peer-to-peer heavy equipment rental marketplace.
FUNDING
Raises $5.5M led by Andreessen Horowitz; expands equipment categories and focuses on California and Texas markets.
PRODUCT LAUNCH
Launches insurance product and equipment tracking features to address contractor trust barriers; growth remains slow.
ACQUISITION ATTEMPT
Caterpillar acquires Yard Club for undisclosed sum estimated under $15M; shuts standalone platform by 2017 and integrates into Cat Rental Store.
Full Analysis
Free · no account needed
Documented cause
Yard Club built a peer-to-peer marketplace for renting heavy construction equipment between contractors, raising $7.1M from Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator. The platform addressed a real inefficiency—most construction equipment sits idle 70% of the time—but suffered from painfully slow marketplace liquidity in a fragmented industry. Caterpillar acquired Yard Club in 2016 for an undisclosed amount estimated below $15M, and shut the standalone platform down in 2017.
Lesson
“Marketplace liquidity in offline, trust-intensive industries takes a decade to build; plan accordingly or partner early.”