About Tooli
Good tools, shared
Most tools sit unused for most of their life. Tooli helps neighbors share what they already own, turning idle equipment into access for the people nearby and a little income for the people who own it.
It started in a garage in Winchester
Chris Eyre and his son Elliot looked around their garage in Winchester, Virginia and noticed what most homeowners already know: expensive tools spend most of their lives sitting unused. What started as a conversation between a father and son grew into a bigger question. What if, instead of buying a tool for a single project, you could rent one from someone nearby, while owners earned a little from equipment that would otherwise sit idle?
Elliot, then a software engineering student, began building a prototype to answer it. Over the next two years that student project grew into Tooli, a community rental marketplace with roots in the Shenandoah Valley, shaped by a small team who spent more than a year designing, testing, and refining it alongside homeowners, tradespeople, and local businesses.
Tooli is the platform: we handle discovery, booking, payments, chat, and protection. The tools themselves are owned by individual people, not by us. Our job is to make that exchange simple and trustworthy.
How Tooli helps
One simple idea, put to work for the people who need a tool, the people who own one, and the place they both live.
Access for renters
Most projects need a tool for a day, not forever. Tooli lets you find what you need nearby and borrow it for a fair price, so a one-time job does not cost you a full purchase.
Income for owners
The gear in your garage can earn its keep. List a tool you already own, set your terms, and let it bring in a little income during the long stretches you are not using it.
Less waste
When a whole street shares one pressure washer, fewer of them get built, bought, and left to rust. Sharing what already exists is a quiet, practical way to waste less.
Built on trust between neighbors
Sharing works when both sides feel taken care of. Tooli keeps payments secure, gives renters and owners a way to message directly, and adds protection around each booking so a handoff feels comfortable.
For us the goal reaches past the technology. Sharing what we already own reduces waste, saves families money, and strengthens the connections between neighbors. That is the kind of community we want to help grow, one shared tool at a time.
The people behind Tooli
What began with a father and son in a garage grew into a team spread across the Shenandoah Valley and beyond, bringing together more than 80 combined years of software experience. Along the way, Tooli was named a finalist in one of the nation's largest undergraduate venture competitions, proof that good ideas can come from small communities.
Elliot Eyre
Winchester, VA
An entrepreneur, software engineer, and co-founder who built the first Tooli prototype as a student. The idea started with the tools sitting idle in his own family's garage.
Chris Eyre
Winchester, VA
Elliot's father and Tooli's co-founder. A woodworker and homesteader who has worked in finance for over twenty years. His workshop was the spark for Tooli.
Jim Wallace
Berryville, VA
27 years of executive experience at companies like Unisys, Salesforce, Nuance Communications, and Pegasystems, focused on growing and scaling global organizations.
Dan Kolansky
Stephens City, VA
A software developer specializing in Flutter, with over two decades building quality software for businesses in Northern Virginia.
Zach Anton
Philadelphia, PA
Joined the founding team bringing years of experience managing and scaling enterprise grade cloud infrastructure to make Tooli available for all.
Join the neighborhood
Tooli is expanding across Virginia and the surrounding states, and the neighbors who use it help shape where it goes next. Download the app to rent the tools you need or list the ones you already own.