The Idea
Most of us own tools we barely use. A drill here, a ladder there. Meanwhile, your neighbor just spent money on the exact same thing. This happens across entire neighborhoods, cities, communities—billions of dollars in tools sitting idle in garages and sheds.
We started FriendsWithTools because we wanted to ask a simple question: what if instead of everyone buying their own tools, we just shared what we already own with people we trust?
It sounds obvious in hindsight. But it required building a place where the rules were clear, ownership was protected, and no one had to worry about strangers showing up on their doorstep. Trust—not transactions—is the core.
Our Mission
We believe in three big ideas.
Reduce waste. Fewer tools manufactured means less plastic, less metal, less mining, less shipping. If your group can share five drills instead of buying ten, that matters. Multiplied across thousands of groups, it's real environmental impact.
Strengthen neighborhoods. Borrowing a tool means talking to a neighbor. Returning it means a conversation. Suddenly you know what skills live on your street. Who has kids the same age. Who might help when you need it. Trust is rebuilt one interaction at a time.
Make tool ownership communal where it makes sense. Not everything needs to be public or shared with algorithms. Groups of 10–30 people who know each other—that's the right scale. Private. Accountable. Human.
Our Values
Everything we build flows from three commitments.
Privacy-First
Your tools aren't public. Your groups aren't indexed. We don't track, profile, or sell data. Access is earned through invites, not algorithms. You control who sees what.
Transparent
We're building a business. We need to make money somewhere. We're open about how: we plan to offer optional premium features (teams, analytics, integrations). Core features stay free. Read more on how we make money.
Practical
No bloat. No social features. No notifications trying to game your attention. We solve one problem well: help trusted circles manage shared tools. Everything else is distraction.
Beyond Features
Building FriendsWithTools means trusting that people fundamentally want to be good neighbors. Not because we force them to be, but because it's actually easier and more rewarding than the alternative.
We're not here to disrupt anything. We're here to give you a simple tool to do something you already want to do—share, help, and build community. The rest follows.