Bentonville startup Switcharoo hires former Fayettechill CEO, joins Berkley-based incubator

Switcharoo, a mobile app company in Bentonville, has secured a lead investor, made its first hire and been accepted into a Berkley-based global incubator program, according to a press release from the startup.

Switcharoo is a patent-pending peer-to-peer mobile app that allows individuals waiting in line to bid on spots with shorter wait times, according to the company. The app is currently in beta testing and set for release on Apple in November.

It is looking to complete a $500,000 seed funding round by early 2018, and Collective Bias co-founder and chief creative officer Amy Callahan has been announced as a lead investor.

Founder and CEO Ryan Parks said in a press release, “Amy is a great leader with tremendous vision and business savvy. Originally a board member to guide the company, I recognized what she accomplished leading Collective Bias to an acquisition by Inmar and felt that she could provide the necessary guidance for an eventual exit.”

Switcharoo also announced the addition of former Fayettechill CEO and COO Andrew Gibbs-Dabney to its team as co-founder and chief merchandising officer.

Gibbs-Dabney joined the team and left Fayettechill in September, according to a LinkedIn page bearing his name. He started at Fayettechill as a warehouse associate in 2013 and joined the C-suite in 2015, according to the page.

“Coming from an entrepreneurial, high-growth environment, I’m excited to work with Ryan, Amy, The Batchery, and the rest of our team to bring Switcharoo to market,” he said in a press release.

The company also has been accepted into a seed-stage startup incubator called The Batchery, located in Berkeley, Calif., according to the company.

Parks said in the release, “Dr. Richard Larson, MIT, has said that some people spend more than a year of their lives waiting in line. I’m impatient by nature, and I saw a market need that wasn’t being filled.”

Parks founded Switcharoo in April. Before that, he worked as national account director for Boehringer Ingelheim, and before that he worked 11 years at Jarden Consumer Solutions, ending his tenure there as director of sales in 2015.

He’s a former member of the Bentonville City Council.