By Krysten Brenlla
For nearly a decade, Princess Joanna Martel and Daniela Medina have been partners – in both business and life. Together, they founded their own creative marketing agency, The Stalker Creatives, securing major clients such as HBO Max and Chevron. Their journey, from launching the agency to exchanging vows, has been a testament to their shared love and unwavering determination.
And now, with extensive marketing and business administration experience under their belts, the couple are diving into the tech industry with dockaboat – a new venture that provides a solution to a major problem for boaters.
“The idea for dockaboat started when we had a side boat charter business with a couple of friends,” said Martel, CEO of dockaboat. “We were so excited to get all of these requests for charters, but then I realized – where are we going to dock the boat?”
The couple started calling marinas to find docks for their charters, but after countless unanswered calls and never-ending wait times at public marinas, and extremely expensive private marinas, the couple decided to leave the side business altogether.
“After a few months, I told Dani (dockaboat’s COO) – ‘there’s no way we’re going to make profit out of this’,” Martel said. “But one night, we were in front of an empty canal, and I said to Dani – ‘if we would have had the option to rent empty docks, we would have done really well’.”
That’s when the lightbulb went off. After extensive research and development and just one year later, dockaboat – launched in February 2024 – was born.
Inspired by Airbnb, dockaboat aims to provide a solution to the lack of docking spaces in the boating industry through an online and mobile platform for dock renting.
“Going on a boat shouldn’t be a hassle or problem,” said Martel. “Our main goal with dockaboat was to provide a convenient way to rent a dock that is possibly right next to your house – we’re looking to facilitate and solve these problems, while helping the boating and homeowner communities.”
The dockaboat app is free and straightforward for both dock owners and boaters to use, without hidden service charges, and offers flexible cancellation policies. Users can download the application on iOS and Google Play stores, and click whether you are a dock owner or boat owner to create a free account. If you are a boat owner, you can browse available docks, whether you are planning an excursion or looking for a more permanent place to dock. Using location services, the application will show you the nearest docks that are available to rent, or boat owners can browse different docks that tick all their boxes.
The application also uses guest screening and ID capture to verify the boat owner’s information. This then comes back to the dock owner as a report, and the dock owner can either accept or deny the boat owner, making the application safe and secure for all parties involved.
Like Airbnb, dock owners can list their available spaces directly on the dockaboat platform, transforming their unused spaces or docks into profitable assets. When listing the dock on the app, it will ask the dock owner for videos and pictures of the dock’s condition. After the dock is published, it can be paused, deleted, or edited. Similar to Airbnb property owners, dock owners can list multiple docks under their profile, and can list their amenities, like access hours or any extra equipment available for use by boat owners. Additionally, dock owners can also set discounts based on the period length of the booking, and users can connect with each other directly using the app’s chat feature.
“We wanted to make dockaboat as flexible as possible for dock owners, and as easy as possible for boaters,” Martel continued.
Currently, dockaboat is helping more than 1,000 boat owners find and rent docks across South Florida. Additionally, they’ve secured partnerships with other platforms, like GetMyBoat, to help fill empty docks listed on their platform.
For the future, the couple is eager to expand their listings of dock owners, and forge new partnerships, not just in South Florida, but across the country and world. They’re ready to make major moves as they continue bootstrapping dockaboat from the ground up.
When asked what advice they have for other entrepreneurs in South Florida, Medina had three important words to share – don’t give up.
“It’s easy to lose yourself in the process, but you have to realize that you’re stronger than you think,” Medina said. “The tools are there – we’re hustlers, and we make it work. There’s always a way.”
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