Meet Nick Farquhar: A Judge at Missouri Startup Weekend 2025

Meet Nick Farquhar: A Judge at Missouri Startup Weekend 2025

Missouri Startup Weekend is about bold ideas, fast execution, and founders who take action. Nick Farquhar, co-founder and CEO of Appreciate, knows this firsthand. In 2022, he made a last-minute decision to pitch—and that spontaneous leap turned into a fast-growing, profitable company. Now, he’s back as a Friday night judge, ready to challenge the next wave of founders to do the same.

Appreciate is transforming multifamily asset management, turning fragmented operations into a scalable, data-driven system. As a tech-enabled property management company, they’ve built a vertically integrated platform that operations teams now rely on daily—Appreciate’s true definition of an MVP. Based in Columbia, Missouri, the company has reached $56K MRR, generated over $4 million in capital gains, and added $500K to its balance sheet in 2024—all with a lean team. With backing from Redbud VC and Dundee VC, Appreciate has raised over $1.1 million but remains profitable and self-sustaining. As they scale, Nick and his team are positioning Appreciate as the “command center of the portfolio,” setting a new industry standard for sub-institutional multifamily properties.

Nick’s Startup Weekend journey started on a whim.

“I had a few different puzzle pieces that had been jostling around in my head and as the last call countdown was happening I was struck with a synthesis of the ideas. Very much a spur-of-the-moment decision.”

That pitch, which aimed to help landlords find and retain top-tier tenants, won the competition and laid the foundation for Appreciate, now a vertically integrated asset management company. But Nick wasn’t alone in bringing the idea to life. His MOSW team—a small business owner, a property manager, a seed-stage startup CEO, and himself—played a crucial role in those early days. Among them was Brad Siegler, co-founder of EquipmentShare and their MOSW mentor, who later became a co-founder and president of Appreciate. “Brad Siegler was also irreplaceable as a mentor and became a very important non-SW team member,” Nick says. “We wouldn’t be Appreciate without his equal input and vision over the last few years.”

Before Appreciate, Nick’s entrepreneurial journey was already in motion. A two-time college dropout, he built multiple businesses before launching his startup. His first venture, Mister Green Power Clean, a home exterior cleaning business, quickly scaled to six figures in revenue within two years. At the same time, he was growing his real estate portfolio—a venture that ultimately sparked the idea for Appreciate.

Nick’s approach to startups is blunt and practical. He steers clear of flashy entrepreneur culture and believes that execution matters more than hype. “Most of the best businesses are very boring,” he says. “Add value first—money is the byproduct, not the goal.”

Nick has experienced the highs and lows of startup life and knows what it takes to survive beyond the weekend. As a judge, he’ll be looking for:

Founder Qualities

• Deep subject matter expertise—firsthand experience with the problem
• Grit and confidence—with just the right amount of arrogance
• A track record of calculated risks—proving they can bet on themselves
• Magnetic leadership—someone talented people want to work with

Idea Qualities

• Massive market opportunity—room for big impact
• Problem-first thinking—a clear pain point before the solution
• Defensible model—with active competition (money is already moving toward solving this problem)

At its core, Startup Weekend isn’t just about launching a company—it’s about pushing yourself beyond what you thought you were capable of. Nick knows this firsthand. “I was under the impression that I was embarking on a business journey,” he reflects. “The reality was that this would become the largest catalyst for personal and spiritual growth of my life.” Founding Appreciate forced him to confront his own limitations, break past his ego, and develop into the kind of leader who could take a company from an idea to an industry disruptor.

For Nick, returning to Startup Weekend as a judge feels like coming home. “The atmosphere and the people—it’s absolutely electric,” he says. “I’m excited to hopefully have some value to give back to the ecosystem after failing upwards for three years.”

And if you’re on the fence about pitching this year? Nick won’t sugarcoat it: startup life isn’t for everyone. “Don’t seriously participate if you aren’t willing to sacrifice everything in your life for the next five years,” he warns. “But if that excites you—if you’re ready to take a massive risk, have hard conversations, and make yourself smaller than what you’re building—then step up to the mic.”

This year, as a judge, Nick will be looking for founders who are ready to bet on themselves—just like he did. If you have an idea, step up, pitch it, and see where the weekend takes you.

Register for MOSW | FAQs

Q&A With Nick Farquhar

What’s something you wish you knew before participating in Startup Weekend?

1. I had personality blind spots that held us back from our destiny, and it has only been through awareness therein that we have de-bottlenecked our growth.  My ego has been inflated and deflated more times than I can count, and the only way to continue to build this company is to continue to improve myself. The highs are never as high as they feel and the lows are never as low as they appear.  Get comfortable with learning from mistakes.
2. This would become the greatest adventure of my life bar none and we are just getting started.

You’ve accomplished so much professionally - what are you most proud of personally?

I have gone from 0-1100 elo on chess.com in the last year!  Aiming for 1500 in 2025

What’s a hobby or habit that keeps you grounded outside of work?

I camp regularly, being around nature is the best medicine.

Is there a particular book, movie, or song that has been a source of inspiration for you?

Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is the most impactful book I have ever read, it is a great novel about the tragedy of self-betrayal and the destruction of one’s conscience.

What’s your favorite spot in Columbia, and why does it stand out to you?

I’ve spent hours and hours at a cliff over Devil’s Icebox reading or working on Appreciate, it’s a great place to think.

Favorite ice cream flavor?

Strawberry for sure.

If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be?

I would love to know how to play the saxophone, I am a huge fan of jazz.

What’s your go-to productivity hack?

I work in short highly productive sprints usually separated by a chess game or two.  I make a deal with myself where I work as hard and fast as I can for a pre-determined but short amount of time then let my mind wander while I recharge.  I tend to get much more done this way and have very creative output while “on”.