i wouldn't call RentHop a 'web startup' ... they're a business that operates very much in the real world ... the web is simply their interface for doing meatspace business. i usually think of web startups as existing purely in cyberspace (wow that's a 90's term heh), where end-users are less likely to want to pay for services. in the real world of apartment hunters, brokers, landlords, etc., people are used to paying money immediately for goods & services.