A few years ago, Alex Smereczniak was trying to franchise a business and realized that the franchising industry had a problem: the middleman. Many prospective franchisees rely on brokers to find and buy a given brand, but those brokers aren’t always acting in their clients’ best interest. Rather, they are often pushing expensive brands, brands that pay them, or even just those with high closing rates—all while charging an exorbitant fee, sometimes taking 60% of the franchise fee as commission.
Smereczniak and Chris Wright founded Franzy in 2024 in an effort to mitigate these issues and make buying and selling franchises accessible, democratic, and simple. Their platform educates franchisees, helps them discover and match with opportunities, and supports them in formalizing and operationalizing their decisions.
“We realized there was an opportunity to democratize this business buying process and make it much more pro business buyer and business seller, to kind of cut this middleman out a little bit,” Smereczniak said, “So think of Franzy as what Zillow did to the real estate buying process.”
How Franzy works
Franzy functions like a broker for franchise buyers, but in a notably transparent and democratic way. Instead of drawing a large commission from franchise fees, Franzy uses a flat-fee model. The company is paid the same amount by every brand, regardless of whether a client chooses a fast-food chain or a service-based franchise. This removes the incentive to push buyers toward certain concepts and ensures that the platform’s recommendations are based on fit.
In addition, Franzy generates revenue from referrals, such as when clients are connected with lenders. But all of these arrangements are disclosed up front.
On the buyers’ side, the platform is completely free to use. Prospective franchisees provide personal and financial details—net worth, household income, and goals—that help Franzy match them with the right opportunities. From there, the platform guides users through three pillars: education, discovery, and readiness.
First, buyers can learn the basics of franchising through resources such as blogs, podcasts, and case studies, as well as gain advice from Franzy team members who have franchise experience.
Next, Franzy’s AI-driven recommendation engine and advisors help narrow down thousands of options (Franzy currently has upwards of 4,000 brands to choose from) to a curated list of the best-fit franchises. The engine takes into account a multitude of factors, including availability, pricing, and even emotional considerations, like generational involvement or ethics.
“We’re taking all of this different data and using that to whittle down a relatively complicated thing and make it simple,” Smereczniak said. “That’s what I think I’m most proud of, is the data set, plus that AI recommendation engine that we built on top of it.”
After discovery, Franzy provides a shortlist for buyers to shop around with, and ultimately connects prospective buyers to the companies they want to have conversations with. Finally, once buyers engage with brands, Franzy supports them on the operational side of becoming a franchisee, which entails everything from entity formation, to financing, to legal review.
Franzy so far
One of the startup’s favorite success stories to date involves a man from Boston who was tired of his nine-to-five and ready for a change. Through the platform, he discovered Waterloo Turf, a franchise specializing in artificial turf installation and maintenance. The man realized the business would likely be more successful in the South than in snowy New England, and so made the bold decision to relocate his family to Waco, Texas.
The man went all in, quitting his job before even signing the agreement and beginning to line up clients. Before the move was complete, he had already secured major contracts (including one with a Dallas Cowboys player).
“To see how happy and confident he was to make that decision as a result of our support and the tools we created was awesome,” Smereczniak said. “Knowing that we empowered him to do that was a big reminder as to why we’re working as hard as we are on the platform to to make [these kinds of things] a reality.”
Franzy launched in early February and is gathering 30,000 unique visitors to their site each month. They have done around 50 total transactions on the platform, with a goal to clear 100 transactions in calendar year 2026.
QUICK BITS
Startup: Franzy
Co-Founders: Alex Smereczniak, Chris Wright
Founded: 2024
Team size: 12
Location: Charlotte
Website: franzy.com
Funding: Seed
This fall, Franzy was named one of GrepBeat’s “Startups to Watch” honorees for 2025, becoming one of the first companies from the Charlotte area to receive the honor.
Moving forward, Franzy aims to become the premier platform for both franchising and small business sales. The vision is to expand beyond franchises so that any type of business, from local shops to professional firms, can change hands on the platform.
“I would just encourage people if you’ve ever wanted to own a business, check out Franzy.com or if you’re a brand looking to sell your business you also reach out [to us] as well” Smereczniak said.
