Two Friends.
One Mission.
From a shared preschool classroom in Harborcreek, Pennsylvania to a hobby project that turned into something much bigger — this is the story of ScreenForge Labs.
Matt Angerer
General Manager
Matt built the first version of VerticalRent as a hobby project to help his dad collect rent. What started as a family favor turned into a career building software for real communities. His faith, friendships, and instinct for solving everyday problems have shaped every product since. He lives in Southwest Florida with his family.
Jeff Pierce
Technology Manager
A developer with an instinct for simplifying complex systems. Jeff has been Matt's partner in every venture since day one — transforming napkin-sketch ideas into scalable, production-grade platforms. He's also a Southwest Florida resident, IT professional, and father of two.
Where it all started — Matt and Jeff's preschool class, Harborcreek, Pennsylvania.
Matt and Jeff have known each other since preschool. Their partnership spans decades — through childhood, careers, and now a growing portfolio of products built to serve the communities they care about most.
Timeline
How We Got Here
A Simple Hobby Project
It started as a favor. Matt's dad needed a better way to collect rent from his tenants, so Matt and his lifelong friend Jeff Pierce threw together a small web app called "RentCloud" to help him out. It was never meant to be a business — just a weekend project to solve a real problem for family.
A Hobby Becomes Something Bigger
Word got around. Other landlords wanted in. What started as a simple rent-collection tool grew into a full property management platform — tenant screening, digital leases, maintenance tracking, and more. After a couple of rebrands (RentCloud to VerticalCloud to VerticalRent), the platform reached over 100,000 users by 2018. A hobby project had turned into something neither Matt nor Jeff ever expected.
The Sale — and the Shutdown
In 2019, Matt and Jeff sold VerticalRent. Within a year, the new owners shut the entire platform down — leaving nearly 100,000 landlords and tenants stranded overnight. It was devastating. The community they'd spent years building was gone.
A Calling During Crisis
When COVID-19 shut the world down, Matt felt a pull toward something deeply personal. He'd always relied on writing, prayer, and journaling to find clarity in difficult seasons. Watching millions struggle with isolation and anxiety, he believed a digital space for guided reflection could help people heal. He and Jeff launched JournalOwl — a guided journaling platform built on classic literature, therapeutic prompts, and exercises for anxiety and trauma.
An Unexpected Discovery
By late 2023, something surprising had happened: over 80% of JournalOwl's new users were Christians using the platform specifically for Bible journaling. The data was unmistakable. Matt and Jeff paused operations and reimagined the entire product with a faith-centered focus — purpose-built for Bible study, scripture reflection, and church community.
HolyJot Launches
In August 2025, HolyJot officially launched — featuring study guides for all 66 books of the Bible, group collaboration tools, volunteer screening for churches, and an AI companion called "Faith" that provides scripture context, daily verses, and personalized study prompts. HolyJot was built on the conviction that depth matters more than virality — stillness and truth over noise.
VerticalRent Returns
Advances in AI made it possible to rebuild what previously required large engineering teams. Matt and Jeff repurchased the VerticalRent domain, rebuilt the platform from scratch as an AI-native product, and relaunched VerticalRent 2.0 — bringing modern tenant screening, digital leases, and rent collection back to the landlords who needed it most.
HomeProBadge Is Born
Both Matt and Jeff had relied on home service pros for odds and ends around their houses for years. But Matt had a string of bad experiences with contractors found on Craigslist and even Thumbtack — unreliable work, no accountability, and zero transparency. He wanted to flip the model: give homeowners a way to find trustworthy, identity-verified professionals, and give honest pros a way to prove they're the real deal. HomeProBadge launched with background-verified badges, AI-powered proof-of-work reports, and a built-in review system.
VolunteerBadge Completes the Portfolio
Matt had watched several close friends launch nonprofit organizations and struggle with the operational complexity — managing volunteers, running background checks, maintaining compliance, handling social media, and keeping the books straight. He realized a single platform could solve all of it. VolunteerBadge was built as a dual-sided marketplace where volunteers earn verified badges and nonprofits get a full operating system — volunteer screening, scheduling, CRM, impact reporting, and compliance tools — all in one place.
ScreenForge Labs
Four products. One mission. ScreenForge Labs exists to build modern, purpose-built software for the people who protect communities — landlords safeguarding their investments, churches nurturing their congregations, home service pros building trust, and nonprofits serving those in need. Every product shares a common thread: helping people make confident decisions that protect what matters most.
Today
The ScreenForge Labs Portfolio
Four products, each purpose-built for its community.
Ready to See What We've Built?
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