Bannerman is a YC-backed security startup headquartered in San Francisco. They’re tackling a huge problem: the incumbent private security guard market.

At Tilt, we frequently entrust Bannerman with security for happy hours, overnight office security, and more.

The Bannermen / women that I’ve talked with have backgrounds ranging from ex-bouncers to recent veterans — all have been very sharp and super friendly. The quality of Bannerman guards I’ve interacted with so far is of such high caliber that I’d hire any of our former guards for a full-time office security position without hesitation.

Customer-facing guard service aside, the operations team behind the app is just as phenomenal, and the reason I go out of my way to recommend Bannerman to other startups / individuals who host events.

This foundation of trust is built on top of my first experience with their team:

Earlier this year, we had a forced-entry incident at our office during the early morning hours.

It was 1 am and I was in the East Bay. One of our engineers and our Operations lead were en-route to the office to check in on things, but it was clear we’d need security for the remainder of the night and weekend.

I remembered Bannerman from their demo day press. I went to their site, found a phone number, and left a voicemail.

In the meantime, I was on Yelp and Google looking for other sources of “on-demand security.”

I called the largest security company in the results (Securitas). A friendly customer service rep picked up the phone and listened as I gave all my details about where I needed security tonight.

She then told me that she’d need to have a salesperson call me back and work on the contract. Contract? I just need someone to secure our office for tonight.

Waiting for the call back regarding the contract, I tried a few more.

Company #2: No answer.

Company: #3: No answer.

Company #4: Sent to voicemail.

Then… Company #5: “Hi! This is X at Y security firm…”

Great! Someone that can help me out!

“I am so pumped you picked up! I was wondering what your availability is tonight for some last-minute security.”

“Um… What? Are you one of our guards?”

“No. I’m a potential customer hoping that you could help me with some private security for the night in San Francisco.”

“Oh, yeah, we don’t do anything like that.”

“Ok, no problem - thanks. Do you know of any other companies in SF that might have on-demand security available right now?”

laughs

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“In my 10 years of experience I’ve never heard of any company that can get a contract signed, a guard scheduled, and out to a location in less than a week. I think you’re on your own for this one.”

Literally interrupted by the call back from Bannerman (15 minutes after leaving my original voicemail):

“Sure! We can get someone out there ASAP. It’s going to take about two hours, but we’ll do our best to get someone there earlier.”

Such an amazing experience.

Bannerman: highly recommended.