For many homeowners, routine maintenance questions, like how often you need to change your furnace filter, are perplexing at best—often infuriating. It doesn’t have to be that way, says Allen Shulman, a veteran homebuilder and the co-founder of Brightnest, a new Denver-based tech startup that aims to simplify homeownership. “To change a furnace filter is a no-brainer,” Shulman says. “Many people just don’t do anything and then their furnace seizes up.” For 25 years, Shulman would regularly get calls from friends and acquaintances with routine, no-professional-needed questions—which is why he partnered with Denverite Justin Anthony to launch the user-friendly Brightnest website. Content includes engaging fix-it videos, quizzes, and tips for things like leaky windows, faulty refrigerators, and, yes, dirty furnace filters. (Some furnaces require new filters every month or two; others need a change twice a year.) “We’re trying,” Anthony says, “to make home maintenance sexy.” brightnest.com