The graffiti on the Capital Crescent Trail. (Photo by Nathan Caldwell)

Virginia-based startup Yobbz wants to link up people looking for work with those seeking help—and it may have to start by finding itself a media relations person.

The domain name for the company has been spray painted on the Capital Crescent Trail, as noted in a Reddit post. Within hours of it going up, negative reviews related to the graffiti already started popping up on the app store.

“I’m actually speechless about it,” says Amar Eshan, the founder of Yobbz. “I’m trying to figure everything out. We didn’t prepare for this scenario.”

Yobbz is an iPhone app that allows “gig-requesters to connect with gig-performers.” He describes it as “an Uber for yardwork, moving help, and manual labor type of gigs.”

Eshan says that none of the company’s 10 employees are responsible, but he has “a hunch” that it was a family member or friend who is “excited about what we’re doing. But they went too far. They were trying to help us out, but we don’t want that. It’s very embarrassing for our team.”

Nathan Caldwell, who lives in Bethesda, uses the Capital Crescent Trail five to six times a week. He posted a photo of the neon logo on Reddit after coming across it while out for a run, about a tenth of a mile north of the Washington Aqueduct.

“It was spray painted six times on one side of the trail, and six times on the other,” Caldwell says. “It’s really disgraceful to see people disrespecting public property like that.” He emailed the National Park Service in addition to posting on Reddit.

In the thirty-odd responses, one commenter linked to a Facebook post from Eshan asking for feedback about the new app that includes his personal cell-phone number. Eshan says he’s received threats due to the graffiti.

Caldwell says that he was expecting a negative reaction when he wrote the post, but not this level of backlash.

Ron Tripp, the chair of the Coalition For The Capital Crescent Trail, says that he became aware of the graffiti this morning, and will be discussing it at tonight’s board meeting.

Eshan says he plan to go over to the trail to see the full extent of the damage and if there’s anything he can do to cover it up.