As I sit throughout an AirBnb I rented for your month of August (using a failing AC in the Texas Summer) I thought it may be a great time to do a mental check of start-up life and the transition so far. Always beneficial when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown our team significantly the business aspect starts to feel “normal.” If that’s a chance. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out of your “storming” phase and today in to the “normalization” phase in our first year. Now i use her Westpoint terminology inside my common speech, confusing friends with your terms as Sitrep, bluf as well as MFIC. I’ll allow her to enlighten you all around the definitions. In my experience, normalizing they is assisting us show we now have momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are common aligned and the pace is picking up bigtime. Perfect things.
In past posts I’ve commented on product development, CRE culture, investment plus more. In this article I want to concentrate on customers and the way to tune in to them.
Once we first launched beta and started collecting feedback, the response was overwhelming from the initial users. “Change this,” “I don’t under this wording here,” “consider adding X,” “is there a atlas button for your?” (DOH!). To the people with tech startup experience I’m sure that’s not new. I first, having only a humble CRE broker’s background, was quite surprised/impressed because when most people are willing to offer you their assist with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help smaller businesses make smarter lease decisions.
Early on, I felt compelled to push nearly all our product development and assumptions coming from a pure real estate property perspective. I knew we might make improvements to the present tech in the industry, and we’re an advert real estate property product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and all sorts of that good stuff but you can expect a platform that is certainly CRE based to users. All of our core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped in the real estate property problem-solving mindset. Even as we grew together as a team, we became less and less just a few these assumptions plus more plus more engaged through the feedback from the users and others in the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not only a real estate property product, we’re a business product. How did find that out?
We asked.
Our caboodling team is going daily hand-collecting reviews in Houston and I’m humbled by their efforts. They’re helping us seed system with real, verified feedback from business decision makers. It’s a critical and foundational objective of ours to collect these experiences. However, I’m surprised about the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, smaller businesses after they hear our mission, try out system and determine what we’re all about. It’s not uncommon for the caboodlers to invest 30 mins on one review (which the collection part takes about 60 seconds FYI) as the small business community is definitely so hungry to become heard. This is a group who is putting their livelihoods exactly in danger, every day, to generate their business grow along with their personal lives more enriched through their dreams. It’s about damn time someone sat down and heard them.
So that’s what we’ve been doing. Not merely coding/testing/building/caboodling and trending hard towards our full release throughout the next month or so (SUPER excited to indicate everybody) but flat out interviewing, listening and gaining knowledge from our core customers. I’ve found out that because your product or service is provided for free doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products need to solve down to earth damage to down to earth people. This full release I do think encompasses that mantra. We’re going to share it soon.
Even as we grow our team you have a part to try out only at Tenavox. Mine is heavily steeped in product, real estate property and methodology. That doesn’t mean we don’t wear fifty other hats too, from fundraising (which never stops haha) to data science, startups are best at exposing what you are pressurized. Our team (and particularly the founders) do whatever needs doing to go the ball forward. People inquire about what sort of transition from CRE to Startup in tech goes, whenever they take the plunge too making use of their idea? I smile and ask this: Is it possible to handle the worries of this deadline, the next sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and much a lot more. When you choose to take the plunge and make a thing that matters you feel a lot more responsible. How? Well ideas are just about worth nothing, or so I’ve learned 😉 It’s all in the execution and the team…and the culture. A solid culture is the foundation for a strong company.
Turning ideas into reality, together.
For those who have a concept, it’s just yours, you’re only accountable for cultivating the thoughts themselves. When you begin a business (from a concept) you’re accountable for the investors, (usually your friends and families hard-earned money), you’re accountable for your people, their efforts along with their goals, you’re accountable for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward every day…but a majority of of most you’re accountable for yourself. There’s no automatic paycheck or salary to acquire off the bed and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something have love for. I suppose that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate how much push the button is usually to start up a business, never underestimate how difficult some days can be, the worries is off of the charts and the stakes couldn’t be higher. However if you have love for what you’re doing, if you think maybe in your mission as well as your culture as well as your team? Here is the best damn thing you’ll do the whole life.
No one seriously knows where our path will lead. Startups inside their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and are just starting to test them in the live environment, time, our efforts and the market will dictate some in our success. I do know this, the west will dictate the way we lead and the way we interact as people…and that is something I’m happy with.
Struck me high on LinkedIn or [email protected]
I’d never knock people who don’t want to start their unique business, it’s faraway from simple and easy , oftentimes personal considerations don’t take. If you do? Confer with your customers, listen and learn. They will tell you what they really want to find out and improve your thinking, in most part of your product or service. You will find a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” so we have confidence in that. I am aware what we’re doing only at Tenavox is easily the most rewarding professional example of my life, and that’s worth equally from the stress, risk and passion we’re pouring involved with it every day. It’s funny, when we started out I wasn’t sure exactly how to frame the pain sensation points from the private business owner…Now? We know them because we live them. Plus a wise someone once said, “there’s no replacement experience.”
There were a fantastic team building events last week in Austin too! Thanks to #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!
Stay tuned for the full release throughout a couple weeks and thanks for reading my ramblings keep in mind.
You can comment below or please take a run at some of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.
Have something to express meantime? Struck me high on LinkedIn or [email protected]
