Because i sit here in an AirBnb I rented to the month of August (which has a failing AC inside the Texas Summer) I figured it will be a great time to do a mental check of start-up life and also the transition thus far. Always good when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown our company significantly the business enterprise side of things is starting to feel “normal.” If that’s possible. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out of the “storming” phase and today into the “normalization” phase individuals 1st year. I now use her Westpoint terminology during my common speech, confusing friends with such terms as Sitrep, bluf as well as MFIC. I’ll permit her to enlighten everybody around the definitions. If you ask me, normalizing the c’s is helping us show we’ve got momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are aligned and also the pace is obtaining bigtime. All good things.
In previous posts I’ve commented on developing the site, CRE culture, investment and more. In this article I wish to target customers and the ways to pay attention to them.
If we first launched beta and began collecting feedback, the response was overwhelming from my initial users. “Change this,” “I don’t under this wording here,” “consider adding X,” “is there a map button for that?” (DOH!). To those with tech startup experience I’m sure that’s nothing new. I for one, having only a humble CRE broker’s background, was quite surprised/impressed by how so many people are willing to provide you with their benefit this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small business owners make smarter lease decisions.
Early on, I felt compelled to push the vast majority of our developing the site and assumptions from your pure real estate property perspective. I knew we will improve on the present tech in the market, and we’re a commercial real estate property product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and so good stuff but we provide a platform that’s CRE based to your users. Each of our core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped inside the real estate property problem-solving mindset. Even as we grew together as a team, we became less and less reliant on these assumptions and more and more engaged by the feedback from my users and people inside the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not really a real estate property product, we’re a business product. How did look for 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 goal of ours to collect these experiences. However, I’m amazed at the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small business owners whenever they hear our mission, test out system and know what we’re about. It’s not unusual for the caboodlers to invest thirty minutes on a single review (that this collection part takes about 60 seconds FYI) since the small business community is just so hungry being heard. This is the group that’s putting their livelihoods on the line, each day, to create their business grow and their personal lives more enriched through their dreams. It’s about damn time someone sat down and listened to them.
So that’s what we’ve been doing. Not simply coding/testing/building/caboodling and trending hard towards our full release here in another few weeks (SUPER excited to exhibit everybody) but all out interviewing, listening and gaining knowledge from our core customers. I’ve learned that even though your product is free doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products ought to solve real world problems for real world people. This full release I believe encompasses that mantra. We’re going to share it soon.
Even as we grow our company everyone has a job to try out right here 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 would be better at exposing who you are being forced. Our team (especially the founders) do whatever it takes to advance the ball forward. People enquire about what sort of transition from CRE to Startup in tech will go, if and when they make the leap too using idea? I smile and enquire of this: Are you able to handle the load of the deadline, another sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and much a lot more. When you choose go for it . and make something matters you in turn become far more responsible. How? Well ideas are pretty much worth nothing, possibly even I’ve learned 😉 It’s all inside the execution and also the team…and also the culture. A powerful culture will be the foundation for a strong company.
Turning ideas into reality, together.
For those who have an idea, it’s just yours, you’re only to blame for cultivating the thoughts themselves. When you start a business (from an idea) you’re to blame for the investors, (usually your mates and families hard-earned money), you’re to blame for your people, their efforts and their goals, you’re to blame for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward each day…most of all you’re to blame for yourself. There’s no automatic paycheck or salary to acquire up out of bed and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something have passion for. I guess that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate just how much arrange it is to begin a business, never underestimate how difficult at times could be, the load is from the charts and also the stakes couldn’t be higher. However if you simply have passion for what you’re doing, if you think in your mission plus your culture plus your team? Here is the best damn thing you’ll do your whole life.
No one seriously knows where our path may lead. Startups within their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and are beginning to test them in the live environment, time, our efforts and also the market will dictate a portion individuals success. I understand this, the west will dictate the way you lead and the way we communicate as people…and that is something I’m proud of.
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I would never knock people that don’t wish to start their particular business, it’s far from simple and oftentimes personal considerations don’t so it can have. Should you choose? Confer with your customers, listen and discover. They’ll show you what they need to determine and enhance your thinking, in every single facet of your product. There exists a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” so we rely on that. I am aware what we’re doing right here at Tenavox is easily the most rewarding professional experience of playing, and that’s worth equally from the stress, risk and keenness we’re pouring into it each day. It’s funny, when we began I wasn’t sure the best way to frame this points from the small company owner…Now? Problems in later life them because we live them. Along with a wise someone once said, “there’s no alternative to experience.”
We’d an excellent team development last week in Austin too! Due to #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!
Stay tuned for the full release here in 2-3 weeks and thank you for reading my ramblings keep in mind.
You can comment below or take a run at a few of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.
Have something to state meantime? Hit me high on LinkedIn or [email protected]