While i sit within an AirBnb I rented for your month of August (which has a failing AC within the Texas Summer) I figured it could be a good time to execute a mental check of start-up life and the transition so far. Always advantageous when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown all of us significantly the business enterprise side of things is beginning to feel “normal.” If that’s possible. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re from the “storming” phase and today to the “normalization” phase of our first year. Now i use her Westpoint terminology inside my common speech, confusing friends by using these terms as Sitrep, bluf as well as MFIC. I’ll let her enlighten everyone around the definitions. If you ask me, normalizing the group helps us show we’ve momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are aligned and the pace is buying bigtime. Nothing but good things.
In previous posts I’ve commented on product, CRE culture, investment and much more. In this article I must give attention to customers and ways to listen to them.
Once we first launched beta and began collecting feedback, the response was overwhelming from our initial users. “Change this,” “I don’t under this wording here,” “consider adding X,” “is there a guide button to the?” (DOH!). To prospects 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 due to the fact so many people are ready to offer you their assist with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small enterprises make better lease decisions.
Ahead of time, I felt compelled to push almost all our product and assumptions from a pure property perspective. I knew we will enhance the existing tech in the marketplace, and we’re an industrial property product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and that good stuff but our company offers a platform that is CRE based to our users. Our core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped within the property problem-solving mindset. Even as grew together as a team, we became less reliant on these assumptions and much more and much more engaged by the feedback from our users and people within the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not simply a property product, we’re a small business product. How did find that out?
We asked.
Our caboodling team is out daily hand-collecting reviews in Houston and I’m humbled by their efforts. They’re helping us seed the working platform with real, verified feedback from business decision makers. It’s a vital and foundational purpose of ours to get these experiences. However, I’m surprised about the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small enterprises when they hear our mission, try the working platform and determine what we’re all about. It’s not unusual for our caboodlers to invest thirty minutes on a single review (that the collection part takes about A minute FYI) since the small company community is definitely so hungry being heard. It is a group that is putting their livelihoods exactly in danger, every day, to generate their business grow and their personal lives more enriched through their dreams. It’s about damn time someone sat down and followed them.
So that’s what we’ve been doing. Not just coding/testing/building/caboodling and trending hard towards our full release within the subsequent month or so (SUPER excited to show everybody) but just flat out interviewing, listening and learning 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 have to solve down to earth trouble for down to earth people. This full release I believe encompasses that mantra. We’re going to share it soon.
Even as grow all of us you have a job to play here at Tenavox. Mine is heavily steeped in product, 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 best at exposing your identiity under time limits. Our company (especially the founders) do no matter what to move the ball forward. People inquire about how the transition from CRE to Startup in tech is certainly going, as long as they dive right in too with their idea? I smile and get this: Is it possible to handle the stress of the deadline, the subsequent sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and far considerably more. When you decide to take the plunge and make something which matters you feel much more responsible. How? Well ideas are pretty much worth nothing, possibly even I’ve learned 😉 It’s all within the execution and the team…and the culture. A powerful culture may be the foundation to get a strong company.
Turning ideas into reality, together.
For those who have a perception, it’s just yours, you’re only in charge of cultivating the thoughts themselves. When you begin a small business (from a perception) you’re in charge of the investors, (usually your mates and families hard-earned money), you’re in charge of your people, their efforts and their goals, you’re in charge of your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward every day…but most coming from all you’re in charge of yourself. There’s no automatic paycheck or salary to get you up out of bed and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something have passion for. I suppose that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate just how much work it is to take up a business, never underestimate how difficult at times can be, the stress is off of the charts and the stakes couldn’t be higher. However if you have passion for what you’re doing, if you think maybe with your mission plus your culture plus your team? This is the best damn thing you’ll do all of your life.
No one seriously knows where our path may lead. Startups within their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and they are beginning to test them inside a live environment, time, our efforts and the market will dictate a percentage of our success. I understand this, our culture will dictate how you lead and exactly how we work together as people…that is certainly something I’m pleased with.
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I’d never knock people that don’t need to start their unique business, it’s far from simple and easy , oftentimes personal considerations don’t so it can gain. If you do? Talk to your customers, listen and learn. They are going to show you what they want to determine and improve your thinking, in every single facet of your product. We have a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” and we rely on that. I am aware what we’re doing here at Tenavox is regarded as the rewarding professional connection with my well being, and that’s worth every bit of the stress, risk and keenness we’re pouring involved with it every day. It’s funny, when we started out I wasn’t sure the best way to frame this points of the small company owner…Now? Could them because we live them. Along with a wise someone once said, “there’s no replacement for experience.”
There were a great team development last week in Austin too! As a result of #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!
Stay tuned for our full release within 2-3 weeks and appreciate your reading my ramblings of course.
Twenty-four hours a day comment below or require a run at many of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.
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