When i sit throughout an AirBnb I rented for that month of August (using a failing AC in the Texas Summer) I figured it could be fun to execute a mental check of start-up life as well as the transition thus far. Always good when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown our team significantly the business side is beginning to feel “normal.” If that’s a possibility. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out of your “storming” phase now to the “normalization” phase of our own first year. I now use her Westpoint terminology inside my common speech, confusing friends with such terms as Sitrep, bluf not to mention MFIC. I’ll allow her to enlighten all of you around the definitions. In my opinion, normalizing the c’s is helping us show we’ve momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are aligned as well as the pace is collecting bigtime. Great things.
In previous posts I’ve commented on product, CRE culture, investment plus more. In this post I wish to target customers and the way to pay attention to them.
If we first launched beta and commenced 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 atlas button with the?” (DOH!). To people with tech startup experience I’m sure that’s not new. I first, having just a humble CRE broker’s background, was quite surprised/impressed because when many people are ready to provide you with their assist with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small business owners make better lease decisions.
Early on, I felt compelled to push most our product and assumptions from your pure real estate property perspective. I knew we will make improvements to the current tech in the market, and we’re an industrial real estate property product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and that good stuff but you can expect a platform that is CRE based to the users. Our core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped in the real estate property problem-solving mindset. Once we grew together together, we became much less dependent on these assumptions plus more plus more engaged from the feedback from our users and people in the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not only a real estate property product, we’re a small business product. How did look for that out?
We asked.
Our caboodling team is otherwise engaged daily hand-collecting reviews in Houston and I’m humbled by their efforts. They’re helping us seed the woking platform with real, verified feedback from business decision makers. It’s an important and foundational purpose of ours to get these experiences. However, I’m pleasantly surprised about the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small business owners once they hear our mission, try the woking platform and determine what we’re exactly about. It’s not uncommon for caboodlers to spend 30 mins using one review (which the collection part takes about One minute FYI) as the business community is definitely so hungry to be heard. This is a group that’s putting their livelihoods on the line, every day, to produce their business grow along with 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 throughout the next couple of weeks (SUPER excited to demonstrate everybody) but merely flat out interviewing, listening and studying under our core customers. I’ve discovered that because your product is provided for free doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products need to solve real-world trouble for real-world people. This full release I think encompasses that mantra. We are going to share it soon.
Once we grow our team everyone has a task to experience 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 under time limits. All of us (and also the founders) do no matter what to maneuver the ball forward. People enquire about how a transition from CRE to Startup in tech will go, if and when they dive right in too with their idea? I smile and ask this: Could you handle the strain on this deadline, the next sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and far much more. When you elect go for it . and produce something which matters you in turn become a great deal more responsible. How? Well ideas are pretty much worth nothing, approximately I’ve learned 😉 It’s all in the execution as well as the team…as well as the culture. A robust culture could be the foundation for any strong company.
Turning ideas into reality, together.
For those who have a concept, it’s just yours, you’re only accountable for cultivating the ideas themselves. When you start a small business (from a concept) you’re accountable for the investors, (usually friends and family 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 coming from all you’re accountable for yourself. There is absolutely no automatic paycheck or salary to obtain up and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something you have passion for. I assume that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate just how much work it would be to begin a business, never underestimate how difficult some days might be, the strain is off of the charts as well as the stakes couldn’t be higher. Though if you have passion for what you’re doing, if you think maybe inside your mission as well as your culture as well as your team? This can be the best damn thing you’ll do your entire life.
No person seriously knows where our path may lead. Startups of their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and therefore are beginning to test them out . in a live environment, time, our efforts as well as the market will dictate a portion of our own success. I know this, the west will dictate the way we lead and how we work together as people…that is certainly something I’m satisfied with.
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I’d personally never knock those that don’t wish to start their particular business, it’s faraway from easy and oftentimes personal considerations don’t take. If you do? Confer with your customers, listen and discover. They will show you what they need to determine and improve your thinking, in most facet of your product. You will find a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” so we have confidence in that. I understand what we’re doing here at Tenavox is among the most rewarding professional connection with my life, and that’s worth just in the stress, risk and passion we’re pouring in it every day. It’s funny, when we commenced I wasn’t sure just how to frame the pain sensation points in the private business owner…Now? Could them because we live them. As well as a wise someone once said, “there’s no replacement for experience.”
We had an incredible team development last weekend in Austin too! Due to #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!
Keep tuned in for full release throughout 2-3 weeks and thank you for reading my ramblings remember.
Feel free to comment below or please take a run at many of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.
Have something to say meantime? Struck me up on LinkedIn or [email protected]