Startup life…Asking the best questions

When i sit throughout an AirBnb I rented for the month of August (with a failing AC in the Texas Summer) I thought it might be a great time to do a mental check of start-up life and also the transition thus far. Advantageous when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown we significantly the organization aspect is starting to feel “normal.” If that’s a possibility. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re from the “storming” phase and today in the “normalization” phase in our 1st year. Now i use her Westpoint terminology inside my common speech, confusing friends by using these terms as Sitrep, bluf and naturally MFIC. I’ll allow her to enlighten everyone on the definitions. In my experience, normalizing they is helping us show we have momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are aligned and also the pace is obtaining bigtime. Perfect things.

In previous posts I’ve commented on developing the site, CRE culture, investment and much more. In this article I would like to target customers and the way to pay attention to them.

If we first launched beta and started 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 those with tech startup experience I’m sure that’s nothing new. I for just one, having only a humble CRE broker’s background, was quite surprised/impressed because when everybody is willing to provide you with their assist with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small businesses make smarter lease decisions.

In early stages, I felt compelled to push most our developing the site and assumptions coming from a pure real estate property perspective. I knew we will make improvements to the existing tech in the market, and we’re an advertisement real estate property product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and all sorts of that great stuff but you can expect a platform that is CRE based to your users. Each 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 much less just a few these assumptions and much more and much more engaged with the feedback from our users and people in the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not simply a real estate property product, we’re a company product. How did we discover that out?

We asked.

Our caboodling team has gone out 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 vital and foundational purpose of ours to get these experiences. However, I’m impressed by the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small businesses after they hear our mission, try system and determine what we’re exactly about. It’s normal for the caboodlers to shell out half an hour on a single review (which the collection part takes about One minute FYI) as the small business community is merely so hungry to be heard. It is a group who is putting their livelihoods at risk, each 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 followed them.

So that’s what we’ve been doing. Not merely coding/testing/building/caboodling and trending hard towards our full release throughout the following couple weeks (SUPER excited to demonstrate everybody) but just plain interviewing, listening and gaining knowledge through our core customers. I’ve learned that simply because your products is provided for free doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products have to solve real-world problems for real-world people. This full release I do think encompasses that mantra. We’ll share it soon.

Even as we grow we all of us have a job to learn 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 would be better at exposing your identiity being forced. All of us (especially the founders) do anything to move the ball forward. People enquire about how a transition from CRE to Startup in tech is going, should they dive right in too making use of their idea? I smile and enquire of this: Can you handle the strain of the deadline, the following sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and much a lot more. When you will decide go for it . and make something matters you then become a great deal more responsible. How? Well ideas are pretty much worth nothing, possibly even I’ve learned 😉 It’s all in the execution and also the team…and also the culture. A strong culture could be the foundation for the strong company.

Turning ideas into reality, together.

When you’ve got an idea, it’s just yours, you’re only responsible for cultivating the thoughts themselves. Once you start a company (from an idea) you’re responsible for the investors, (usually your friends and families hard-earned money), you’re responsible for your people, their efforts along with their goals, you’re responsible for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward each day…but a majority of coming from all you’re responsible for yourself. There is no automatic paycheck or salary to help you get off the bed and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something you have desire for. I guess that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate how much work it is always to start up a business, never underestimate how difficult at times may be, the strain is off the charts and also the stakes couldn’t be higher. However if you simply have desire for what you’re doing, if you believe inside your mission plus your culture plus your team? Here is the best damn thing you’ll do the 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 they are just beginning to test them out . within a live environment, time, our efforts and also the market will dictate a percentage in our success. I recognize this, the west will dictate the way we lead and exactly how we communicate as people…which is something I’m happy with.
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I’d personally never knock those that don’t desire to start their unique business, it’s definately not basic and oftentimes personal considerations don’t take. If you do? Confer with your customers, listen and learn. They will show you what they need to determine and enhance your thinking, in each and every facet of your products. You will find there’s new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” so we have confidence in that. I know what we’re doing only at Tenavox is regarded as the rewarding professional connection with my life, and that’s worth just from the stress, risk and keenness we’re pouring with it each day. It’s funny, if we started off I wasn’t sure just how to frame the pain points from the small business operator…Now? Problems in later life them because we live them. And a wise someone once said, “there’s no alternative to experience.”

There was an incredible team building events a week ago in Austin too! Due to #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!

Stay tuned for the full release throughout 2-3 weeks and appreciate your reading my ramblings keep in mind.

Twenty-four hours a day comment below or require a run at a number of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.

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