While i sit within an AirBnb I rented for your month of August (which has a failing AC within the Texas Summer) I thought it might be a good time to do a mental check of start-up life as well as the transition so far. Always good when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown our team significantly the organization aspects starts to feel “normal.” If that’s a possibility. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out of the “storming” phase and today in to the “normalization” phase individuals newbie. I now use her Westpoint terminology inside my common speech, confusing friends by using these terms as Sitrep, bluf as well as MFIC. I’ll permit her to enlighten all of you about the definitions. In my experience, normalizing they is helping us show we’ve got momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are aligned as well as the pace is picking up bigtime. Nothing but good things.
In the past posts I’ve commented on product, CRE culture, investment plus much more. In this article I wish to give attention to customers and the way to pay attention to them.
When we first launched beta and began 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 people 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 due to the fact so many people are willing to present you with their help 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 your pure property perspective. I knew we could enhance the prevailing tech in the marketplace, and we’re a commercial property product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and all a good stuff but you can expect a platform that’s CRE based to our users. Our core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped within the property problem-solving mindset. Even as grew together together, we became much less dependent on these assumptions plus much more plus much more engaged by the feedback from the users and folks within the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not really a property product, we’re a business product. How did we find 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 platform with real, verified feedback from business decision makers. It’s an important and foundational purpose of ours to recover these experiences. However, I’m impressed by the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small enterprises when they hear our mission, test out the platform and know what we’re exactly about. It’s not unusual for caboodlers to shell out a half-hour on a single review (that this collection part takes about 60 seconds FYI) because the business community is simply so hungry being heard. This is the group that’s putting their livelihoods exactly in danger, every day, to produce their business grow as well as 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 within the subsequent few weeks (SUPER excited to exhibit everybody) but simply plain interviewing, listening and gaining knowledge from our core customers. I’ve found out that because your product or service costs nothing doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products must solve real world trouble for real world people. This full release I do think encompasses that mantra. We are going to share it soon.
Even as grow our team all of us have a task to try out right 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 being forced. Our company (and also the founders) do anything to maneuver the ball forward. People ask about the way the transition from CRE to Startup in tech will go, if and when they take the plunge too with their idea? I smile and enquire of this: Are you able to handle the stress of the deadline, the subsequent sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and much a lot more. When you choose to go for it and make something which matters you then become a lot more responsible. How? Well ideas are basically worth nothing, approximately I’ve learned 😉 It’s all within the execution as well as the team…as well as the culture. A strong culture could be the foundation for a strong company.
Turning ideas into reality, together.
If you have a concept, it’s just yours, you’re only to blame for cultivating the ideas themselves. Once you start a business (from a concept) you’re to blame for the investors, (usually your pals and families hard-earned money), you’re to blame for your people, their efforts as well as their goals, you’re to blame for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward every day…but a majority of of you’re to blame for yourself. There isn’t any automatic paycheck or salary to acquire up out of bed and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something you have adoration for. I assume that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate simply how much arrange it would be to start a business, never underestimate how difficult some days may be, the stress is from the charts as well as the stakes couldn’t be higher. However if you simply have adoration for what you’re doing, if you believe in your mission as well as your culture as well as your team? This is the best damn thing you’ll do your whole life.
Nobody seriously knows where our path will lead. Startups of their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and therefore are just starting to test them in a live environment, time, our efforts as well as the market will dictate some individuals success. I know this, our culture will dictate the way you lead and exactly how we work together as people…which is something I’m proud of.
Struck me through to LinkedIn or [email protected]
I might never knock those that don’t need to start their own business, it’s definately not easy and oftentimes personal considerations don’t allow it. Should you choose? Speak with your customers, listen and learn. They’ll inform you what they want to view and improve your thinking, in every area of your product or service. You will find there’s new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” so we trust that. I know what we’re doing right here at Tenavox is easily the most rewarding professional experience of my life, and that’s worth every bit in the stress, risk and passion we’re pouring into it every day. It’s funny, when we started out I wasn’t sure precisely how to frame this points in the small business owner…Now? We know them because we live them. Plus a wise someone once said, “there’s no replacement for experience.”
We had an excellent team building last weekend in Austin too! Due to #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!
Stay tuned in for full release within 2-3 weeks and thanks for reading my ramblings remember.
You can comment below or take a run at some of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.
Have something to state meantime? Struck me through to LinkedIn or [email protected]