When i sit in an AirBnb I rented for the month of August (which has a failing AC within the Texas Summer) I was thinking it might be fun to do a mental check of start-up life and the transition up to now. Always advantageous when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown all of us significantly the company side of things starts to feel “normal.” If that’s possible. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out of your “storming” phase and after this to the “normalization” phase individuals 1st year. Now i use her Westpoint terminology within my common speech, confusing friends with your terms as Sitrep, bluf and naturally MFIC. I’ll let her enlighten all of you on the definitions. In my opinion, normalizing the team helps us show we have momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are common aligned and the pace is picking up bigtime. Great things.
In previous posts I’ve commented on product development, CRE culture, investment plus more. On this page I wish to give attention to customers and the way to pay attention to them.
If we first launched beta and started 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 roadmap button for that?” (DOH!). To those with tech startup experience I’m sure that’s nothing new. I for just one, having just a humble CRE broker’s background, was quite surprised/impressed since most people are happy to present you with their assistance with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help smaller businesses make smarter lease decisions.
In the beginning, I felt compelled to push nearly all our product development and assumptions from your pure real estate perspective. I knew we’re able to make improvements to the current tech in the market, and we’re an advertisement real estate product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and so good stuff but our company offers a platform that is CRE based to our users. Each of our core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped within the real estate problem-solving mindset. Even as we grew together as a team, we became less just a few these assumptions plus more plus more engaged with the feedback from my users and other people within the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not just a real estate product, we’re an enterprise product. How did find 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 the platform with real, verified feedback from business decision makers. It’s an important and foundational goal of ours to collect these experiences. However, I’m impressed by the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, smaller businesses when they hear our mission, try out the platform and determine what we’re information on. It’s normal for your caboodlers to spend half an hour on one review (which the collection part takes about 60 seconds FYI) because the business community is just so hungry being heard. This can be a group who is putting their livelihoods on the line, every single day, to make their business grow in addition to 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 only coding/testing/building/caboodling and trending hard towards our full release in the following few weeks (SUPER excited to demonstrate everybody) but all out interviewing, listening and gaining knowledge from our core customers. I’ve learned that even though your product or service is free of charge doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products have to solve down to earth damage to down to earth people. This full release I believe encompasses that mantra. We will share it soon.
Even as we grow all of us we all have a part to learn right here at Tenavox. Mine is heavily steeped in product, real estate 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 what you are under time limits. All of us (and particularly the founders) do anything to move the ball forward. People ask about how the transition from CRE to Startup in tech will go, if and when they dive right in too using idea? I smile and ask this: Are you able to handle the stress with this deadline, the following sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and much far more. When you choose go for it . and produce something which matters you then become a lot more responsible. How? Well ideas are just about worth nothing, or so I’ve learned 😉 It’s all within the execution and the team…and the culture. A solid culture is the foundation for the strong company.
Turning ideas into reality, together.
For those who have a concept, it’s just yours, you’re only responsible for cultivating the minds themselves. Once you start an enterprise (from a concept) you’re responsible for the investors, (usually your mates and families hard-earned money), you’re responsible for your people, their efforts in addition to their goals, you’re responsible for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward every single day…most of most you’re responsible for yourself. There is no automatic paycheck or salary to help you get to get up and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something you have passion for. I reckon that that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate the amount arrange it is to take up a business, never underestimate how difficult at times can be, the stress is from the charts and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Though if you have passion for what you’re doing, if you think maybe within your mission and your culture and your team? This can be the best damn thing you’ll do your whole life.
No one 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 and the market will dictate a portion individuals success. I know this, the west will dictate how we lead and just how we come together as people…and that’s something I’m proud of.
Hit me on LinkedIn or [email protected]
I’d personally never knock people who don’t desire to start their own business, it’s not even close to simple and easy , oftentimes personal considerations don’t allow it. If you do? Speak to your customers, listen and discover. They’re going to inform you what they desire to view and enhance your thinking, in most element of your product or service. We have a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” and now we have confidence in that. I understand what we’re doing right here at Tenavox is among the most rewarding professional example of my entire life, and that’s worth just of the stress, risk and fervour we’re pouring with it every single day. It’s funny, if we began I wasn’t sure the best way to frame the pain points of the small company owner…Now? Could them because we live them. As well as a wise someone once said, “there’s no replacement for experience.”
There was a fantastic team building last weekend in Austin too! As a result of #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!
Stay tuned for more for your full release in 2-3 weeks and many thanks for reading my ramblings of course.
Go ahead and comment below or have a run at some of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.
Have something to express meantime? Hit me on LinkedIn or [email protected]