Because i sit within an AirBnb I rented for the month of August (with a failing AC within the Texas Summer) I believed it may be a great time to execute a mental check of start-up life and also the transition thus far. Advantageous when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown all of us significantly the company side of things is starting to feel “normal.” If that’s a chance. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out of your “storming” phase and today into the “normalization” phase of our newbie. I now use her Westpoint terminology within my common speech, confusing friends basic terms as Sitrep, bluf not to mention MFIC. I’ll let her enlighten all of you for the definitions. If you ask me, normalizing the c’s is helping us show we’ve got momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are common aligned and also the pace is picking up bigtime. All good things.
In previous posts I’ve commented on product, CRE culture, investment plus much more. In this article I would like to concentrate on customers and the ways to hear them.
Whenever we first launched beta and began 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 map button for that?” (DOH!). To those with tech startup experience I’m sure that’s nothing new. I first, having only a humble CRE broker’s background, was quite surprised/impressed because when everybody is willing to present you with their assist with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small businesses make smarter lease decisions.
Ahead of time, I felt compelled to push almost all our product and assumptions coming from a pure real-estate perspective. I knew we could improve on the current tech in the market, and we’re a commercial real-estate product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and many types of a good stuff but you can expect a platform that’s CRE based to your users. 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 dependent on these assumptions plus much more plus much more engaged from the feedback from my users and people within the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not just a real-estate product, we’re a small business product. How did look for 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 objective of ours to gather these experiences. However, I’m pleasantly surprised about the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small businesses whenever they hear our mission, check out the platform and know very well what we’re about. It’s not unusual for our caboodlers to pay thirty minutes on a single review (which the collection part takes about One minute FYI) since the small business community is merely so hungry being heard. It is a group that is putting their livelihoods at risk, daily, to generate 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 only coding/testing/building/caboodling and trending hard towards our full release within the following few weeks (SUPER excited to indicate everybody) but flat out interviewing, listening and learning from our core customers. I’ve learned that just because your product is provided for free doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products need to solve real-world damage to real-world 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 job to experience 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 best at exposing who you are being forced. Our team (and especially the founders) do whatever it takes to advance the ball forward. People ask about how a transition from CRE to Startup in tech is certainly going, as long as they make the leap too with their idea? I smile and enquire of this: Is it possible to handle the load of this deadline, the following sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and a lot much more. When you choose to take the plunge and make something matters you then become much more responsible. How? Well ideas are basically worth nothing, possibly even I’ve learned 😉 It’s all within the execution and also the team…and also the culture. A robust culture is the foundation for any strong company.
Turning ideas into reality, together.
When you have a concept, it’s just yours, you’re only accountable for cultivating the minds themselves. Once you begin 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 daily…but a majority of of all you’re accountable for yourself. There’s no automatic paycheck or salary to obtain off the bed and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something have desire for. I assume that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate just how much work it is to start up a business, never underestimate how difficult some days may be, the load is over charts and also the stakes couldn’t be higher. However if you have desire for what you’re doing, if you believe in your mission plus your culture plus your team? This can be 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 are just starting to test them out . in a live environment, time, our efforts and also the market will dictate some of our success. I know this, our culture will dictate the way we lead and how we communicate as people…and that is something I’m proud of.
Struck me on LinkedIn or [email protected]
I’d personally never knock people who don’t want to start their very own business, it’s definately not easy and oftentimes personal considerations don’t so it can have. Should you? Confer with your customers, listen and discover. They will let you know what they really want to find out and increase your thinking, in each and every part of your product. There exists a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” and that we believe in that. I realize what we’re doing here at Tenavox is easily the most rewarding professional experience with my life, and that’s worth equally in the stress, risk and keenness we’re pouring into it daily. It’s funny, whenever we commenced I wasn’t sure precisely how to border the pain points in the small company owner…Now? We understand them because we live them. As well as a wise someone once said, “there’s no replacement experience.”
We’d a fantastic team building a week ago in Austin too! Because of #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!
Keep tuned in for our full release within two to three weeks and thanks for reading my ramblings keep in mind.
Go ahead and comment below or have a run at a few of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.
Have something to express meantime? Struck me on LinkedIn or [email protected]