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As I sit in an AirBnb I rented to the month of August (with a failing AC within the Texas Summer) I thought it might be fun to do a mental check of start-up life and the transition up to now. Advantageous when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown our team significantly the organization aspects is beginning to feel “normal.” If that’s a chance. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out from the “storming” phase and now in the “normalization” phase individuals fresh. I now use her Westpoint terminology inside my common speech, confusing friends with such terms as Sitrep, bluf and naturally MFIC. I’ll permit her to enlighten everyone about the definitions. In my opinion, normalizing they is helping us show we’ve momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are all aligned and the pace is obtaining bigtime. Great things.

When we first launched beta and began collecting feedback, the response was overwhelming from your initial users. “Change this,” “I don’t under this wording here,” “consider adding X,” “is there a guide button to the?” (DOH!). To prospects 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 many people are ready to give you their help with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small enterprises make better lease decisions.

In the beginning, I felt compelled to push most our website and assumptions from your pure real estate property perspective. I knew we might make improvements to the existing tech in the marketplace, and we’re an industrial real estate property product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and many types of so good stuff but we provide a platform that’s CRE based to our users. All of our core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped within the real estate property problem-solving mindset. Even as grew together as a team, we became less dependent upon these assumptions plus more plus more engaged by the feedback from your users and other people within the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not simply a real estate property product, we’re a business product. How did we find that out?

We asked.

Our caboodling team is 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 critical and foundational goal of ours to collect these experiences. However, I’m pleasantly surprised about the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small enterprises when they hear our mission, test out system and know what we’re exactly about. It’s not uncommon for the caboodlers to pay a half-hour on one review (that your collection part takes about A minute FYI) for the reason that small business community is just so hungry to become heard. This is a group that’s putting their livelihoods on the line, each day, to create their business grow and 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 in the following couple of weeks (SUPER excited to indicate everybody) but simply plain interviewing, listening and gaining knowledge through our core customers. I’ve found out that simply because your products or services is free of charge doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products must solve real-world problems for real-world people. This full release I think encompasses that mantra. We’re going to share it soon.

Even as grow our team you have a part to play 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 might be best at exposing what you are under time limits. Our company (especially the founders) do whatever it takes to go the ball forward. People ask about what sort of transition from CRE to Startup in tech will go, as long as they dive right in too making use of their idea? I smile and enquire of this: Can you handle the strain on this deadline, the following sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and far much more. When you choose to go for it and make something that matters you then become much more responsible. How? Well ideas are virtually worth nothing, approximately I’ve learned 😉 It’s all within the execution and the team…and the culture. A powerful culture could be the foundation for the strong company.

Turning ideas into reality, together.

When you have a perception, it’s just yours, you’re only accountable for cultivating the minds themselves. When you begin a business (from a perception) you’re accountable for the investors, (usually friends and family and families hard-earned money), you’re accountable for your people, their efforts and their goals, you’re accountable for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward each day…most coming from all you’re accountable for yourself. There is no automatic paycheck or salary to help you get up and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something you have love for. I assume that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate just how much arrange it is to take up a business, never underestimate how difficult some days may be, the strain is off the charts and the stakes couldn’t be higher. However if you have love for what you’re doing, if you think with your mission and your culture and your team? This is actually the best damn thing you’ll do all of your life.

No person seriously knows where our path will lead. Startups in their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and so are beginning to test them in a live environment, time, our efforts and the market will dictate a percentage individuals success. I understand this, the west will dictate how you lead and the way we interact as people…which is something I’m proud of.
Hit me through to LinkedIn or [email protected]
I’d never knock those that don’t wish to start their unique business, it’s not even close to basic and oftentimes personal considerations don’t allow it. Should you choose? Speak with your customers, listen and discover. They’re going to inform you what they really want to view and enhance your thinking, in every single part of your products or services. You will find a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” and now we have confidence in that. I know what we’re doing at Tenavox is among the most rewarding professional example of my well being, and that’s worth equally from the stress, risk and passion we’re pouring with it each day. It’s funny, when we commenced I wasn’t sure just how to frame the pain sensation points from the small business owner…Now? We understand them because we live them. Plus a wise someone once said, “there’s no alternative to experience.”

We’d an incredible team building events last weekend in Austin too! As a result of #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!

Stay tuned in for the full release in a couple weeks and many thanks for reading my ramblings as always.

Feel free to comment below or require a run at many of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.

Have something to express meantime? Hit me through to LinkedIn or [email protected]

Because i sit in an AirBnb I rented to the month of August (which has a failing AC in the Texas Summer) I figured it could be a great time to do 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 enterprise side starts to feel “normal.” If that’s a chance. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out of the “storming” phase now in to the “normalization” phase individuals fresh. Now i use her Westpoint terminology in my common speech, confusing friends by using these terms as Sitrep, bluf as well as MFIC. I’ll permit her to enlighten you all about the definitions. In my experience, normalizing the c’s helps us show we’ve got momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are all aligned as well as the pace is picking up bigtime. Perfect things.

If we first launched beta and began collecting feedback, the response was overwhelming from your initial users. “Change this,” “I don’t under this wording here,” “consider adding X,” “is there a map button for your?” (DOH!). To people 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 by how most people are happy to present you with their assist with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small enterprises make smarter lease decisions.

In early stages, I felt compelled to push nearly all our product and assumptions coming from a pure real estate perspective. I knew we might enhance the current tech in the marketplace, and we’re a commercial real estate product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and all sorts of a good stuff but you can expect a platform which is CRE based to your users. All of our core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped in the real estate problem-solving mindset. Even as we grew together together, we became much less dependent upon these assumptions and more and more engaged by the feedback from your users and people in the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not simply a real estate product, we’re a company product. How did we find that out?

We asked.

Our caboodling team is out daily hand-collecting reviews in Houston and I’m humbled by their efforts. They’re helping us seed the working platform with real, verified feedback from business decision makers. It’s an important and foundational purpose of ours to collect these experiences. However, I’m impressed by the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small enterprises after they hear our mission, try out the working platform and know what we’re about. It’s not uncommon for caboodlers to spend thirty minutes on one review (that your collection part takes about One minute FYI) as the small business community is definitely so hungry being heard. It is a group who’s putting their livelihoods on the line, every day, to make 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 merely coding/testing/building/caboodling and trending hard towards our full release in the following few weeks (SUPER excited to demonstrate everybody) but merely all out interviewing, listening and studying under our core customers. I’ve learned that simply because your products or services is free of charge doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products need to solve down to earth problems for down to earth people. This full release I do think encompasses that mantra. We will share it soon.

Even as we grow our team all of us have a job to try out 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 pressurized. All of us (especially the founders) do whatever needs doing to maneuver the ball forward. People inquire about how the transition from CRE to Startup in tech is certainly going, if and when they take the plunge too with their idea? I smile and get this: Could you handle the strain 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 build something that matters you in turn become far more responsible. How? Well ideas are just about worth nothing, or so I’ve learned 😉 It’s all in the execution as well as the team…as well as the culture. A powerful culture could be the foundation for a strong company.

Turning ideas into reality, together.

When you’ve got a thought, it’s just yours, you’re only accountable for cultivating the minds themselves. Once you start a company (from a thought) you’re accountable for the investors, (usually your pals and families hard-earned money), you’re accountable for your people, their efforts as well as their goals, you’re accountable for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward every day…but most of most you’re accountable for yourself. There is absolutely no automatic paycheck or salary to get you off the bed and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something you have love for. I assume that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate the amount arrange it is to begin a business, never underestimate how difficult some days could be, the strain is over charts as well as the stakes couldn’t be higher. But if you have love for what you’re doing, if you believe inside your mission as well as your culture as well as your team? This is actually the best damn thing you’ll do the whole life.

Nobody seriously knows where our path may lead. Startups of their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and are just starting to test them out within a live environment, time, our efforts as well as the market will dictate a portion individuals success. I know this, the west will dictate how we lead and the way we come together as people…and that’s something I’m pleased with.
Struck me up on LinkedIn or [email protected]
I would never knock those that don’t need to start their particular business, it’s definately not basic and oftentimes personal considerations don’t allow it. Should you? Talk to your customers, listen and discover. They are going to tell you what they desire to determine and enhance your thinking, in most area of your products or services. We have a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” and we have confidence in that. I realize what we’re doing at Tenavox is among the most rewarding professional connection with my well being, and that’s worth equally of the stress, risk and keenness we’re pouring involved with it every day. It’s funny, when we began I wasn’t sure just how to frame the pain sensation points of the small business operator…Now? We understand them because we live them. Along with a wise someone once said, “there’s no replacement for experience.”

There was an excellent team development last week in Austin too! As a result of #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!

Keep tuned in for full release in 2-3 weeks and appreciate your reading my ramblings of course.

Go ahead and 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 express meantime? Struck me up on LinkedIn or [email protected]