Because i sit here in an AirBnb I rented for that month of August (using a failing AC in the Texas Summer) I figured it will be a great time to do a mental check of start-up life as well as the transition up to now. Advantageous when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown our company significantly the company aspect is starting to feel “normal.” If that’s a chance. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re from the “storming” phase now to the “normalization” phase of our own 1st year. I now use her Westpoint terminology within my common speech, confusing friends with such terms as Sitrep, bluf not to mention MFIC. I’ll permit her to enlighten you all around the definitions. If you ask me, normalizing they is assisting us show we now have momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are all aligned as well as the pace is picking up bigtime. All good things.

In past posts I’ve commented on website, CRE culture, investment and much more. On this page I want to focus on customers and the way to pay attention to them.

Once 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 guide button for your?” (DOH!). To those with tech startup experience I’m sure that’s not new. I first, having only a humble CRE broker’s background, was quite surprised/impressed due to the fact many people are willing to give you their assist with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small business owners make better lease decisions.

Ahead of time, I felt compelled to push the vast majority of our website and assumptions coming from a pure real estate perspective. I knew we could improve on the current tech in the industry, and we’re an industrial real estate product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and all that great stuff but you can expect a platform that is CRE based to users. Each of our core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped in the real estate problem-solving mindset. Even as grew together together, we became less dependent on these assumptions and much more and much more engaged by the feedback from my users and people in the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not really a real estate product, we’re an enterprise product. How did we discover 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 system with real, verified feedback from business decision makers. It’s a critical and foundational objective of ours to recover these experiences. However, I’m amazed at the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small business owners when they hear our mission, try out system and know what we’re information on. It’s normal for caboodlers to invest thirty minutes on a single review (that the collection part takes about 60 seconds FYI) since the small business community is simply so hungry to become heard. This is the group that is putting their livelihoods exactly in danger, daily, to produce 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 simply coding/testing/building/caboodling and trending hard towards our full release here in the subsequent few weeks (SUPER excited to show everybody) but just flat out interviewing, listening and gaining knowledge from our core customers. I’ve learned that just because your products is free doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products need to solve down to earth trouble for down to earth people. This full release I do think encompasses that mantra. We will share it soon.

Even as grow our company you have a task to play only 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 might be best at exposing who you are under pressure. Our company (and particularly the founders) do anything to move the ball forward. People ask about the way the transition from CRE to Startup in tech is going, as long as they make the leap too using idea? I smile and ask this: Are you able to handle the strain on this deadline, the subsequent sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and far more. When you decide go for it . and build something which matters you then become far more responsible. How? Well ideas are basically worth nothing, roughly I’ve learned 😉 It’s all in the execution as well as the team…as well as the culture. A robust culture could be the foundation for any strong company.

Turning ideas into reality, together.

For those who have a concept, it’s just yours, you’re only accountable for cultivating the ideas themselves. When you begin an enterprise (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 and their goals, you’re accountable for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward daily…but a majority of of you’re accountable for yourself. There’s no automatic paycheck or salary to acquire up out of bed and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something you have love for. I reckon that that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate the amount push the button is always to take up a business, never underestimate how difficult some days may be, the strain is from the charts as well as the stakes couldn’t be higher. But if you have love for what you’re doing, if you believe in your mission plus your culture plus your team? This is actually the best damn thing you’ll do the whole life.

Nobody seriously knows where our path may lead. Startups inside their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and they are just starting to test them within a live environment, time, our efforts as well as the market will dictate some of our own success. I know this, our culture will dictate the way we lead and the way we interact as people…that is certainly something I’m happy with.
Hit me high on LinkedIn or [email protected]
I would never knock people who don’t need to start their very own business, it’s not even close to basic and oftentimes personal considerations don’t so it can have. Should you choose? Talk to your customers, listen and discover. They will tell you what they desire to view and improve your thinking, in every element of your products. We have a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” and now we trust that. I understand what we’re doing only at Tenavox is the most rewarding professional experience with my well being, and that’s worth just of the stress, risk and passion we’re pouring involved with it daily. It’s funny, if we commenced I wasn’t sure exactly how to frame the pain sensation points of the small company owner…Now? We understand them because we live them. Along with a wise someone once said, “there’s no alternative to experience.”

We’d a great team building a week ago in Austin too! Due to #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!

Keep tuned in for full release here in two to three weeks and thanks for reading my ramblings as always.

Go ahead and comment below or require 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? Hit me high on LinkedIn or [email protected]