As I sit here in an AirBnb I rented for your month of August (which has a failing AC from the Texas Summer) I figured it will be a fun 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 our team significantly the organization aspects is starting to feel “normal.” If that’s a possibility. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out of the “storming” phase and after this to the “normalization” phase of our fresh. I now use her Westpoint terminology during my common speech, confusing friends by using these terms as Sitrep, bluf and of course MFIC. I’ll permit her to enlighten everyone around the definitions. In my opinion, normalizing the c’s is helping us show we’ve got momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are aligned and also the pace is collecting bigtime. Great things.
In past posts I’ve commented on product development, CRE culture, investment and much more. In this article I wish to target customers and the ways to pay attention to them.
Whenever we first launched beta and commenced 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 map button for that?” (DOH!). To people with tech startup experience I’m sure that’s nothing new. I for starters, having just a humble CRE broker’s background, was quite surprised/impressed due to the fact many people are happy to give you their help with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small enterprises make better lease decisions.
In early stages, I felt compelled to push most our product development and assumptions coming from a pure real estate property perspective. I knew we will strengthen the current tech in the market, and we’re an advertisement 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 the users. The whole core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped from the real estate property problem-solving mindset. As we grew together as a team, we became less and less reliant on these assumptions and much more and much more engaged by the feedback from the users and others from the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not really a real estate property product, we’re a business product. How did we discover 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 gather these experiences. However, I’m surprised about the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small enterprises after they hear our mission, try out the working platform and know very well what we’re information on. It’s not uncommon for caboodlers to spend a half-hour using one review (that your collection part takes about One minute FYI) as the small company community is simply so hungry to get heard. This can be a group who is putting their livelihoods exactly in danger, each 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 followed 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 couple weeks (SUPER excited to indicate everybody) but just plain interviewing, listening and gaining knowledge through our core customers. I’ve learned that just because your products is provided for free doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products have to solve real world damage to real world people. This full release I do believe encompasses that mantra. We’ll share it soon.
As we grow our team we all have a part to learn 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 your identiity under pressure. We (and especially the founders) do no matter what to maneuver the ball forward. People question the way the transition from CRE to Startup in tech will go, should they take the plunge too with their idea? I smile and have this: Are you able to handle the load with this deadline, the subsequent sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and much far more. When you will decide to take the plunge and make something which matters you then become a lot more responsible. How? Well ideas are virtually worth nothing, approximately I’ve learned 😉 It’s all from the execution and also the team…and also the culture. A strong culture will be the foundation for the strong company.
Turning ideas into reality, together.
When you’ve got a thought, it’s just yours, you’re only responsible for cultivating the minds themselves. When you start a business (from a thought) you’re responsible for the investors, (usually your pals and families hard-earned money), you’re responsible for your people, their efforts as well as their goals, you’re responsible for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward each day…but many of all you’re responsible for yourself. There’s no automatic paycheck or salary to help you get up and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something have adoration for. I suppose that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate how much arrange it is usually to begin a business, never underestimate how difficult at times may be, the load is over charts and also the stakes couldn’t be higher. Though if you have adoration for what you’re doing, if you think maybe inside your mission as well as your culture as well as your team? This is the best damn thing you’ll do all of your life.
Nobody 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 in the live environment, time, our efforts and also the market will dictate a portion of our success. I know this, our culture will dictate how we lead and just how we work together as people…which is something I’m pleased with.
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I’d personally never knock those who don’t wish to start their own business, it’s not even close to basic and oftentimes personal considerations don’t so it can have. If you do? Talk to your customers, listen and discover. They’ll show you what they desire to see and improve your thinking, in every single part of your products. You will find a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” and now we have confidence in that. I am aware what we’re doing at Tenavox is the most rewarding professional experience of playing, and that’s worth just in the stress, risk and keenness we’re pouring in it each day. It’s funny, when we began I wasn’t sure just how to frame the pain sensation points in the private business owner…Now? We know them because we live them. And a wise someone once said, “there’s no replacement experience.”
There were a fantastic team development last week in Austin too! Because of #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!
Keep tuned in for full release here in 2-3 weeks and appreciate your 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? Struck me up on LinkedIn or [email protected]