As I sit here in an AirBnb I rented for that month of August (having a failing AC within the Texas Summer) I figured it may be fun to do a mental check of start-up life along with the transition up to now. Always good when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown our company significantly the organization aspect starts to feel “normal.” If that’s possible. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out from the “storming” phase and now in to the “normalization” phase of our own fresh. I now use her Westpoint terminology in my common speech, confusing friends basic terms as Sitrep, bluf and naturally MFIC. I’ll permit her to enlighten all of you on the definitions. In my opinion, normalizing the c’s is assisting us show we’ve got momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are typical aligned along with the pace is buying bigtime. Perfect things.
In past posts I’ve commented on developing the site, CRE culture, investment and more. On this page I would like to focus on customers and the way to listen to them.
When we first launched beta and began 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 guide button to the?” (DOH!). To people with tech startup experience I’m sure that’s not new. I for one, having just a humble CRE broker’s background, was quite surprised/impressed due to the fact so many people are ready to provide you with their assistance with this mission. What’s the mission again? Help smaller businesses make smarter lease decisions.
Ahead of time, I felt compelled to push almost all our developing the site and assumptions from your pure property perspective. I knew we could enhance the present tech on the market, and we’re an advertisement property product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and all sorts of that great stuff but you can expect a platform that is certainly CRE based to your users. All of our core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped within the property problem-solving mindset. Even as we grew together together, we became less and less just a few these assumptions and more and more engaged through the feedback from the users and folks within the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not simply a property product, we’re a company 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 the working platform with real, verified feedback from business decision makers. It’s an important and foundational purpose of ours to get these experiences. However, I’m amazed at the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, smaller businesses when they hear our mission, test out the working platform and determine what we’re exactly about. It’s quite normal for caboodlers to invest thirty minutes one review (that this collection part takes about A minute FYI) for the reason that small enterprise community is just so hungry to become heard. This is a group who is putting their livelihoods at risk, each day, to produce their business grow in addition to 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 next couple weeks (SUPER excited to show everybody) but simply flat out interviewing, listening and gaining knowledge from our core customers. I’ve found that because your products is free of charge doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products must solve real world damage to real world people. This full release I do think encompasses that mantra. We’ll share it soon.
Even as we grow our company we all have a job to experience right here at Tenavox. Mine is heavily steeped in product, 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 are best at exposing whom you are being forced. Our team (and also the founders) do whatever it takes to move the ball forward. People question how a transition from CRE to Startup in tech is certainly going, whenever they take the plunge too using their idea? I smile and ask this: Can you handle the worries of this deadline, the next sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and a lot a lot more. When you choose to go for it and create something which matters you become a lot more responsible. How? Well ideas are virtually worth nothing, or so I’ve learned 😉 It’s all within the execution along with the team…along with the culture. A solid culture is the foundation for the strong company.
Turning ideas into reality, together.
When you have a concept, it’s just yours, you’re only responsible for cultivating the minds themselves. When you start a company (from a concept) you’re responsible for the investors, (usually your friends 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 each day…but most of all you’re responsible for yourself. There is no automatic paycheck or salary to get you up out of bed and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something have love for. I reckon that that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate the amount work it would be to start a business, never underestimate how difficult at times could be, the worries is off the charts along with the stakes couldn’t be higher. However if you have love for what you’re doing, if you think with your mission as well as your culture as well as your team? Here is the best damn thing you’ll do your entire life.
No person seriously knows where our path may lead. Startups inside their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and are beginning to test them out . in the live environment, time, our efforts along with the market will dictate some of our own success. I do know this, the west will dictate the way we lead and how we work together as people…and that’s something I’m satisfied with.
Hit me up on LinkedIn or [email protected]
I might never knock people who don’t want to start their very own business, it’s far from basic and oftentimes personal considerations don’t so it can gain. Should you? Speak with your customers, listen and discover. They’ll let you know what they desire to determine and enhance your thinking, in each and every element of your products. You will find there’s new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” and we trust that. I realize what we’re doing right here at Tenavox is the most rewarding professional connection with playing, and that’s worth every bit in the stress, risk and passion we’re pouring involved with it each day. It’s funny, if we started out I wasn’t sure just how to border the anguish points in the small business operator…Now? Could them because we live them. And a wise someone once said, “there’s no alternative to experience.”
We’d a fantastic team building a week ago in Austin too! Thanks to #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!
Stay tuned for more for full release here in a month and many thanks for reading my ramblings remember.
Twenty-four hours a day comment below or require a run at a number of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.
Have something to say meantime? Hit me up on LinkedIn or [email protected]
