When i sit throughout an AirBnb I rented for your month of August (having a failing AC from the Texas Summer) I was thinking it could be a good time to do a mental check of start-up life and the transition thus far. Advantageous when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown our company significantly the business enterprise aspect is beginning to feel “normal.” If that’s possible. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out from the “storming” phase and today to the “normalization” phase of our newbie. Now i use her Westpoint terminology inside my common speech, confusing friends with your terms as Sitrep, bluf and naturally MFIC. I’ll let her enlighten everyone about the definitions. To me, normalizing the group is assisting us show we now have momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are all aligned and the pace is picking up bigtime. All good things.
Over the posts I’ve commented on product development, CRE culture, investment plus more. In this article I want to concentrate on customers and how to hear them.
When we first launched beta and started 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 roadmap button for your?” (DOH!). To those with tech startup experience I’m sure that’s not new. I for starters, having just a humble CRE broker’s background, was quite surprised/impressed since most people are happy to offer you their benefit this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small business owners make smarter lease decisions.
Early on, I felt compelled to push most our product development and assumptions from a pure property perspective. I knew we might enhance the current tech in the market, and we’re a commercial property product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and all sorts of a good stuff but we offer a platform which is CRE based to our users. The whole core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped from the property problem-solving mindset. As we grew together together, we became less and less dependent on these assumptions plus more plus more engaged through the feedback from the users and people from the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not just a property product, we’re a business product. How did 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 platform with real, verified feedback from business decision makers. It’s a critical and foundational goal of ours to collect these experiences. However, I’m surprised about the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small business owners after they hear our mission, try the platform and know very well what we’re information on. It’s not uncommon for your caboodlers to spend 30 mins on one review (that your collection part takes about A minute FYI) since the small company community is definitely so hungry being heard. This can be a group that’s putting their livelihoods on the line, 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 paid attention to them.
So that’s what we’ve been doing. Not merely coding/testing/building/caboodling and trending hard towards our full release throughout the following couple weeks (SUPER excited to indicate everybody) but just flat out interviewing, listening and learning from our core customers. I’ve found that just because your product or service is free of charge doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products ought to solve real-world damage to real-world people. This full release I do think encompasses that mantra. We are going to share it soon.
As we grow our company you have a job to learn 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 would be better at exposing your identiity under pressure. Our team (and also the founders) do whatever it takes to maneuver the ball forward. People enquire about how the transition from CRE to Startup in tech will go, whenever they make the leap too using their idea? I smile and ask this: Can you handle the load with this deadline, the following sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and far a lot more. When you decide to go for it and produce a thing that matters you in turn become far more responsible. How? Well ideas are virtually worth nothing, approximately I’ve learned 😉 It’s all from the execution and the team…and the culture. A robust culture may be the foundation for a strong company.
Turning ideas into reality, together.
When you have a concept, it’s just yours, you’re only to blame for cultivating the minds themselves. When you begin a business (from a concept) you’re to blame for the investors, (usually your friends and families hard-earned money), you’re to blame for your people, their efforts along with their goals, you’re to blame for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward daily…but many of all you’re to blame for yourself. There is absolutely no automatic paycheck or salary to obtain up and hitting that work-day hard, so pick something you have passion for. I guess that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate how much push the button would be to begin a business, never underestimate how difficult at times can be, the load is over charts and the stakes couldn’t be higher. However if you have passion for what you’re doing, if you believe with your mission along with your culture along with your team? This is the best damn thing you’ll do the whole life.
No one seriously knows where our path will lead. Startups inside their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and they are beginning to test them in a live environment, time, our efforts and the market will dictate part of our success. I recognize this, the west will dictate the way you lead and exactly how we communicate as people…and that’s something I’m pleased with.
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I might never knock people who don’t need to start their own business, it’s faraway from basic and oftentimes personal considerations don’t allow it. Should you choose? Speak to your customers, listen and discover. They’ll show you what they want to determine and improve your thinking, in each and every facet of your product or service. There exists a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” and we have confidence in that. I know what we’re doing here at Tenavox is the most rewarding professional experience with my life, and that’s worth just in the stress, risk and keenness we’re pouring involved with it daily. It’s funny, if we began I wasn’t sure exactly how to border this points in the small business operator…Now? Problems in later life them because we live them. Along with a wise someone once said, “there’s no substitute for experience.”
There was a fantastic team building last weekend in Austin too! As a result of #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!
Keep tuned in for your full release throughout a couple weeks and many thanks for reading my ramblings remember.
You can comment below or have a run at many of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.
Have something to convey meantime? Hit me on LinkedIn or [email protected]