While i sit throughout an AirBnb I rented to the month of August (with a failing AC in the Texas Summer) I believed it will be fun to execute a mental check of start-up life along with the transition so far. Always beneficial when you’re sweating from sitting 🙂 Having grown all of us significantly the business side of things is starting to feel “normal.” If that’s possible. My co-founder Marissa would say we’re out of your “storming” phase now to the “normalization” phase in our 1st year. Now i use her Westpoint terminology inside my common speech, confusing friends with your terms as Sitrep, bluf not to mention MFIC. I’ll permit her to enlighten all of you around the definitions. To me, normalizing the team is helping us show we’ve got momentum, synergy and our folks (and internal technology) are common aligned along with the pace is collecting bigtime. Nothing but good things.

In the past posts I’ve commented on website, CRE culture, investment plus much more. In this article I would like to focus on customers and how 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 those 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 by how most people are happy to give you their benefit this mission. What’s the mission again? Help small enterprises make smarter lease decisions.

In early stages, I felt compelled to push almost all our website and assumptions coming from a pure real-estate perspective. I knew we could enhance the current tech in the market, and we’re a commercial real-estate product, right? Sure, we’re free and anonymous and that good stuff but we provide a platform which is CRE based to our users. The whole core assumptions and product architecture/functions were steeped in the real-estate problem-solving mindset. Even as grew together together, we became less and less dependent upon these assumptions plus much more plus much more engaged from the feedback from the users and others in the field. This assumption quickly changed, we’re not just a real-estate product, we’re a company product. How did find 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 vital and foundational purpose of ours to recover these experiences. However, I’m pleasantly surprised about the response we’re getting from retailers, tenants, small enterprises once they hear our mission, try out system and know what we’re all about. It’s normal for caboodlers to spend half an hour on a single review (that this collection part takes about 60 seconds FYI) since the small business community is just so hungry to get heard. This is a group that’s putting their livelihoods at risk, every single day, to create their business grow and their personal lives more enriched through their dreams. It’s about damn time someone sat down and heard them.

So that’s what we’ve been doing. Not simply coding/testing/building/caboodling and trending hard towards our full release throughout the next month or so (SUPER excited to exhibit everybody) but just all out interviewing, listening and gaining knowledge through our core customers. I’ve found that even though your product costs nothing doesn’t mean it automatically drops some inherent barrier to entry. Products have to solve real life difficulties for real life people. This full release I think encompasses that mantra. We’ll share it soon.

Even as grow all of us everyone has a part to experience 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 are best at exposing who you are under time limits. We (and especially the founders) do whatever it takes to advance the ball forward. People enquire about how the transition from CRE to Startup in tech is going, whenever they make the leap too using idea? I smile and have this: Is it possible to handle the load of the deadline, the next sprint, sales projections, recruiting, feedback, testing, adjustments, operations, payroll and a lot far more. When you decide go for it . and build something matters you in turn become a great deal more responsible. How? Well ideas are basically worth nothing, roughly I’ve learned 😉 It’s all in the execution along with the team…along with the culture. A powerful culture is the foundation for any 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. Once you begin a company (from a concept) you’re to blame for the investors, (usually friends and family and families hard-earned money), you’re to blame for your people, their efforts and their goals, you’re to blame for your business’s growth, and moving the vision forward every single day…but a majority of of you’re to blame 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 you have passion for. I reckon that that’s what I’ve learned most. Never underestimate simply how much work it would be to take up a business, never underestimate how difficult some days could be, the load is off the charts along with the stakes couldn’t be higher. However if you have passion for what you’re doing, if you believe in your mission along with your culture along with your team? This can be the best damn thing you’ll do your whole life.

No-one seriously knows where our path may lead. Startups within their very natures are risky ventures. We’ve made educated assumptions and therefore are beginning to test them out within a live environment, time, our efforts along with the market will dictate a portion in our success. I do know this, the west will dictate how you lead and how we come together as people…and that’s something I’m proud of.
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I’d personally never knock those who don’t want to start their particular business, it’s not even close to easy and oftentimes personal considerations don’t allow it. If you undertake? Talk to your customers, listen and learn. They will inform you what they want to find out and increase your thinking, in every single element of your product. You will find a new mantra now, “Built for Tenants, with Tenants,” and that we rely on that. I am aware what we’re doing at Tenavox is easily the most rewarding professional connection with my well being, and that’s worth just with the stress, risk and keenness we’re pouring in it every single day. It’s funny, if we commenced I wasn’t sure exactly how to border the pain points with the small business owner…Now? We understand them because we live them. And a wise someone once said, “there’s no replacement for experience.”

There was an incredible team development a week ago in Austin too! Due to #escapegame #Galvanize and #Laketravis for hosting us!

Keep tuned in for full release throughout two to three weeks and appreciate your reading my ramblings keep in mind.

Twenty-four hours a day comment below or have a run at some of the other articles I’ve written chronicling my transition from broker to co-founder.

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