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"Top of Mind" with Diana Kander, Video 32, 9/5/2013
>> Hi. My name is Diana Kander. And I'm guest hosting this week's episode of "Top of Mind."
I am here today with Parker Hills. And we're going to talk about disrupting the real estate
industry. Tell me about the inspiration for Keyzio, the company you founded.
>> Sure. So a year ago, or a little over a year ago my wife and I were in the process
of considering selling our house and looking for a next home. And that, that process, you
know, starts from an idea of hey, we think we want to maybe sell our house or move to
a bigger house. And just from that initial idea of that thought to actually getting the
transaction closed and buying another home, there were just several observations I made
that, that seemed like they could, the process could be improved upon. And so you know, we
sold our house quickly. And then our backs were up against the wall where we, we basically
were forced to buy another home within a finite period of time and nothing was for sale. We
saw some homes that we liked, but they weren't for sale and things like that. And so the
original idea was I wanted to an easy way to broadcast what we were looking for and
let every homeowner in the area know that we were in the market, we wanted to a buy
home, we were ready to buy. And basically an app that would facilitate that and that
was the initial idea. >> And what did you do with the idea?
>> So I decided I thought about it for a few months and thinking about trying to build
kind of a prototype. And I thought, well it could be a lot more efficient to just take
the idea to Startup Weekend. I never had been to one before. And decided I would just check
it out and, you know, you go there. And you don't know if you're going to be working on
your idea or not because 60 or 80 ideas are pitched and only 10 or 15 teams formed. So
I was glad to see that my idea got a few votes and then I was able to form a team. You just
sort of dive in and kind of a whirlwind. >> And you never met your teammates before?
>> I didn't know a single person actually at Startup Weekend.
>> Wow. >> I mean, I had a few acquaintances.
>> Yeah. >> But I didn't go with anyone. I didn't have
any support system. Went and tried it out and had a lot of fun. So yeah, I met, I think
we ended up forming a team of six people or so. And we worked 'til, you know 1:00, 1:00
in the morning Friday night. Came back Saturday, worked all day, and put our pitch together,
and pitched to the judges on Sunday night and ended up getting second place. And I've,
you know, the aftermath of Startup Weekend was pretty interesting as well.
>> Yeah, I want to hear about that. Because there's a lot of energy during Startup Weekend.
People get really excited. >> Right
>> You're on a team and you're very cohesive and the weekend is over. A lot of people wonder
what happens then. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. >> Exactly how it went. I mean sort of a Startup
Weekend hangover a little bit. >> Yeah.
>> Where Monday you're still really excited you think you're going to keep going at the
same pace and people go back to their day jobs. And you kind of pick up the pieces and
figure out okay, what's next. And so for us that looked like, you know, we kept the team
together for a little while and had weekly meetings and kept trying to keep going. And
it became clear that some people were either too busy or not interested in where we were
headed and things like that. And so we sort of, we sort of broke up, actually. And sort
of said well if anybody wants to keep working on this let me know, I'm going to keep working
on it. >> Uh huh.
>> And one of those team members, you know, basically emailed me back and said yeah, I'm
gonna keep working on it. So the two of us kept going. And then we actually recruited
another developer from another person we met at Startup Weekend but who wasn't on our team.
They weren't even at Startup Weekend rather, we were just introduced to them. But our entire
three person team is, you know, totally came together because of Startup Weekend or connections
we made at Startup Weekend. >> And how did you break up your time between
building a product and going out and talking to customers and doing other like formation
things, other business things? >> You know, for us it was we probably developed
the least as far as like technology over the course of that weekend. But we spent a ton
of time on the strategy, the idea, the market, potential business models and things like
that. Which, you know, ended up being a pretty good portion of the judging criteria. Whereas
some other teams focused exclusively on the tech and built really cool stuff.
>> And what about after the weekend? >> After the weekend, it was just sort of
like okay, you know, this is what we want to build, and we just, we just started kind
of the design process, we kind of, we kind of started over essentially with all right
now. And then we actually have time to mock things up and, and figure out exactly what
we want to build and be a little bit more deliberate about it. And, you know, it's amazing,
you can get done a lot more in a weekend if you set those time limits and things like
that and just make decisions. >> Yep.
>> So it is a good experience. And we've, we've actually continued to have our own little
internal mini Startup Weekends where we get together and will work for all day Saturday
and all day Sunday and kind of have some defined goals and really crank stuff out.
>> After Startup Weekend you form your new team, how do you go out and start selling
to customers, what happens next? >> Well, in our case it is a little different
we don't really have a product to sell, it's more of an app that is designed for, you know,
just getting a lot of users in the system and building a marketplace. And then figuring
out how to monetize that marketplace later. And so our strategy was to launch the app
and try to some various marketing techniques here in town, which is what we did. We actually
launched it the day before we presented it at One Million Cups in January. And so that
gave us a good little pop the day we launched our app. And from there just did grassroots
marketing and social media marketing, things like that to get the word out. We focused
exclusively on the Kansas City area as opposed to trying to go have something that goes viral
nationwide. >> Yeah.
>> It's sort of a functional app, it's not really an Instagram type app where people
are going to spread it virally. >> So what have you learned since launching
the product? >> Well, a lot of things. I mean, people are
our original idea people are interested in it, but you know, getting them to take few
of the steps that, you know, they need to take in order to have it be successful is
obviously harder than you think it would be. Just user experience stuff in general. You
think it's very clear that people are going to understand this or that. And it is not
and getting that feedback is really critical. The other thing is I mean, we're still sort
of in the hunt for our business model. And you know, I think that's okay. Sometimes there's
some pressure to, you know, decide. And we've kept a lot of doors open for various reasons.
You know, we're, we're narrowing in on that, but it's a process.
>> Yeah. How are you financing your venture? >> It's largely bootstrapped. A few months
after Startup Weekend last fall we applied for and were accepted into Think Big Partners
Accelerator. And that provided us more amount of seed funding. And so we've used that. We've
all kept our day jobs and work on this nights and weekends. And have used the funding largely
for marketing purposes and things like that. And so, you know, it is pretty much bootstrapped
however, so that's, that's where we're at. >> And what does the next year or so look
like? What are you trying to accomplish? >> Well we're getting really close to sort
of deciding that direction. And there's a few things, a few opportunities that could
take us down different paths. And so we're really at a pivotal point right now, like
literally this month just making some of those decisions and sort of depends on a few opportunities
that are, that are ahead. And so once we make that decision, it will it'll be clear, you
know, what our path forward is, if it's raising capital or continuing to bootstrap it, things
like that. >> Yeah. And what's it like operating you're
operating inside the real estate industry which is, you know, a huge industry, lots
of opportunities. That's what appeals to a lot of potential investors and other people
working with you. What's it like operating in something that has such an established
process that you're trying to navigate? >> Well, yeah. We have to be a little bit
cautious and careful that we don't come out and say our way is better. We think we've
built a useful tool that agents and consumers alike can benefit from.
>> Uh huh. >> And so we're trying to figure out how to
match what we've built and what, and what our experience as consumers has been up with
the existing process and see how they can work together. And that's really the challenge.
I mean, existing brokers and agents, the response from them has been everywhere across the spectrum.
So some see us a total threat where we're trying to eliminate their jobs and others
see us a total opportunity where they, through our service or product, we can help them provide
a higher level of service to their clients and really help their clients achieve their
goals, which is which is really what we're after. And so it's a little bit of a public
relations problem. >> Yeah.
>> And just meeting with a ton of agents and brokers to make sure that they know we're
not we haven't set out to, you know, kill off real estate brokers and agents. That never
was our goal. It was to create a better experience. >> Parker, thank you so much for taking the
time to sit down with us and share your story. We look forward to watching your progress
and what happens during this pivotal month. So thank you very much.
>> Great. >> So thanks a lot.