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TEN years of bootstrapping. This just got removed from the title for some reason. Good thing Gabriel García Márquez didn't have the same editor. Wow. This is i
by zach 13y ago
TEN years of bootstrapping. This just got removed from the title for some reason. Good thing Gabriel García Márquez didn't have the same editor.
Wow. This is interesting on its own, as others mentioned, but it's really interesting to me personally, as the co-founder of a bootstrapped local real estate referral company.
One thing I didn't see mentioned much was the 2008 housing crisis, which was disastrous for us. We were in acquisition talks in late 2007 which were suddenly canceled, seemingly in anticipation of the horrors to come. Our revenues were devastated and I went back to consulting for several years. Basically, our site was on autopilot until January of this year, when the real estate market showed signs of long-term strength and we started our current development drive.
We're still bootstrapping off consulting revenue, so it hasn't exactly been fast-paced, sadly. Let me say, still running a business you started after Startup School 2005 gives you a much different perspective than the usual startup narrative. When you bootstrap, you can press pause instead of eject. You're not on fire, so you don't turn to ashes the instant you run out of fuel, but you sure do have to keep smoldering.
For those who aren't familiar, I would describe real estate startups as being similar to a closed game of chess. Lots of long-term possibilities and plans, but not a lot of good moves available. The market is sharded, guarded, scattered and smothered.
We haven't explored (or had an opportunity for) an agency conversion, so it's really interesting to read this account, thanks. Instead, we are trying to rework our regional site into a niche national site. I'll share how it goes, hopefully before our company's own tenth anniversary. Congratulations and thanks again for writing this history.
- sologoub 13y agoI think the author is assuming that the readers know exactly what happened in 2008. The crisis is referred to implicitly here: "Markets that were closing 20 referred deals per year in 2006 turned into 1 or 2 closed deals by 2009."
- zach 13y agoOh whoops, he does say "as the housing market collapsed" there. Thanks for pointing that out. I guess I skipped a line because the text was all the same color. It does seem like it wasn't as bad for them, seemingly because this was in a non-bootstrapped phase. So clearly, that's a classic example of when having investors gives your company much-needed shock absorbers.
- wyclif 13y agoI guess I skipped a line because the text was all the same color I see what you did there. My fave HN comments are the HN-referential ones.
- anoncowherd 13y ago> the real estate market showed signs of long-term strength and we started our current development drive. It's not long-term strength, by the way. The US economy[1] is in shambles, and ready to implode any moment. What you're seeing in the real estate market is a new bubble. The buyers are investors, and the current craze started when people thought the bottom was in. The zero-interest rate policy "helps" too. Just thought you might want to know. Be careful. [1] Not only the US, but pretty much all Western economies (+Japan) are ready to implode.
- pnathan 13y ago> It's not long-term strength, by the way. The US economy[1] is in shambles, and ready to implode any moment. So that's my gut feel as well, but I don't have a good handle on the economic & market information as to why that might be so. Can you expand?
- anoncowherd 13y ago> So that's my gut feel as well, but I don't have a good handle on the economic & market information as to why that might be so. Welcome to Reality. The mainstream media is just misleading / propagandizing you - if you want the truth, you'll have to turn to "alternative" sources. > Can you expand? Peter can: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RpfUg1cpuZo http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Rpf... Here's another good source: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/ http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/
- anatari 13y agoSigh, I'll bite. Tired of cable news quality comments presenting very debatable opinions as fact, especially without any concrete arguments, evidence, sources or otherwise real facts. On top of that being tangential to the post. Here is just one indicator that points in the opposite direction of your claims. http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000 http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
- bubbleRefuge 13y ago