Member Article

10 top tips on disrupting the property market

Launching your own business can be one of the biggest decisions you will ever make, but deciding to disrupt an industry is even bigger. Property isn’t your average sector, and the reason it’s ripe for disruption is how entrenched it is in its traditions. If it were easy to disrupt, the word ‘disruption’ would lose its meaning and this new wave of proptech solutions would cease to exist.

Having experienced the fear, adrenaline and success that disrupting a market can bring, we wanted to share some top tips from the frontline.

Be patient

Be patient and stick to your guns. It’s a very traditional sector and needs gentle coaxing more often than it needs flash mobs to convince it. You might feel like you’re not innovating just because your idea is old hat in other sectors, but this isn’t any ordinary sector. As my dad says, you can only step as long as your leg allows – and property is many steps behind. Grab hold of your frustration. It’s an opportunity being born.

Location, location, location

Property investment is all about picking the right location for your asset. With property tech, it’s about being close to your clients, constantly mobile and being able to grab their ear that matters.

Cash is king!

You’ll be cash strapped, so make every penny count. Work out of cafes whenever you can. We spent our first year there and it’s been great. Remember, as with location, it’s not about where you are but what you’re doing that matters.

Build a rockstar team

Don’t underestimate the amount of effort you need to put into building a team that you can live with and fall in love with, and be prepared for a number of disappointments. This isn’t a problem you can throw money at (like all problems in startutopia), but when you find the right fit it’s a magical moment.

The Customer

Think you know who your customer is? Well, sure you do, but try finding them! Good luck walking into a bar and getting people to try out your app. If any of you know of a bar that landlords hang out in, please do let us know. Seriously though, if it’s difficult to find the customers you’re looking for, remember: we’re all consumers of property. Welcome to the biggest customer pool in the world.

Think 10 steps ahead

Listen to your customer, but not too closely. As our very wise product mentor said, it’s not about what they want, but how it makes them feel. Map out their journey and see where you can make them fall in love with you. Don’t just react to what the customer wants, create something new that they never know they needed and that’s success.

Stay away from the law

You can do all your legal work yourself? WRONG! We tried. It’s really not worth the pain, or the risk you take. There are many things you can do yourself but please, please, please, get some advice on your contracts and terms and security. Spend little, spend smart, but spend! And remember, if you’re a tech company, have a data policy. You need it.

Don’t give in to myths

Setting up a “startup” is no different from setting up any other type of business. A business is a business, proptech or otherwise. Your numbers must make sense and there needs to be a business case. Otherwise all you have is great traction and broken hearts.

Be flexible

Be a ballerina. Pivot when you must. Some things look great on paper (and on napkins), but sometimes minor increments and changes will lead to ongoing pain. Suffer the short-term heartbreak and switch to where the opportunity lies. Your future self is thanking your flexible self already.

Failure

Have you ever read The Lean Startup? We’re not recommending that you do, but it has a useful definition in there. The author frames a startup as existing in a world of uncertainty, and failure is very probable. So if you fail, you haven’t really failed. Just pick yourself up and start again. You’re battle scarred and better off for it. Learn, learn, learn and start up all over again.

About the author:

Rayhan Sawar is co-founder of Houzen.co.uk, a new proptech business set to shake up the UK rental industry by launching an intelligent platform that matches landlords to agents via its online marketplace. Its mission is to reshape the lettings industry, without turning people into robots.

Rayhan started his career at Experian and, post-MBA, was head of corporate development at Groupon. Following a soft launch at the Oxford Real Estate Conference in March 2016, Houzen has grown rapidly from a small scale venture to one that has 11 employees in the UK and India. In the space of a few months, Houzen has already vetted 250 agents and secured over 3,500 properties from institutional landlords, and have a new offering for buy-to-let landlords launching in the New Year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Houzen .