In Chicago, A Mutual First User
While it can trace its roots back to 1999 with the founding of 37signals, the modern Chicago tech ecosystem is still very much in its infancy according to Kahoots founder and CEO Nick Petit. Because of this, many large companies and organizations are still trying to figure out the ways through which they can work alongside and with startups. And, in many cases, this kind of situation can be found in other cities, as well – where larger organizations and smaller startups try to determine which partnerships benefit both parties and whether such relationships can contribute to their greater local economy. For Kahoots, as well as Yapmo, Charlie, PointDrive, and Turbo Appeal, they each somehow found their way to bringing in @properties (the largest real estate brokerage firm in Illinois) as one of their first users, and that has made much more of a significant impact on their success than they would have realized.
The Opportunity to Build a Better Product
One of the primary reasons why a startup shouldn’t merely find just any person or organization as a first or early user is the lasting impact that those first users can have towards helping you build out your product. According to Brian Cuttica, the Director of Marketing and SMB Sales for PointDrive, having @properties as one of their first enterprise users helped shaped strategic decisions around their product development: At an early stage in their product life cycle, PointDrive managed to strike a deal with @properties that brought all 1,800 @properties agents and employees onto its sales content viewing and management platform. “Working with @properties gave us an in-depth understanding how end users utilize our system and a massive leap forward in our product design,” said Yapmo’s Everton, whose corporate messaging platform’s early usage by @properties also enabled the company to build a better product.
Access to Mentorship and Other Resources
Finding the right first user or customer can also lead startups to unexpected access to mentorship and other resources that they never could’ve imagined. According to Kahoots’s Petit, bringing @properties as one of the company’s first customers not only led to helping his company improve their version of the modern-day contact book, but also brought with it mentorship from @properties founder Thad Wong and other leaders. For Charlie, the popular app that emails you a brief on the people you’re about to meet with, partnering with @properties has enabled the company to tap into the real estate firm’s knowledge of other markets, allowing Charlie to better tackle recruitment of those potential users. “Their executives have been guiding us in the best way to approach the real estate, insurance, and legal markets as we grow as a company,” said Charlie founder and CEO Aaron Frazin. And that penetration into other markets has led the company to arguably become one of Chicago’s greatest current startups.
Leads to More Users or Customers
Most importantly, if a startup is lucky enough, then they will find themselves with a first user that also enables them to grow their user base in the long run. For all five of these Chicago startups, working with @properties led them to form new relationships that helped them accelerate their customer growth or to tap into new markets that they would not have otherwise considered. At PointDrive, for example, having @properties aboard led them to find opportunities both within real estate as well as with more traditional sales organizations. At Yapmo, @properties has been able to provide references to potential customers, as well as introductions to new customers. And, at Kahoots, @properties has been essential to overall growth of the startup: Last month, the property tax appeals startup TurboAppeal, shared with us their advice when looking for investors. And, while the company’s relationship with @properties differs slightly, being able to work with the large organization at such an early stage in their company allowed them to gain customers quickly. According to TurboAppeal cofounder and COO John Guidos in a previous interview, the startup’s relationship with @properties has done so much in terms of bringing on additional customers.
Tips for Finding the Right First User
Nick Petit, Kahoots: “Find one single perfect customer and tailor everything you do for just them. Understand their challenges and tailor your offering to solve these perfectly. When you show them what you’re building they should say, ‘I absolutely, 100%, need this.’ Favor finding a few who can’t live without your product/service over many who say it’s cool.” Paul Everton, Yapmo: “Getting that first organization to partner with you is always difficult. It’s important for startups to reach out to companies that have a culture that will accept their vision and work with them through the rocky starts. It’s also important for those initial partners to have a great brand and be an industry leader to leverage once you are successful executing on your vision.” Brian Cuttica, PointDrive: “Don’t be afraid to go after larger organizations even if you are still relatively small. If you have the right product that solves a need and the team to support it, the size of the company will not matter.” Aaron Frazin, Charlie: “Look out for organizations that see the future and want to be a big part of changing it. @properties pretty clearly saw where the real estate world was going and took charge in adopting the technology to make them the best.” Need some more inspiration? Read how these entrepreneurs acquired their first three customers.
