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Nothing succeeds like success. That's as true in life as it is in entrepreneurship, where those who have succeeded once often tend to replicate their success with subsequent ventures.
The team behind DIY Real Estate Solutions, a JumpStart portfolio company, has decades of experience in software serving the rental property management industry. Earlier in their careers, co-founders Don Katt, Bob Lasser, and Steve Lloyd helped steer Beachwood-based Management Reports, Inc. to the pinnacle of success -- a sale to software giant Intuit for $92 million.
The trio stayed on with the acquirer for a time, but they all eventually decided they wanted to start a new company -- one that would serve the smaller, more fragmented end of the rental property industry. "This segment of the market, representing 80% of the rental units in the U.S., is technologically underserved and is therefore a big opportunity waiting for the right solution," says Steve Lloyd, President of DIY. The company was formed in late 2005, and by September of 2006, had launched a beta site. Comments Steve, "Our solution is based on a Software as a Service (SaaS) business model and provides everything you need to manage rental property."
While the three partners had been successful in the industry in the past, they also understood that a startup required fresh thinking. They were looking for coaching on a simple question: What's the best way to penetrate the market with your big idea?
Their big idea was simply this: to become the trusted technology source, the business process outsourcer for small and medium-sized apartment owners, who would use their affordable web-based services to do everything from keeping their books to screening tenants. "We preach in the marketplace that software should not be thought of as an asset, but as a utility," says Steve. "It should be just like plugging into the power grid, to tap very affordable services."
The evidence suggests they've achieved uncommon early success, and seem well-positioned to do even better in the near future. Last month, the company announced that in 2008, its revenues had increased 155% from the previous year, while new client growth was up 85% in the same period. The company thinks it can do even better this year. With all that wind at its back, DIY recently hired a fulltime salesperson.
Even in the most challenging market conditions in decades, DIY is experiencing the kind of problems that most companies, even mature ones, would love to have. "Our biggest problem is building a big enough distribution system and a big enough marketing effort," Steve says.
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