So if the story has changed in a way that merits the focus of the company but what is consistent every single time weve raised is that for six months in a row, we had really, really quick growth. So I guess what was the timeline of this C round compared to perhaps your seed round of 2012? I think if you set these expectations from the very beginning that are super important. And were just a little earlier than obviously a public company so our gross is spikier. I know entrepreneurs who spend nine months raising their rounds which is a long time but they got great rounds done. Think Masterclass for Management. Well help you prequalify renters and actually get the renter in to a lease, signing the documents, paying the first month deposit but well charge you a percentage of the lease fairly. Got it. It seemed crazy that the real estate industry wasnt moving towards on demand. I didnt think that either of them originally. You just get to this kind of motion of you all feel the same and you kind of pull in the same direction. Had worked at the Boston Consulting Group. Your job as the CEO and the founder is to convince your investors of the reason to do this. In the early days you as the CEO you are the fundraiser, you are the effective CFO, youre the head of sales and you kind of have to do the whole thing. I mean if you could give some kind of like tips you know both fronts it would be really fantastic. I mean at the end of the day, building and scaling companies especially when youre at the early stages is all about survival and its all about learning to be with each other behind the trenches and really going to war and having each others backs. Youre supposed to try six things that dont work. It is your job not just to do the day to day but once or twice a year you should be doing stuff that has a completely linear outcome where one day youre doing you know 3 million users a month and the next day youre doing 5 million users a month. It was at the time Pat Mapper example almost the same size on consumer but now Zumper is much bigger but we called it like a cheat and your job as the founder is to identify like vertical cheats where overnight you become bigger than your competitors. Well, first of all, your point about quashing the egg and shooting the chicken. Zumper which is a little bigger in terms of audience now caters more to urban professionals moving within cities. Anthemos Georgiades: One Lesson That Led To Raise $90 Million From The Top Venture Capital Firms by Alejandro Cremades Like many of our most successful entrepreneurs, Anthemos Georgiades was drawn into startup life to solving a burning problem. Look how quickly our revenue are scaling. So one is weve always promoted within so whenever we needed a role, we always prefer to promote someone instead of hiring from outside. You know marketplaces and liquidity is king like you were pointing to finding what you need in the shortest period of time because otherwise theyre going to go elsewhere. For every successful fundraise, every single company have a lot of nos. Saying that, in the early days you kind of need to bring on all the capital that you can. How do you take a company with those tractions, 10 million in revenue. Like what have you seen that really works? Got it. It was just purely hustling my network for six months to find people who are really great cultural fit but also have very different skill sets to the one I have. Anthemos Georgiades: Hey, thanks for having me. In terms of investors, I guess two comments. Got it. But oh we must have had like 20 persons or 20 people say not now or later. Theyre struggling to kind of grow their audience because they didnt have enough listings whereas Zumper at the getgo we had a lot of unique landlords on the platform that no one else had. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. I mean to a point network gets you an intro but a lot of intros are 10 minute meetings where the VC immediately decides its not for them which is totally fair. That is where your focus is and even though you kind of missed doing some of the stuff and the weeds and my team continue to tell me to get away from the weed and continue to [36:12] the 50,000 set, you have to let it go and trust your team to do a better job than you were doing. The other large investor in this round [20:05] scale so once you have product market set, how do you scale that? Meaning hey, we send you a ton of leads this month that close in to leases. Alejandro: Got it. So strategically that was a good marriage where they had a great consumer brand and we have really fantastic supply side inventory. Likewise. Everyone filling gaps where they could and it [07:02] fulfilling gaps in to where youre skilled and so I think the most obvious thing to do for that is to hire people with very different skill sets to you that allows you to never really have awkward overlap and egos because everyone is kind of skilled at something very unique. Since 2012, Georgiades has grown Zumper to over 200 employees, 178 million annual visits, and raised $178 million in venture capital for the company. Yeah. And as you know as and your listeners know, youre going to get a lot of nos on the way. Alejandro: And talking about hustling the network, was there any because I mean those networks that you have I think the network of Harvard is really fantastic and then you know the BCG as well but is there like any process that you followed to really like leverage the network? It was always a man, there is a really tough problem that consumers experience and no one is solving it. I think just up front boundaries before you close the round is super important. [06:54] the early days and it worked where there was just all hands to the pump. They wanted to close apartments like they book a hotel and so took the status of like 35 different apartments we leased using the technology in San Francisco to VCs and said, Hey, were really going to rebuild all of this but heres some data that shows this really can work at scale, and thats how we raised the first million dollars from some of the names that you mentioned. Its so hard to get marketplaces liquidity so correct, the beautiful thing as you know is when you have it, it took us three years to get to that, it just runs and you just grow naturally when you have both sides but its so hard to get to it. You look at your cofounders and you know that they understand that and that theyre not freaking out, that is where you build real institutional culture and then you try and grow that across the team. I guess the question that I would ask you and perhaps some advice for some of those that are listening, that are building a business that is more around the network effects, the marketplaces, should they walk the other way if the investor is asking too much about revenue early on on the financing cycles? Anthemos Georgiades: Its just part of the game and it doesnt [24:30]. So Ill read it if anyone tweets anything interesting or if I can be helpful in anyway. I think if you hire four cofounders like yourself, thats difficult and luckily we didnt have that problem. Anthemos lives in San Francisco, where Zumper is HQd, with his wife. I think if you hire four cofounders like yourself, thats difficult and luckily we didnt have that problem. anthemos georgiades net worth. So all good companies have multiple offers on the table. How flat is the company? So you kind of just have to [25:29] but just to be clear yeah, we had far more nos than yeses at the seed round. So what I wanted to ask you here is in terms of on boarding lets say this type of, because its a different beast, you know type of investors so how does the approach from evaluating an investor that is a VC, an angel or an angel group shift towards evaluating a potential strategic corporation that is looking to become part of your cap table? Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah, I think its probably the DNA of your culture is I think a lot of it is built in the tough times. The company was incorporated in California, Texas, and Florida ten years ago. You shameless have to mine your network and I think all CEOs and entrepreneurs have to find that edge of how did they meet one of these investors, how did they meet someone that knows them. Saying that to your point, we see the deal was a successful and yet M&A is really hard to integrate. So our CFO is fantastic and what he was able to bring to the series C was real credibility where I meet the investors, get them excited about our vision and our story and then they spend hours with the CFO on the second or third meeting digesting our historical financial as were talking about where were headed. So that was great. Absolutely. Were incredibly grateful for everything she did and she remains kind of shareholder in the company. As CEO, Anthemos has raised $39.2 million in venture capital from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Goodwater Capital, Breyer Capital and Foxhaven Asset Management, including a Series B round in Oct. 2016 when many start-ups were struggling. Township Of Ocean Police Department. Really good strategy to differentiate the demographics and were super happy with how it went down. Get Anthemos Georgiades's email address (a*****@zumper.com) and phone number (646398..) at RocketReach. Everyone in Boston, everyone in New York were straight nos and [25:15] didnt get second meetings but then a month later we came to Silicon Valley and we found a much better product market set for the kind of investor who was prepared to come early and invest early and we got a lot of yeses very quickly. Anthemos Georgiades: No. You kind of just all in [06:39] I think where the carving of the rose start to happen for me around 10, 12 people where you no longer just have [06:49]. I met Russel who [04:01] engineering products through just the personal connections in London. It happened but I wouldnt say its like an obvious part. And it was just [22:11] during the process that its a startup, were at growth stage but not to expect to be able to predict our courses like that public company again. You just cant get spooked. I think at that stage it makes sense. And investors love that story because its easy to believe that you can continue to do that. Got it. So I saw for example Axle Springer which is you know more kind of like the corporate. And we built this website using an outsource development shop in Europe that just tested one assumption of the end game which was can we get users in 2011, 2012 just as mobile was coming online to apply and close apartments from their phone. So I guess without further ado, Anthemos Georgiades from Zumper, welcome aboard. Alejandro: I love it. Every fantastic company has had hundreds of nos on the way to kind of huge outcomes and you just cant take it personally. Yeah. Got it. So I guess in your guys case, how do you deal with the egos and then more importantly how did you define the responsibilities early on so that you kind of have that healthy culture going on? Terms & Conditions! Raising money first, marketplace businesses is still really difficult and Ive raised $90 million and Im still saying it is difficult. And frankly, the process is a pain in the ass. I mean to a point network gets you an intro but a lot of intros are 10 minute meetings where the VC immediately decides its not for them which is totally fair. Because I speak with a ton of founders that are perhaps opening up the possibility of bringing on corporations and I think that you need to really do it right. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. I met Russel who [04:01] engineering products through just the personal connections in London. So for the business, Anthemos, how much capital have you guys raised today? They are the two ways that Zumper currently monetizes them and there are two folks that [11:35]. Obviously they knew and I think for us it was like telling Axle and the rest of our investors that there are going to be months where we massively beat plans and there will be months where were behind plans. Its a good question. Yeah. Hello, everyone, to the DealMakers Show. Since 2012, Georgiades has grown Zumper to over 200 employees, 178 million annual visits, and raised $178 million in venture capital for the company. Got it. Anthemos Georgiades, Zumper, European Founder, International Founders, Marketplace The process of renting apartments hasn't changed since Craigslist was introduced. So Im completely there with you. I mean at the end of the day, building and scaling companies especially when youre at the early stages is all about survival and its all about learning to be with each other behind the trenches and really going to war and having each others backs. And investors love that story because its easy to believe that you can continue to do that. So what is the best way, Anthemos, for people that are listening to reach out and say hi? So you kind of just have to [25:29] but just to be clear yeah, we had far more nos than yeses at the seed round. I learned more from you than you learned from me, and then your job as CEO is to do kind of two or three things, that is to continue to advance like the vision and the mission of the company and keep everything strategically aligned. It happened but I wouldnt say its like an obvious part. So all good companies have multiple offers on the table. Were very clear with Axle Springer that we have a lot of consumer scale so a lot of people use our platform on a monthly basis but were still building the [21:55]. Zumper CEO and co-founder May 2012 Board and Advisor Roles Number of Current Board & Advisor Roles 1 Anthemos Georgiades is the Board Member at Zumper. I kind of looked through in Crunchbase which connections I have into which fund. Its not about the ski trips and any of that you know. He runs all the background of operation and he came from the real estate industry, two completely different background and neither of them was an obvious pick when I started the company at grad school. Additionally, Anthemos Georgiades has had 2 past jobs including Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group. But I guess you were saying then here the shift, kind of like shifted more from like growth of users perhaps retention to more kind of like deep revenue growth. Really good strategy to differentiate the demographics and were super happy with how it went down. So the series B, weve done story now look at how quickly the renters are growing on the platform. Not really actually. When you look your cofounders, your team in the eye and you know theyre ready to go and theyre resilient and they come back in to build and try the next thing and youve kind of worked out together this is part of the game. A lot of it was completely bottom up. Its hard. Anthemos Georgiades. Alejandro: Alrightee. Weve only been working with Axle Springer for four months now but they are fantastic. I mean I think at seed round its like an [26:02]. The second one is have a vision and a mission that people agree with and we all wanted to [37:13] this vision make renting an apartment as easy as booking a hotel. It was just purely hustling my network for six months to find people who are really great cultural fit but also have very different skill sets to the one I have. You are going to get a bunch of nos so I wouldnt rule people out too early. I mean youre doing various jobs, head of sales, head of finance, head of fundraising, head of like DZ. So paradoxically, I dont think the core DNA of a companys culture is built at ski tracks or offsite. Unluckily weve made some phenomenal early hires so the company that have all scaled to leadership roles, thats fantastic for retention because those people know that we could have hired from outside but we bet on them and it worked and so Zumper is a place to build theyre career not somewhere else. Alejandro: Got it. So for the business, Anthemos, how much capital have you guys raised today? Alejandro: Just out of curiosity, Anthemos, like how many nos did you get for example on your seed round if you have to count it? And [14:42] in Silicon Valley is married to [graphics 14:43] mostly in terms of great companies just break out and succeed [agnostic 14:48] as to where people went to college or if they came from a wealthy or poor family. Anthemos Georgiades: Its part of the game. In the early days, youre going to need to take all the capital you can get. Saying that, I have connections through both business school and previous people that have gone through BCG venture capital and most of your listeners and entrepreneurs will know so much of this is about like getting warm introductions to VCs so I did have a couple of cheats to get in through the network or through the BCG network. So for Zumper our vision as I mentioned was to make renting an apartment as easy as booking a hotel and so instead of going in with just an idea, I built like a really crappy version of the end game that I wanted to build. Zumper which is a little bigger in terms of audience now caters more to urban professionals moving within cities. How flat is the company? rex harrison audrey hepburn relationship. So we want to be the first ever kind of full stack rental platform for long term leases and we monetize that two ways. So we bought them. You look at your cofounders and you know that they understand that and that theyre not freaking out, that is where you build real institutional culture and then you try and grow that across the team. They were [sexy 23:47] company and really fantastic fundraisers but the rounds just take a long time, due diligence take a long time. Just enter your email below. So in terms of timeline, you were mentioning that the C round, you guys closed this 46 million a couple of months ago. We both wanted to be entrepreneurs. Hes raising money now. So we tell the small landlords, Hey, dont just advertise in Zumper. "These markets had a huge net migration from New York and California, and they have held up," he says. Thats your job. Youll get terms sheets and yeses hopefully quicker than that but this process takes a while and as the money increases and a few rounds become more complicated, it can take more than three months as well. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. It was kind of [31:51] as early as we did to buy another stock up that was kind of four years in.
2022-07-08T15:03:45+08:007月 8, 2022|