So I think as your company matures, you look for investors that have something that you dont have and so for us, were not yet doing $100 million in revenue. I mean if you could give some kind of like tips you know both fronts it would be really fantastic. Theyre both incredibly smart as are my executive team who are also like critical to fundraise where Ill go in and sell the vision often alone. Were growing very quickly but none of that was true obviously in the first two years. Over time, its great to be able to bring in your team. Well, first of all, your point about quashing the egg and shooting the chicken. It was like $46 million. So I as British person moving to Silicon Valley in 2012 I have never run a startup before. I really enjoyed it and great stuff. 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. You know its interesting that you mentioned the chicken and the egg. In many instances, really acquisitions are great to either feel growth on the company itself, either on the product or perhaps by adding a great talent, but unfortunately many M&A transactions fail really on the integration side of things. But oh we must have had like 20 persons or 20 people say not now or later. They are the two ways that Zumper currently monetizes them and there are two folks that [11:35]. For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here) that I recently covered. How autonomous can people be at the junior levels? Of course. The company was incorporated in California, Texas, and Florida ten years ago. I think if you hire four cofounders like yourself, thats difficult and luckily we didnt have that problem. For me, its Zumper, an apartment rental platform. So I wouldnt be too picky early. True to its reputation, Comfortbilt's HP22 pellet stove comes with a heating capacity of 50,000 BTU. I really enjoyed it and great stuff. I know entrepreneurs who spend nine months raising their rounds which is a long time but they got great rounds done. 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. 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? I was also doing, Ive been doing marketplaces for I think like 10 years now and I remember in the last company, I would go and meet with investors and they kept asking me for the chicken and the egg. Hello, everyone, to the DealMakers Show. Theres never like an exact number you need like when Uber raised money or you know Zillow raised money, theres never like a number they have to be at. Yeah. 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. So I guess for those listeners that are looking at acquiring other companies to perhaps grow a little bit faster, what kind of advice would you give to them? So I think as your company matures, you look for investors that have something that you dont have and so for us, were not yet doing $100 million in revenue. They are the two ways that Zumper currently monetizes them and there are two folks that [11:35]. I think its easy not to set those expectations and get caught in the relationship where neither side is being clear on what they expect. She was our original CPO and after the series A, she moved on to roller, another company and we promoted someone internally to CPO. Raising money first, marketplace businesses is still really difficult and Ive raised $90 million and Im still saying it is difficult. So paradoxically, I dont think the core DNA of a companys culture is built at ski tracks or offsite. It is ultimately the culture. 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. 1. If you guys are Zumper website, you can kind of kind at zumper.com the Contact Us or on Twitter I am just @anthemos, A-N-T-H-E-M-O-S on Twitter and yeah, I respond to people. We both wanted to be entrepreneurs. Background Report for Anthemos Paul Georgiades Includes Age, Location, Address History for Anthemos Paul Georgiades Arrest, Criminal, & Driving Records Social Media Profiles I think if you set these expectations from the very beginning that are super important. Alejandro: Got it. Of course. Yeah. At scale you get to do that and have those teams. I have no experience doing that. They may not understand marketplace as well as you but they may be able to bring a brilliant way of thinking about how to bring the supply on [30:20]. One is I wouldnt be too pressured about it too early. FUNDED EP01: How to tell a story worth $140 million dollars (Zumper) 00:00 51:07 Episode Summary Anthemos Georgiades, founder of Zumper, perfected his pitch the way most founders do: through trial and error. It is ultimately the culture. So I saw for example Axle Springer which is you know more kind of like the corporate. Prices can change quickly! So I saw for example Axle Springer which is you know more kind of like the corporate. Youre supposed to try six things that dont work. And as you know as and your listeners know, youre going to get a lot of nos on the way. At college in the UK, Ive had like multiple [00:58] renting apartments. In the early days, youre going to need to take all the capital you can get. Now my cofounders were phenomenal in bringing them to meetings. So I guess lets say we had the opportunity to put you in front of your younger self, Anthemos, in 2012 before you were to close that seed round, what would be that piece of advice that you would give to your younger self with everything that youve learned having this journey ahead of you? And in terms of preparation, Anthemos, how has the preparation like preparing before going to market to start engaging investors, how have you seen with your business, with Zumper, how have you seen that changed over time as the rounds were maturing? Not really actually. Could you meet him? And so whereas that doesnt guarantee any success we obviously have to have really good numbers and a really good story to tell them. And I mean its quite a few cofounders. So tell me your story a little bit here, Anthemos. Look how quickly our revenue are scaling. Ill set the first couple of meetings often alone but its been wonderful as weve grown our executive team to be able to bring like our VP of sales, our head of grow, our CPO in to the meetings afterwards when they want to meet the team. Yeah. Anthemos Georgiades: Its just part of the game and it doesnt [24:30]. Alejandro: Really, really nice to have you here and excited for the chat that we have ahead here. 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. Its a Greek name, British accent. Had worked at the Boston Consulting Group. 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? You rarely have enough data to make the absolutely correct decision and I think a lot of businesses fail especially start ups when they dont make decisions fast enough and in business schools, the case study methods taught me how to feel confident in making decisions without perfect information and how to use data to kind of then review once youve launched, whether it was right or wrong. We envisioned a world in which a renter can find apartments, book in [tour 10:18], turn up the [10:21] and if they want to take the apartment pre-qualify, leave a deposit and book the apartment. Your job as the CEO and the founder is to convince your investors of the reason to do this. 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. We didnt go that route because I have the network but if I didnt have the network and some people have the network and still do it, they are really good cheap in to getting scaled quickly. Theres never like an exact number you need like when Uber raised money or you know Zillow raised money, theres never like a number they have to be at. Were incredibly grateful for everything she did and she remains kind of shareholder in the company. Got it. And so I didnt really think about it too often because this is kind of 15 years ago but then I moved to another six or seven times into an apartment rentals in London, in Boston, in New York and the process is so bad every time, not just in searching but also in actually like getting the apartment. So it doesnt always work out and I think thats fine. For me, its Zumper, an apartment rental platform. And then my other cofounder Kurt Taylor I met through his mother who was an [04:43] and it was another example of just pure hustle. So the series B, weve done story now look at how quickly the renters are growing on the platform. 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. Anthemos Georgiades is the co-founder and CEO of Zumper, the largest startup in the rental industry, used by more than 26 million renters last year alone. Rear mounted 3" standard exhaust port, and 2" standard air intake Exterior dimensions of unit are 24" wide, 26" deep, and 40" high with mounted controller. Never thought Id be an entrepreneur. How do you scale like 20 million in revenue to 200 million in revenue and we didnt need the more product set investors because we already have fantastic people at that. Whats your story and most importantly, how did you get started with the entrepreneurial bug? So we bought them. Yes, weve raised $90 million in capital including a series C that we just closed three months ago. My friend have had to camp out overnight outside the property management office to get access to the new apartment and this is [01:09] you know things coming online, you can order a cab via phone, you can book a hotel online. Got it. I dont think theres a startup I could have launched that taught me more. Alejandro: And did you diversify this responsibility with the other cofounders or was there one of you guys that has always been leading the chart on the financing side? Anthemos Paul Georgiades has been associated with one company, according to public records. Keeping good lines of communication open can solve many landlord/tenant problems. So I saw NEA, Kleiner Perkins, Graylog, Andreesen Horrowitz, just to name a few. Got it. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. Get 5 free searches. 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. Im so glad I did it. And investors love that story because its easy to believe that you can continue to do that. It is not suppose to be easy. Got it. Your job is to raise capital and your job is to kind of hire and retain the best talents. Categories . And for you I guess personally and professionally because I think they both come together, so how has your leadership and management skills changed over the time from leading the company of lets say four to ten folks initially to a company of over a hundred employees? It just really helps to divide and conquer like that while I was meeting new investors again. Alejandro: Got it. Thats quite motivating for people. How many listings do we have on the site? So in terms of timeline, you were mentioning that the C round, you guys closed this 46 million a couple of months ago. And to be fair, some of these 20 did indeed come back later to invest but in Boston and I pitched all of the east coast investors first because I was on the east coast and they were straight nos. ! I say like in the first pitch to the day the money wires, theres always been around like a minimum of three months. 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. Now we have supply so the six months curve at the series B was all about users and millions of monthly users and then at the series C it was much more revenue curve. If you dont have those connections, I think this is where like a lot of these accelerators and incubators, Y Combinator or Techstars or Launch are really good where you can apply. It has to be me and thats how I started the company six years ago after business school. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. At Zumper, based in San Francisco, he leads the company in its mission to make renting an apartment as easy as booking a hotel. I knew the CEO for a while. anthemos georgiades net worth; wedding max minghella wife; private beach airbnb california; antique english double barrel shotguns; tuscany faucet cartridge removal; primeweld cut 60 machine torch; glendale, az setback requirements. We didnt go that route because I have the network but if I didnt have the network and some people have the network and still do it, they are really good cheap in to getting scaled quickly. So I guess without further ado, Anthemos Georgiades from Zumper, welcome aboard. He was with HBS 10 years ago. It was incredibly difficult. In terms of the dynamics, I think in the early days, you kind of through osmosis graduate towards like the things that are important. We both wanted to be entrepreneurs. Its a good question. I know entrepreneurs who spend nine months raising their rounds which is a long time but they got great rounds done. So I as British person moving to Silicon Valley in 2012 I have never run a startup before. See How I Can Help You With Your Fundraising Efforts. And then at business school, I think the single biggest thing I learned through the case study method which is how they teach it at Harvard Business School but I think its true. I knew the CEO for a while. So it doesnt always work out and I think thats fine. Read More: Sujal Patel On Selling His First Business For $2.6 Billion And Now Raising $108 Million From Jeff Bezos And Others To Improve Medical Diagnostics. So I learned a lot from a few companies that I loved, a few companies that I thought are doing crazy things I learned so much. Russell Middleton Co-Founder. The most important thing is to surround yourself with an amazing support group because it is so much harder to build a company than I thought it was and the emotional resilience you need to get through the dark days and come back to the bright days even now is what [38:54] just get harder like yeah, we have more revenue now but with that there are people [38:58] and like huge revenue targets we have to attain and so the most important thing is surround yourself with a network of family, friends, mentors, peers, your team, your investors, whoever is an emotional crutch for you where you can take from them but also maybe get back to them as well when theyre having a tough time, thats the single most important thing is look after your mental health because it is lonely and it is stressful and if youre able to kind of be resilient you have a great outcome but it is really hard on some days to push through, so build that around just [39:35] and you can be happy while running your company. And then now your job at five, six years in with a team of a hundred with higher and amazing executive team who are all better at doing their jobs than you would ever be and so your job is almost as a CEO is to like hire yourself out of a job where you hire people, where you look at them and you think, Wow, I cant believe you report to me. Got it. So I saw NEA, Kleiner Perkins, Graylog, Andreesen Horrowitz, just to name a few. 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 we were talking about the $46 million round which was the C round, C as in cat and basically what you were talking about I mean what Ive seen is that you guys have shifted a little bit the strategy. Your third month is getting kind of diligence done and getting the wires in to the door. Youre right that is wrong advice. We love our investors. Please subscribe to unlock this content. When people ask me what Im most nervous about its how to keep our amazing team together, a couple of tactics and then one thing that really worked. Since 2012, Georgiades has grown Zumper to over 200 employees, 178 million annual visits, and raised $178 million in venture capital for the company. They were super lean team of under five people and its been a great deal for Zumper like we have one backend, one sales team and then two consumer platforms. All photos courtesy of Forbes Councils members. Anthemos lives in San Francisco, where Zumper is HQd, with his wife. 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. So lets talk about Zumper here. 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. So we tell the small landlords, Hey, dont just advertise in Zumper. And so I wouldnt be too pressured. Anthemos Georgiades is the co-founder and CEO of Zumper. And it is the culture that keeps people here, not the compensation or anything else. So I learned a lot from a few companies that I loved, a few companies that I thought are doing crazy things I learned so much. The most important thing is to surround yourself with an amazing support group because it is so much harder to build a company than I thought it was and the emotional resilience you need to get through the dark days and come back to the bright days even now is what [38:54] just get harder like yeah, we have more revenue now but with that there are people [38:58] and like huge revenue targets we have to attain and so the most important thing is surround yourself with a network of family, friends, mentors, peers, your team, your investors, whoever is an emotional crutch for you where you can take from them but also maybe get back to them as well when theyre having a tough time, thats the single most important thing is look after your mental health because it is lonely and it is stressful and if youre able to kind of be resilient you have a great outcome but it is really hard on some days to push through, so build that around just [39:35] and you can be happy while running your company.
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