Many tech guys on HN often ask: what use are business co-founders?<p>Superior domain knowledge would be one thing. If I'm going to team up with a business guy, I want him to be a top notch expert in his field.<p>There's a tendency for tech guys to discount domain knowledge, believing that it's just a matter of "hacking something out in a weekend, after all it's just a matter of shovelling data" (I used to fall into this trap myself - now I know the value of domain expertise).
Hey, this is Lee from RentHop.<p>One thing that isn't very clear from the writeup: we went through a LONG trough of sorrow before finding our current pivot. That's a story for another day...
New York real estate is a system. You have to learn the system to hack it.<p>A lot of real estate start ups are trying to "Avoid the Broker." The system isn't as broken as we may think. Landlords enjoy minimal vacancy. Brokers get paid generously. Tenants find apartments.<p>Complaining about a 15% broker fee is like complaining about the gas for your Lamborghini.
Great site! I have just discovered it from the post.<p>One thing I immediately noticed:
If you are looking for 2br apartments, you will get a lot of results that are not actually 2br, but 1br that could possibly be converted into 2br. They are not yet converted, the renter has to do all the work himself.<p>Is there a way to filter out such listings? They usually mention it in the listing description. Maybe a fine-grained selection of apartment types would help: studio, junior 1br, 1br, "1br big enough to convert", 1br converted, 2br, etc.
No. The best way to disrupt an industry is to do something unrelated - something crazy and something different. You'll never break the mould and explode by copying incumbent industries line of thought.<p>For example the real estate industry has been upset most in New Zealand by trademe, a company started by someone who wanted an easier way to buy a used toaster. The industry here is still scrambling to catch up, instead of competing with a startup trying to emulate their business model.<p>By doing what the article suggests, you'll be above mediocre at best. Think different (tm).