We have like four people at the company for the first year or maybe five for the first year and so theres so much to do and theres so little time and few resources that you actually theres no real intellectual whiteboarding session that you do to carve out rose. I think the startups end up wasting a lot of cash that could really extend runway but thats a different conversation. Alejandro: Got it and before we actually dive in to the journey here, so consulting and business school, this is a few things that I typically hear so from some of our other guests. So what was that process like you were talking about, yes, your network of Harvard but can you share with us like what was that process of landing Kleiner on your seed round? So Ill read it if anyone tweets anything interesting or if I can be helpful in anyway. 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. 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? How many landlords did we have on the site? So that was great. At series A, you got to show product market set in a sub vertical. 1. Anthemos and Russell met in London while working at a consulting company back in 2006, but it was after they moved to the U.S and experienced the pain of finding a place to live that they decided to found Zumper along with Taylor Glass-Moore and Leah Jones. ! Yeah. It is not closely married to [14:55] and thats where its still on [14:58] I think Silicon Valley has a long way to go where when I got my first introductions to VCs to Kleiner, to Andreseen, to Graylock, to NEA, it often came through my graduate school network where someone was like, Hey, this guy is leaving HBS. It just really helps to divide and conquer like that while I was meeting new investors again. 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? Zumper which is a little bigger in terms of audience now caters more to urban professionals moving within cities. So we have several million users using our platform every month now which is great and next year we wanted tens of millions of users a month and were poised to doing that. So we want to be the first ever kind of full stack rental platform for long term leases and we monetize that two ways. Then behind the scenes, Zumper will close the transaction with the landlord and set the renter up with kind of rent payment. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. How does the day to day at Zumper work? It looks better for investors and it makes your life easier. 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. Alejandro: Really, really nice to have you here and excited for the chat that we have ahead here. 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. Raising money first, marketplace businesses is still really difficult and Ive raised $90 million and Im still saying it is difficult. 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. 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. Got it. But was drawn in to it just to solve a problem as I think so many entrepreneurs are. At series B, you got to show product market set across the board with the revenue and then at series C, you got to show real traction and real revenue and a proper P&L. Got it. His passion for relieving the stress for others in apartment rentals has given birth to a venture which has now raised $90 million, has experienced tremendous growth, and boasts a VC line up of some of the most prized investors in Silicon Valley. Your third month is getting kind of diligence done and getting the wires in to the door. Background Report for Anthemos Paul Georgiades Includes Age, Location, Address History for Anthemos Paul Georgiades Arrest, Criminal, & Driving Records Social Media Profiles 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. Great question. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. 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. To give you odds, at the seed stage and the series A stage of growth cuts, all about supply side where a two sided marketplace chicken an egg, on day zero you have no renters and no landlords, how do you solve that? Think Masterclass for Management. 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. 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. 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. 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. 77% of you were interested in a @zumper flex living pass 1.5 yrs ago Since then we - Added 500K+ flex listings - Launched a search UX for flex rentals We're now launching an MVP of Zumper Pass - a one & done subscription. Got it. She was our original CPO and after the series A, she moved on to roller, another company and we promoted someone internally to CPO. So for the business, Anthemos, how much capital have you guys raised today? 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. Prices can change quickly! Anthemos was an undergrad at Oxford when he noticed how problematic renting an apartment . So the way we monetize this is we either monetize the landlord mainly and we either charge them to leads. Like many of our most successful entrepreneurs, Anthemos Georgiades was drawn into startup life to solving a burning problem. Alejandro: So Im completely there with you. Saying that, if you do have multiple term sheets the second point is of course, like before you get to liquidity, revenue is irrelevant and if revenue gets in the way of bringing either the consumer on to your platform or the supply side person on to your platform, you should not be trying to charge. With a diverse background that includes consulting for Boston Consulting Group and serving as Economic Advisor and speechwriter in the 2010 British Election, Anthemos founded Zumper in 2012 after his own terrible rental experience. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. Pat Mapper caters to 25 and under and kind of big college populations. Thats just part of the game. 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. True to its reputation, Comfortbilt's HP22 pellet stove comes with a heating capacity of 50,000 BTU. He's raised $39.2 million in venture capital, grown the team to 70+, and completed the acquisition of apartment search platform PadMapper. 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? 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. August 4, 2020. Alejandro: I love it. It was kind of [31:51] as early as we did to buy another stock up that was kind of four years in. I think if you set these expectations from the very beginning that are super important. For every successful fundraise, every single company have a lot of nos. And so I wouldnt be too pressured. He has grown the Zumper team to 50 and counting and successfully completed the acquisition of apartment search platform PadMapper. And at one point I just told one I just feel like I want to step on the egg and shoot the chicken because it was so repetitive. So Ill read it if anyone tweets anything interesting or if I can be helpful in anyway. So paradoxically, I dont think the core DNA of a companys culture is built at ski tracks or offsite. Hes raising money now. Pat Mapper caters to 25 and under and kind of big college populations. 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]. You can set the expectations and then see what happens and if its not a good fit upfront, you can go with the different option on the table. They take every, some people go and warm theirif you have a brilliant idea, theyd be crazy not to take it and then their entire value is obviously give you a three month program and then at the end expose you to liek 40 investors. But I will say the one thing is true is that you always raise on momentum. So I guess how did that consulting experience shape up your approach in terms of like tackling problems and the entrepreneurial journey itself? Alejandro: Got it. Get Anthemos Georgiades's email address (a*****@zumper.com) and phone number (646398..) at RocketReach. 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. Anthemos lives in San Francisco, where Zumper is HQd, with his wife. And were just a little earlier than obviously a public company so our gross is spikier. So that was great. Over time, its great to be able to bring in your team. So you still have to land it and once youre on the door it doesnt matter where you come from you have to have something good. Youre right that is wrong advice. 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. Categories . 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. anthemos georgiades net worth. 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. I didnt think that either of them originally. He had actually interviewed me for a job at a different consulting firm and we stayed in touch. I kind of looked through in Crunchbase which connections I have into which fund. Oh wow, good question. The reality is often in the early stages, youre going to want to take all the capital thats given to you and you may not have multiple term sheets. 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. They were [sexy 23:47] company and really fantastic fundraisers but the rounds just take a long time, due diligence take a long time. It is not suppose to be easy. 1. Make sure tenants understand why things are . We love our investors. Yeah. glendale, az police activity today; archer lodge middle school calendar. Alejandro: Got it. Yeah. Rental listing startup with more than 26 million users. So Anthemos, whats the business model here? Its really built in the dark days of when stuff is really difficult and I think Zumpers culture now is we have a lot of users still remembers and its a testament to those dark days and we never take anything for granted. How autonomous can people be at the junior levels? In terms of investors, I guess two comments. We also actually had a really wonderful fourth cofounder whos no longer with us. What are some tips for successfully navigating the rental market from a renter's perspective? 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. 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. "While many markets cool off during the winter, Miami is still posting month-over-month increases. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. 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 think the startups end up wasting a lot of cash that could really extend runway but thats a different conversation. 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. At scale you get to do that and have those teams. You just cant get spooked. Then behind the scenes, Zumper will close the transaction with the landlord and set the renter up with kind of rent payment. Stay informed using all the free online rental data out there (like Zumper's national rent report). Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. Saying that, in the early days you kind of need to bring on all the capital that you can. Alejandro: Got it. Of course. In the early days, youre going to need to take all the capital you can get. 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. Absolutely. If you want me to do your fundraising for you, click here. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. Youre right that is wrong advice. They were [sexy 23:47] company and really fantastic fundraisers but the rounds just take a long time, due diligence take a long time. Like many of our most successful entrepreneurs. Its hard. But I will say the one thing is true is that you always raise on momentum. All of it is going to be important and it will come out at the right stage. So when you go in to a fundraising in terms of preparation the most important thing is that your last six months are great and your most important metrics are all growing really nicely so kind of five, six months in a row that is a fantastic story to tell to an investor. Yeah. 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? 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]. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. 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. It happened but I wouldnt say its like an obvious part. So for the business, Anthemos, how much capital have you guys raised today? You just get to this kind of motion of you all feel the same and you kind of pull in the same direction. How did you find these investors? How did you find these investors? We saw it would take three to six months to integrate Pat Mapper and their backend that engineering project we worked really hard and quickly just over a year to integrate so we underestimated like how much work was required to integrate them by 3x. One is I wouldnt be too pressured about it too early. Anthemos Georgiades: Oh wow, good question. Got it. So watching board members from the early investments are [19:38] who now runs Good Water but was originally Kleiner and then Eric [19:42] from Kleiner and theyre both experts at product market set. Thank you so much. In the first two or three years you will kill your marketplace if you create any barriers to entry from either side. So we solved it to the first two years purely by getting landlords on board through various kind of product strategy and so our growth cuts for the first two years that we raised the [27:41] were purely about landlords and listing. So yes, we have a great cap table. And I mean its quite a few cofounders. The other large investor in this round [20:05] scale so once you have product market set, how do you scale that? 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. So what is the best way, Anthemos, for people that are listening to reach out and say hi? 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 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? Its hard. Your second month you spend getting term sheets and documents signed. 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. Got it. Really good strategy to differentiate the demographics and were super happy with how it went down. And so I finally just gave in and thought no one is going to build this. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. Like what have you seen that really works? 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. Youre supposed to try six things that dont work. Meaning hey, we send you a ton of leads this month that close in to leases. I knew the CEO for a while. Look how quickly our revenue are scaling. Whats your story and most importantly, how did you get started with the entrepreneurial bug? So it was never I want to be an entrepreneur journey. Got it. Alejandro: Got it. So the series B, weve done story now look at how quickly the renters are growing on the platform. And the biggest change in the series C I just raised versus in the early days is having a CFO. How many listings do we have on the site? But oh we must have had like 20 persons or 20 people say not now or later. And so just be prepared that however smart, however many smart people have looked the deal and thought about whether it will work, it always take a little bit more time than you think it will to integrate because theres always some gremlin kind of hiding in the works that youre going to find. Alrightee. 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. In terms of investors, I guess two comments. So cofounders are difficult especially if youre not technical as really hard to find a good technical cofounder but the great thing is once you do and it takes a long time, they are able to attract the next generation of talent in to the company and thats how you kind of build your engineering team out. We both wanted to be entrepreneurs. I think Id say forget everything you think you know and everything, your education [38:28]. I grew up in London. So Anthemos, theres always a first time and you know I guess this is the first time in the history of the DealMakers Show that Im able to interview someone that has been involve on the M&A but more on the buy side. 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. So I guess what was the timeline of this C round compared to perhaps your seed round of 2012? This pellet stove is a good heating solution for a smaller rather than a . I love it. How autonomous can people be at the junior levels? I think at that stage it makes sense. In terms of the dynamics, I think in the early days, you kind of through osmosis graduate towards like the things that are important. Got it. 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Well, first of all, your point about quashing the egg and shooting the chicken. Fantastic. And were they like obviously now youre opening here the cap table to a different breed and I guess when that happen probably at a strategic level lets say from a board perspective or something you know, maybe you receive some type of recommendations whether it was with this corporation or with other corporations as to what perhaps to look for and what to avoid. Anthemos Georgiades. 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. For Zumper's Georgiades, many Florida markets, such as Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, have been the big pandemic winners. Alejandro: Got it. Anthemos Georgiades. Just enter your email below. And it is the culture that keeps people here, not the compensation or anything else. So Zumper is the vision for the company is to make renting an apartment as easy as booking a hotel. 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. Originally from London, he has an MBA from Harvard Business School, MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and BA from the University of Oxford. Anthemos Georgiades is the co-founder and CEO of Zumper. A lot of it was completely bottom up. Yeah. In the early days we love the exposure to Silicon Valley investors. We love our investors. 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? Alejandro: Got it. So I saw for example Axle Springer which is you know more kind of like the corporate.