So I think three months is an efficient round. It is not suppose to be easy. For Zumper's Georgiades, many Florida markets, such as Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, have been the big pandemic winners. I mean I think at seed round its like an [26:02]. 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. So Zumper is the vision for the company is to make renting an apartment as easy as booking a hotel. Got it. 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: Oh yeah, on the seed round back in 2012, we had probably five investors come in to the seed round so we kind of had five yeses who put in small checks. And were just a little earlier than obviously a public company so our gross is spikier. In the first two or three years you will kill your marketplace if you create any barriers to entry from either side. How autonomous can people be at the junior levels? Had worked in politics. Got it. Well, Anthemos, it has been a pleasure to have you on the show. A lot of business schools was how to make decisions with imperfect information. Anthemos Georgiades, Zumper, European Founder, International Founders, Marketplace The process of renting apartments hasn't changed since Craigslist was introduced. So the majority of that is still in the bank but yeah, we raised money in capital [12:00]. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. So strategically that was a good marriage where they had a great consumer brand and we have really fantastic supply side inventory. 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. Of course and I agree with you there, Anthemos. They were [sexy 23:47] company and really fantastic fundraisers but the rounds just take a long time, due diligence take a long time. Yeah. So I guess like I have one thing to follow up on this. So today, we have another founder and another one that is quite successful in their own paths. He has grown the Zumper team to 50 and counting and successfully completed the acquisition of apartment search platform PadMapper. 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. It just really helps to divide and conquer like that while I was meeting new investors again. A lot of business schools was how to make decisions with imperfect information. 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. 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. Pat Mapper caters to 25 and under and kind of big college populations. 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. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah, sure. For us, I think they fully understand the entrepreneurial journey and were really excited to have them on board. Were growing very quickly but none of that was true obviously in the first two years. Hes raising money now. So I saw for example Axle Springer which is you know more kind of like the corporate. I was really impressed when because its not hard, its almost impossible to land VC such as Kleiner Perkins on literally your first financing round, the seed round. Got it. 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. We want investors who look at $100 million in revenue as table stakes but they wont agree to a billion. Over time, its great to be able to bring in your team. 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. A lot of that is in the bank. Yeah. It seemed crazy that the real estate industry wasnt moving towards on demand. 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. And so I wouldnt be too pressured. 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. Hes raising money now. Were incredibly grateful for everything she did and she remains kind of shareholder in the company. So all good companies have multiple offers on the table. 1. So I as British person moving to Silicon Valley in 2012 I have never run a startup before. 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. How Zumper founder created software to solve the pain of apartment So it was never I want to be an entrepreneur journey. At series A, you got to show product market set in a sub vertical. Please subscribe to unlock this content. He was with HBS 10 years ago. Great question. 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. I mean I called it like a cheat [33:33] my team. Its a good question. Im the CEO and Ive always felt that it was my responsibility to do the fundraising. Anthemos Georgiades: Oh wow, good question. 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. Raising money first, marketplace businesses is still really difficult and Ive raised $90 million and Im still saying it is difficult. Anthemos Georgiades Current Workplace Zumper Location 555 Montgomery St Ste 1300, San Francisco, California, 94111, United States Industry Information Collection & Delivery, Media & Internet Description Discover more about Zumper Anthemos Georgiades Work Experience and Education Work Experience Manager, Summer Investment Atomico 2009-2010 So in the first two years, Zumper is now [07:52] $90 million in capital. Yeah. Saying that to your point, we see the deal was a successful and yet M&A is really hard to integrate. 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. Two sided marketplaces are so difficult. There was no book [01:41]. So for the business, Anthemos, how much capital have you guys raised today? 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. 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. 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. I think the startups end up wasting a lot of cash that could really extend runway but thats a different conversation. We both wanted to be entrepreneurs. In the early days we love the exposure to Silicon Valley investors. 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. Anthemos Georgiades: Its part of the game. And then when I moved out to America, Russel was software engineer at Google and I had no technical background so I basically hit up my network for anyone with a technical background living in the US who might be interested in joining and Russel and I really hit it off and he was the perfect cofounder. 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. Search icon - dusa.perfecttrailer.de Got it. It was like $46 million. anthemos georgiades net worth "These markets had a huge net migration from New York and California, and they have held up," he says. Had worked at the Boston Consulting Group. I met Russel who [04:01] engineering products through just the personal connections in London. Over-Communication. 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. Russell Middleton Co-Founder. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. How to tell a story worth $140 million dollars - Funded Podcast You start to build depth and management structures. 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? 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. 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. And it is the culture that keeps people here, not the compensation or anything else. Its not about the ski trips and any of that you know. Dave Costantino Staff Engineer - Backend. 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. At college in the UK, Ive had like multiple [00:58] renting apartments. There could be investors who are fantastic. Alejandro: Got it. We also actually had a really wonderful fourth cofounder whos no longer with us. Youre supposed to try six things that dont work. 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. 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 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. I say like in the first pitch to the day the money wires, theres always been around like a minimum of three months. Alejandro: Really, really nice to have you here and excited for the chat that we have ahead here. Anthemos Georgiades CEO at Zumper United States 4K followers 500+ connections Join to view profile Zumper Harvard Business School Websites Websites Company Website http://www.zumper.com Company. And as you know as and your listeners know, youre going to get a lot of nos on the way. Got it. Just enter your email below. city of phoenix setback requirements 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. 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. Thats just part of the game. Your job is to raise capital and your job is to kind of hire and retain the best talents. Your job as the CEO and the founder is to convince your investors of the reason to do this. So lets talk about Zumper here. I think Id say forget everything you think you know and everything, your education [38:28]. Anthemos Georgiades: Its just part of the game and it doesnt [24:30]. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah, I mean BCG I think you get access to the 23 year olds CEOs who had been working for 40 years and kind of crazy in consulting you take the shortcut in your careers to being in the board room. So in terms of timeline, you were mentioning that the C round, you guys closed this 46 million a couple of months ago. rex harrison audrey hepburn relationship. But oh we must have had like 20 persons or 20 people say not now or later. So how did you meet your cofounders? 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. 1.4.1 - Provisions of this Code Declared . 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. So you acquire not long ago Pat Mapper and how did this come together? I think if you hire four cofounders like yourself, thats difficult and luckily we didnt have that problem. Anthemos Georgiades, Author at The Zumper Blog Got it. So M&A are strategic [33:48]. And your cap table I mean as I was reviewing I just felt as I was looking at the Oscars of Silicon Valley, the red carpet. ! 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. Anthemos Georgiades: Yeah. And the biggest change in the series C I just raised versus in the early days is having a CFO. Oh wow, good question. Alejandro: Got it. So M&A are strategic [33:48]. 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. Oh yeah, on the seed round back in 2012, we had probably five investors come in to the seed round so we kind of had five yeses who put in small checks. You always have more nos that more yeses in fundraising but it was ultimately about just hustling my network as much as possible. Its a good question. It was incredibly difficult. Well, first of all, your point about quashing the egg and shooting the chicken. 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. I knew the CEO for a while. I grew up in London. 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. 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. 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. 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]. So I guess in just to like follow up on that, what in your mind and obviously in what youve seen creates really that magical relationship between cofounders? How did you find these investors? How flat is the company? I mean if you could give some kind of like tips you know both fronts it would be really fantastic. So I guess without further ado, Anthemos Georgiades from Zumper, welcome aboard. Got it. 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. Thank you so much. And so I finally just gave in and thought no one is going to build this. Get a custom action plan and all the help that you need to start raising more capital. They are the two ways that Zumper currently monetizes them and there are two folks that [11:35]. Try for free at rocketreach.co 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. 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. Saying that, in the early days you kind of need to bring on all the capital that you can. And as you know as and your listeners know, youre going to get a lot of nos on the way. Yeah. "While many markets cool off during the winter, Miami is still posting month-over-month increases. Anthemos Georgiades is the co-founder and CEO of Zumper. Its hard. So I think three months is an efficient round. Were incredibly grateful for everything she did and she remains kind of shareholder in the company. Anthemos Georgiades on Twitter: "77% of you were interested in a So I as British person moving to Silicon Valley in 2012 I have never run a startup before. Got it. Got it. Thats your job. 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. Of course. How does the day to day at Zumper work? There could be investors who are fantastic. 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 today, we have another founder and another one that is quite successful in their own paths. 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? Anthemos Georgiades is CEO/Co-Founder at Zumper Inc. See Anthemos Georgiades's compensation, career history, education, & memberships. Prior to his work at Zumper, Georgiades worked at the Boston . So the majority of that is still in the bank but yeah, we raised money in capital [12:00]. So Anthemos, whats the business model here? 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? Thats quite motivating for people. Got it. Taylor Glass-Moore Co-Founder. Im so glad I did it. Like many of our most successful entrepreneurs, Anthemos Georgiades was drawn into startup life to solve a burning problem. So thats how Zumper got started. I know entrepreneurs who spend nine months raising their rounds which is a long time but they got great rounds done. 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. Anthemos Georgiades, Zumper Inc: Profile and Biography They are brilliant about. How many listings do we have on the site? Got it. For me, its Zumper, an apartment rental platform. And so back to your point, yes, we want investors who are supportive of the fact that we didnt try to monetize the platform for the first three years because it would have created a barrier to entry. It just really helps to divide and conquer like that while I was meeting new investors again. How do you take a company with those tractions, 10 million in revenue. Were growing very quickly but none of that was true obviously in the first two years. So in terms of timeline, you were mentioning that the C round, you guys closed this 46 million a couple of months ago. Got it. Your third month is getting kind of diligence done and getting the wires in to the door. Vishal Makhijani President & COO. Anthemos Georgiades on LinkedIn: Elevate Academy | Elevate Leadership