“Access to capital is simply not enough for most startups to get off the ground. It’s vital for inexperienced entrepreneurs to learn the ins and outs of the game from the ground up.” – Kosta Panagoulias, Co-Founder Web4Realty
So how can a real-estate entrepreneur, in the early stages of their startup, get expert assistance and invaluable guidance? How can they learn the “ins and outs of the game” The answer: through Web4Realty’s new incubator.
Web4Realty provides marketing software and websites for real estate professionals. With the success of Web4Realty, the founders decided to launch their first in-house incubator, to further assist real estate professionals and help them grow alongside Web4Realty.
This Q&A interview between Kosta Panagoulias and I, will give you an insight of what Web4Realty’s incubator is all about.
Q: What inspired you to create Web4Realty’s incubator?
A: Looking back, growing our company from two guys working out of a basement, into 15 full-time employees in 3 countries was certainly not easy. We learned that the biggest benefit for a startup is not access to funding, but access to knowledge and experience. We feel it’s our obligation and duty to share our experiences and knowledge with other young entrepreneurs in our community.
Q: What is the goal behind Web4realty’s incubator?
A: Our aim is to provide young startup software companies specializing in the real estate market, the resources and mentorship to grow, commercialize and scale their businesses. We’re passionate about helping entrepreneurs in our community, and very excited to work with the brightest young minds in the industry.
Q: What were some of the challenges you had to overcome in order to open this incubator?
A: There weren’t too many challenges, other than dedicating some time to work with the entrepreneurs to help them with their vision – and free up some office space!
Q: What do you offer to incubants and how many incubants do you currently assist?
A: We selected the first company, Schedulock, to join our incubator in November. As part of the incubator, we offer free office space for six months, extensive hands-on mentorship from myself and my co-founder, as well as access to our business resources and discounts. We plan on opening up applications to our second incubator session in June 2016.
Q: As the co-founder of Web4Realty, where do you see this incubator in the future/ or what do you aspire it becomes?
A: This entire experience is still new to us, so we’re still improving our system and making the process positive for us as well as the startups we’re trying to help. We want to work with at least two startups per year moving forward. Who knows, maybe in the future this will be a completely separate entity that works with multiple startups. The real estate technology market is massive, and there’s certainly a lot of problems out there that we can help bright young companies to solve.
Q: How can someone apply and what are the requirements?
A: Applications are open to any startup focusing on the real estate market. Our requirements are not very rigid. We simply look for individuals or teams that are dedicated, motivated, hungry to succeed, and open to new ideas. Startups are able to apply on our website.
Congratulations to Web4Realty for opening its incubator, we wish you all the best and future success! If you’re a real-estate startup and need some help, check out Web4Realty and apply to its incubator.
