[Editor’s Note: Below is the full text of our 233th Weekly Transmission, originally delivered direct to the inbox of more than 600 GEM members on November 16th, 2022.]

In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the beaches of present-day Veracruz in Eastern Mexico with 600 men set on plundering unimaginable treasure from the Aztec Empire. Before embarking on the inland journey, he said something remarkable.

“Burn the boats.”

The takeaway was obvious:

[Editor’s Note: Below is the full text of our 233th Weekly Transmission, originally delivered direct to the inbox of more than 600 GEM members on November 16th, 2022.]

In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the beaches of present-day Veracruz in Eastern Mexico with 600 men set on plundering unimaginable treasure from the Aztec Empire. Before embarking on the inland journey, he said something remarkable.

“Burn the boats.”

The takeaway was obvious: There is no turning back. His men would either secure the treasure and sail home in the Aztecs’ boats, or they would die trying.

Sun Tzu similarly advised burning “your boats and bridges” as you advance in war, and both Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great understood the psychology of this winning mentality.

Succeeding—as Cortés and his men did in conquering the Aztec Empire—requires commitment to win. It requires motivation and drive to move forward with zero uncertainty.

If the options are to either win or die, that reduces optionality. There is no going back when the going gets tough, as it inevitably will.

Yet, too often in our own lives we continually make excuses that keep us from achieving what we say we want.

So how can founders ensure this pivotal mindset is in place?

A PERSONAL JOURNEY After exiting Yodle for $342 million, I could have raised VC capital or self-funded my next startup. Yet I chose neither of those paths. Instead, I convinced 30 of my friends and family to write $10,000 to $50,000 checks in order to fund Opcity’s initial $1 million. This was a far more complex, time consuming, and difficult undertaking—these checks were not pocket change for my social network at the time.

Why put myself through that? To build into my venture an extra incentive to succeed. To make turning back or quitting unfathomable.

After Yodle, I knew how painful, challenging, and time consuming the life of a startup founder is.  To go through that again, I needed to cut every lifeline so as to remove from the table the ability to retreat or surrender when times get tough.

In the early days of Opcity, I would question why I was putting myself through the 24-hour struggle of being an early-stage founder. After having built Yodle to close to 1,500 employees and managing a large exit, I found myself cold calling once again, starting at the bottom rung.

If it was just investor money, or even my own, I may have thrown in the towel. Yet seeing all of my friends and family—without much money to begin with—lose their sizable hard earned dollars was unquestionably the worst possible outcome. They had placed their trust in me. I felt an imperative for success, to win at all costs, to return their money and more.

When we exited Opcity in 2018, I received far more joy from calling my friends and family and telling them their initial ~$50,000 investments were now worth close to $1 million than I got from personally exiting. My big risk paid off in spades. Though cliche to say, the impact on the lives of those I valued most in the world, my friends and family, was priceless.

TO EACH THEIR OWN Everyone has their own way of burning the boats. In my case, it was taking friends’ money so I could not quit or surrender. For others, it could be publicly declaring your goal. A friend of mine broadcasted to her entire social network her intention to lose weight—putting it on social media every day and talking to her friends brought accountability.

All entrepreneurs are self driven, yet “burning the boats” can build into the process additional motivation. I was going to win or die — but under no circumstance was I going to lose my friends’ and family’s money. Conceding defeat was not an option.

It’s not the right approach for every founder, but for many, finding “boats” or “lifelines” to burn so as to remove the temptation to surrender makes it easier to push through tough days and low points. It makes success a foregone conclusion. At least it did for me.

We are in a perhaps unseen market and uncharted waters right now. Capital is harder to secure, and real estate transactions have slowed to a trickle. What are the boats you need to burn to ensure success through it all?

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In this week’s founder interview, we’re bringing you Melinda Witmer from Foiye.

Without further ado…

Who are you and what do you do?

In this week’s founder interview, we’re bringing you Melinda Witmer from Foiye.

Without further ado…

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Melinda Witmer and I’m the founder & CEO of Foiye, a new social entertainment platform for the home, design, and real estate enthusiast.

Before founding Foiye, I spent 25 years in senior leadership roles at Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum) and HBO. Most recently, I served as TWC’s EVP, Chief Video Officer, where I ran the company’s multibillion-dollar video and content strategy, on demand and online video distribution operations. I also had the opportunity to launch multiple regional sports networks including networks with coverage of the Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers.

Through my career in media and entertainment, I always had a passion for home design, and I even had a side hustle flipping houses. Now, I’m excited to launch a new venture where I can combine my experience in media with my passion for real estate.

For more than a year, my team and I have been building Foiye, a new digital platform that brings real estate together with home and design entertainment to create an online community for home and interior design enthusiasts, real estate professionals and more.

What problem does your product/service solve?

Real estate agents are unrecognized and undervalued as content creators, storytellers, and talented marketers – millions of people each year view their content – but the platforms that distribute them are focused on transactions and data.

Foiye is a new platform built to provide agents the opportunity to stretch their marketing muscles and showcase their properties with creativity and to connect with consumers who use real estate as a form of entertainment and inspiration.

What are you most excited about right now?

I’m excited by disruption in the marketplace – while it brings stress and uncertainty, in many ways these will be the days of creative change and transformation. There will be many companies and new businesses that emerge from the difficult economic times we are experiencing. Amazing opportunities always emerge on the other side of economic downturns.

What’s next for you?

Raising capital and continuing to build a new experience for people who love real estate – an experience for the dreamers.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why? 

I have two passions – homes & animals. I am passionate about supporting large animal rescue – horses, farm animals – and supporting working creatures past their prime.

I am also passionate about low-cost creation of sustainable housing and the creative entrepreneurs and technology that are expanding the possibilities.

Thanks to Melinda for sharing her story. If you’d like to connect, find her on LinkedIn here.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop us a line ([email protected]).

[Editor’s note: Originally published in the GEM as a Weekly Radar entry.]

SYMBiHOM is a company in the Bay area that designs prefabricated garage to ADU conversionprefab kits that take less than 4 weeks to install. Based on the garage dimensions, ADUs can be a studio, 1-bedroom, or 2-bedroom living unit with a full bathroom and kitchen. The solution increases workforce housing, homeowner income, multifamily living and aging in place with income. The company plans to scale from 80 conversion

[Editor’s note: Originally published in the GEM as a Weekly Radar entry.]

SYMBiHOM is a company in the Bay area that designs prefabricated garage to ADU conversionprefab kits that take less than 4 weeks to install. Based on the garage dimensions, ADUs can be a studio, 1-bedroom, or 2-bedroom living unit with a full bathroom and kitchen. The solution increases workforce housing, homeowner income, multifamily living and aging in place with income. The company plans to scale from 80 conversion kits sold in 2022 to 4,000 in 2026. Interested in investing? They are running a crowd funding campaign here.

Here’s a before/after:

The company’s founder, Rebecca Möller, was the latest guest on the Rethink Real Estate podcast: Listen in to the entire episode here.

Garage to housing conversions is a topic we’ve covered before (GEM members only link). After seeing SYMBiHOM, I’m even more convinced of the opportunities coming down the pipe to bring housing units online.

iOi is September 28th and 29th in downtown Los Angeles (grab your discounted ticket here). The evening before, in a special collaboration with the one and only Greg Robertson, the seventh GEM Soirée is taking place in Orange Country.

Join us for cocktails and conversation to kick off the week of iOi! Mingle and enjoy time with real estate tech founders, execs, VCs, and practitioners. This event will be hosted in the work/car studio Greg shares with Dan Woolley in Costa Mesa (note it’s at least 45

iOi is September 28th and 29th in downtown Los Angeles (grab your discounted ticket here). The evening before, in a special collaboration with the one and only Greg Robertson, the seventh GEM Soirée is taking place in Orange Country.

Join us for cocktails and conversation to kick off the week of iOi! Mingle and enjoy time with real estate tech founders, execs, VCs, and practitioners. This event will be hosted in the work/car studio Greg shares with Dan Woolley in Costa Mesa (note it’s at least 45 minutes from the iOi venue). We’ll set up tables, have local brews and a few handles, snacks, cool music, and a bubble top hockey table. Very close to airport for out of town-ers.

Open to GEM members and C-level guests. Tickets are limited to 50, and will be allocated to GEM members and then guests will be first and then first come, first served.

RSVP Now

Since the Seattle event back in March, we’ve put on Soirees in New York (during Inman), San Francisco, and Chicago. Next up are Austin and Atlanta, though we’re also co-hosting larger happy hours with Proptech Angel Group both next week in Las Vegas and early October in New York during CREtech New York.

Want in on the action? Get on our Sneak Peek list below…

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