Building a PropTech Venture with a Virtual Team: Discount Lots President Paul Hersko (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: All of the properties are in Los Angeles?

Paul Hersko: In the desert though, like near Joshua Tree. That’s how we started. We just bought a bunch of properties.

Sramana Mitra: Why did you choose outside of Los Angeles area?

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How to Raise Pre-seed Startup Funding

The toughest round of funding an entrepreneur will seek to raise is pre-seed investment. It has the lowest probability of success, the highest amount of ambiguity, is poorly defined, and causes the greatest amount of confusion and missteps out there.

Over 99% of the entrepreneurs who seek financing are rejected.

So, my humble advice to all entrepreneurs: please learn to assess your own probability of getting funded.

For our Seed Capital series of podcasts and blog interviews, I’ve interviewed hundreds of investors, especially micro-VCs and angels who play an important role in the early-stage game.

As I expected, a large number of investors are still chasing Unicorns. They are interested in investing in companies that will go from 0 to $100M in 5-7 years. And they will consume a great deal of capital in the quest of hitting the coveted billion-dollar valuation mark.

However, I am pleased to report that I have spoken with a good number of investors who recognize the niche opportunities.

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Building a PropTech Venture with a Virtual Team: Discount Lots President Paul Hersko (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: How do you finance yourselves?

Paul Hersko: We have a fund that we run. People can invest in our fund. Let’s say you invest $150,000. We take that money and purchase property with it and provide our investors a return. Then, we sell the land.

Sramana Mitra: What behavior are you seeing in your user base? Are people buying the land to make money off of the land or are they mostly buying just to use the land?

Video FAQs

Thursday, February 16 – 599th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 599th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET/9:30 p.m. India IST.

If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch” and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to “attend” to watch, learn, and interact through the online chat.

You can learn more here and REGISTER TO PITCH OR ATTEND HERE. Register and you will receive the recording by email, even if you are unable to attend. Please share with any entrepreneurs in your circle who may be interested. All are welcome!

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped to $13M in Niche E-commerce

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

We continue to be bullish about niche e-commerce as a category to build sustainable businesses in. The journey of Pavel Sokolovsky, Co-founder of eComfort.com, is a further illustration of the trend. One year after we spoke in 2014, eComfort.com was acquired by Power Equipment Direct/Ferguson Enterprises.

Sramana: Pavel, let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where are you from? What is the genesis of your entrepreneurial aspirations?

Pavel Sokolovsky: I was born in Minsk, Belarus. I moved here with my family at a very young age in 1989. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. My father had an entrepreneurial background. In the mid-1990s, he started his own contracting business doing heating and cooling work. That was his second or third business by that time. I grew up watching him go through the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship. I was inspired by it and when the time came, I wanted to have a shot at it.

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Macroeconomic Conditions Hurt Apple, But …

Earlier last week, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced its first quarter results that failed to meet the market’s expectations. Apple attributed the miss in performance to three key factors – a strong dollar, production issues in China, and the overall macroeconomic environment. However, the silver lining is its growth in the Services Segment and its thriving ecosystem.

Building a PropTech Venture with a Virtual Team: Discount Lots President Paul Hersko (Part 2)

Paul Hersko: Then my entire life changed in 2019. My brother-in-law took me to this party. He said, “I have a good friend who owns this business. He’s our age. You might like him.” I started talking to him. I was learning about his business and he was like, “I have this company where I sell land online and people buy land with a credit card.”

We started to become good friends and learned more and more about what he was doing. I was absolutely fascinated. I was in e-commerce, which I loved. And it was real estate that I wanted to be involved with, but didn’t have experience in it.

15 Udemy Courses on How to Transition from a Developer to an Entrepreneur

Millions of developers sit at their computers daydreaming about running their own company and making a difference in the world. They may even have fantastic ideas, but because they know nothing about business creation, they do not know how to turn ideas into a real company. 

The developer-to-entrepreneur way is not an easy one, but it can be done. It has been done repeatedly. At 1Mby1M, we specialize in helping developers make this transition effectively and successfully. 

If you are such a developer, this set of courses will help you. Let us start with case studies of successful transitions. To apply current discount coupons, click on the courses found HERE.

From Developer to Entrepreneur Case Studies with Sramana Mitra

After getting some inspiration, the first concept that you need to understand is Bootstrapping. 

Bootstrapping Startup Case Study with Sramana Mitra

What is Bootstrapping?

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