When Ben Levi questioned why he was paying $150 a month for a real estate agent to manage his rental property, he decided to launch RentingSmart; a web platform that allows property owners to manage their own rentals.
Two years later, Levi has now launched the site in both the US and Australia. The RentingSmart web platform allows a property owner to keep track of everything from rental payments through to scheduled maintenance.
“We’re helping you to avoid the landlord nightmare,” says Levi.
“Around 30% of the (rental) market is self-managing. It’s easy; property owners can now sleep at night.”
RentingSmart has come up with some creative ways to find both new trial customers and distribution relationships.
The team was at the Sydney Home Buyer and Property Show in July, where they signed 250 people up for a trial.
The company is also working closely with Macquarie Bank; the group behind DEFT, the standard rental payment system in Australia.
“You need to try and leverage your network,” says Levi. “While it was something we had on the game plan, having someone put you in touch helps a lot.”
“At the end of the day, while big corporates move slowly and don’t like risk, they’re people too and ultimately want to help out with a startup idea.”
RentingSmart is a platform that allows property owners to manage their own rentals (Screenshot: rentingsmart.com)
Levi says he has learnt some lessons since starting out. Getting a technical cofounder is essential, says Levi, who originally started RentingSmart by himself.
“I feel like we’ve had two different phases: one without a tech cofounder, and one with.”
“I’m not a developer, so I raised money and went to the US and came across a group who we outsourced to.”
Outsourcing proved too slow — Levi says getting someone in-house has been worthwhile.
“One guy who was working with the team, we got along really well. He ended up working directly for us.”
Levi launched the site with a six-figure investment from a former employer. That helped build the website, develop videos and launch the platform.
It’s important to test your ideas quickly, says Levi, who learnt that lesson the hard, expensive way.
“We learnt how to spent a lot of money very quickly in that first year. If we were starting again today, we’d build up our community first.”
Tools like Google AdWords are a useful way to test things like brand messaging and content for your website.
“Google AdWords is a great way to test copy. You can spend $1,000 on AdWords and that’s more effective than spending a few months interviewing people.”
Levi has spent a fair bit of time in the US over the past 18 months. He says the ‘Aussie mafia’ — a bunch of tech expats based in San Francisco — were a helpful network to tap into.
“They are super-friendly and it’s easy to ask questions. Community is so valuable.”