NEW YORK – September 26, 2024

When we first had the idea for Alfred in 2014 it was as simple as wanting to do something impactful with a friend. So we chose a problem that we had, actually the biggest problem we had at the time: making more time.

Was it the right problem? Who knows, but it was the right people because over 10 years our adventure has not only built a business, but it’s shaped an industry. In pursuit of giving time back through building a system of help into housing, we became:

– The first company to deliver a comprehensive resident experience application for multifamily residential (before proptech even existed) and launch it nationally

– The first technology company to buy a large scale property manager, our fabulous team at RKW Residential

-The first company to deliver a combined and comprehensive tech-powered management platform for institutional multifamily owners in the market

Our teams have also won numerous industry awards including, FastCompany: World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, NMHC top 50 management platforms, #5 in ORA Power Ranking by J Turner, Division I 2024 and #1 in Best Use of Proptech Multifamily Executive Awards 2023.

Yet, was this the adventure we expected? No. Has it been a Cinderella story? No. Have we “made it big” as we define it? Not yet. It has been extremely hard, full of impossible choices, painful lessons, and survival against the backdrop of COVID, collapsing markets, and fundamental shifts in technology. But, it’s also been extremely rewarding, massively impactful, and deeply worth it.

Even in good times, 65% of companies fail within their first 10 years. But we’re still here. So, as we look back over 10 years, with hopefully many more to come, we want to share 10 truths that we have learned along the way:

1. Be extremely clear on what you really want and repeat it. That means knowing why you are doing something and really caring about it. Are you focused on creating wealth, on increasing access to a solution, on learning about something at the edge of current understanding? Do you have the end in mind? When you are clear and in integrity with what you want, it allows you to communicate it everywhere and align your decisions, actions and words. That clarity becomes your culture and competitive advantage.

2. Be relentless from a place of care. If you really care, it’s easy to put in the time, energy, and endurance, which is a prerequisite to success.

3. Reality is more fun than the plan. The journey is not going to be a straight line, so don’t expect it to be. The adventures you go on are a lot more interesting and a lot more fun than the straight line from here to there.

4. Focus on one thing. Focus and try to really embrace that you only ever have one thing to do in a startup – the most important outcome, the one bottleneck. Make sure everyone in your organization knows their one thing and ensure that each one thing ladders up to your most important goal.

5. You’re only as good as your ability to manage your own psychology. This took a long time to learn. The single most important skill in building a company or leading a group of people is not how to code, not how to design, not how to use excel, and not how to manage others. It is how to manage yourself – and how to manage yourself when you don’t even know you need to be managed. Spend time paying attention to how you react and learn the tactics required to put yourself in a mindset that increases the odds of success.  

6. Stay in the arena. Theodore Roosevelt’s well known “Man in the Arena” has long been one of Jess’s favorites quotes. In brief: It is easier to criticize than to act, it is easier to quit than to continue, it is easier to be scared than to have courage, it is easier to leave the arena than stay in it. But, if you do only one thing, stay in the arena. Something else happens, some new idea occurs, a new opportunity arises. We are here because we chose to be and never stopped doing the work.

7. Don’t lie to yourself. To be successful you must, in equal measure, have a deep and precise understanding of reality (how much runway do you *actually* have?) alongside a powerful sense of possibility, optimism and conviction (we can and will deliver!). The first, without the other, can lead to fearful paralysis. The second without the first can lead to dream and delusion. Held together, they enable clear thinking, creativity, and the ability to navigate any terrain.

8. It’s always about the people. Every success we had was because we had a fabulous team and someone else helped us solve a problem. Every failure we had was because we made the wrong choice – the wrong person to hire, the wrong time to let someone go, the wrong reaction to a question, the wrong use of energy in an interaction. Always serve your team and invest in its foundation. It is the thing that stands between your success and your failure.

9. Know your customer. Building a product is a dynamic process and you have to make it with and for your customer. Really listen and look at what’s happening in reality, not just what seems rational. Having more than one customer makes things exponentially harder as you have to balance your priorities. Try to have only one at a time.

10. Build support around you. To build something takes more than any individual person has to give in an entire lifetime. It takes more than two founders, more than one team, more than any single group of advisors, investors, partners, parents, lovers and children. So be intentional and build a system of support around yourself and your team on day one. Always ask for help. Always have redundancy. Make sure you have a team for yourself personally, a team for yourself professionally, a team for your family, a team for your team. You cannot and will not do it alone.

Here’s to the next 10 years,

Jess & Marcela