Christian Faes speaks at Pi Labs' Entrepreneurs evening

Written by Leigh Rimmer

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Property Innovation Labs (Pi Labs) invests exclusively in PropTech start-ups, along with providing in-house expertise to guide and assist entrepreneurs in the scaling of their business.

This week our CEO Christian Faes sat down with a group of new entrants to the PropTech industry to shed light on his journey to date, reveal how Lendinvest has evolved and answer any questions they had surrounding the challenges that can arise whilst building a company from the ground up.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

“You should always be trying to innovate and do things better”

One of the key traits you see in businesses that continue to thrive and grow, is that they never settle. Being overly content with how things are often means you’ve stopped looking for ways to improve your business – this should never be the case.

“All the evidence is showing you you’re going to fail, so it’s believing in what you’re doing that becomes crucial”

Having faith in your product or idea and the courage and determination to stand by it is probably the biggest differentiator between companies who sink or swim. It can be one of the greatest risks you take, but if you don’t believe in it, who will?

“It’s about keeping everything lean until you get the natural momentum flowing”

Naturally the acquisition of capital reigns as one of the overarching challenges for start-ups. Approaching Venture Capitalists (VCs) can be a lengthy process, therefore keeping functions and spending lean internally is vital in the beginning.

“You can’t do everything. You have to know your business and master your primary market before setting your sights elsewhere.”

Knowing your limits and prioritising areas of interest when starting out is difficult especially when growth ramps up. Exploring expansion overseas may be the right idea for one company, but a big mistake for another. Sacrificing targets within your primary market for the sake of breaking into another has the potential to cause damage to your reputation.

“In a traditionally archaic industry, the opportunities when it comes to tech can seem endless. It’s about finding the balance between creating things because they look cool and what would actually be useful for your business.”

The future of PropTech is an untested (and exciting) one, but cultivating ideas that work and create real value in our day to day workings is always a priority.

Christian Faes speaks at Pi Labs' Entrepreneurs evening

Read more about Christian’s entrepreneurial journey