Who inspires you?

For me, it’s less about a specific person or people, and more about certain characteristics of everyday people I meet. For example, dancers inspire me because of how they live their craft every day and the enormous amount of passion it takes to keep on dancing. My friends & family inspire me because they keep on laughing and living even as life smacks them in the face. Self-aware people inspire me because they’re unafraid of facing their truth, good or bad. People who are willing to stand up for something/ anything inspire me because they’re afraid, but do it anyway. Entrepreneurs inspire me because they walk the thin line between failure and success, and get better with every try.

Why are you an entrepreneur?

Funny thing is, I never thought to define myself as an entrepreneur because it was always something I just did. I’m curious builder of stuff who likes to help people do things simpler, smarter, better. Instead of taking things for what they are, the immediate question that pops into my head is: “is there a better way?” But, I think a lot of people do that. It’s the next step of actually trying to do something about it that’s the hardest (and where drop-off rate of entrepreneurs is the highest). I love the challenge of taking that next step.

What was a defining moment in your career?

I think it’s yet to come! Up to now, it’s really been a series of defining moments in the form of realizations. For example, the realization that traditional education prepared me for approximately nothing, allowed me to step outside the boundaries of my degree to explore various paths. I’ve been part of the finance industry, property management industry with UnitConnect, the hyper-local data wave in tech with NabeWise, commercial real estate with BuzzTarget—and I’m not done yet. All of these experiences let me to the defining moment where I realized I really can get anything done, go anywhere, and learn everything I choose to.

How is your company different from your competitors?

BuzzTarget’s mission is to become the Match.com of Commercial Real Estate (CRE). We’ve set out to redefine and transform CRE marketing by providing all players—tenants, owners, developers, brokers—with a way to reach their target audience quickly and easily.

Up to now, marketing in CRE meant either sending out a shotgun email blasts where you basically spam someone’s database, or sending an email blast to a small list of your own private contacts. BuzzTarget, on the other hand, maps user-preferences in order to create a laser-targeted approach to getting deals.

Where do you see your company in the next five years?

We’ll be the leading CRE marketing brand associated with targeted online interactions, where relevancy and user-set preferences are the baseline, not a dream.

The CRE industry has had so little innovation over the years with just 2-3 companies monopolizing most of online interaction. Right now, discussions around openness of technology platforms and user-centered design are just heating up. We’re excited to be on the playing field with some wonderful innovators.

What’s next for your company?

Right now, we have tenants, developers, owners, and brokers using BuzzTarget and getting results. We’ve just released several user-friendly features like social sharing, beautiful SEO-friendly listing pages, and enhanced professional profiles for our members. We’ve also developed an API for a more streamlined exchange of data between BuzzTarget and any other website. We’ve got some great ideas and partnerships we’re working on for 2013.

All of our efforts are centered around our users, which span across the entire commercial real estate spectrum (tenants, developers, owners, brokers, etc.) and how to best help them have an amazing 2013 by getting their deals done faster.

How did you finance your business when it was at the early stage? (Self-funded, crowd-funded, Angel Investor, VC)

With BuzzTarget, we’re mostly self-funded by choice with one angel investor. If we were to look for investors, it would have to be someone strategic with a connection to or knowledge of the commercial real estate industry. Besides the obvious financial backing, strategic investors provide enormous value as advisors, champions of your product within your industry, and intros to the right people.

With NabeWise, we both self-funded and had a few outside investors (including me), which worked out well since we got acquired by AirBnB in 2012. If you can do it the old-school way (revenue finances company growth), then do it. Scrappiness forces you to be creative. However, that’s a slower process. Unless you’re an inherently viral product, the current hyper-growth expected from tech startups takes a bit of money.

Tell me something about yourself that we don’t know already.

One of my favorite quotes is by Adam McFarland, “Sacrifice is not always admirable - sometimes it’s just plain stupid.” Take from it what you will, but I apply it to the very loaded notion nowadays of being/becoming an “entrepreneur.” Don’t do it to be on trend. Do it to create, build, change lives. Only then the sacrifice is worth it.

That, and I can move my ears.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Don’t think I don’t notice that this question is posed in singular, but like a true addict, I’ll answer in plural: Coffee, travel, and cheese. Not necessarily in that order, but ideally all together, in large quantities.

Describe a time you failed. What did you learn from that experience?

We sent out a newsletter with a discount offer when we first came out of beta with BuzzTarget and launched our monthly pricing plans. It was a limited time offer and we were hoping it would drive sign ups faster. We did get a few sign ups, but then it quickly dropped off. Why?

Discounts in B2B and B2C have very different results and should be used carefully. In B2C, discounts can drive people to your site and accelerate the sales cycle as they do in many of today’s shopping sites, for example. In B2B, up-front discounts devalue the product, and should really come in when the client starts negotiating with you, if at all. Lesson learned: think carefully whether discounts are a strategic marketing tactic for your specific business.

What is your favorite mobile app?

Pulse, where I can curate and read all my favorite news sources and blogs. The UI is gorgeous, the user experience is seamless, and it syncs between devices so I can read on my phone or tablet. Their team did an amazing job.

What do you do to help focus?

First, I stop multi-tasking. It’s very hard in this instant world of ours, but it really is the key to focusing. Our brains are short-circuiting on immediate communication, as well as the continuous stream of content we consumer AND produce daily. How can anyone focus?

Second, batch processing works. Tech programs use batch processing to execute a series of similar tasks one after the other. I’ve found that, for example, writing a blog post, a press release, and answers to an interview one after the other, works better than writing a blog post in the morning, a press release at lunch, and answers to an interview in the evening. I think when you group similar tasks together, your brain gets “in the zone” and the switch between tasks is easier on the noggin’.

Third, I drink something hot. For some reason, that makes me calmer and thereby more focused. This last one is not scientifically tested and could, quite probably, be a personal quirk.

What’s your cause?

Professionally, it’s to make it easier for BuzzTarget members to get deals done quicker through relevant connections with their target audience…all while eliminating irrelevant spam that comes their way. Personally, it’s to create happiness, build meaning, explore the world, and have fun.

Any words of advice for entrepreneurs who are trying to get their ventures launched?

When I started, my first company UnitConnect, people said why don’t you just get a normal job. When I invested in NabeWise and joined the team, people said don’t put all your eggs in one basket. When I started BuzzTarget, people said commercial real estate is not a sexy industry.

Advice: You know all those things you always wanted to do? You should go and do them. Stop listening to other people.