A Year of Firsts (With much gratitude to our friends & family!)
2016 has been an incredible year of firsts for us. Like many of you, who experienced many “firsts”, ranging from buying your first home this year, to hosting your first movie night, to celebrating your first holiday season in your new home, among many others, it seems like every day was a new first for us in 2016.
A Year of Firsts
- Jan: First Alaska Airlines miles’ purchase
- Feb: First new construction purchase (and first $1M+ home)
- Mar: First listing for a former client who had a job relocation
- Apr: First VC pitch to investors
- May: First PR release, announcing our rewards program with Alaska
- June: First Tour Leader, Vinny, joined our team (and Tushar and Steve graduated from Kellogg…phew!)
- July: First time a client bought a second home with us, and our lead software engineer Zak joined us full-time, accelerating our platform growth
- Aug: First client referral (from a previous client)
- Sep: First live TV interview for us
- Oct: First remote home purchase from China with help from Yikun, who joined full-time to build a strategy to grow this channel
- Nov: First international office opened in India to grow our software development team with Chinmay & Prabhjot joining full-time
- Dec: First offer in San Francisco, first home sale in Boston, and first time I was told I needed my own Twitter account, by Irem, who we hired to build out our marketing and social media strategy
Looking Back on 2016
One year ago, today, we were really just two MBA students with a vision who had helped their first clients buy a home, working with an undergraduate computer scientist who was helping us build a website.
Yesterday, we helped our 50th client with their home purchase! Our team has expanded to 8 full-time employees that are working around the clock to help a growing client base in Seattle, lay the roots in new markets (hello Boston and San Francisco!), while at the same time investing feverishly in a technology stack that will revolutionize home buying for our clients in 2017.
Great Expectations For 2017
Our business has doubled nearly every quarter in 2016, which has allowed us to reinvest in the company, helping us lay the foundation for what is looking to be a transformative year in 2017.
- Partnerships: Later this month, we’re going to announce our biggest partnership yet, and we’re set to announce 5 other partnerships between now and April. Think earning airline miles is fun when buying a home? Wait until you hear the exciting new rewards coming up that will open doors for new experiences that can take you anywhere you want.
- Technology Platform: With the investments we were able to make in 2016 in software development, we’ve laid the foundation for a revolutionary home buying platform. Smart recommendations, scheduling bots, smart locks at homes, and even AI transaction coordinators will help us scale and build the ‘smart’ brokerage we’re striving for.
- Network Effects: Real estate is a business of referrals. Because of the reviews and feedback that many of you are sharing, network effects are growing our business organically and exponentially, motivating us every day to be better at what we value the most — to offer you incredible service for your home purchase.
With all that being said, we couldn’t have done this without you: our clients, friends, mentors, employees, and family, who’ve encouraged us, trusted us, and helped us get to this position as we head into 2017. It’s been a remarkable 2016, and we can’t wait to show you the output of what we’re investing in today for 2017.
From all of us at FlyHomes, we want to wish you and your loved ones a heartfelt and wonderful New Year with many new firsts to come!
Happy New Year,
Steve & Tushar
