Ep 025: Your Network is Your Net Worth w/ Will Caldwell

Startup Life Hacks | Business and Life Advice | Founders | Entrepreneurship

Will Caldwell is a graduate from the University of San Diego/ After majoring in Accountancy, he has grown to publishing many articles in well-known sites such as Entrepreneur.com, Inman News, and Elite Daily. Will grew up in the real estate industry, with both parents working in the field. So it’s no surprise that he himself is also making a dent in the real estate world. He is the Founder and CEO of Dizzle, which is an app specifically designed for real estate professionals and organizations, to help generate more word-of-mouth leads.

STRATEGIES USED TO FUND BUSINESS

Initially it was teaching kite surfing. I was able to make cash quickly. Then I started a drone business to compliment my software business. I knew that I needed to get in front of realtors, so I took aerial photography of the real estate. It was a way to fund my activities before I was in the position to go out and raise angel capitol to grow the business.

DESCRIBE A MOMENT WHEN YOU FELT LIKE GIVING UP

I was in a legal dispute with one of my business partners and it didn’t look like things were going to turn out right for me to continue. At that point you just pray a lot and take it day by day. You can only control what you can do that day, and that’s the mentality I’ve taken because it’s so uncertain when you start a business.

HUGE SUCCESS

As we pivoted from our initial idea of selling apps to realtors, to then turning into an advertising platform for vendors to reach real estate agents or homebuyers during the sale of a house. To see the vendors happy and to see the business model working as we predicted, has been a phenomenal satisfaction to me and it’s the reason why I do this.

SUPERPOWER

Resilience. I won’t go down easily.

KRYPTONITE

It’s everything that’s going against me as an early stage founder. Running out of money. Customers don’t renew. Uncertainty, it’s hard to predict.

IF YOU CAN HAVE ANY SUPERPOWER…

It would be mind control so I can know what everyone else is thinking.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE OR APP

Toutapp: Tout lets you see who’s opening your emails

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

The Martian

WHAT IS YOUR STARTUP LIFE HACK?

Learn to network and learn to meet people and build relationships. That’s the key to starting a successful business.

ADVICE TO HACKER NATION

Start attending events like the MIT Enterprise forum here in San Diego or any type of forum like that. Before you start a business you need to establish your network because you’re going to need that when you begin.

FOLLOW

Twitter @dizzle @will_caldwell

Linkedin