Real estate startup makes it easier for Houston small businesses to find space
Clickable
Whether you're looking for a home, a hair stylist, or an electrician, you're probably going online to find it. A Texas startup is trying to make finding retail or office space for small businesses just as easy and accessible.
Traditionally, businesses hire a broker to find applicable commercial real estate property to rent. But Josh Feinberg, a former broker with J. Beard Real Estate Co., says small business owners are more frequently beginning the search process online themselves — to no avail, since there really isn't any resources out there for tenants.
"We're the only tenant-focused platform," Feinberg says. "Commercial real estate isn't like residential where there's 100 websites that can show people homes to buy or apartments to rent."
He's worked over the past few years with his business partner, Marissa Limsiaco, to create Tenavox, an online referring platform where small business owners can search and find properties that fit their budgets, space requirements, and location.
"We're in a time where people don't want to waste time to be matched or linked to things they need, whether it be food coming to your door or a car picking you up to go somewhere," Limsiaco says. "Tenavox almost like a dating platform, where business owners tell us what their needs are in a space, vendors tell us who their ideal client or tenant is, and Tenavox matches them efficiently."
Tenavox currently has over 120 million square feet of rentable, searchable property in Houston and Austin. The company launched in Houston originally, where both the founders are from and where Feinberg is based, before moving into the Austin market, where Limsiaco now lives. It's free for users — just sign in with your email address and begin your search. You get only results that fit your specifications, and Tenavox only gets a kick back when a deal is made. The startup also recently picked up funding from RealCo, an accelerator program funded by Geekdom Fund.
Brokers stand to benefit from Tenavox as well. It's cheap for retail or office brokers to list their properties — $25 a year per property — and brokers only get potential leads that fit the profile of the property. For instance, if a small business owner is looking for a retail space in the Galleria area, they will only be matched with properties in the Galleria area that fit their budget.
"Brokers' sole job is to generate transactions," Feinberg says. "Tenavox is the only targeted marketing solution that is qualified lead generation for commercial brokers."
But that's just the start for the company that launched in March. Now that the infrastructure and data is set in place, Feinberg says they will expand to all the major Texas cities by next year and in over 50 markets nationwide in the next five years. Feinberg says they are targeting metros in private-record states, where traditionally there's more power on the landlord side of transactions.
Tenavox is also expanding its features for users. VoxLink is a search engine option within Tenavox where users can find reputable brokers, lawyers, moving companies, or other service providers.
"We're not just a listing site," Feinberg says. "We're a comprehensive resource."