Showami started with a simple idea: make it easier for real estate agents to get help with showings when they need it. What began as a solution to a common challenge agents face has grown into a nationwide real estate showing service connecting agents with other licensed agents. Here’s a look back at how Showami got started and the challenges, milestones, and growth along the way.
It All Started On The Slopes
It’s 2015 in Denver and I’m a busy agent trying to take a Friday off to go skiing with a friend. We all know what happens to Realtors who try to take a day off. I got a call from a past client who received my automated alert that a home in the specific neighborhood they wanted to be in had just been listed and they had to see it that day. Uggh.
I had my skis on and almost made it to the lift when that call came in. I explained where I was and promised I’d find a friend in the office who could get them in and if they liked it we could write an offer that evening. I then proceeded to call and text all my fellow agents trying to get help from them to show the home.
It took about 40 minutes to find an available agent and then we had that awkward conversation about the commission. I explained that I’d been working with them and I just needed a door opened.
We agreed to $100 and she took it from there. I did end up writing an offer that night.
How the Idea for Showami Started
The next week I was having a beer at a tavern with my friend who went skiing with me and we decided there had to be a better way to get help when we needed it. So on a bar napkin with a pen we drew up the concept of what would eventually become Showami.
I had visions of Shark Tank dancing through my head with all the investors begging me to choose them. Little did I know how difficult and time consuming it is to take an idea from concept to reality.
There’s no shortage of good ideas, there’s a shortage of people with the means, grit and skills needed to see a project through to create a profitable business.
The next step was vetting the idea with other real estate agents to see if they would use a service like this if it was available. I created a survey and sent it to a few hundred Realtors in Denver asking them how often they help out other agents with showings.
Once I saw that 85% of agents had either shown a home or helped somebody else show a home during the previous 3 months I knew there was a need in the marketplace.
Building and Launching Showami
I was off to meet with attorneys and software developers to figure out how to protect the business and build the platform. As with any industry, software development companies vary greatly in quality. Their ability to deliver an MVP (minimum viable product) can also vary significantly.
I interviewed three companies and the bids came back between 40K and 225K for the exact same thing. I chose the company in the middle which quoted 75K and we began to build.
I took money from savings to build Showami and did not require help from outside investors. I did a lot of research on venture capital and angel investors which led to my decision to self fund.
Launching Showami in 2016
By October 2016 we were ready to launch and decided to get a booth at the state Realtor Convention in Colorado. We were excited to let the world know about this amazing tool that we had created. In the meantime I discovered two competitors with the same idea that had entered the marketplace.
One of the services was well funded out of Dallas Texas. The other was a low tech version in Denver that was trying to build a proof of concept. The company in Denver sent out an email to all it’s users including me. The email said they wanted a partner to help take the business to the next level.
The truth is that he was facing what I would eventually face. After all the time and energy put into building and improving the service, it still lost money every month. There wasn’t enough transactions taking place to make it a viable business. Showami acquired the Denver company for some cash and equity.
The October launch at the convention was disappointing. After all that effort, we only had 50 sign ups and no transactions. In November, we were able to import the users from the acquired company. Combined with our existing sign-ups, we finally started seeing some transactions. Agents were paying for showings, and other agents were getting paid to complete them. Those first few transactions gave us the motivation to keep moving forward.
Growing Showami’s Real Estate Showing Service
An MVP opens the door to possibilities, but as a founder, you become acutely aware of its shortcomings. You begin to think that if you just make a few changes to the platform, it will take off. Everyone will want to be a part of it. So within a year, I decided to invest another $40K into development and marketing.
We did see consistent but slow growth over the next few years. However, we still lost money pretty much every month. Money is the least of the investment a founder makes into a business. In many ways, the business becomes an extension of the founder. It takes up valuable time and energy, pulling attention away from the other business the founder was originally focused on.
The Challenges of Building Showami
In 2015 as a real estate agent I sold 72 homes with just myself and a transaction coordinator. Because of the time I was now spending on Showami my real estate business began a slow decline. I sold 63 homes in 2016 and never broke 50 sales per year again after that time. Think about this from a logic standpoint.
I sold 20 fewer homes worth over $100,000 in revenue. Instead invested time and energy into a company that lost money every month. Why would anyone do that? The simple answer is faith.
I had faith that this service I created was helping agents in their business and life. If enough people knew about Showami and used it, I believed it would eventually become a profitable business.
How Showami Grew During the COVID-19 Pandemic
By 2019, revenue had increased enough for us to afford a part-time software developer. Luckily, I had stayed in contact with the original engineer who built the platform. He was available and willing to work with me again.
It was so encouraging to see the wish list of features being built and experience users positive feedback and transaction growth. He was about to be brought on full time in 2020 until COVID hit and basically shut down our business for 45 days.
We agreed to cut his hours so he could find full-time employment. At the time, we had no idea if or when we would be able to show homes again. Then the unexpected happened. Beginning in June 2020, we experienced crazy exponential growth as agents were able to start showing homes again.
Building the Showami Team
When I look back at 2020- 2021 it amazes me how much I was actually doing. I was the customer support, administration, sales, marketing, legal and onboarding person. I was doing all of this and still hadn’t drawn a single dime from the company in the form of a salary or anything.
I knew that I had to get help. By October of 2020, my first hire was virtual assistants who could take all of the manual work from me. This is where I learned to actually build a business.
I was forced to create and document systems and processes for others to follow. This freed me up to focus on other work. It was a relief to hand off parts of the business that I didn’t enjoy and honestly wasn’t very good at. Eventually, we were able to bring on some really great people in administration, development, and sales/marketing. The business continued to grow and remained profitable well into 2022.
Navigating Challenges in the Real Estate Market
It’s easy to look to the past and see your mistakes. This year we spent a lot of time and marketing money. With hopes that we could grow even faster than the previous year. It made sense at the time. Agents are really liking our service and telling others about us all the time. Let’s spend some money to tell more agents about us and grow even faster.
But the market forces that higher interest rates created had a bigger impact than all of our marketing efforts. We were not immune from the transaction slowdown in our industry and are finding new ways to pivot and offer additional services to meet our client needs.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my experience as the founder of Showami.
My hope in writing this is that you have a better understanding of the very real struggles and triumphs I experienced as a founder. There were challenges at every stage of growth. Along the way, there were several times when I wanted to quit and sell the business.
The thing that keeps me going is the belief that we are really helping agents and having an impact on their business and life.