We had the chance to interview Blake Janover, CEO of Janover Ventures.The commercial real estate technology firm developing tools to create a self-service model for multifamily and commercial property borrowers. 
 

Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and Janover Ventures?
A: I have about 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur within this specialized niche. My focus has generally been at the intersection of multifamily and commercial real estate, capital markets, and technology. These days it’s called CREtech (It seems like you can throw any three to four letters in front of “tech” these days and you’ve got yourself a hot industry. Anyway, I digress). Admittedly, there’s a lot I’m not good at, but the things I am are: real estate, capital markets, digital media, and technology (as it specifically relates to the former).   

Janover Ventures was launched in April 2019 to solve the problem of asymmetric access to information and capital among multifamily and commercial property investors and the high-friction process of obtaining the best loan for their needs. We’re using technology to make commercial real estate finance easier to understand and access.
 

Q: At what point did you realize you had a viable business model?
A: I realized that we had a viable business model when I launched our first website. Admittedly, we were a bit premature relative to having scalable infrastructure in place (or in this case, lack thereof), yet we still  appeared as the first result on Google (GOOG, GOOGL) for folks searching for “multifamily loans.” I immediately recognized the potential and knew it was something I could replicate at scale. The potential existed in adding deep educational value to commercial property borrowers and ultimately client acquisition volume to aligned lenders… with Google facilitating the connection courtesy of SEO (search engine optimization).
 

Q: Did you hit any roadblocks that almost caused you to throw in the towel?
A: No. I’m not a towel thrower. I’m of the stubborn sort, where I just kind of keep getting up and trying again. That’s not to say that I have never failed. I have had plenty of failures in the past (perhaps too many to fit into this article) and I experience micro-failures all the time. Culturally, as an organization, we conduct a lot of small experiments. Some work, some do not, but we do have a heavy bias towards action, which lends itself to both micro-failures and long-term successes.
 

Q: What kind of traction have you had since you first launched?
A: While we are definitely a small company, the traction has been embarrassingly humbling. Each month, we interact with more than 100,000 unique organic visitors to our websites. We average more than $2BB a month in online loan applications and we have arranged more than $150 million in loans since our inception slightly over 12 months ago. We have helped facilitate tens of millions of dollars of PPP loans for our users and we have attracted unbelievably smart and amazing humans to work for us.
 

Q: Is there any advice you'd give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?
A: If you’re not getting the results or the answers you’re looking for… ask better questions.

Q: Is there anything that you would do differently with your company if you could start over?
A: Gosh, I don’t think so. Did I make mistakes? Sure. But it’s part of the process… it’s super iterative and that contributes significantly to the fortification of a strong culture and the camaraderie among our teammates.

Q: Was it always your goal to have your own company?
A: It was always my goal to make and create cool stuff and add value to the world. I have been an entrepreneur pretty much my entire adult life, outside of a couple odd jobs in college flipping pizzas, and a short stint making coffee at Starbucks. I have owned and operated my own businesses since I was 19 years old, employed more than 1,000 people, and at this point it is part of who I am as a person. 
 

Q: What makes your company different from others in your space?
A: We’re deeply vertically integrated, from early-stage customer acquisition via our proprietary network of owned websites, all the way through our direct lender-connections. Our obsession over UX (user experience) will pay off in the long run and it’s already reflecting nicely on our bottom line.

Q: If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of business/financial advice, what would it be?
A: Learn from other people. Asking for help and feedback is not a sign of weakness.,It’s a sign of humility and strength.

Q: Who was the greatest help in creating your company?
A: My wife. She inspires me and motivates me to think bigger and differently. She didn’t suggest I create this company, but she planted the seeds. I guess she’s a farmer in that sense, and while I consider myself to be clever, she’s at another level. 
 

Q: How has creating Janover Ventures changed your life?
A: I spent some time thinking small and keeping business small. Creating Janover Ventures has created an outlet to build a community and a culture for our users, borrowers, lenders, employees, and contributors. Working in this environment is motivating and exciting, and I am challenging myself to do all sorts of things that I had never done in the past. It makes me uncomfortable and that discomfort is almost always a prelude to positive change and personal evolution in my experience. 
 

Q: Is there anything else you want to share with our audience?
A: We have been bootstrapped up until now, but we want to pour some rocket fuel in this… rocket.; so We are accepting investments for a limited period of time, which will enable us to: hire more incredible people, expand our network of websites and content creation, build better software, super-charge client experiences, and take our digital marketing to the next level. Demand has been unbelievable, but there is still (as of the time I’m sharing this) opportunity to invest. Visit republic.co/janover-ventures, register, and invest in the future of commercial real estate finance through our crowdfunding campaign. We’d be grateful and excited to have you on board!

Collateral:
Janover Ventures Crowdfunding Campaign
Janover Ventures Website
Janover Ventures Brands