New Opportunities

Early stage startups are busy. It’s not difficult to fill your schedule each day. I’ve talked on this blog before about saying “no” to some of those things and clearing your schedule to focus. Clearing space to think and create.

But this doesn’t mean you should completely cut yourself off. Thinking and brainstorming alone can only get you so far. You need other inputs. You need to read things. You need to meet with new people. You need to learn about other businesses and emerging technologies.

Doing this opens you and your business up to new opportunities. Keeping pace with competitors isn’t enough. You need to innovate. You need to create new efficiencies. You need to find ways to provide value to customers.

You do that by taking yourself out of the industry and out of the assumptions of the incumbents. Learn from the outside and innovate on the inside. Above all, put your customers first and provide them with a great experience.

Do You Shovel or Do You Wait?

After yesterday’s snow day, I noticed something during my commute home. Some businesses had their sidewalk shoveled, while others didn’t. A gesture like this, although minor, tells you a lot about a business. About how they operate and treat their customers.

In the world I live in (software startups), the snow is harder to see. But have no doubt — every business has snow at their storefront. Issues arise and impact the customer’s experience.

When your customers run into an issue that wasn’t cause by you (the business), how do you respond? Do you go out of your way to make it right? To clear a path and make sure their experience is positive? Or do you throw up your hands and force the customer to deal with it?

Hospitality is hard work. Putting customers first isn’t always easy. But it is the right path. Customers notice when businesses go out of their way to provide a great experience. And they express gratitude for that through loyalty and referrals.

Don’t wait for the sun to melt the snow. Shovel, shovel, shovel.

The City That’s Never Cheap

Renting in New York sucks.

This isn’t news — ask anyone who lives here.

70% of New Yorkers rent. It’s a process we all begrudgingly go through. Because it sucks. Here’s why:

View fullsize

Illustration of NYC rental market

1. Cost

Renting here is crazy expensive with the average currently at $4,000 a month. Add a 15% broker fee (average of $7,200) and the total spend becomes unaffordable.

2. Scheduling

The constant back-and-forth over Gmail is difficult to manage. If you have even one roommate, you end up balancing your schedule, their schedule, a broker’s schedule, and the building’s schedule. Not cool.

3. Headaches

The horror stories of NYC apartment searches are legendary. From the classic “Bait-and-Switch” technique to the “pre-war gem with character”. You don’t need games — you need a place.

Finding your new home shouldn’t be so painful. It’s a burden on your brain, your time, and most importantly — your wallet. But there is another way. And no, it’s not posting on Facebook…

“Hey NYC Friends! Moving to you in a month. Know any good brokers who take a lower fee?!”

---

SURPRISE!

No-Fee Apartments Exist!

I know, right?

That’s right. Apartments… without fees. But how?

By going directly to the property managers, that’s how. The real estate sites you visit today are ad-based. You hit the page, they make money, and you’re handed off to a broker who then brings you to the property manager.

“Couldn’t I just go to the property manager myself?” -You, right now

You sure can. Oh, and they even have Leasing Agents who are there to show and rent you the place. Pretty awesome, right?

It is awesome. There’s just a couple issues. First, you don’t know who the property managers are. And second, they’re limited because they only have their own listings. So even if you took the time, did the research, and found their site… they may not have apartments for you. Time wasted.

But if you put all these type of listings together on one platform… wouldn’t that be sweet?

Thanks Spidey

Yes, it would.

And that’s why we created Abode. Abode connects you directly to those awesome Leasing Agents with the no-fee apartments. It’s pretty great.

Here’s Abode
in 59 seconds…

TL;DR = watch video

Built by renters, for renters — Abode makes renting in New York City suck way less and rule way more. Let’s look again at our list above:

When you use Abode to find a place

1. Cost

Duh… no-fee means your total spend goes way down. The average NYC renter saves $7,200. That’s 1,387 Shake Shack burgers. Or like — three drinks at a bar.

2. Scheduling

Eliminate one schedule from the equation and things get a lot easier. The process is cleaner when it only involves the person viewing the apartment and the person showing it.

3. Headaches

You know what you’re seeing, when you’re seeing it, and you’re talking directly to the person who will rent it to you. It’s basically Advil for real estate.

The agency model was created in a world before the internet. It’s time we used technology to make this process more intelligent.

Your wallet will thank you.

Dear Customer, Suck It.

The Time Warner Cable Mission Statement

I’m annoyed. Like, really annoyed.

And it’s because of Monopoly.

View fullsize

No, not him. Them…

Frustration is aching at my bones to the point where I feel the need to write this post. So here, Internet, is an account of my last 120 minutes:

Minute 0

Browsing cable/internet packages on Time Warner’s website, I think, “Man, they don’t make this very intuitive. Let me just call and straighten this out with someone.”

I call the number listed on the screen.

Minute 1

I’m presented with a menu and asked to answer some questions. Pretty standard stuff. And, after a few responses, I get to talking with a real person.

Not bad guys, not bad at all…

We go through the process of giving name, address, contact info, etc. Now it’s time to figure out the package.

Minute 8

I’ve laid out the requirements, which he seems to be inputting into a system, and he responds with two different options.

Both of these options are completely different than what I was presented on their website. Hmmm... Curious.

One option is $126 per month. The second is $133, with better internet. Okay, let’s take that one. Buffering sucks.

“No problem, sir. Let me set this up. One moment, please.”

Minute 20

“Hello, sir?”

Yes, I’m still here. And I’m told that there will be an installation fee of $9.99 for the internet service. Okay, sure.

“Okay let’s schedule this… One moment, please.”

Minute 35

I’m graciously thanked for my patience, although I’m given no reason for the wait. He kindly lays out some options for when I can have the installation done. We agree on Friday at 10am.

“Great, thank you. Let me finish putting your order together. One moment, please.”

Minute 50

I’m at work and multitasking all the way through, so honestly, the wait hasn’t bothered me to this point. But having been on the phone for 50 minutes, I’m starting to wonder…

“Hey, I’m just curious as to what the wait has been for. I’ve been on the phone for almost an hour now.”

“My apologies sir, we are having issues with our system here. However, I am finalizing your order and wanted to let you know that the activation fee is actually $99.99. I apologize for the mix-up.”

Yeah, that “installation fee” is now an “activation fee” and is 10x the price originally given. He blames his own negligence. Okay, fine, I can live with that.

Let’s move this along, I have things to do….

“So you will have to pay that cost, along with the one-time fee for the cable boxes, up front. And your final package price is $144 a month.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa… Let’s back that up. I can forgive fudging the fee, but the monthly price is now $11 more than you had told me before. I ask him if he can review the order for me to clarify.

I’m put on hold. “One moment, please…”

Minute 65

The man has been nice, so I don’t want to take my frustration out on him. Time to tweet.

@TWC been on phone for over an HOUR (still on) to simply place an order to BUY YOUR PRODUCT. Worst. Buying. Experience. Ever.

— Adam Pittenger (@apitt24) March 25, 2014

Realizing I should have written Time Warner’s “Help” account, I loop them into my tweet, hoping for some sort of explanation.

Minute 70

The rep returns to the phone and recites two numbers to me. My order number and my account number. Both are 16 digits long, and it wasn’t exactly easy to understand.

I ask him to send over the package to me in an email so I can review, and given the time I’ve waited, request that he stay on the line with me. He does.

Minute 75

We wait together, as the email isn’t coming through. He recites my email address back to me and claims to try again multiple times.

I get four emails in this time, but none from Time Warner.

My patience is wearing thin and I tell him that this isn’t a reflection of him, but I’d like to speak with his supervisor to understand what is going on.

Minute 85

I get in touch with the supervisor who recites my email address back to me. It’s correct. He says that I should receive it within 24 hours.

My explanation of how unacceptable this is doesn’t seem to be getting me the email any faster. So I request that he read the entire order to me, in an attempt to confirm over the phone.

He recites the order, which is correct, and tells me my monthly total is $155 and that installation is set for Friday, from 11am-12pm.

This didn’t sit well with me, and I ask him why the previous representative told me a different number and time.

“One moment, please…”

Minute 90

Cut to: Twitter.

I get a reply from TW’s Help account, telling me that they can escalate the issue and have someone call me back.

I trust nobody can blame me for not taking them at their word and I decide to stay on the call I’ve already invested 90 minutes into. I tweet back…

@TWC_Help on w/supervisor which has proven more confusing & unhelpful. Price continues to rise arbitrarily. On for 90mins & counting...

— Adam Pittenger (@apitt24) March 25, 2014

They reply quickly…

@apitt24 As I said, I am happy to escalate this issue for a call back if you would like. Turn around time is 1-3 business days ^MO

— TWC Help (@TWC_Help) March 25, 2014

Ah yes, I’d love to give up on this 100 minute phone call so that someone from the Department of Incompetence can call me back to do it again in 1-3 business days.

Minute 100

The supervisor returns and apologizes for the poor experience I’ve had. He tells me that he doesn’t have the authority to remedy the situation and/or give me discount.

That, I’m told, can only be done by “Customer Care”. He says he will transfer me.

“One moment, please…”

Minute 104

After listening to four minutes of an unbearable tune I can only describe as “elevator music meets Skrillex”, a voice comes on the line. It’s a machine.

“We’re sorry that we are unable to hear you at the moment. We will now hang up. Please try calling back another time.”

Click.

Seriously though… click.

Silence. Unbelievable, blood pressure-raising silence.

And the only question I’m left with, is — why? Why did this happen?

South Park’s take on the matter

Because I have no choice.

Time Warner Cable has a monopoly on my apartment building, as it does most of New York City and a lot of our country. I literally cannot go to another provider. Short of hiring live entertainment every night (I’m debating), this is my only option.

Monopolies cripple the customer.

A monopoly like the one Time Warner Cable has does two things. First, it devalues the customer experience. “Why give a shit? They have to buy from us.”

And second, it completely halts innovation. There’s no reason to innovate when there’s no competition.

So not only does it suck now, but it’s not going to get better.

So what can I do?

Well for one, I’m praying that Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable will help things. But that seems a bit optimistic.

Next, there’s hoping that Verizon Fios (much better service) can expand more rapidly. Again, optimistic.

Or how about getting Google Fiber wired up over here?! Yeah… not quite yet.

The answer really is — nothing. I, and all consumers, have no power in this situation because of the monopolistic circumstances we find this [extremely important and relevant] industry to be in. My only hope is that others read this, can relate, and cause enough raucous for there to be actual change.

But again… optimistic.

So what I’ll do is wait.

Wait and wait for that email to come in (still hasn’t), because who the hell knows what the new cost and date of my installation will be. I sure don’t.

And I’m pretty sure nobody at Time Warner Cable does either…