Garret (00:06.175)

Jonathan, welcome to the podcast.

Jonathan Faerman (00:08.662)

Hi Gary, the pleasure to be here.

Garret (00:10.687)

Yes, absolutely. So before we get into the so -called meat and potatoes of the podcast, it's going to be a very, very interesting subject, I'm sure. I picked a really nice title for it. Why don't you start by telling the audience a little bit about your background?

Jonathan Faerman (00:28.022)

Sure, so I am originally from Argentina and I came to live in Canada about 12 years ago. I'm married. I have two kids. My background is in data analysis and business and I'm a real estate enthusiast.

Garret (00:50.527)

Okay, awesome. You know, I find often the, you know, our future ambitions are kind of the seeds are planted in our childhood. Can you share maybe any early experiences that sparked your interest in even entrepreneurship and what you're doing right now?

Jonathan Faerman (01:06.966)

Yeah, absolutely. So my family, they're all entrepreneurs, to be honest. My grandparents, my father, my uncles, everyone is entrepreneurs. So I grew up seeing that and that was a big influence. And I knew at some point in my life, I wanted to do something on my own. It took me a while to do it, but I was very happy when I started this a couple of years ago to also do something on my own.

And from real estate, from where I come from, from Argentina, real estate is one of the only trustworthy investments and it's something that will last. So also very ingrained in my childhood, seeing real estate as something that lasts and something where you can put your money or your effort in.

Garret (01:56.223)

Okay, what type, why don't you expand on that a little bit? What type of real estate did you see around your family growing up?

Jonathan Faerman (02:01.942)

Well, in Argentina, the economic situation is not very stable, inflation, so you cannot really invest in all the other elements. So people would invest in real estate just to hold properties or to develop properties. So that was something common around me while I was growing up, seeing that real estate as a solid investment. So...

that stuck with me as something I would like to do, I wanted to do when growing up in later stages of my life.

Garret (02:35.455)

Okay, I'm really interested in what I call origin stories. And that's why I want to dive a little bit deeper because I, you know, you mentioned the instability of the country. You know, immigrating to a new country is a huge step, absolutely huge challenges, you know, and opportunities. What initially inspired you to move to Canada specifically? I believe you're currently in the province of Quebec, is that right?

Jonathan Faerman (03:03.414)

Yeah, that's correct. I mean Montreal and Quebec. Yeah. Yeah, like moving countries, immigrating is really, really challenging. It's a life changing experience. It opens your eyes. You need to adapt. You need to change your mentality. Back in Argentina, I was in my comfort zone. So when I moved here, I had to go out of my comfort zone, basically meet new people, start to network, to do different things before I didn't have to.

Garret (03:05.856)

Yeah, tell us about that.

Jonathan Faerman (03:30.678)

In Argentina, the country is amazing. It's super nice. People are super nice. But to develop a fulfilling professional career and being financially independent is very challenging. So I wanted to do something different. My father moved to Canada many, many years ago before me. So I came here to visit. And after one of the last visits, I said, okay, I would like to have also an international experience. So I did my papers and started my process to get my PR.

took me a couple of years to get that and then I decided to move. Canada is very welcoming, the people is amazing, incredibly welcoming experience. So even though it's challenging, I think it's the best in that sort of environment. Really, really welcoming place.

Garret (04:19.103)

Well, congratulations on getting your PR. I mean, that is a huge accomplishment. Yes, and you know, I think Canada is very good for that and welcoming. I mean, America in general, but Canada specifically. How did your views on real estate and the opportunities, what did you see when you came here?

Jonathan Faerman (04:40.022)

I saw in general the lot of things that I thought were impossible back there, but like in my home country here were actually very possible and quite reachable if you actually work hard. So being independent, investing in real estate, owning a business, starting your own company, plan for the future, plan for retirement, those things were actually reachable, very possible.

So that's changed a bit my mentality. I need to plan, I need to work hard and those things are actually going to be possible.

Garret (05:14.175)

Why don't you tell me, I'm very curious. So in Argentina, when you say you can come to Canada, work hard and you can reach your goals, what kind of barriers and obstacles do you regularly see in your home country?

Jonathan Faerman (05:25.846)

Well, for example, let me give you a like back to real estate mortgage rates over there are above 20 %

Garret (05:33.535)

Wow. Wow.

Jonathan Faerman (05:34.646)

That's it. So you're a young person, young professional wanting to buy a condo for yourself with 20 % or something in mortgage rate, it's impossible. That's it. Right off the bat, it doesn't work. Inflation rate for the past year has been over 100 % and has been like that for many, many years. So the value of the currency is not... it evaluates in time, so you cannot really save money.

There are a lot of ups and downs every 10 or 15 years there is a huge economic crisis that wipes out a lot of value, people lose their jobs and businesses go bankrupt. So all that economic situation makes it very challenging.

Garret (06:19.903)

I can't even imagine 20 % interest rates. And you're right, obviously it's tied to inflation. How do people do business there? I mean, there must be people that are taking out these loans, but I mean, is it sort of the rich just get richer? What's going on?

Jonathan Faerman (06:34.166)

Yeah, well, you have that people, they would live with their parents until very, very late stages in their lives, that to begin with, people they don't become independent right away. So that's very challenging for them. Yeah, you have a small portion of the population is doing really, really great. But you have, I think poverty now is above 50%. So you have that disparity.

Garret (07:00.927)

Wow, 20 % interest rates and the interest rates here, as you know, have been climbing and you know, five, six, 7 % seems to be the norm right now, but I think people got spoiled with our two and 3 % interest rates a few years ago. But I mean, I'm hoping that people who listen to this podcast really appreciate that you can be very prosperous with your five to 7 % interest rates in real estate. That's crazy.

Jonathan Faerman (07:08.054)

Yeah.

Jonathan Faerman (07:26.966)

Yeah, when you put it in perspective, it's not that bad.

Garret (07:30.079)

Yeah, absolutely. So let's dive into your experience a little bit. You mentioned in your intro that you're into data analysis. Why don't you take us through the different types of jobs that you have had in your career, and then we can dive into what inspired you to create your platform.

Jonathan Faerman (07:49.718)

Yeah, so I started my career more in the sales, financial space. And then after I completed a master's in machine learning, I started working in data analysis. I did that for a couple of years back in Argentina. And then when I moved to Canada, I started right off the bat in that, in multiple companies, very old, very good companies. So I was very, very lucky to have that experience. And then...

how I went into real estate, it was almost by chance. So I was lucky enough, I bought a condo downtown Montreal. I held it several years and then I got married, had my first kid. I moved to the servers, but I kept my condo and I rented it out. So that was my first experience as a real estate investor renting out a condo. I had some interesting anecdotes with that, that it was not all roses.

but it was a nice first experience. And I wanted to, I sold it and I had the money. I said, okay, I want to buy something bigger, but because of the time, commitments, money, et cetera, I wanted to do it with a partner and I didn't know anyone. So I said, okay, I'm sure other people are facing the same challenges. They want to invest with partners, but they don't know anyone. So I said, okay, I see this is an opportunity for me to create my business.

And that's how Investium was born, as a place for people to meet, to invest in real estate together.

Garret (09:20.991)

I love it, yeah. I think the average person has to do networking, but even then that network is so small, whether it's a 20 person real estate meetup in your city, but how do you start to go outside your city, right? I mean, I love that you found a need and you made a business out of it. So that's a great place to segue. What is Investium and what exactly does it do?

Jonathan Faerman (09:46.326)

So Investium, it's a free platform where people meet to invest together in real estate, the way it works. If you want to think it as a platform where people meet, you will create a profile, it takes less than a minute. It will ask you four or five questions regarding your investment preferences. So you will say, okay, I want to invest in this type of properties, this type of strategies, location, budget, and you're inside. Once you go in, you can see...

two things. You can see other users, other profiles, and you can connect with them based on also their preferences. So you can right away find people that has the same objectives as you. And the most innovative part, you will be able to see investment groups. You can create your own or you can join existing investment groups. So let's say you want to buy multi -family properties, a quadruplex in some place, could be Toronto, Montreal, could be Vancouver, Calgary, doesn't matter where.

And you don't see any group existing that resonates with you. So what you're going to do is you're going to create your own. You're going to give these details. And that's it. Anyone can create a group. And then you can recruit people to join your group or other people that sees that group, they can join you. And once you are inside the group, that's where the magic happens. You start chatting with them.

You can share files, you can share links, you can detail tasks for people to do so you can start collaborating in this secure space. People from outside the group, they cannot see what's happening inside of these groups. So it's secure in that sense. You can share more comfortably properties you've found, some financial information, you can share this kind of things. And then you can meet offline to go prospecting, for example, and to start completing the project if you sign deals, et cetera.

Inside of Investium, there is no money exchanged. The transaction doesn't happen inside of a platform. This is a place where people they meet and they can collaborate securely.

Garret (11:49.663)

I heard you on another podcast when I was doing some background research and preparing for the show here and one person compared it to almost like a dating app for investors. Would you agree with that?

Jonathan Faerman (11:59.19)

Yeah.

I agree with that. I agree with that. And it's one of the reasons why I created it. I met my wife online on a dating site and I said, if you can meet a life partner online, why cannot meet a business partner online? Right. And so I'm not, I'm not opposed to that comparison. I think it's a good one.

Garret (12:07.839)

Nice.

Garret (12:15.135)

Yep.

Garret (12:21.279)

Okay, so if I can, if I heard right, it's free. You can just sign up, you can see profiles, you can just reach out to people. And then if somebody wants to choose to, I guess, lead or create a group, do they control that group after?

Jonathan Faerman (12:27.862)

Thank you.

Jonathan Faerman (12:36.566)

Absolutely, they become the host of the group, the admins, so they can allow people to come in. For example, if someone would like to join the group, they will need to request access and the admin needs to grant that access.

Garret (12:50.847)

Okay, so let's say that, I mean, obviously I'm in Winnipeg, you're in Montreal. So if I'm using the platform and I meet some people and we're chatting and it's like, you know what, let's do something together, but let's keep it on this platform. I'm just gonna create, I don't know, apartment Winnipeg group. And it's only gonna be the four of us and we can talk about all our deals. And so does he do the other users? Did they just see the title of the group, but they can't get in? They can just apply to it?

Jonathan Faerman (13:18.966)

Correct, that's correct. They will be able to see the title of the group, a picture if you want to put a picture of a group, you can put a description so people, let's say you're recruiting new people and you want people to join, they will see a description, they're okay, we'd like to purchase apartments in Winnipeg to hold for four years, this is the strategy, something like that you will put in the description. That's what other users will see and then they can either message you directly, that's a nice feature, they can message you directly and speak one -on -one.

to request more information or they can request to join the group directly.

Garret (13:53.535)

Okay, let's go back to the dating comparison. I mean, I've been married for 25 years, so this was long before those apps came up, but you know, I know that the whole swiping rate and all these types of things, what does a new user see in terms of the so -called matchmaking process?

Jonathan Faerman (14:11.126)

Yeah, so what they're going to see is two lists. One list of users sorted based on their preferences, and they're going to see a list of groups also sorted by these preferences. Those are two lists that they're going to see right away in terms of matching, so they can see what's in there sorted based on what we determined is going to be a good match.

And also you can search. There is a search bar where you can search according to your specific criteria. Let's say you're in Winnipeg, but you want to meet people that is in Toronto or is in Montreal or Nova Scotia to make it really, really far. And then you can look for people in Nova Scotia that they want to invest in multifamily properties between 500 and 1 .5 million. That's your criteria. So you can search specifically for those people and those groups and you will see.

then you will see those lists being created for you.

Garret (15:10.111)

Okay, and in terms of people who come to the table with money or people who come to the table with experience, I mean, that's really where the magic happens in a true real estate joint venture, if you will. How does your platform handle that?

Jonathan Faerman (15:25.302)

So in that sense, the platform is very open. We on purpose, I didn't want to set any kind of boundaries because I want to let people figure out their own use cases, create their own deals, create their own partnerships. So I didn't want to assume anything. I've spoken with many people at this point and people that are experienced and they have money, they have absolutely no issues in doing business with people with less experience.

That's something that happened to me. Now I created a platform. I want to invest in real estate. Last Friday I met with someone, so I connected with someone I met on the platform myself. And that person is more experienced than me investing in real estate, has done multiple deals. And he has absolutely no issues. So that's one of the biggest advantages that people with less experience, they can partner with people with a lot of experience and learn from them.

Garret (16:20.319)

Wow. You know, I think it's just incredible what you're creating here. Let's like, how long has Investium been sort of active? How long has the platform been live?

Jonathan Faerman (16:33.43)

So a bit less than a year, it has been like for a bit less than a year, we launched like a year ago or so a closed launch for friends and family and then a couple of months later we launched for the general public and it's been growing ever since.

Garret (16:51.231)

Can you, I know you didn't mention any of the companies, but I'd like you to sort of outline your experience just to be able to even for legitimacy. Can you talk about some of your backgrounds at these companies that you worked at?

Jonathan Faerman (17:02.582)

Yeah, for sure. So the first company I worked when I arrived here was TD Insurance, part of the TD group. Great, great company to start in the country. I learned French there. It was in French, so I learned French, so it was great. And then I worked for other companies, also very big in the country, Loyalty One, for example. I worked for Ubisoft. I worked for Equifax, Shopify.

Garret (17:31.295)

Wow.

Jonathan Faerman (17:31.798)

big tech companies. I was very lucky. I consider myself very, very lucky.

Garret (17:38.847)

So my next question then, what did you learn at those companies that's allowing you to apply lessons to be able to scale this platform, to scale this company?

Jonathan Faerman (17:48.31)

Yeah, so one of the key elements in this company is that they have a very well -oiled process for setting targets and working towards achieving those targets. And I think that's fundamental. Like if you have a business and you need to establish a target, measure yourself against that target, and then create a roadmap of multiple actions that are going to let you achieve those targets. Otherwise, you're just doing random things.

And so I think that's a great skill to be learned and something we can all apply in our lives. And I apply and I learned and I continuously use OnInvestium. My number one objective now on Investium is to scale it and for other people to join the platform. So that's my number one priority and all my actions, all my effort, it goes towards that objective, for example.

Garret (18:42.303)

I just returned from a really great business conference last night and the biggest lesson that they were talking about was goal setting. Exactly what you're talking about. If you don't have a goal, and we're not even talking about the teeny tiny goals, which is make payroll next week, figure out this bug that's in the software, it's that overall goal. What would you say you're, what are you aspiring to for the platform?

Jonathan Faerman (18:59.062)

Yeah, yeah.

Jonathan Faerman (19:09.238)

So I want to, so since the platform is very new, I would like to reach a point in the number of users where I can say, yeah, this is actually adding value for everyone. This is something people can actually use. As of now, I have some use cases. I have several hundred users. I'm seeing the interactions. I speak with the users and the feedback has been very, very positive, but I feel there is still room to grow where I can say, yeah.

This is something that is 100 % proven. Everyone can use it. I'm a data person, so I don't have yet all those data points that I need to be able to confidently say that.

Garret (19:50.527)

No, it's a very methodical approach. Speak to me about the early days. What kind of challenges did you have, you know, from conception of the idea to making it a reality?

Jonathan Faerman (20:01.206)

So I think the challenge is always the same, but it changes kind of like the way this plays. I think the challenge, the biggest challenge is always selling. So at the very beginning, the biggest challenge was selling the idea to raise funds. So I did that. So I knocked on many, many doors, a lot of rejections until I found a couple of people that believed in the vision and they invested with me. So that was the first challenge. Then I think came the fun part.

which was building the product. I hired local talent in Montreal, an agency. They built the product. And then again comes the challenging part, which is sell it. Even though it's free to use, you need to sell it to users. Users need to join, they need to give that information, they need to give you your time, very, very precious. And that's the most challenging part. It's been like selling the idea, selling the product.

Garret (21:00.063)

Okay, so you've mentioned a few times that this is free. My business brain, I mean, you're in Canada, so I'll take a quote from Dragon's Den. How are you making money on this? How can you offer it for free? Are you doing this just for networking? Like, what's the play here?

Jonathan Faerman (21:17.654)

Yeah. So why, why is it free? The reason why it's free is because the objective is to, to democratize access to real estate and lower the barriers of entry to real estate. So if I suddenly I charge a fee, then people that will join the platform. Right. So let's, let's think about Facebook and LinkedIn. They're both free because the value comes from having a ton of users. So that's why it's free. How I'm going to, how I'm planning to make money. I think there are multiple opportunities where

Garret (21:36.959)

Yes.

Jonathan Faerman (21:47.542)

People need to see Sorry, let me let me restart that so the way to add value the way I'm planning to to to make money with it is by providing users with certain services Displaying ads displaying certain deals. I've spoken with many developers that they were very much willing to pay to have their deals and

be put in front of potential investors, potential buyers. That is one of the main reasons. Yeah.

Garret (22:19.679)

Okay, okay, that makes sense. Okay, no, I was kind of wondering because at some point, so it's free for the users and you're hoping for stakeholders to advertise invest, which is only going to help the investor community that you're trying to create. Brilliant, brilliant. I was when I was researching, I saw the mention of AI, that's everybody's BudWords these days.

Jonathan Faerman (22:34.838)

Absolutely, that's it.

Garret (22:46.271)

Are you using any AI to facilitate some of these connections?

Jonathan Faerman (22:50.486)

So we have an algorithm that is sorting the users. So when you join, you will see the users and the groups sorted based on your preferences. That's how we are using technology nowadays. And as the more users they come in, we have more interactions, then we have more data that enables us to refine that algorithm and develop more sophisticated models to improve those connections.

Garret (23:17.919)

Okay, okay. So you said you've got several hundred users. You said you've already seen some success stories. Can you, without obviously naming names or the types of deals, I mean, enlighten us. What type of successes have you already seen?

Jonathan Faerman (23:31.67)

So I will use myself as a success story. So my idea to build Investium was to meet people and at this point, so I obviously went away, we did the same way that to create Investium. And nowadays I say, okay, there are already users, let's try to use it myself. So I created a group or join an existing group. Now I don't remember who created it to be honest, but I met someone and we started chatting. Some of the people in the group, they were more engaged.

Some of the people were less engaged, but with the ones that were more engaged, we started chatting, say, okay, let's do something. And last Friday we met live through like a Zoom call we met, we were chatting and we were already prospecting some properties to buy together. So that I consider at this point, I consider that a success story because it's exactly the reason why I created Investium, to meet people, to go and invest together. The other person is much more experienced than me, has bought multiple properties.

flips, sold it, he has his own construction company. So he brings to the table a lot of the skills and knowledge that I'm lacking. So for me, that's great because those are the kind of things that I would like to learn. For him, it's also great because then he will be able to reach some bigger deals and he will be able to learn other skills that I can bring to the table. So that to me is a success story.

Garret (24:53.471)

Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, your other success stories, obviously meeting and your wife online. And I, you know, I have sort of a question about that because when, you know, what I was talking about the beginning, how does an investor network, right? Well, you have to go to a local real estate meetup. Maybe you take somebody out for lunch. It's very, very slow, but.

there is something very inherent in seeing somebody face to face, eating lunch with them, having a meal, shaking their hand. How do you find this initial, I don't even know if it's a barrier after the pandemic to tell you the truth, but speak to me about those types of things. Is it even an issue?

Jonathan Faerman (25:34.838)

I think the issue is admitting people is a numbers game. You mentioned yourself, you go to a networking event, I've been to these networking events, how much time can you spend with each person to create a meaningful connection? And how many people can you actually meet? And you meet them by random, right? So you meet out of 10 you meet, one perhaps is someone that thinks like you, but you need to spend time with each one.

Garret (25:41.567)

Okay.

Garret (25:50.143)

Yes, yes.

Jonathan Faerman (26:02.166)

So it's a numbers game, either for a business partner or for life partner. So you need to go through people very quickly. And that's how technology can help because it allows you to meet many, many people very rapidly. And then it comes from a strategy from yourself. What you need to do is quickly go offline in the real world to meet them. I think that needs to be very, very quickly. That's why I met that person we chatted with, we did this Zoom call.

Garret (26:08.799)

Yes.

Jonathan Faerman (26:32.022)

live kind of, and then that's it. And then we're working together. The same thing was with my wife. So we chatted and then we went for a brunch one morning, very, very quickly. So I think that's something you need to do. You need to churn through a lot of people and then quickly, the ones you identify, go live very, very quickly.

Garret (26:53.567)

Yeah, you know, something you said just resonated with me because I do go to some of these networking events. You can't, I mean, you can be introduced to 10 people in a two, three hour event. You might have four or five meaningful conversations with them. It's doubtful that you'd even know if you're compatible, what their portfolio looks like, what their aspirations look like. And then of course, as a busy entrepreneur myself, how many can I do like that? And then of course, I'm going to have to go maybe,

out for coffee or lunch even further than that to see, oh, okay, I don't think this is gonna work out. Meanwhile, with your system, you already have a list there of potential people because everything's already been done for you.

Jonathan Faerman (27:35.062)

Yeah, and you can ask, you can set yourself two, three basic questions that you ask these people. How fast is that? It's extremely fast. You go through multiple people asking those two, three questions and those that the answer those questions satisfactory for you, then you go for a coffee. And suddenly, instead of going for coffee and getting one out of 15, then you get a one out of three, four that are compatible with you. So it's much more efficient.

Garret (28:04.543)

No, I love it. I'm gonna be signing up by the way. I'm gonna be asking you, I'm gonna be obviously throwing, you know, the different contact information into the show notes and we're gonna be putting this on social media like I do with my others. Let's transition a little bit because like I said, I'm super inspired right now coming back from this business entrepreneur conference. Challenges, right? Tell the audience about the challenges of...

just trying to start your business, trying to convince people to believe in the dream.

Jonathan Faerman (28:37.206)

So I think the biggest challenge is to gain momentum. I think we're all sitting in the couch thinking, oh, I should do this. And then you keep watching TV. So I think the first thing, the first challenge is getting in motion. Okay. I think that's for everything. And I think once you start going, I think that the next challenge is selling and getting yourself

more pumped and seeing those smaller wins to get yourself going. See, if you're an entrepreneur, no one is telling you what do you need to do. So getting this self momentum, getting the motivation that you need, I think that's also very challenging. So speaking with people, in my case, speaking with people that validates the idea, that gives me positive feedback, like speaking with you now saying, oh, I like that idea. That...

That's amazing for me to hear and it's a great motivation for me to keep going.

Garret (29:42.719)

Well, it's validation, right? Validation of the idea. One of the things that they kept harping on at this conference is that we are all, I guess, the cultivators of our own ideas, but we're also the people who have to manage that idea into reality. Nobody else can do that. Otherwise, like you said, you're just sitting on the couch daydreaming. It takes a lot of courage and energy.

blood sweat and tears to be able to do that.

Jonathan Faerman (30:13.302)

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And also something else that I've learned that it's also a challenge is as soon as you tell that idea to someone, the first thing they are going to do is try to change that idea. So if you let yourself being convinced by everyone else, then you'll never go towards where you want to go. Right? So because you're okay, I want to go in that direction and someone's no, you should go in that other direction. So at the end, you will just go sideways all the time and you will never reach where...

your destination is. So it's this balance between telling people and seeking feedback and then having focus. What's the vision? What's the original vision? What are the necessary steps to get there?

Garret (30:58.911)

There's a lot of naysayers out there for sure. And maybe even unintentionally, friends and family, maybe even people when you were back in Argentina saying, oh, you're crazy going to Canada. One of the things, one of the speakers, surprise speakers at this conference was Arnold Schwarzenegger, if you can believe it. Just to hear him speak for an entire hour. And it wasn't just to say, oh, you know, he's a...

you know, multi -millionaire, almost a billionaire, maybe he even is, I haven't checked his net worth, but he came here, sorry, in the US with a dream to become Mr. Olympia, and illegally, by the way, with $20 in his pocket, like literally. And people back home were saying, you're crazy, you do think they're gonna be expecting you? Well, obviously he made it to Mr. Olympia, and then he went on to say he had a dream to be in movies, and they said, you have an accent.

This is nobody's going to be, you know, people with accents don't go into movies back then, right? And they're like, you're too big, right? Dustin Hoffman is the biggest thing. Al Pacino, those guys are like 120 pounds. But his focus was so intense, even for the Mr. Olympia, that he said with every single rep that he did with every single exercise, he knew that he was 0 .001 % closer to his goal. And I haven't heard.

a better story about perseverance and focus. It's crazy.

Jonathan Faerman (32:26.23)

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and then he went to be a governor, right? So another challenge there.

Garret (32:32.223)

Yeah, he talked about that too. He only did that. I mean, obviously he had a lot more money. He cared about his state. And then people said, Arnold, why are you trying to be governor? The proper steps. Why don't you go be mayor and then you can be a Senate and then a state senator. He goes, I don't want to do all of that. I just want to fix my state. So he just decided he was just going to run and you know what? He did it, right? Just incredible. If you could go back.

to you, I see your younger entrepreneurial self. I know that, you know, there's not that much time that has passed compared to me and all the mistakes I've made, but surely what would you say to yourself even a year ago and some of the mistakes you've made along your journey?

Jonathan Faerman (33:16.598)

That's a good question. I would say the focus on planning. I had some plans, but every time something I found is all the things that I thought were going to be one way, they turn out to be a different way. Perhaps being more open to other ways of doing things and perhaps speaking with more professionals in the industry. That's something.

Perhaps I didn't have that big of a network in the real estate space, but I found that we have been very good to speak with professionals in the space and seek their advice, more than advice of other people that they don't know nothing about real estate. So I think that would be what I would tell myself. Speak with the professionals in the space. Those are the people that are on the ground. They know what they're talking about. Speak with more of them.

Garret (34:15.583)

Yeah, no, for sure. Being an entrepreneur, I know that I always try to preach balance. You might already not even be thinking about balance, although, you know, married with children, do you do? Do you have any balance in your life trying to be in the startup phases of your business?

Jonathan Faerman (34:35.51)

Uh, yeah. Uh, so I, I, I dedicate time. No, no, it's, it's no, no, I, I, I do, I, I value the time with my, with my family. Um, I still, I have a day job where I use that money. I bootstrap my business with, with a day job. So those are, are very defined for me. I don't cross those barriers. Um, so those, those are, are kind of like my limits. I spend time with my family. I dedicate the time that I need for my day job.

Garret (34:37.887)

I'm putting you on the spot here, sorry Jonathan.

Jonathan Faerman (35:05.622)

I have time with friends. What I do is I limit the time I do other things. Like for example, I don't watch much TV. I don't play video games. Those are the things I was able to eliminate to give more time to my business, for example, and spend time with my family.

Garret (35:23.839)

No, that's really good advice actually. There's only so many hours in the day and you either, well, you can't create more minutes. So you have to take away something else to be able to find that time and priorities.

Jonathan Faerman (35:34.934)

Yeah, absolutely. And you need to sleep so that you cannot take much out of that either.

Garret (35:40.511)

Yeah, sleep. Yeah, we have to. I mean, we can't just go keep going. So we're almost at the end of the podcast here. I always ask every single guest's question and I think it was a really good transition from your last answer. So this is the investing to win podcast. How do you define success and what does winning look like for you?

Jonathan Faerman (36:03.606)

So I think the definition of success changes over time. So at the beginning was to find investors, then it was to build a product, then I was able to build it, then it was launching it, and I launched it, then it was to have a few hundred users, and then I have them. So now for me, what the win on success would be to reach, let's say, 10 ,000 users. That for me would be win. So if I reach to 10 ,000 users, OK, that's success, and investing is actually successful.

Garret (36:32.735)

Wonderful. Well, thank you very much for the time you've spent. I know I'm going to be checking out the new platform and I think you're going to be, in my opinion, revolutionizing the industry. So thank you for that.

Jonathan Faerman (36:44.886)

Thank you so much, Garrett, it's been a pleasure to be here with you.

Garret (36:49.759)

Okay, thank you for coming.