TEN Takeaways from Steve Simoni, CEO of Bbot
ICYMI: HILO’s David Abrams interviewed fellow Acceleprise founder Steven Simoni, CEO of Bbot, to discuss how human interactions in CRE can create new social networks. Here are some of our takeaways:
Play to your team’s strengths
After iterating an early startup idea multiple times without an initial product market fit, Steve turned his efforts towards identifying his founding team’s skill set based on the problem and what they were trying to build. He says “It was going to be tough to get to product market fit. So we shut it down, but that is like the fundamental question. It’s really hard to answer for any founder.”
One customer doesn’t equal product market fit
When Steve reflects on a previous venture with overhead ceiling delivery robots, he explains that getting their first customer was easy, but the second customer was harder to come by. He explains, “It’s a very unique product. Maybe not solving every customer’s pain is kind of a novelty in many ways but the software we had built around it for ordering, was something that customers were raising their hand asking for? So it was a pivot to listen to the customers a little more and away from listening to our hearts about wanting to be robotics engineers.”
Providing an essential service is mission critical
As a former Navy nuclear engineer, Steve looks at his experiences as translatable into the ordering software venture he started. He shared this about how essential his service is for small business, similarly to how important his work was in the Navy. “They really rely on this stuff to take payments and orders. So we take a lot of great care in finding, and making really mission critical software.”
There’s a light at the end of the tunnel
If given an extra $100k in budget, Steve says he would spend it on the product. With food ordering being an essential service, he shares that customer demand for ordering software is very strong. With vaccine roll out well underway in the US, Steve is confident that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. He shares “I’m helping restaurants gear back up for the grand reopening of people being out and about at restaurants and bars.”
Digital tools will help us succeed
Bbot’s business is based out of New York City, and Steve shares that in conversations with CRE owners and operators in the area, they are looking at adding tools to enable contactless entry and an array of digital experiences. Steve stresses the importance of such digital tools, citing, “this is super important because when they reopen and things get packed again, people are still going to want to be safe and really have the convenience…when it all comes back and New York City is raging again, I think it’ll come back with more digital tooling.”
Creative thinking around office space
David and Steve share some playful differences around the office of the future, with Bbot being fully remote since 2017, and HILO looking at a hybrid model moving forward. Steve shares that “CRE owners should be thinking about that, and thinking about opening up some of their office space if it’s not going to all get filled, and repurposing it for other convenient amenities, there’s a lot of great building space in New York City.”
CRE buildings as a hub for human interaction
Steve is curious about how CRE operators can repurpose office space, and has an interesting suggestion: “how could we repurpose the CRE building, for different human interaction? Maybe it doesn’t have to be with your coworkers. Maybe it could be with other people in your community.” We love this idea and agree with Steve that there is a potential for a new social network to be formed in these buildings.
Ghost Kitchens are taking over
“Virtual Kitchens, Cloud Kitchens, Ghost Kitchens. They call them all these names. I don’t know which one they’re going to standardize on. I hope they pick one soon.” Steve talks about how there are restaurants using kitchen space to operate delivery only businesses, with this being an emerging trend in New York City. Another creative use for space in CRE buildings, where many of these restaurants do not require a storefront.
Bit by the entrepreneur bug
At the beginning of the podcast, Steve shared that growing up in San Francisco, you need to try a startup. David asks Steve if there is another startup in his future to which he shares “Oh yeah. Til I die”. Steve is an entrepreneur through and through, similar to our own HILO co-founder David Abrams.
