EP 28 - From Startup to Scale Up, Pitching to Investors & Keeping the Human Connection with guests David & Avi Tal

Many of us have siblings, and we may not get along with them very well or see eye-to-eye on things. The Tal Brothers are siblings who have leveraged their close familial relationship to aid them in creating a very innovative and successful business. 

Having different yet complementary skill sets, David and Avi prove that together they are far more than the sum of their parts. They are the founders of Agentology, now called Verse, a company that helps real estate and other industries create the most effective and authentic connections with their prospects.

In this episode, they sit down with host Steve Rodgers and take us through their personal journeys that converged in the creation of Verse. They discuss essential business skills such as raising capital, how to pitch a business to investors, and how to scale a company sustainably. They also share tips on staying true to your vision, balancing work and life, and give some insight on how they steered their company through the storms of the COVID era. 

 

TIMESTAMPS:

4:10 - On being brothers & starting a company together

7:00 - The beginning of Agentfinder.com

8:12 - Fortune is in the follow up

8:36 - Creating a better lead gen source where leads are already qualified

11:30 -  How do brothers work together synergistically? Complementary skill sets

22:14 - Building a new plane while flying the current one 

23:20 - Making yourself your first customer and ideal client

25:40 - Raising money for your fledgling business

31:07 - Advice on pitching a business & meeting investors 

33:46 - Entrepreneurship isn’t for everybody

44:55 - Birth of Verse.io & helping businesses have conversations with their prospects

46:00 Evolving, raising the game, evolving to VERSE and growth

49:03 Spending money wisely when you’re growing

53:55 - Avi on Spirituality

56:00 - David on Spirituality

 

Guest Bios:

David Tal

Born and raised in San Diego, and a VC-backed entrepreneur for 10+ years, David has always been passionate about “putting San Diego on the map” as a center of tech, innovation and disruption. This passion has driven him and Verse to become one of San Diego’s fastest-growing companies.

After graduating with a degree in Economics from UCLA in 2003, David experienced firsthand how quickly the world had moved online and how consumer journeys increasingly began and lived online. He also saw how businesses were trying to engage and communicate with this new growing stream of online leads and prospects.

So, David set out to help companies in real estate and other industries create the most effective and authentic connections with their prospects. And this goal has been successfully achieved by effectively merging the best abilities of AI (speed and productivity) and people (smarts and empathy).

David has a beautiful, successful wife and three children.

 

Avi Tal

Prior to launching Verse, Avi founded a WiFi media network in Latin America. He partnered with hotel chains to inject hyperlocal content catered to business travelers on hotel WiFi authentication pages. The product was quickly adopted and scaled to over 150,000 hotel rooms across Mexico.

The business eventually merged with a venture capital-backed company. This was Avi’s first foray into the exciting world of Silicon Valley, where he learned about developing technologies, building teams, and raising venture capital.

Seeing his brother David doing really well as a real estate broker, Avi became fascinated with the idea of how technology could help improve the lives of real estate professionals. So, the brothers launched their first business together in 2011, MyAgentFinder.com, which was eventually acquired.

A