For those unfamiliar, the cold start problem is the concept that networks are most difficult to grow early on, before there are many users on a given network to engage with one another and exchange value.

Similar to both bitcoin and nostr, at the start there is little to no momentum because an open source protocol (like any other budding entity) is subject to the bounds of network effects: the more active users on a given network, the greater the opportunity to exchange value and fuel growth

We had a great discussion on this today where we broke this down and determined what it meant for our company and how we could change up our methods so that we could transition from stage 1 (the cold start problem) to stage 2 (the tipping point)

Our main takeaways that we were left with at the end of our discussion was 2-fold:

1) we need to analyze our own data from past transactions on our platform, and determine where/why early users left our platform (either to buy/sell with a real estate agent instead, or to stop trying altogether)

2) we need to niche down, back to our military roots where it all began

We’re veteran founded and owned, and somewhere along the way we worried that if we did not expand our brand to appeal to a wider audience we would lose out on potential users

What we realized today was that if we’re ever going to appeal to a wider base then we need to hone in and FOCUS and do a specific thing, really well, for a niche audience who we can solve a BIG problem for

For us, that problem is military service members, veterans, and their families losing equity when selling their homes over short timeframes when they relocate or PCS. Frequent moves lead to disproportionate fees, and our software helps our military sellers keep more money in their pocket that would otherwise be lost to high commission fees.

Looking forward to the path ahead, it genuinely feels good to find this level of focus!

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