Brian Johnson founded startup Whole New Home in 2013 with two other partners. They thought they had a winning idea: connect real estate agents with decorators, home decor retailers and other service providers to offer products and services to new homeowners.
But there was a problem: the real estate agents’ business model was working perfectly well as is. Johnson ruefully recalled a sales trip to Louisville, Kentucky, where he signed up “precisely one” person after meeting hundreds of real estate agents.
“They’ve been in this fantastic market for years and they make a ton of money every time they sell a house,” Johnson said.
Johnson and his partners went back to the drawing board.
“That’s when we figured out … who else is important in that whole [industry] – interior designers and decorators.”
The team’s new business plan involved creating a platform where interior designers could connect with clients, create a home design “inspiration board” and then share the profits with Whole New Home – now called Kabuni – when homeowners purchased furniture, art or other home decor items the designer had suggested.
The difference was almost immediate.
“It’s not enough to go on your gut and you think there’s an opportunity, you really have to go into your market and get validation,” Johnson said. “The moment we came up with this idea of putting interior designers at the centre of our business, we suddenly got incredible traction.”
To refine the service, Kabuni held focus group sessions with interior designers to gather feedback. That has also improved the business model, Johnson said. Kabuni now has 30 employees, and was acquired last summer through a reverse takeover by an Australian company. The business plans to open a design studio in Coal Harbour this spring.
“The moment we started listening instead of talking, things started to happen for us,” he said.
On the sharing economy | “There’s been a monumental shift in how people make a living. It used to be you’d hold down a job for most of your life and you’d get paid and then you’d get a pension. But those kinds of jobs are few and far between these days. So whether it’s a person who has an extra room in their house or a person who has a car available, or perhaps you are a design enthusiast who has some great talent … technology and apps are now making it possible for people to be micro-entrepreneurs and earn revenue in ways that were not possible before.”
Has a work or life challenge taught you a key career lesson? Contact Jen St. Denis at [email protected]
