Seeking feedback: A simple CRM for CRE
I built this tool last week and wanted to get feedback on it right away: [targets.towerhunt.com](https://targets.towerhunt.com)

Direct investment in commercial real estate is difficult. Finding good deals is a big part of the job. Among other things, this takes industry contacts. These contacts are good at certain things. Take brokers for example. Some know office buildings. Others only sell apartments. Each has a geographic focus.

Brokerage is difficult for a similar reason. You need contacts who own buildings. You also need contacts who buy buildings. (Both are investors.) By definition, brokers need to match these groups. But each investor is good at certain things.

Because of this, it's important to be able to reach the right people for each deal. This requires organization and context, which take effort. Successful investors and brokers don't have much free time or patience. So, this product tries to optimize context vs effort. More context than your phone's contacts app. Less effort than a full CRM. It does this by using investment criteria ("targets") to connect people. Then it maintains a contact list based on those connections. You can share targets via link. You can also opt into appearing in searches.

I'd be grateful for any feedback. Thank you!
[{"id": "f7lk85d", "text": "Cool Idea, I like where you are going with this.", "replies": [{"id": "f7lkrf8", "text": "Thank you. What part of the business are you in?", "replies": [{"id": "f7m35uw", "text": "Right now I'm am a new/want to be investor/syndicator. But I also I am involved in some application development at my W2.", "replies": [{"id": "f7m8i6q", "text": "That's exciting. What kinds of deals are you focusing on? It would be a neat experiment if you defined the targets using the app and shared them via a group link here in the thread. Might spark some interesting discussion about those markets with the brokers on here. I could also fix/add missing fields that would be useful.\n\nI used to cover the Greater Boston market. To eat my own dogfood, I'll update all of my targets to reflect that and share a link...", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "f7mgn8j", "text": "Shared the link in a new comment below...", "replies": [{"id": "f7o7nmc", "text": "&gt;OK so I got in and set some buyer targets and I can get in via  [targets.towerhunt.com](https://targets.towerhunt.com/)   \n&gt;  \n&gt;When I go to [Towerhunt.com](https://Towerhunt.com) and try to log in that way it won't let me in which is odd.   \n&gt;  \n&gt;Not sure how to share. I see the share button but it dosen't give me anything to share such as a URL.", "replies": [{"id": "f7o8mai", "text": "[targets.towerhunt.com](https://targets.towerhunt.com) and [towerhunt.com](https://towerhunt.com) are totally separate products at this point. They don't share accounts, so that's why you can't log in from the latter.\n\nThere are two ways to share targets:\n\n1. Press share from your targets list, then select targets to share, then press share. This will take you to a page where you are now looking at the selected targets from the recipient's point of view ... the url of this page is what you should share.\n2. Select any single target from your list, which takes you to a page where you can edit it. Press share on this page. You're again taken to a page where you can see the target from the point of view of the recipient. Share this url.\n\nPlease give that a try and let me know if it works. I'm open to revising how this works if a lot of people find it confusing.", "replies": [{"id": "f7o9tcz", "text": "Ok, wasn't getting that URL page before but got it now. This is all 3 targets in one URL hopefully. \n\n  [https://targets.towerhunt.com/group/KNgyLZnuPsiiipLibQbHSZJQ](https://targets.towerhunt.com/group/KNgyLZnuPsiiipLibQbHSZJQ)", "replies": [{"id": "f7ocrnw", "text": "Works for me. This is actually really cool as I'm not familiar with any of those markets but can instantly grasp what you're looking for. And if I knew someone who covered those markets I could just pass the link on.\n\nDid you have any trouble creating the targets?", "replies": [{"id": "f7oyikg", "text": "Not really other than it was hard to see state boundaries with that map type so I just winged it for my full states.", "replies": [{"id": "f7p422e", "text": "Yeah it was hard for me to do states as well so I just pushed an update to add boundaries to the map. If you want to fine tune the regions you made, just click their names from the list of regions.", "replies": [{"id": "f7yby24", "text": "You may want to look at adding a delete button in case someone wants to delete a region. You may also look at that for the Polygon on the map in case someone wants to start from scratch. Moving the dots is great but sometimes it's cleaner to start from scratch.", "replies": [{"id": "f7yenrx", "text": "Thanks for the feedback. Deleting a region definitely seems helpful. How would you expect that to behave if the region you're trying to delete is being used by one or more targets?\n\nClearing a polygon also makes sense to me. When you're creating a new polygon and don't like how it looks, you can hit cancel and start again. But when you're editing an existing polygon there should be a button to clear it; I'll spend some time on this later today.\n\nSeparately, I'm trying to get more people interested in/aware of the tool. Can you help share this with people in your markets? Any brokers that you recommend I reach out to in those markets? Thanks!", "replies": [{"id": "f7yeznj", "text": "I would just remove it from the group because if the user is deleting it more then likely they just don't need it any longer or are making a bigger adjustment than just an edit. \n\nIt sounds like you are on the right track for the Poly as well. I don't think it will be to much of an issue and maybe not used a lot but good to have just in case. \n\nI did point it out to one broker I have been speaking with. I can also post about it on Linkedin but not a whole lot of contacts there. I may be able to post about it on Bigger Pockets as well but that can be a bit tricky as they don't like that type of posting. Let me see what I can conjure up.", "replies": [], "depth": 13}], "depth": 12}], "depth": 11}], "depth": 10}], "depth": 9}], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f7lkqv3", "text": "What\u2019s your technical background? This is where the marketplace\u2019s are going to connect buyers to properties based on their current portfolio or search requirements.", "replies": [{"id": "f7llkw9", "text": "I spent seven years at Eastdil Secured. Started as an Analyst and ended as a VP. I taught myself to code on the side and also am teamed up with a strong technical co-founder. Together, we built [towerhunt.com](https://towerhunt.com) as a much more involved pipeline/deal tracker for CRE investments.\n\nBased on a bunch of conversations with industry contacts, I also felt there was an opportunity to simplify this pain point of repetitively sharing/refreshing your investment criteria or coverage areas. So I built this very quickly to test the hypothesis.\n\nThe tech stack here is Rails + Postgres back-end with Vue.js on the front-end. Deployed through Heroku. Google Maps API for the regions stuff.\n\nWhat part of the business are you in? Could you use this?", "replies": [{"id": "f7lmjfd", "text": "On the tech side of the industry as well! I built negotiableapp.com\n\nCould probably integrate mine into your pipeline tracking for deals. \n\nBut ya I used to be a broker and know exactly this pain point.", "replies": [{"id": "f7lo7hf", "text": "Nice! Congrats on launching Negotiable. If I understand it correctly, you really ought to integrate it with something like VTS since it has a leasing focus. The database we built at [towerhunt.com](https://towerhunt.com) is focused on the investment side. Negotiations don't really enter into the process until you have at least an LOI.\n\nIf any of your former colleagues are investment sales brokers, I'd love to have their feedback on [targets.towerhunt.com](https://targets.towerhunt.com) (which is completely separate from the pipeline product).\n\nGood luck!", "replies": [{"id": "f7lo9vs", "text": "It\u2019s customizable for both sales and leasing LOI\u2019s!\n\nYa I\u2019ll push this to some folks!", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f7mgjkw", "text": "Here is a group of targets that reflect the markets I had a lot of exposure to in my previous job at Eastdil Secured: https://targets.towerhunt.com/group/oBJ8wLu2TFk1BQX8WFRCp1HM\n\nI'm also visible in search, so you'd find me if your criteria matched my coverage areas.\n\nHopefully this gives a sense of how you could use the tool.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f7mpt2r", "text": "I like the broker side for sharing needs. I like the macro target tool. Would you list a property opportunity here or just search for existing needs from other brokers?\n\nIs the main app completely internal facing or will it have an external interface for buyers searching for opportunities at some point?", "replies": [{"id": "f7n02ae", "text": "The targets app is for anyone. I shared targets from a broker's point of view because that's where I came from and think it would be a useful way to be found by investors. Investors should also use it to be found. So should lenders.\n\nTo your question, I hadn't thought of listing deals directly. Would you want to list a deal through something like this?\n\nThe main pipeline app is currently for internal use. If there was sufficient traction/demand, it could be used to distribute deals externally. The targets app could be the way to enable that?\n\nFor now, I'd be thrilled to have some people jump into the targets app and try to network with it.", "replies": [{"id": "f7n5baq", "text": "I think the ability to name your target areas uniquely may inhibit your ability to connect. Do I have to exactly match how you designated your area to match?", "replies": [{"id": "f7nsq3r", "text": "No, and I apologize for the regions not having more explanation. I'll work on this today.\n\nTo create a region you provide a name and then you draw at least a triangle on the map (although it can be as detailed as you want it to be). Click/tap the map to place a point. Then connect points to make a polygon. You can zoom and pan the map as needed to get in close to your desired market.\n\nTo be found in search, the search location needs to be within a region you created. Try searching \"Boston, MA\" and you should see \"Matt Marino\". The search takes the latitude/longitude of the location and compares it to your regions.\n\nGiven I just launched the product a few days ago, there aren't many people available to be searched yet. So if you look somewhere and see nothing it's probably because no one is there yet. Please spread the word!\n\nThanks for the feedback and please let me know if there's anything else that would help you get value from the product.\n\nSpeaking of, I'll probably also look to add industry role (broker, investor, lender) to contact info today so that you can specify what types of people you want to connect with.", "replies": [{"id": "f7o7etg", "text": "Thanks and good idea on role. We do work with a number of investors who are also brokers or brokers who are also lenders so you may want to not restrict to one type (check boxes instead of a single choice?). \n\nI did realize I could find you if I specifically knew what you listed as your region and I could outline and name my region desired but figured that if I called mine Pacific NW and someone searched Pacific Northwest the lack of exact match might be a problem.\n\nI\u2019ll have my staff check it out and get you feedback.", "replies": [{"id": "f7oazxy", "text": "Yes, you're right that many people wear multiple hats and/or try and bootstrap into being an investor on the side. Given this, I wonder whether the role should actually be tied to the target?\n\nSpecifically, when you declare what deal types apply to a particular target (e.g., buying equity, recapping equity, originating debt, buying debt) perhaps that is the appropriate place to state whether you are brokering these types of deals or acting as a principal. Examples of how this might work:\n\n\\- You'll directly buy, recap, or lend on deals in a market, so you create a target where you add these deals types and select \"Principal\"\n\n\\- You broker sales in a market, so you create a target where deal type is \"buy equity\" and your role is \"Broker\".\n\n\\- You broker debt placements in a market, so you create a target where deal type is \"originate debt\" and your role is \"Broker\".\n\n\\- You work on a large institutional brokerage team by day but buy/syndicate small deals on the side. You have a target for large $$$ deal sizes with deal type of \"buy equity\" and role of \"Broker\". You have a separate target for small $ deal sizes with deal type of \"buy equity\" and role of \"Principal\".\n\nThoughts on this? One problem I see with it is that your contact info currently applies to all targets so you wouldn't be able to list different companies or email addresses.\n\nWould be good to get some discussion going on this before trying to implement something.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}, {"id": "f7ocbnd", "text": "Regarding locations/regions, I assumed that common searches would be for states (e.g., \"Massachusetts\", \"California\"), cities (e.g., \"Seattle\") or specific addresses (e.g., \"123 Main St\", \"Atlantic Wharf\"). If that ends up being the case, the name you give to your region is more about what you want someone to see when they view your target.\n\nI understand what you're saying as well and am curious to see how often people attempt to search for custom/bespoke names.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f7o3pgz", "text": "Just added some help text to the page where regions are created/edited: [https://photos.app.goo.gl/DX8BcqRzTB9W5Jot7](https://photos.app.goo.gl/DX8BcqRzTB9W5Jot7)", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f7ovl3j", "text": "Updated the map to display state and country borders, which should make drawing regions a bit easier.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]