A Sit-Down With Christian Ries

‍

I recently sat down for a catch-up with Zeto’s CEO and Co-Founder, Christian Ries. Christian is a serial entrepreneur who started Zeto just about a year ago. Having worked in the home service industry throughout his last venture, Christian was eager to start his next. Zeto is a trusted manager for your home. They take care of the must do’s and the should do’s. While busy people live their life, Zeto helps manage their home through text-based technology. 

‍

1. Tell me about the transition from your last company to Zeto.

‍

Since the transition happened fast, there really was no time to think. Starting and building companies can be quite taxing on oneself, and sometimes it’s recommended to take a quick breather. I didn’t have the luxury to be able to do that, and just jumped right into the next adventure. With that being said, all that information was still fresh in my brain as we navigated through the complex home service space. I do think it’s been to my advantage.

‍

2. What has been the biggest mistake you’ve made as an entrepreneur, and what have you learned?

‍

I think the biggest mistake that I’ve learned over my entrepreneurial career is not spending enough time with the customer. With Zeto, I’m very fortunate because as the CEO, you have typical responsibilities like raising capital. However, we have such incredible partners in Atlanta Ventures and a few other folks who’ve enabled us to stay focused on the problem which is that homeowners are busier today than ever before. Quite honestly, managing all the to-do’s and remembering all the tasks that your home requires from you can be quite daunting. Now, I’m able to sit with the customer and really understand that pain. I think it’s going to be beneficial once we really build the tech infrastructure and crank it out, we’ll be much closer to automating this process, and I’m really pumped about it. 

‍

3. What’s next for Zeto and what are you most excited for?

‍

We believe we’ve found product-market fit, and we have just raised a round of funding that will get us through the foreseeable future. With this capital, we are going to continue to learn from our customers and 10x our learnings. It’s important to differentiate this because capital is often just used for growth-growth-growth. With us, of course we want to grow, but more importantly, we want to learn! This capital will enable us to hire more teammates as well as gain more customers and serve them well. The more we serve them, the more we learn. We are trying to create a beautiful symbiotic relationship over the next year or so. We’ve tripled our customer base over the last two and a half months, and we are certainly 10x-ing our learnings. Part of that is allowing us to further understand what kind of technology we must build and what the nuts and bolts are of the business. That’s what we are focused on right now. We are aiming to build technology in Q3, and I’m pretty excited about that. 

‍

4. Describe the Zeto journey thus far in 10 words or less.

‍

 Our customers are helping shape our mission. 

‍

In only a year, it’s exciting to see how far Christian and Zeto have come. If you want to read more about Christian, check out this blurb, and if you’re in need of some support with the upkeep of your home, join the Zeto waitlist here.