Entrepreneur of the Week: Torrey Russell of Offers Network, Inc.

Our ZINO Society featured ZINOpreneur Member this week is Torrey Russell, Founder & CEO of Offers Network, Inc. Torrey presented his company at the recent ZINO Society Roundtable Investment meetings on October 19th and 20th. We asked him to share the answers to a few questions about his company.


What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . .  We provide solutions for Real Estate Brokers to attract and maintain agents through the use of Smartphone Real Estate Shopping services we offer at http://iznvu.com

How did you come up with the idea for your company? . . .  After working with clients in the field and providing them Internet services it became clear to us that our clients, Real Estate owners, were struggling with providing services that keeps them relevant and useful in this fast moving Internet world. Our idea was to connect the Real Estate shopping customer with the Agent and have the service provided by the Broker, the owner. In this way, Customers are wedded to Agents and they to Brokers.

The word that best describes your company culture is . . .  Open to new ideas and honor and respect all players in the supply chain from customer to service providers to our company.

How are you different from your competition? . . . We are focused on helping the owners of Real Estate offices to recruit and maintain their sales staff (Agents)

What is the biggest challenge you face? . . . Making services easy and powerful enough for Agents to use and embrace our new and game changing technology.

How much money have you raised to date? . . . $250,000 in Friends and Family and Personally invested over $350,000

If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? . . .  To build and develop a US and Canadian Sales and implementation/support team as fast as we can roll out the service

What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? . . .  That it is not really about the Smartphone app. This is simply a tool to help the Broker (owner of the business) to link his business in a way to the end customer who buys a home and help to maintain and attract the players in-between (Agents).

What is one thing missing from your business? . . . Large overheads and fixed costs such as offices and warehouses. Our service is run in the crowd, we deliver nothing but data is already created in the industry and sell in on a platform the user already owns.

Why will your company be successful? . . . I have been responsible for starting or re-starting 9 computer companies, many of which are still in business. Our service on the surface appears to be something that many large organizations will create, and that may be true, few will have the history of creating value for their shareholders in the face of hundreds of competitors. We have a history of innovation and the ability to adapt faster than our competitors.