One of the most unique things about Jess and I as co-founders, is that we live on opposite sides of the country- so our team meetings and catch ups have always been via phone and video conferences! We didn’t know when we started this process that this would become the norm in 2020 and living on opposite sides of the country wouldn’t be as unusual as it once was.
As we entered into the new year, Jess and I were successful in being selected for the Plus Eight pre-accelerator program. Around us the world was changing at a pace no one had experienced before. After a trip around Europe for Jess in 2019 and a quick trip back to the United Kingdom for Daisy in February 2020, we were in lock down.
States were locked down from each other, countries closed their boarders and we went from living an outdoor lifestyle to being home bound for the foreseeable future. Companies had to start pivoting how they worked, changing their customer base, and working on new and unknown assumptions.
For Mortgage Mates the lock down brought new highs and new lows just like it did for many others. On the one hand, for some states, home ownership (the buying/selling and renting of properties) almost ground to a holt- meaning co-ownership, and signing up to a co-ownership platform, slowed down considerably. However, on the other hand, things which had always been considered unlikely, such as working from home full time or buying quiz’s and wine tours virtually now became the ‘new norm’.
This meant the idea that we buy a house with a stranger also started to seem more normal with further buy in coming from the West Australian and 6PR radio! It also meant Jess and I were able to be virtually part of two accelerator programs, one based in Perth and one in Melbourne. We were lucky enough to receive support from mentors who had already walked the startup pathway and pitch Mortgage Mates to entrepreneurs, investors and potential users without leaving our own homes!
Mortgage Mates also successfully took part in a Virtual Trade Mission to the United Kingdom, looking at expanding our product into the UK market! As two full time workers the ability to take part in these events in the evening and weekends has been an amazing opportunity and something we may not have had the ability to do if the world had been more ‘normal’ this year.
Jess was able to take her first steps into television with Property Edge and we also took part in our first podcast! https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-proptech/jess-vesely-and-daisy-dMBn9fSLbma/