Austin Allison of DotLoop
When and why did you start your business?
Prior to starting DotLoop, I was a real estate agent who bought and sold homes during college. I started DotLoop in 2009 because the home purchase or sale process was frustrating and inefficient.
Did you consider yourself an entrepreneur before that?
Every successful entrepreneur that I've met has been an entrepreneur for their entire life. For this reason, I think most entrepreneurs just have it in their blood. I was no exception to this rule. I started my first business before the seventh grade selling bird houses to friends, family, and neighbors.
Where did you find your first employee?
My first employee was my brother.
What state or local resources did you take advantage of and how did they help?
The greatest state resource that we leveraged was the Ohio TITC tax credit. This program provided a nice tax incentive for our investors when we originally funded the company. Beyond our initial funding, both the state and city have been very supportive as we expand by providing the company with job creation tax credits.
What’s the most difficult thing about running your own business?
The most difficult part of running a business is definitely the people. The best thing that you can do for a business is be slow to hire and quick to fire. This is much easier said than done.
What’s the best thing?
I couldn't pick one if I tried. Everything about running your own business is a blessing. If I had to summarize it in a sentence, I would describe it as the opportunity to change the lives of our employees and customers.
What has contributed most to your growth?
The people around me.
What companies or founders do you admire and why?
I admired Steve Jobs for his commitment to consistency and to delivering an amazing user experience. Anyone in the software business should understand how difficult it is to achieve this status... Jobs made it seem like clockwork.