Meet Emmet Creighton, co-founder and CEO of Lintil
I’m Emmet Creighton, a lawyer who has spent a lifetime in property and technology. Prior to founding Lintil, I provided services to high net worth individuals buying large properties. I’m passionate about travelling and I use my holidays to guide groups around some of the most unusual places in the world.
How do you prepare for all the unknown obstacles when running your business?
What I’ve learned is that you have to be flexible and resilient when running a business. The challenge as I see it is that every day presents challenges and opportunities and ensuring that you expect both of these allows you to deal with them effectively. The best preparation for the unknown is having a good mindset.
Tell us about your experience prior to launching your business?
My day to day role prior to founding Lintil was to purchase large properties around the country for example castles and stately homes for wealthy clients. These clients would avoid the complexities and hassle of the property buying process employing me. I felt if we could digitise the service I was providing then it could be offered to all property buyers free of charge. Everyone could then experience a hassle-free property buying experience.
What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?
The complexity of buying a property is so unnecessary. This complexity is born from a series of small independent changes being made over the course of 100 years. My goal in starting this company was to change the way property is bought and sold. I feel this will make a huge difference to everyone in the ecosystem and be a real positive to the industry. The end goal was and remains to all a complete property transaction to be done on your phone in a few simple clicks.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur?
The biggest lesson has been that reliance is your greatest asset as an entrepreneur. Starting and running a business is very difficult. Having the reliance to deal with the obstacles, the stress, the ups and downs is very important. Starting a business will test your reliance often but it allows you to build more reliance and become a better entrepreneur as a result.
What keeps you motivated as an entrepreneur when you hit bumps in the road?
To be honest, fear is one of my biggest motivators. Fear of failure, fear of letting customers, employees, investors, and family down. Fear of not being able to pay my rent, to provide for my family. This drives me constantly and allows me to keep going when obstacles are in my way. When I started I wanted to build something that makes a difference and changes my industry for the better. However, to do that you must invest all you have in terms of time, emotions, reputation, and money into your business which leaves you very vulnerable should you fail. So this fear keeps me on my toes.
What’s the most common problem your customers approach you with?
The lack of coherence around the home-buying process is our customers biggest problem. When you think of the way property is purchased there are up to 10 different services involved in the process. This means coordinating, negotiating, and communicating with these services, not to mention researching, comparing and trusting each of these services. Here at Lintil we are wearing the shoes of the home-buyer and doing all of these things for them so they don’t have to.
How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?
Most other businesses in the PropTech space are looking at the problems individually and from the perspective of the business that sells service to the home-buyer. It’s obvious why they do this as it's easier to solve a problem for say a bank and then you have banks as a customer. We are looking at the problem from the homebuyer’s perspective and the home-buying journey as a whole. Instead of fixing small problems along the way like other businesses we are partnering with these other businesses to provide a smooth journey for the home-buyer.
What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their business out there?
Find a distribution/marketing channel that does not cost the earth or include you spending on advertising. Something that is repeatable and scalable. Many businesses either B2B or B2C spend vast amounts for minimal gain on advertising. Finding partners that can essentially act as your route to market is key to getting early traction.
What are your top three tips to hire and develop new talent?
Look for people with entrepreneurial traits, ex-founders who have started businesses before. These people are problem solvers and the type of people you need around you as you navigate the early stages of a business.
Describe your business in three words.
Home-buying assistants.
