How Leasing to Friends Turned into a Business: Daniel Botero Shares How Lizit was Born
A renting and leasing app founded by three Colombian entrepreneurs
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When he realized that the items collecting dust in his home could bring in some extra money, Daniel Botero started to lease his own collection of goods to friends and family. At the time, he worked as a consultant for Boston Consulting Group, but he soon realized he wanted to chase the startup dream. So with time and two extra buddies who would quickly become his co-founders, Lizit was born. Join us as we discuss the journey of building a startup and learn about obstacles, transitions, and triumphs of becoming a founder.
What was your story before you decided to found Lizit?
I graduated from CESA University in Bogota, Colombia, with a Bachelors in Business Administration. After college, I started working as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group. I worked there for two years, and then the pandemic hit. This was when the idea for Lizit was born, and everything started to develop.
So how was Lizit born?
After a friend asked me if he could use my Peloton for a few days, I ended up “renting” it to him. I could make some money from an old item I didn’t use, and my friend didn’t have to spend the money on an entirely new bike he only wanted to use for a short period of time. A few weeks later, the same friend asked if he could use my PlayStation since a quarantine was getting the best of him. Again, I agreed because renting out an item collecting spider webs in my house was a win-win for both parties. Time went on, and my little business grew to a WhatsApp group chat where people were renting and leasing the items they weren’t using.
This is when Jaime, my friend, turned to me and said,
“What if we start a platform, like an Airbnb for things?”
As I saw this chat and idea grow, Jaime and I came together to hash out how viable a “leasing and renting” platform would be. Was there something like this out on the market? We thought it was a huge opportunity and people seemed to love it. However, we both had corporate jobs, me in BCG and Jaime in Rocket; our hands were full. We had tried to contact software developers; we paid them and invested money, but it fell through, and they never delivered. So this is when Samuel enters the story, our third co-founder. He liked the idea and joined us. This was when we decided to try and launch a platform.
Samuel had way more experience than us in product design and software development. This led the three of us to start developing the idea with more seriousness, experience, and time. However, the three of us still hadn’t quit our jobs. The hilarious part is we had a plan in place. First, Samuel was gonna quit, then Jaime, and finally me. But none of us were brave enough to stick with the plan. Our corporate jobs looked like paradise when the idea of quitting came into our mind; the job security, the benefits, and the view were priceless. But after realizing the vision was going nowhere if we didn’t dedicate ourselves to it full time, I walked into my boss’ office without telling Jaime and Samuel and quit. The phone call to them after was the best feeling in the world. All they had to do was join me back in Bogota. Seemed easy enough. Until it wasn’t.
After we quit, the agency we hired was working at a very slow pace, and the date set for the app release grew more and more distant as time went on. Finally, we realized we needed money. So we decided to raise a pre-seed and seed round that included venture capitalists, angel investors, and investment advisors. We built an incredible advisory board for topics like technology and marketing with members including the VP of Global Strategy of Delivery Hero, the CMO of Scotiabank for Colombia, and the Associate Director of Digital BCG for Latin America. Since then, we have been working hard every day; we released the app on March 28th, 2022, and have grown to have over 20 employees with different teams. We have started developing a side branch focusing on the leaser side.
To capture where we are now, we have more than 12,500 users registered in our system, more than 300 business “leasers,” and more than 2,000 exchanges. Items leased range from computers to bikes to anything you could imagine.
What was your transition from consulting to founding a startup like?
What attracted me to Boston Consulting Group was how dynamic and balanced the job was. Always tackling new ideas, having a team to work with, and always being on my feet was precisely what I was looking for. I didn’t want to focus on just one area and consulting gave me that flexibility. However, I always knew I wanted to start something and be an entrepreneur. So I used my time at BCG as my MBA; I gathered what I had learned about businesses, numbers, teamwork, and more to help me with this new idea that Jaime and I had. In consulting, you are gathering solutions for very complex problems, which is what I do now at Lizit. I see a big problem and can now break it down into chunks that help me tackle each section until the really complex problem is not so complicated anymore. However, it was not easy; there were so many ups and downs, and there still are. But at the end of the day, I learned to take what I knew, the skills I had learned, and mold them into how I needed them for this new obstacle ahead.
Knowing what you do now, what would you go back and tell your younger self?
I would tell him three things:
Find a mentor. Find someone that cares what you learn. Learning is one of the most essential things you can do before starting something on your own. Getting experience, growing, and making mistakes is crucial before tackling something more significant than you ever imagined. This truly gives you a headstart.
Make meaningful connections and keep them. You never know who is sitting next to you. Those relationships will drive you to the next level and help you build. Three of my dearest professors were the first investors in Lizit, and it’s because they trusted me. Because of the relationship I started, kept, and nurtured.
Find what moves you, your passion. If you find what you really care about, at that point, you are living the dream and working towards what ultimately makes you happy.
Where do you see Lizit in five years?
We want to become the biggest rent and lease company in Latin America. This is coupled with being asset-light, data-driven, and all through digital platforms. Therefore, we hope to grow more branches such as B2B and B2C lines. By expanding through every industry and focusing on both sides of the pole (supply and demand), the brand branches can complement each other and keep growing faster and faster every year.
Lastly, what has been the biggest obstacle Lizit has faced since starting?
The biggest obstacle came before even launching the app. We had a lot of problems with our software before getting it right. And for that, it was about finding the right people and having patience. After that, we learned it was better to launch the best product, even if it took us quitting our jobs and investing our own money.
Additionally, I would definitely say raising money was a huge climb uphill. No one tells you how hard it is to convince investors to give you a quarter of a million dollars for an “idea” you came up with. The problem was all investors kept saying,
“We love the idea, but when you have a more developed platform we can invest in, it’s just too early for us to chime in.”
But they didn’t realize that if no one took a chance on us, we would never get a more developed product. So out of 200 no’s, you almost want to cry at your 1 yes. Because that one yes is what opens the door for everything else that is coming. So we tackled that with patience and perseverance. Always hold on to the belief that your idea is worth it; it is essential to not lose that.
🔥Rapid Fire:
First job: Intern on Operations at Superfüds
Fav movie: James Bond, Die Another Day
Fav book: Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice by Bill Browder
Fav hometown food: Mondongo or Frijoles
Problem you are passionate about: Destigmatizing renting and leasing to help improve the latin americas e-commerce platforms and systems
Leader you admire: Bob Chapek, CEO of Disney
Daniel, thank you so much for your time! We can’t wait to see where Lizit goes.
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