Recent Positively West Virginia guest, Justin Byers, is a collector of West Virginia businesses. In the last few years, he’s switched gears and is now embarking on the technology industry with a plan to change it all.
Justin is the chief operating officer of RealX, a company that brings property owners together with the energy industry to create more opportunities for economic development. This is Justin’s first dive into technology, but so far, he loves how exciting the industry is every day. RealX is explicitly bringing massive changes to those in real estate, energy and data.
RealX aims to create ease and connectivity for people who own property and industries who seek property and air rights. This process has been complicated because landowners don’t want to give up their land, making data hard to collect and industry scrambling for space. However, now, it’s easy to communicate openly and quickly through the RealX platform. The company takes the people involved from deal open to close, all online.
Justin started his first venture at 22, so he knows a thing or two about being an entrepreneur. He strongly believes in surrounding yourself with people of different types to bounce ideas off, so you know you’re getting diverse feedback. Justin also stressed how essential failures are. He described many ideas or ventures that didn’t go well, but he values those experiences just as much as he does his successes. If you ask Justin Byers, the key to success in business is feedback, adaptation and thick skin.
Justin said, “Knowing what I know now, I would have done some things differently, but honestly, I would have done a lot the same.”
While it’s undeniable that RealX is making a massive change in the energy industry, Justin doesn’t like the term “disrupting.” Justin said, “I’m not trying to disrupt anything; I’m just trying to make it better.” He really believes in this program because he knows it will bring opportunity to rural landowners and industry standards and because he can see how RealX is creating jobs in and of itself. From here, Justin hopes to continue growing RealX, creating more jobs and partnerships.
To learn more about RealX, you can visit https://www.realx.io/.
Listen to Justin’s whole podcast here: https://positivelywv.com/podcast/episode-169-justin-byers/
PWV QUICK BITS | JUSTIN BYERS
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- PIECE OF ADVICE: “Start your ideas with your inner circle, vet it with them, and then someone else. You want to make sure you take all of your feedback as a whole,” stated Justin