taking the venture funding, the company also changed its name to Cittio from JJ Labs.
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“Too many people thought we were a pharmaceutical company, Lerner said.
Lerner is taking the lessons he learned in real estate to build Cittio.
The company negotiated an attractive short-term lease with the landlord of the building housing the companys south of Market headquarters. Lerner is supervising a construction team to renovate the building in exchange for a cut in the rent.
It”s a far cry from his entrepreneurial days of the late 1990s when he worked at a web-hosting company that had raised $50 million in venture financing. Today, he talks about that venture”s free-spending ways with a level of disbelief.
“You cannot believe how quickly payroll drains millions of dollars, Lerner said, noting that everyone at Cittio is focused on building or selling the companys software. There are no receptionists to answer phones, and everything from payroll to public relations is outsourced.
Cittio runs a tight ship, even compared with other entrepreneurs who disavow their once spendthrift ways.
“Whenever we spend money, it goes into the price of the product, so a business is really spending a customer”s money, Lerner said. We bought every single piece of equipment used. Our desks are a wood door over two saw horses.”
And Lerner isn”t kicking back now that he”s received a vote of confidence — and a big check — from Hummer Winblad.
“The pressure has doubled. It was much easier when it was just my money, and I didn”t have to answer to anyone, Lerner said. A lot of people view venture funding as the endpoint. But it”s just the beginning.”
