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Drew | Tech Founder, Kovely AI

@imdrewrogers

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followers

312

following

🌻sold my first company. building the next.
• the mission: calmer property rentals with AI
• the real day-to-day of founder life
📍LDN ⇄ DXB

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A few years ago I sold my learning company 🎉 But here's what most people don’t see before that headline:

→ moved from Tanzania to London as a child
→ learnt English, earned a scholarship, graduated
→ left a career in finance to launch a business
→ started tutoring languages from my living room with an Ikea whiteboard + an ad in a newsagents
→ worked 60+ hour weeks to win major clients (hello Amazon, Disney + the rest)
→ hit a few setbacks along the way (thanks life!)
→ company acquired 💫

Now I'm back at day one, building an AI startup
This time I'm documenting the entire journey - so if you're building something of your own (or dreaming about it), follow along.
And if you want a shortcut, I also mentor founders.
Let's build! 🚀

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female founder, bootstrapping, proptech, women in business, solo founder, building in public, start-up life, AI startup, women in tech, start-up stories, vibe coding taken in London, United Kingdom by @imdrewrogers

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11

a year ago

where are all the women? 🙋🏻‍♀️

I keep finding myself in rooms where there aren’t many
in property, tech, AI.

→ I’ve bought and renovated property on my own
→ taken a company from idea to acquisition, solo
→ and now I’m building an AI startup in the property space

⚡️I know there must be other women out there building in the same spaces and feeling the same way too.

so if that’s you - come see what happens next!
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female founder, women in tech, ai startup, solo founder, women who build, women entrepreneurs, startup life, building in public by @imdrewrogers

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2 months ago

This is how I left my finance job + started my own tutoring company (which I later sold):

1. Saved 6 month’s living expenses into my savings account as a safety net
2. Had a solid business plan to test my idea
3. Blocked out time for my side hustle - mornings, evenings + weekends
4. Got my first 10 students paying me monthly
5. Put processes + systems in place
6. Built my network + up-skilled
7. Handed in my notice once I had consistent sales to replace my monthly salary 🎉

Need a roadmap? DM ‘BIZ PLAN’ to get my free business plan template + validate your idea ✏️
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Hi I’m Drew, I’m a 3x entrepreneur and I sold my learning company. Follow for biz insights 💡
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#spreadsheets #spreadsheet #googlesheets #budget #budgeting #budgetplanner #budgetplanning #moneytips
#budgetplanners #savingmoney #financialliteracy101 #financialliteracyforwomen #businesstracker #businessplanner #passiveincome #sidehustle #productivity #business #profitandloss #profitandlosstemplate #workfromhome #weeklyplanner #freelancer #entrepreneurs #business #money #investing #saving taken in London, United Kingdom by @imdrewrogers

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3 years ago

it’s so common to feel like you want to give up when you’re building 😩 moments of ‘yes this is the best thing’ followed by ‘wth am I actually doing’

as founders, we’ve chosen the hard road + it can feel relentless so I hope this advice helps 💚
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startup life, female founder, women in tech, AI startup, proptech, building in public, second act founder, entrepreneurship, women who build by @imdrewrogers

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5 days ago

we have the same problem Airbnb had 👀

🧐 when they first launched, hosts took unflattering photos which meant low bookings.

the solution? hire professional photographers to stage homes. boom - bookings went up 🚀

🏡 Kovely - we need property owners to upload manuals for our AI assistant Cosmo to answer intelligently. this isn’t easy (at all) because onboarding isn’t fun!

so I explain 3️⃣ ways we’re solving this in the video.

anything else founders are trying that I need to as well??
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Airbnb, property management software, proptech, female founder, women in tech, AI startup, building in public, second act founder, landlords, HMOs, HMO app, lettings software, onboarding by @imdrewrogers

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6 days ago

🥸given that I’m glued to my desk rn and the grind is real, thought I’d share the main tools that are in my startup’s ecosystem.

I’m bootstrapping (for now) which means I’m funding the company by myself + keeping costs lean af 🫡

the tool in the last slide is a newbie for me, really don’t want to change this up so hope it doesn’t fail🫣

hope this helps, follow for more stuff like this x
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Startup apps, AI startup, startup life, bootstrapping, solo founder, clickup, attio CRM, lovable, project management tools by @imdrewrogers

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11 days ago

okayyy the pace has gone up a notch 🔥

we’re heading into winter + if you own an older property, it’s basically when everything decides to go wrong right? boilers, thermostats, radiators, heating - list goes onnnn

owners dread it - tenants get frustrated - nobody wins!

🎉 THIS is exactly what I’m solving with Kovely. Our AI assistant:

✅ guides tenants remotely for simple fixes
✅ escalates the issue → contractor if needed
✅ generates a job report in seconds
✅ keeps everyone in the loop ’til job closed off.

landlords! get your house in order + sign up to Kovely AI so we can be your 24/7 maintenance helpdesk ☎️

Happy tenants = Happy life 🙃

Sign up, link in bio 👆🏻
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property management, HMOs, landlords, HMO management, rental property, property investor, property investing, proptech, AI property management taken in London, United Kingdom by @imdrewrogers

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10 days ago

nobody’s coming to make room for you at the table so build your own 💅🏼

9 years ago I got the keys to my own place in London. no plus-one, no 50/50 on the title deeds and a chunky deposit (because have you tried getting a mortgage when you’re self-employed? oh yay)

on moving in day, I hired a van, lugged my belongings down 2 flights of stairs, navigated the M25, and spent the first night on my yoga mat 💕

now I go again. different challenge, same feeling. for the ones creating their own spaces too, let’s go 💪🏼
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female founder, women in tech, AI startup, proptech, building in public, second act founder, property management taken in London, United Kingdom by @imdrewrogers

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18 days ago

😐 the unglamorous part of building AI? nobody tells you that MVP testing is actually this repetitive.

I’m teaching the AI every day: test, fix, re-test.
rinse + repeat 🔁

every issue a tenant could report - basically hundreds of them!! - needs to land in the right place.

Wrong category = wrong contractor turns up ⚠️

this bit makes or breaks the product!

I’m in the thick of it, it’s intense (esp. for a non-technical founder) but weirdly fun 🤓
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mvp, lovable, ai startup, building in public, founder journey, women in tech, proptech, ai product, tech founder, property management, proptech, ai startup, bootstrapping by @imdrewrogers

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25 days ago

signed up. then ghosted 👻

I’m building my MVP rn + the customer has to upload their documents for the AI assistant to work.

buuuut we all know people hate filling in forms. so you’ve done all the hard work to get them to sign up + then they drop like flies 🤨

how to get round this:

1. check if every field is 100% necessary. do you need this info now or can it wait?
2. send them a reminder to start - or to finish if they stopped halfway
3. give them another way in - with my app Kovely I’ve added a 30-minute setup call link if the customer wants to go through it together

your customer’s time is precious - don’t waste it! follow to see how I get on 🌱
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MVP, onboarding, female founder, women in tech, ai startup, solo founder, startup life, tech founder, property management, proptech, building in public, bootstrapping, HMOs, landlords, property tech by @imdrewrogers

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a month ago

from zero to acquisition - and it all started with an ikea whiteboard 👩🏻‍🏫

launched my side hustle from the living room. realised I actually had something viable so I kept my head down, learning, failing, growing 🌱

mix that in with some serendipity along the way (chance encounters + conversations), until one day, my company was acquired.

all this goes to show what can happen when your eye is on the prize 🏆

(but the statistic on the last slide is still wild to me!)

for anyone starting at zero, it does get better 🌻
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female founder, women in tech, ai startup, solo founder, startup life, tech founder, property management, proptech, building in public, founder journey, bootstrapping, vibe coding, women who build, property tech taken in London, United Kingdom by @imdrewrogers

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a month ago

😮2 weeks ago, my product was a shell. Today, the MVP is nearly live.

the speed when you mix AI + deep focus + genuine desire to solve a problem is wild.

✅ tips to help if you’re doing the same thing:

→ if you’re building on Lovable, Replit etc. your tokens will burn fast. a basic plan just won’t cut it.
→ be ruthless with your features. don’t build it all at once.
→ it’s hard charging for something that is a basic product. get comfortable with it.
→ keep testing in all the ways you can for bugs. there will be many of them!

next up: I’m focusing on bug fixes and the dashboard

🌻 for anyone building an MVP, follow as I document it all
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female founder, MVP, women in tech, ai startup, solo founder, startup life, tech founder, property management, building in public, founder journey, bootstrapping, vibe coding, women who build, property tech by @imdrewrogers

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a month ago