Nine WashU student-lead ventures are finalists set to compete for $22,500 in awards in the 2020 Skandalaris Venture Competition (SVC) later this month. This week, we are publishing Q&A articles to feature each venture team. Today’s featured team is CRESTE.

About

CRESTE will allow any investor to purchase small stakes in specific properties that they choose.

Industry: Fintech

Number of Employees: Two

What problem are you solving?

There are significant capital requirements to begin investing in commercial real estate, a very illiquid asset, which makes it inaccessible to the lay investor. Additionally, despite the rapid technological advancements of the finance world, real estate investment remains stagnant. In conjunction, these two factors cause the average investor to not even consider real estate as an asset that they could hold in their portfolio. This is unfortunate because commercial real estate typically offers a high return to low-risk ratio.

About the Founding Team:

Steven Schlau is a junior at WashU studying systems engineering, computer science, and finance. He is a serial entrepreneur who has started and owned multiple profitable companies, each addressing a specific consumer need. Currently, he is a co-owner and the Chief Operating Officer of Wash U Wash. He has also worked on business development for VirtualAPT, a realestate technology firm.

Chris Rockwell is a senior at WashU studying computer science. He has two summers of commercial software development experience for Facebook, where he received a full-time offer. His expertise lies in back-end development; however, he also has strong front-end skills and spent time working on algorithms to aid the Facebook Marketplace user experience.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned since starting your venture?

The importance of being perseverant yet willing to pivot when necessary.

What do you love about being an entrepreneur?

Outside of the box, thinking is almost a redundancy when it comes to entrepreneurship. There are no confines regarding how something should work.

What words of advice do you have for those interested in starting a business?

The biggest advancements occur by challenging norms, rethinking why things are the way they are, and whether or not they could be done differently.

LinkedIn: @stevenshlau