Meet The Disruptors: Luke Fleury Of Fleury Properties On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Think Big
Be Accountable
Have Integrity
Be Passionate
Adapt
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Luke Fleury.
Luke Fleury is from Newport Rhode Island. He attended The University of Rhode Island where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics in 2017. After graduation, he started his own Real Estate Development Company — Fleury Properties where he purchased homes and flipped them for a profit. Shortly after he joined a local Country Club — The Aquidneck Club where he met successful investors who would lead him to create the vision for Dibbs.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I first learned that I wanted to pursue a career in real estate back while attending the University of Rhode Island. I was an economics major and in my free time, I’d watch HGTV. I found that I was constantly inspired by house flipping shows and seeing the transformations that those homes would undergo. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mindset — when I graduated in 2017, I purchased my first flip. Throughout this time, I found that I was paying high-interest bank rates. I decided that I would seek investors who would work with me as a mutually beneficial relationship while cutting out those high costs. I met Rob Desantis, a serial entrepreneur and former co-founder of Ariba. In our many conversations, he inspired me to want more than just real estate developing and investing. He pushed me to find an issue in my industry and come up with a solution — this is ultimately what lead me to create Dibbs.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
During my first house flip, I underestimated the costs involved in renovating the home. There were surprise issues with the house (as there are with many older homes) that I did not anticipate when budgeting for the project. Also, I purchased my first house with little money down and at a higher interest rate. It being my first time, I made silly mistakes that could have been avoided looking back. Thankfully it all worked out and I still sold the house at a profit from what I purchased and put into it but had things been even slightly different, I could be in a completely different place in my life than where I’m at now. My suggestion is to do your research. Account for higher than expected costs, research the market trends, hire trustworthy contractors or employees, and have enough time available in your investment. Projects can take longer than you hope for and it’s good to have prepared yourself for it.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I have been lucky enough to have multiple mentors throughout the different stages of my career and life. My dad has and will always be my biggest mentor. He is a well-respected member of the community and watching him help and lead others has truly impacted and pushed me to be the best I can be both in my career and personal life.
In recent years, I have been extremely fortunate to connect and be mentored by some of the best.
Rob Desantis. Rob was one of the original founders of Ariba and helped propel Ariba from zero to $250 million in revenue in just four years. I met Rob while playing golf at The Aquidneck Club in Rhode Island. I joined the club because I was hoping it would leverage my networking opportunities and allow me to connect with investors for my real estate and development company. While it did this, the conversations I had with Rob is what led me to create Dibbs. He understands firsthand how to scale start-ups and has been instrumental in bringing the vision for Dibbs to life. Rob is now a co-founder of Dibbs and truly has been a mentor I can learn and grow from.
Rob has been nothing short of generous in connecting me with his network of advisors, investors, friends, and colleagues. Shortly after meeting Rob, I was introduced to Zack King. His background in software engineering has helped our development team create a scalable product with an easy-to-use interface for the construction industry.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
They say “if it’s not broken don’t fix it” however, I am not sure that is true anymore. Today technology has allowed people to do things faster, easier, and with more knowledge. If the old way is causing you frustrations why not find a solution?
Our app — Dibbs is disrupting the construction industry. The construction industry for years has been bidding and finding materials manually. It’s a time-consuming process but no one has looked to change it. A study by Visual Capitalist found that 70% of companies in the industry believe that those who do not adopt new technologies will go out of business and 62% admit that the industry lags behind others in adopting new technologies.
Although difficult, change is something that should be embraced especially when it comes to technology. It’s time to disrupt.
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Here’s a few that we’ve integrated into our core values.
Think Big
Be Accountable
Have Integrity
Be Passionate
Adapt
These words have been comforting when facing major decisions. It helps to go back and think of what we are really trying to do and sticking to our values as a business and team.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Growing Dibbs nationally. I want nothing more than for every contractor and tradesman in the US to use Dibbs as their go-to tool for construction projects. The same goes for homeowners, I want Dibbs to be a recognized household name and resource for renovation services. I truly believe that our product makes people’s lives easier and better.
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
There are a few that have really resonated with me in my personal life as well as with my business. Firstly, the Bible. There are so many thoughtful life lessons and best practices that I often go back to in my personal life. Grant Cardone, a top real estate investor has a podcast that I listen to often. He is brutally honest in his advice and really gets you to think big and think creatively. Thinking big has become one of our core values at Dibbs. Lastly, one of the books that has truly helped in my business career is one of our advisors, John McMahon’s best-selling book — The Qualified Sales Leader. This book has a ton of amazing sales strategies that get you to really think about your product as a whole and how to create actual value for your customer. This has helped me tremendously to focus on automating every aspect of the bidding process for the construction industry. Without doing this we would only provide a small value to our users.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
There are a few that I live by — especially when I am feeling negative or down which in the entrepreneurial life does happen.
The first is actually from Meek Mill “On your worst day, you’re still living better than somebody on their greatest day” This is something I am consistently reminding myself of when I am feeling down. When the going gets tough, someone else in the world would happily trade places with you and deal with your current struggles compared to their day-to-day struggles.
The next two are quick quotes that really push me to be better and positive in my everyday life:
- “Try and fail but don’t fail to try” — John Quincy Adams.
- “Pain is temporary, pride is forever” — commonly attributed to Lance Armstrong.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My nonprofit dream has always been to open up a charter school for children and young adults up to college with physical and social disabilities. I would start it in elementary up to college by providing sports programs for them, social gatherings, helping them get into the workforce as they get older, as well as housing and to help with their overall social skills to help them in a society that can be so difficult for them otherwise. I would want to raise money for the first school and then charter them all over the country from donors all over.
How can our readers follow you online?
I am not very active on social media but I regularly post company updates, industry insights, and advice on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-fleury-5010a3215/ or check out Dibbs at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dibbstechnology/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Luke Fleury Of Fleury Properties On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
