By Margaret Hedderman
There’s a reason they call it rocket fuel. Since receiving his first round of angel and venture capital funding in February, John Harlan has grown his real estate tech company in Rural Colorado from a solo venture into a twelve-person operation.
“It has enabled us to just move so much faster.”
Based in Buena Vista, ScoutSpace Technologies is a tool for commercial real estate brokers that automates the process of creating and sharing market surveys and tour books. The investment was co-led by the Greater Colorado Venture Fund (GCVF) and Andrew Poplar, a member of the Ark Angels investment group in the Arkansas Valley.
ScoutSpace’s early traction and momentum highlight the capacity of rural communities to support high-growth startups—and, in turn, to energize the local startup community.
“Anytime someone in this area is looking for a job that I think could be a fit, I always will prioritize getting in front of them and … seeing if there’s an opportunity to work together,” John said. “Because that’s the real dream, right?”
From House Flips to High-Tech: A Lifelong Entrepreneur
John is a lifelong entrepreneur. After graduating from Baylor University, his parents bankrolled him to flip a house.
“Which was the greatest experience ever,” he said.
That first foray into entrepreneurship eventually led to launching a grocery delivery truck business in Florida, and later, a decade-long run building CrateBind—a digital product studio based in Dallas. John sold CrateBind last year.
“That was a great experience of learning how to start from zero, grow a team, hire people, build infrastructure, and build that kind of mid-level management,” he said.
When CrateBind went fully remote in 2020, John and his family relocated to Buena Vista. He continued to grow the company from afar, but it wasn’t long before he embedded himself in the local startup scene. Through his involvement with the Ark Angels, a local investment group, he began mentoring and evaluating early-stage companies across the region.
“It’s really important if you’re doing a rural Colorado startup that you have local resources,” John said.
“It’s really important if you’re doing a rural Colorado startup that you have local resources.”
That local ecosystem would later return the favor. When it came time to launch ScoutSpace, John leaned on the relationships and insights he’d helped foster.
“They were that backbone for us to kind of go from zero to one,” he said.
“Everyone living in rural areas understands the importance of community, and it is often why we decide to call our small towns home. We enjoy knowing and helping our neighbors and recognize that with the support of others we are able to go further.” Cory Finney, partner at GCVF, said. “Startup communities are no different. They provide the connective tissue for founders to get plugged into networks that can help them plug into broader networks that open doors for them to grow their business.”
Identifying a Market Gap: Solving a Serious Pain Point in Commercial Real Estate
The idea for ScoutSpace emerged from a real-world pain point John encountered while running his previous company in Dallas. As he considered relocating offices, he realized how disruptive commute times could be for his staff—and how difficult it was to visualize the impact of potential office moves.
“So I whipped up a little script to calculate all that,” he said.
At the same time, he started working with a commercial real estate broker and quickly grew frustrated with the outdated, analog process of evaluating the listings, which typically involved clunky PDFs and spreadsheets. Unlike residential platforms like Zillow, the commercial space lacked a user-friendly, digital experience.
So, John built a tool that combined interactive dashboards with data overlays like commute analysis to streamline the process for brokers and their clients.
“Sometimes you could have four or five people that are part of a real estate buying decision, and being able to bring all those people to one place, it just reduces friction and enables things to move more quickly,” he said.
While he was still running his other company, John began moonlighting as the founder and sole employee of ScoutSpace.
“I do think that’s a superpower,” John said. “Being a technical founder or co-founder is just so valuable, because developers are expensive.”
Don’t hide good ideas: The importance of early feedback
Drawing on lessons from his previous ventures, John took a proactive approach with ScoutSpace—putting both himself and the product out into the world early.
“Don’t be afraid to share your idea with people,” he said. “You’re better off getting a lot of feedback than hiding it because you’re worried someone will steal it.”
He contacted hundreds of commercial real estate brokers, seeking their input on the concept. Many agreed to trial the software as early users, offering valuable feedback that John used to refine and evolve the platform.
“Our ability to implement it incredibly quickly and efficiently is what has enabled us to grow traction in the industry,” he said.
By the time he was connected with the team at GCVF, ScoutSpace had already helped more than 25,000 people find commercial space. By the fall of 2024, he was at a flexion point in his business, deciding whether to continue self-funding or pursue investment. Cory Finney and Marc Nager, his two primary contacts with the fund, supported him through the decision-making process.
“They would give what felt like really unbiased counsel and advice and wisdom,” he said. “Sometimes it was of benefit to them, and sometimes it wasn’t necessarily.”
Eventually, they reached a deal, alongside fellow Ark Angel investor Andrew Poplar, who joined ScoutSpace as an interim Chief Revenue Officer.
“John is an amazing blend of competent, humble, thoughtful, and deliberate,” Cory said. “We got to know John over the course of a year plus and were continued to be impressed by his thought process and his ability to execute on what he sets out to do. When we spoke to him about ScoutSpace we got really excited about the product and traction he already had, and we were excited to help fuel his growth.”
Today, ScoutSpace is scaling rapidly. They have tripled their revenue in the last six months and are currently pursuing their second round of funding.
“We feel like we’ve used that (first round) money to validate the thesis that we could use that money to grow revenue,” John said. “Now we want to double down and go even faster.”
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