NICOLE VIETOR, 24, founder and president, Text A Listing, Harbor City

Business: Listing apartment rentals by text message

Employees: 3

Financials: Between $10,000 and $20,000 in revenue since startup; not yet breaking even

Fact: Vietor notes that the average ages of apartment renters and text-message users are the same: 18-36

Nicole Vietor was still an undergraduate at USC’s Marshall School of Business when she realized that text messaging could be a convenient tool for apartment hunters.

The realization came from firsthand experience.

“I was living off campus trying to rent an apartment and there were so many of them,” recalled Vietor. “You’d call them for the basic information and it took forever – you’d never get an immediate response.”

Her business, Text A Listing, allows landlords to post a code word on their for-rent signs. If apartment hunters see the sign and want more info, they can text message the code word, and get more data – the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and the rental amount, for example. If prospective tenants are interested, they can send another message and the landlord or manager can call them.

“I think it’s the wave of the future,” Vietor said of Text A Listing, which she launched late last year with about $40,000 provided mostly by her father.

Since then, the company, which she runs out of her Harbor City home, has acquired 20 clients, all of them property managers or owners who pay $50 to $200 a month depending on the size of the complex and the number of apartments they are listing.

She has no idea how many actual rental agreements have resulted. But the number of clients is growing by as many as four each month, she said, with revenue of $2,000 to $4,000.

That’s not yet enough to cover expenses, which include paying a programmer, sales people and general text-messaging services. But Vietor expects a positive cash flow within months and to break even within a year.

“Early on, I learned that a business isn’t about the concept but about the execution,” said Vietor, adding that she learned from her father who she describes as a serial entrepreneur. “Sometimes it can be challenging but the challenge makes it satisfying. I like the freedom and having the control.”