My last startup was acquired, and I'm ready for the next one

My story starts in 2015, when my girlfriend (now wife) and I had a jawdropping renting experience.

The move-in process was smooth (AKA the sales funnel), but things quickly fell apart after getting the keys. Little things pop up — questions about rent payments, maintenance requests, parking spaces, etc. These “micro-interactions” have a major impact on whether or not a tenant wants to renew their lease when the time comes.

To our surprise, these basic questions triggered an ongoing game of communication tag with the building property management team. Phone calls, text messages, voicemails, emails, physical mail, you name it.

Eventually the runarounds led to a situation where we had 2 inches of water in our basement for almost 2 weeks. The issue didn’t get resolved until the damage was done. Fortunately the water issue was eventually repaired, but we had zero interest in renewing our lease at that point.

I don’t think that property managers try to avoid communication. The problem is that most don't have a modern way to stay organized between communication channels in a mobile-focused world.

Fixing the glitch

That’s why I started TenantLoop, a platform that enabled property managers to better communicate and engage with their mobile-first tenants. We centralized all communication channels into one place for the property manager, tenant, and maintenance team so that messages didn’t fall through the cracks anymore. Why? Happy tenants renew leases.

You can think of TenantLoop similar to Airbnb (hosts interacting with guests), but for longer-term rentals (property managers interacting with tenants). Tenants submit maintenance requests, pay rent, buy renters insurance, take satisfaction surveys, and interact with their neighbors all through the mobile app.

TenantLoop was acquired by a leading property management software company, Buildium (now part of RealPage). We owned the mobile experience for the 17,000 property managers and 2 million tenants on the platform. I am forever grateful for the TenantLoop team, our investors, and Buildium for leveling up the resident experience game.

The next chapter

I loved building products that helped renters have a better experience than I did. Over the 5 years spent at TenantLoop and our acquirer, I developed deep domain expertise and empathy for renters. After leaving the company, I spent more time thinking about underlying challenges in the real estate, specifically around the renting “life stage.”

I found another big problem that I’m passionate about, and one that impacts lots of people — about 100 million people to be exact.

What is something that the 100 million renters in the US all have in common? Well, they don’t want to be renters forever. Almost every renter wants to eventually buy a home, and is somewhere in their journey to homeownership. So what’s the problem? Saving for and buying your first house is hard. It’s the most money you’ve ever had to save, the biggest purchase you’ll ever make, and a long journey that most aspiring homeowners navigate by themselves.

Introducing Gravy

At Gravy, we are building a platform that helps renters navigate the path to homeownership. You can think of us building a bridge between the renting and homebuying industries that doesn’t exist.

Saving the down payment, building credit, learning about the homebuying process, finding a rockstar agent, locking in a good mortgage rate — it’s all up to you as the future homebuyer to figure out. With Gravy, you have a powerful homebuying assistant in your pocket throughout the journey.

And the coolest part? With Gravy Rewards, renters can earn money toward their future house while they are saving up. It’s kind of like a coupon book that you can use on closing day when you’re buying your first house. Rewards are funded by our real estate partners (lenders, agents, etc) that offer exclusive discounts to Gravy homebuyers.

You can probably tell I’m pumped about launching this company — because I am. I believe in the mission of helping more renters become homeowners. Plus, I’m eager to build a social impact company alongside some of the smartest people on the planet.

If you’re interested in joining us, I’d love to chat.