Unlock the secrets to transforming financial performance and compliance in the multifamily industry with insights from Michael Bowman, the visionary CEO and founder of Resident Radius. Discover how Michael's journey from an operator to a supplier partner has informed the creation of innovative cash management solutions that tackle financial evictions, late payments, and more. By listening to this episode, you'll gain an understanding of how Resident Radius builds a resident-centric approach that aligns seamlessly with owner and operator policies.
Building a platform from scratch is no small feat, and Michael shares his strategic blueprint for success. Learn about the shift from licensed software to platform development, emphasizing organic growth and the importance of an offshore team in Ireland. Michael highlights the critical role of client partnerships, addressing pain points, and ensuring user-friendly customization. This episode guides you through the strategic onboarding process and the art of communicating positive change to maximize property management efficiency.
With a focus on technology integration, this episode explores the transformative impact on property operations, particularly in cash management and regulatory compliance. Michael discusses the necessity of agile systems in keeping pace with shifting legislation, such as California's security deposit laws. By partnering with specialized tech solutions, operators can maintain excellence while respecting the multifamily industry's human element. Tune in to witness Resident Radius's success story and look forward to future collaborations and insights at their upcoming summit.
About the Multifamily Innovation® Council:
The Multifamily Innovation® Council is the executive level membership organization that makes a difference in your bottom line, drives a better experience for your employees, and allows you an experience that keeps demand strong for your company. The council is uniquely positioned to focus on the intersection of Leadership, Technology, AI, and Innovation.
The Multifamily Innovation® Council is for Multifamily Business leaders who want to unlock value inside their organization so they can create better experiences and drive profitability inside their company.
To learn more or to join, visit https://multifamilyinnovation.com/council.
For more information and to engage with leaders shaping the future of multifamily innovation, visit https://multifamilyinnovation.com/.
Connect:
Multifamily Innovation® Council: https://multifamilyinnovation.com/council/
Multifamily Innovation® & AI Summit: https://multifamilyinnovation.com/
Patrick Antrim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickantrim/
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back.
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So today we're talking all about money.
00:00:03
We've got the founder and CEO of Resident Radius on.
00:00:06
We've got Michael Bowman.
00:00:07
He'll be joining us in just a minute here.
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Before I set that up, I want to talk to you about why we do
00:00:13
these interviews.
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Number one as you know, I meet every week as chairman of the
00:00:19
Multifamily Innovation Council, and so we're spending time with
00:00:22
owners and operators inside the current challenges that they
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face in the industry.
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This is what they're faced with today.
00:00:29
And then we look at what is the bigger and better future that
00:00:32
they want to create.
00:00:32
And then we prioritize with the council and the operators how
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do they want to approach solving those problems?
00:00:39
And then we look for who can best support the partners and
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the technologies to then make those problems go away or to
00:00:48
help them achieve a bigger and better future.
00:00:50
And so math, money, financial evictions, late payments,
00:00:56
security deposits all these conversations are the types of
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things that are getting these investors to the yield, so you
00:01:02
can generate all the rents in the world if you want, but if
00:01:05
you can't collect them, that is a major pain point.
00:01:08
So today we're bringing in Michael Bowman.
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He's the CEO and founder of Resident Radius Michael, welcome
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in.
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Thank you, appreciate you having me.
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Yeah, so we just opened up a little bit about your background
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, personal background.
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I think of financial performance.
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You think of performance.
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You've been a performer technically, even in cinema, the
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movies, all these types of things.
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How do you look at performance today in multifamily?
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Speaker 2: I would say performance in multifamily has a
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number of aspects to it, because it depends on your
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perspective.
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If you're an operator, if you're an owner, if you're a
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supplier, partner, you have to look at the end result and the
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downstream effect, and I think that's what's lost oftentimes is
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everyone has their own focus and sometimes we have blinders
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on so for me, we categorize performance in a number of ways.
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We look at the performance as our product performs in its
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application.
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We also look at the performance in the effects downstream how
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are we impacting the site level?
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How are we impacting the resident experience?
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And we have to quantify each of those to determine overall
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performance.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm going to get into a little bit about
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what you've built, what you're working on, so the problem it
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solves and all of that.
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Let's start there, because I've got some follow-up questions
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around some of the priorities that these companies have.
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What are you working on, what have you built and what value
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are you creating in multifamily?
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Speaker 2: Well, I hope we're creating a lot of value in
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multifamily.
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I feel like we've done a good job and we have about eight
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years now under our belt doing it.
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As we talked, I was on the operator side before I crossed
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over to the supplier partner side, so we've applied a lot of
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my past experience into the product build and initially and
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it has evolved over time, obviously, as you are wont to do
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the original product was really just to solve for the cash
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deposit component and how residents onboard into a
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community, more for an affordability and a systematic
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approach that's consistent.
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What we've evolved to now is we've evolved to a cash
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management platform that the ecosystem itself actually is
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retroactively beneficial.
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So we're onboarding new residents that move into the
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community.
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We're converting existing residents that are already in
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the community and previously paid a deposit or deposit
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alternative and bringing those into our environment to support
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them.
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As well as the retroactive component with a sheetment,
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which has become a big driver for us as well.
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All of this is client-driven.
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I'd like to say that I'm the smartest guy in the room
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Absolutely not, you know.
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I'd like to say that I'm the smartest guy in the room
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Absolutely not.
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It's been a Jeff Bezos kind of an installment plan.
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That's any deposit alternative, third-party deposit alternative
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that the client wants to use, and we've created consistency
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and compliance around all of that workflow.
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Speaker 1: Is that also the administration part as well, in
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terms of the move out and getting those statements out to
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the residents?
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Speaker 2: Correct.
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Yes, a hundred percent of the the the life cycle of a resident
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from move in to move out, and I should say through move out, um
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, it's very customizable for uh our owners and operators to be
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able to uh streamline their workflow but also create their
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marketing and brand identity through our platform.
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Speaker 1: So let's lean into a little bit more of that
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compliance.
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What are the biggest challenges , would you say, around that
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compliance conversation?
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Speaker 2: That is a lot to unpack.
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When you talk about compliance, there's two layers to it.
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There's the legality, the legislative restrictions and
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requirements that you have to create compliance around, but
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there's also the administrative compliance, and so it's twofold.
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We've built a substantial backend deposit legislation
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matrix that is connected through our system to prevent our
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clients from risk.
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It's what establishes the timelines and the requirements
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for sending the final move out statement out.
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Whether it goes out US Postal or if it has to be a certified
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mailing, there's timelines involved.
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If you you know, example, if you have a state that has a
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30-day requirement, you know we're backstopping our clients
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to ensure that you know, if the move out isn't processed within
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the correct number of days, that we're advising them, reminding
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them hey, this hasn't been done.
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And ultimately, if it doesn't get done prior to the expiration
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, we're automatically refunding the resident to ensure that
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nobody has risk.
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Even the resident has a positive experience post move out.
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From an operator side, you have to make sure that you know you
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are adaptable and malleable to support their structure and
00:06:43
their needs and their compliance or their policies and
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procedures.
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But you have to do it in a way that's also resident-centric.
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We're very resident-facing.
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We have a 4.8 Google rating.
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We're really proud of that.
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We've really driven to ensure that our support teams are
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trained in sensitivity training, conflict resolution.
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You know we deal with all of the post-resident calls.
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If they have a question about their refund, they have a
00:07:11
question about their move-out statement.
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You know we're taking that burden on, and so we need to
00:07:16
make sure that our teams are properly trained to do it.
00:07:18
So compliance creates a lot of risk.
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A lot of that is missed today just by virtue of the fact that
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operators can't specialize in that one aspect.
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We specialize in the move-in, move-out process, and so we're
00:07:38
able to ensure that we hit all of those compliance requirements
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.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting and I know you have
00:07:44
and it signals a lot of your success in growing this platform
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.
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You've got a lot of large organizations already working
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with you.
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You know that signals something that you know the volume I
00:07:56
would imagine that they have.
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This makes a lot of sense and also for that mid-market or even
00:08:01
smaller portfolio 1, 2, 5 unit portfolio this seems
00:08:08
like a challenge for them to constantly train their teams and
00:08:13
to turn over and they're promoting people.
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It seems like a nice way to stay standardized, stay
00:08:19
compliant, without always retraining and retraining teams.
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Are you seeing any trends with that?
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Moving that outside the business?
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That's the goal, right.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I would think that it makes sense, for, I mean
00:08:32
, we're almost entirely cost neutral for our clients.
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In some ways we have the ability to create or generate an
00:08:41
administrative reimbursement or AKA revenue share right
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historically.
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And so when they're able to shed a huge amount of the
00:08:52
mundane, the manual tasks and, in addition to that, negate
00:08:57
significant risk, it makes sense .
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Yes, we have a lot of large unit count clients but we do
00:09:07
really well with the SMB and the smaller unit counts.
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We don't discriminate.
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Our system is built on the simplicity of onboarding to
00:09:18
allow and support a 10 property PMC, a two property PMC, a mom
00:09:24
and pop that have 50 units.
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For us it doesn't matter necessarily the size of the
00:09:30
organization.
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Obviously, from a support perspective, you have to have
00:09:34
dedicated account management for the larger clients and then you
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consolidate or group smaller clients with account management.
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But yeah, I think it makes sense because, as you said, it
00:09:45
doesn't just mitigate or negate risk but it creates operational
00:09:49
efficiencies and allows operators to scale because they
00:09:54
don't need to add resources to bring on more properties to the
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extent that they historically did.
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And I think that you know within those organizations you
00:10:04
find the variety of positions within a large organization are
00:10:08
more positions to fill in those manual tasks, the smaller ones.
00:10:13
You have individuals that do multiple tasks and eliminate
00:10:21
daily cash reconciliation or accounting transfers or stuffing
00:10:25
envelopes or, you know, going to a post office.
00:10:28
It definitely saves time and creates operational efficiency.
00:10:32
Yeah.
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Speaker 1: When you're inside these conversations with owner
00:10:35
and operators and it's the first time they're hearing about it.
00:10:38
What are the questions they're asking about this process?
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Speaker 2: I would say that the number one question that we get
00:10:45
almost every single new business is how do you make money?
00:10:49
Right, they want to make sure because, again, we're priced at
00:10:53
a point that allows for adoption regardless of budget season.
00:10:59
Doesn't matter if you're a fee manager or if you're an owner
00:11:01
manager.
00:11:02
You know our product runs very smooth and cost consciously is
00:11:08
based on a way to, you know, create an onboarding experience
00:11:12
that doesn't have to be impacted by the budget season.
00:11:15
So, a lot of times they want to know, you know, where we make
00:11:18
money and it's a shared responsibility, right?
00:11:20
You know we generate revenue from the resident.
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We have offset costs through the operator, so it is.
00:11:27
It is probably the first and foremost question that we get to
00:11:30
after we get through portion of the demo, because, you know,
00:11:33
most of our most of our folks that we're demoing to are very
00:11:37
much understanding of the pain, and so it's.
00:11:40
This is, this is great.
00:11:41
How do we sign up, but this sounds too good to be true,
00:11:44
right?
00:11:44
So that's probably the first and foremost that we hear.
00:11:48
A lot of times, we hear or we're asked, you know, how do
00:11:53
they incorporate their own policies and procedures into our
00:11:57
workflow, which, again, it's very customizable, so we meet
00:12:01
their needs rather than them needing to meet our needs.
00:12:04
Speaker 1: And is that like in the communications with the
00:12:06
residents or?
00:12:07
Speaker 2: Every aspect of our platform, to my own detriment
00:12:11
and probably the angst of our developers.
00:12:14
Everything we build is customizable, from a marketing
00:12:18
standpoint to a workflow, even to a pricing allocation that
00:12:23
resident facing, so we can customize it in owner level, an
00:12:25
operator level, all the way down to a pricing allocation that
00:12:26
resident facing, so we can customize it an owner level, an
00:12:27
operator level, all the way down to a property level.
00:12:29
Speaker 1: Tell me about the building of all this, like how
00:12:31
you innovated this from an insider's perspective, right?
00:12:36
Speaker 2: Well, originally, when we launched, we were a
00:12:39
licensed software platform, and one of my peers in the industry
00:12:45
and very, very smart and innovative individual had told
00:12:49
me and I like the marketing stuff, I liked, I like you know,
00:12:53
let's do a really cool booth, let's do tchotchkes, all these
00:12:56
things.
00:12:56
And he said he said if I could give you one piece of advice,
00:13:02
invest in your platform, not in marketing, grow organically and
00:13:07
under the radar as long as you can and build a really solid
00:13:11
ecosystem that will support growth and innovation.
00:13:14
And I really took it to heart.
00:13:17
And that's what we focused on is we took the aspects of the
00:13:22
license software that we were using that we needed and then
00:13:27
built into a brand new platform the things that we wanted.
00:13:31
And so we've grown our platform significantly.
00:13:36
We've added three additional service lines.
00:13:40
When you own the IP, when you're building your own technology,
00:13:43
you have the benefit of being able to pivot or at least be
00:13:47
dynamic in the way that you approach certain problems, and
00:13:51
so development has become probably our biggest expense
00:13:57
annually.
00:13:57
We need to stay ahead of anybody that wants to be a
00:14:01
competitor.
00:14:02
We need to make sure that we're taking into account changes in
00:14:06
the environment.
00:14:06
We recently moved our development team offshore to
00:14:11
Ireland, which was a pretty big initiative, but we found that
00:14:16
the resources available there, the cost, all of that lent
00:14:19
itself to a really positive switch, and so we have multiple
00:14:24
development calls a week.
00:14:25
I'm still involved, I have some control issues maybe.
00:14:28
I like to see where things are at and where they're going, and
00:14:32
so the development cycle is really interesting for me, yeah.
00:14:35
Speaker 1: Products.
00:14:36
We share products that are useful, and that's a good focus.
00:14:40
I love the strategy.
00:14:42
If you were sitting down with the ideal customer that you
00:14:46
wanted to spend time with, what would you want them to know
00:14:49
about what you're working on here?
00:14:51
Speaker 2: I think that the first thing that I would like
00:14:54
all of our potential clients and our existing clients that
00:14:58
already know it is that we're not looking for unit count,
00:15:02
we're looking for long-term partners.
00:15:04
We want clients that are equally invested in us to
00:15:10
perform and to provide services that benefit the resident,
00:15:15
rather than just trying to grow to a certain unit count within
00:15:20
our space.
00:15:21
And then the other piece of it that I think is really important
00:15:25
is that, while our product sounds complex because there's
00:15:30
so much customization to it available, it doesn't have to be
00:15:35
complex.
00:15:36
The most difficult part is just the front end establishing.
00:15:41
You know what are the deposit requirements.
00:15:43
Who are the third party deposit alternatives that they work
00:15:46
with?
00:15:46
Is there a specific marketing message or brand image that they
00:15:49
want conveyed in that workflow?
00:15:51
Once we get all of that front end done, it runs really
00:15:56
smoothly.
00:15:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about that a little more Like
00:15:58
after someone says, yes, I want to move forward.
00:16:01
What does that look like in terms of the customer experience
00:16:04
or the client experience?
00:16:06
Speaker 2: Well, we have a policy and it's my fundamental
00:16:10
policy with any client and it's the concept of if we're going to
00:16:14
get married, we need to date first, and so we're very
00:16:18
cautious in the implementation and approach.
00:16:22
So once we've gone through the demo process and a client has
00:16:25
said, hey, we want to roll this out, we complete the MSA,
00:16:29
whether it's property level or operator level.
00:16:31
We onboard the properties.
00:16:34
We go through a number of calls with the right stakeholders,
00:16:38
because there is no ability to have a successful product launch
00:16:44
and use if you don't have buy-in from all layers of the
00:16:48
organization.
00:16:49
If the C-suite is really excited about something and the
00:16:53
site level teams feel like it's a cram down and that they're not
00:16:56
going to have benefits, there's friction.
00:16:58
And so we ensure that we set up a number of these discovery
00:17:02
calls with the right stakeholders involved to get
00:17:06
them on board and find buy-in, as well as provide feedback on
00:17:11
existing problems or structural changes or needs that they have.
00:17:15
And then we schedule a number of.
00:17:18
We always do a beta or a pilot group and then we schedule up
00:17:23
those calls to support the teams and work through the marketing
00:17:27
pieces and implementation go live and roll out.
00:17:30
Speaker 1: I mean you guys have it sounds like a solid process.
00:17:33
Is it different for them?
00:17:35
I mean, their process is they're just having internal
00:17:37
teams, you know, handling certain things, and then you
00:17:39
guys come in and offer a roadmap to sort of a simpler future and
00:17:45
you have a lot of people that have bought and I'm curious how
00:17:48
did you enroll that buy-in on the different levels, what those
00:17:51
benefits were?
00:17:52
Speaker 2: I think that the simplest way to achieve buy-in
00:17:56
at the various levels of the organization is to lead with the
00:18:01
benefit for those individual layers.
00:18:03
So, if we're meeting with accounting and it's always
00:18:07
important for our product to have you know your CFO,
00:18:10
controllers, the accounting, you know folks involved in that
00:18:13
conversation.
00:18:14
But if we're meeting with accounting, you know we talk
00:18:17
about a sheetment, we talk about daily cash reconciliation and
00:18:21
and stuffing envelopes with checks and and dealing with all
00:18:25
of that and relate to them the way that it works in our world.
00:18:29
Right, you know how is today for you versus tomorrow with us,
00:18:33
and we ensure that they understand the value.
00:18:36
And it's not a complex, you know process or workflow or
00:18:42
technology.
00:18:43
Right, it's just, it's change and fundamentally, property
00:18:47
management has difficulty in change because we've done things
00:18:53
the same way for so long, right ?
00:18:55
So it's really just understanding that the change
00:18:58
has positive aspects to it and we just work through each layer
00:19:03
of the organization, fundamentally identifying those
00:19:07
pain points and how we address them.
00:19:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about those positive aspects.
00:19:12
Is there any math we can talk about that benefits these
00:19:16
property owners, operators after engaging?
00:19:20
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:19:20
We have a really solid advisory board.
00:19:25
It's made up of client and leaders and peers in our
00:19:30
industry and you know we've built a essentially an ROI
00:19:37
calculator that can identify, you know, based on unit count,
00:19:40
preemptively.
00:19:41
That just shows by unit count or property level or property
00:19:44
numbers that the cost and value benefit.
00:19:48
But overall, like we see, properly employed, our services
00:19:55
can reduce the operational costs for cash management by over 70%
00:20:02
.
00:20:02
There's a number of factors to that 70%.
00:20:07
Now, we don't advocate or even sell elimination of FTEs.
00:20:14
What we talk about is creating greater efficiency in the
00:20:19
organization and reallocating those folks to do more
00:20:24
revenue-driven tasks as well as promote growth.
00:20:28
So you have scalability.
00:20:30
If you have five accountants that are working full-time to do
00:20:34
all of these things and we come in and we essentially remove 60
00:20:40
of their workflow or workload um, they're able to take on more
00:20:45
properties.
00:20:45
It's not work right.
00:20:48
Yeah, it's definitely not fun moving data.
00:20:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and I would imagine there's impact to
00:20:55
the employee experience as well.
00:20:57
Speaker 2: Like, like, if people are doing work, they enjoy,
00:20:59
that matters of the property, even the leasing agents and you
00:21:03
talk about what we're doing and how we're implementing.
00:21:18
It is work that they don't.
00:21:19
Nobody wants to print out move out statements and stuff them in
00:21:23
the envelope and then deal with the inbound calls from a
00:21:25
resident asking when they're getting their refund checks.
00:21:27
You know, a statistic that is a great one to share is that you
00:21:33
know, if you look at the traditional model of property
00:21:36
management, on average operators , if they're sending the
00:21:40
move-out statement out in time, it's usually 14 to 21 days after
00:21:45
a resident's moved out.
00:21:46
That's not the refund check, that's just the move-out
00:21:50
statement, because that then has to get processed through
00:21:51
accounting and then that gets mailed out.
00:21:53
So residents are waiting anywhere between three and four
00:21:57
weeks at minimum for a refund check or a move out statement.
00:22:01
With our system it's real time.
00:22:03
So the day of the move out statement is completed, it's
00:22:06
processed, residents notified and they have access to a refund
00:22:10
.
00:22:10
On average, 98% of the residents processed through our
00:22:14
system receive their refund electronically and if they
00:22:18
select PayPal, venmo, google Pay , they have cash in hand within
00:22:22
two hours of the move out being processed.
00:22:24
Speaker 1: Wow, two hours.
00:22:26
Yeah, that's incredible.
00:22:29
What are people saying about that?
00:22:30
Like your clients, what's the feedback?
00:22:38
Speaker 2: feedback.
00:22:38
One of the biggest pain points that clients have expressed even
00:22:40
prospect clients have have have let us know is that the the
00:22:42
resident complaints are typically around the refunds.
00:22:45
Speaker 1: That's usually the the most painful piece for them
00:22:48
because the timing of the timing is they're just moving on and,
00:22:51
by the way, moving is not fun, right?
00:22:53
And then you add this income component to it.
00:22:55
For them it may be income, you know.
00:22:58
Speaker 2: Yep 100%.
00:22:59
Speaker 1: Coming back to the Middle East, that's interesting.
00:23:03
What do you see in trends Like where do you think everything's
00:23:06
going with all of this?
00:23:07
Speaker 2: I think that there is .
00:23:08
We've seen it.
00:23:10
Speaker 1: There's consistent pending legislation that's going
00:23:13
to impact security deposits, either from a liability
00:23:18
standpoint, I feel like that benefits you, though, or the
00:23:21
organization, because, at the end of the day, the ability to
00:23:24
execute on these requirements get smaller timelines usually,
00:23:29
right, yes, in these regulations .
00:23:31
It seems like that's where you got to bridge that tech with the
00:23:35
process.
00:23:35
Absolutely, yeah, yep, yeah.
00:23:37
Speaker 2: Yep, yeah, it is a benefit for us.
00:23:39
I'll say that the pending legislation and while we don't
00:23:42
lobby, it's just it's a sweeping initiative nationally to either
00:23:48
impede owners and operators from collecting security
00:23:52
deposits or requiring them to use deposit alternatives.
00:23:55
We don't compete with any of those, we complete them.
00:23:59
So we're able to insert those requirements into our workflow,
00:24:06
whether it's on the back end in the matrix and timelines or
00:24:09
maximum deposit requirements.
00:24:11
California just went through a legislative change where now the
00:24:15
maximum amount of a deposit that you can charge is equal to
00:24:18
one month's rent.
00:24:18
That's inclusive of pet fees or pet deposits and application.
00:24:23
All that stuff is built into this new legislation, so our
00:24:26
system will prevent a resident from having a deposit greater
00:24:32
than one month's right For us.
00:24:34
It wasn't complex to adjust the back backend matrix on that
00:24:38
requirement.
00:24:38
For an operator to do that and ensure that that's what's
00:24:42
happening across all of their properties is much more
00:24:46
difficult to get that.
00:24:47
Speaker 1: That's what I meant by that too is like you know
00:24:51
some things, you just it's better to partner on with an
00:24:55
environment where there's uncertainty, regulation, getting
00:25:00
that certainty on compliance, things like that, because I'm
00:25:03
just thinking about internal training, meeting those
00:25:08
expectations and then knowing are we thinking through this?
00:25:10
Because a client can only see their world right and you're
00:25:14
seeing this perspective across the industry, this diverse
00:25:17
mindset, diverse application, different asset classes, I would
00:25:21
imagine, and that allows us to get, I think, a little bit
00:25:24
better at certain things.
00:25:25
We love the best-in-class.
00:25:27
We call it the best-in-class point solutions versus doing
00:25:30
something okay yourself.
00:25:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree 100% and I think that there's always
00:25:39
going to be a human component to multifamily.
00:25:42
We are a human-driven industry compliance around multiple
00:25:54
aspects, not just the restrictions or the legislative
00:25:59
components of it, even in the marketing, you know we struggle
00:26:03
with.
00:26:04
You know, at a site level, ensuring that every single one
00:26:09
of your you know your operating team partners are trained and
00:26:13
know how to speak to certain aspects of the workflow.
00:26:17
Well, with our product, the operator is able to customize
00:26:21
that messaging, so the resident's always going to
00:26:24
receive consistent messaging, the marketing around their
00:26:31
optionality or the affordability of a unit, and so it allows for
00:26:34
a measure of compliance around that.
00:26:36
But it doesn't negate the human component that's involved.
00:26:39
So that the prospect you know we live in an industry that is
00:26:45
similar to a grocery store right , you've got one prospect that
00:26:49
comes in and they want to go through the self-checkout line.
00:26:51
You don't want to talk to a person, they just need a couple
00:26:54
of things and they're good.
00:26:55
Conversely, you have the other resident that's a prospect
00:26:58
coming in that wants that human component.
00:27:00
They want to talk to a person, they want to shake a hand, they
00:27:03
want to get their keys right there, and so by being able to
00:27:07
support either of those, it creates a really great,
00:27:11
consistent opportunity.
00:27:12
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that customization and even in the
00:27:15
messaging how is that delivered?
00:27:38
Speaker 2: to take the messaging and insert that into both from
00:27:39
a scripting standpoint.
00:27:40
So our agents, when they speak to a prospect coming into a
00:27:41
community, the scripting that they see on their screen is
00:27:46
based off of that owner, operator or property level
00:27:49
customization.
00:27:50
And so our support teams have a direct message that they're
00:27:54
able to provide that is aligned with our clients' wants.
00:27:58
The resident onboarding experience everything visually
00:28:01
that they're seeing, whether it's text messaging or whether
00:28:04
it's via their app or screen, is also consistent and it's based
00:28:09
off of what that Obviously, we have templates right.
00:28:12
Like I said, we can simplify it .
00:28:14
But if the client has the want to customize it within their
00:28:18
brand, then we're able to convey that branded message.
00:28:22
Speaker 1: How long does it take from I'm in for this to we're
00:28:26
ready to pilot or roll out the first?
00:28:29
Speaker 2: It's not fast.
00:28:30
I would be doing our clients a disservice if we, if we quick
00:28:36
turned and flip folks on.
00:28:38
I would say it's anywhere from at minimum three weeks from the
00:28:44
signed MSA before we have a pilot property, you know, going
00:28:48
live with orientation.
00:28:50
The sweet spot is about four to six weeks.
00:28:52
For us it just depends on the size of the organization,
00:28:56
because we do want to make sure that we're connecting with each
00:28:59
of those layers or those stakeholders to ensure that
00:29:03
everybody has alignment.
00:29:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, but when you get this right it impacts every
00:29:08
week after that in fundamental ways.
00:29:10
I mean that's correct.
00:29:11
I love the responsible execution there, like not the
00:29:16
ambitious over-prompt, it's just really get alignment with what
00:29:20
are the business objectives the client has, get their process
00:29:24
figured out and then roadmap that onboarding.
00:29:27
I think you start to look at what the downstream effects of
00:29:34
getting that right are exponential.
00:29:36
You know, because right now they're paying for it in other
00:29:38
ways.
00:29:39
It's much more than even you know figuring out.
00:29:43
I don't know how a license you pay, monthly or annual.
00:29:47
I don't know how your subscription model works, but
00:29:49
they're paying.
00:29:50
They're already have the costs Correct.
00:29:53
Right, it's, it's.
00:29:54
It may be frustration and maybe employee turnover, training,
00:29:58
compliance risk, all that stuff.
00:30:00
So it makes sense to focus for that period of time to get it
00:30:04
right.
00:30:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
00:30:06
Speaker 1: And by the way they develop apartments, they know
00:30:08
like, hey, we're going to do something for 18 months to build
00:30:12
a foundation, something that lasts for a while.
00:30:14
I think that's positive.
00:30:15
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, and it's well-received.
00:30:17
I mean, we've had a few, we've had a few prospects that were
00:30:22
really, really excited and I love it, don't get me wrong, but
00:30:24
the enthusiasm is really gratifying, right Like we want
00:30:28
to roll everything out.
00:30:29
You know now and you know our brand is just as important as
00:30:34
theirs and so you know we're going to make mistakes and we'd
00:30:38
rather make them on.
00:30:39
You know a couple of properties in the beginning and make sure
00:30:42
that we have it all dialed in.
00:30:44
But, to your point, once we have all of that dialed in,
00:30:50
supplemental ads are really easy , Like you can bring on, you
00:30:54
know, the rest of a portfolio much faster than we can just the
00:30:59
first piloting.
00:31:00
You know phase of it because it's literally just turning
00:31:05
those on in our system and those customizations are transferable
00:31:09
A hundred percent Once we set up the client and we have we, we
00:31:14
, we bracketed out where the the customization is and we work
00:31:19
with owner managers.
00:31:20
We work with fee managers.
00:31:21
We work with owners that use fee managers and so if it's an
00:31:27
ownership group, we build out that customization at the
00:31:30
ownership group and then, regardless of the operator, it
00:31:33
flows through that operator with those specifications For a fee
00:31:37
manager if they have a standard model.
00:31:41
That's what gets implemented with the properties.
00:31:45
But if there is a ownership group that's under that same fee
00:31:48
manager, then the hierarchy will take that ownership
00:31:52
customization and apply it.
00:31:54
And so, regardless of where the property is or how many units
00:31:59
the property is, it takes 10 minutes to set up a new property
00:32:05
once we have all of that already dialed in.
00:32:09
Speaker 1: It's interesting.
00:32:09
What are some questions that people ask that they may think
00:32:13
like oh, this is like something else.
00:32:15
How do you differentiate with other people in the marketplace,
00:32:19
maybe doing similar things or grouping them into other things?
00:32:22
How are you leading forward the campaign to acquire new
00:32:26
customers?
00:32:27
Speaker 2: I think the biggest misconception when we're out in
00:32:31
the market is that we're competitive with deposit
00:32:35
alternatives, and the reality is that we're not with deposit
00:32:37
alternatives.
00:32:37
And you know the reality is is that you know we're not
00:32:40
competitive, we're complimentary .
00:32:42
We actually make those programs work better because we can
00:32:47
consistently offer them to every resident, rather than relying
00:32:52
on a human component at the site level to potentially offer it
00:32:57
or to you know, even from a fair housing standpoint, maybe
00:33:01
they're not offering it consistently and they're
00:33:04
supposed to right.
00:33:05
And so for us I think that you know it is understanding that we
00:33:13
are a supportive service that creates compliance around those
00:33:18
pieces.
00:33:18
That has been fundamentally the biggest difficulty that we've
00:33:22
had.
00:33:23
We had a lot of open field when we came to market because nobody
00:33:28
else did it.
00:33:28
We had about five years of that where the need wasn't as
00:33:34
profound.
00:33:34
I'd say post-COVID is where we've really seen huge uptick in
00:33:40
the want Not really the need from a use case.
00:33:45
It wasn't that they saw that they needed it, but they
00:33:49
realized that they wanted it and then the benefits of
00:33:53
implementing it created the need .
00:33:55
So that's really where we struggled with for a long time
00:34:00
because we were it was us or them right.
00:34:03
When we first launched, we just did the cash deposit piece.
00:34:06
It was about a year and a half ago that we implemented the
00:34:09
change to insert the deposit alternatives to our workflow and
00:34:14
that's what really opened up our opportunity.
00:34:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's interesting, you know, I think
00:34:19
about, you know the amount of choices owner and operators have
00:34:24
when they go to market and you know one of the things you
00:34:27
mentioned early in your conversation was you have a
00:34:31
product advisory or advisory council, I think of sorts.
00:34:34
So you're kind of building along with the customer, with
00:34:38
you know, with something that's useful for current state of
00:34:40
business, all that stuff.
00:34:41
And you've been great in our Multivan Innovation Council
00:34:45
meetings, which is a separate council.
00:34:47
It's for the sort of industry platform for that.
00:34:49
Has that been useful for you in getting kind of the ear of the
00:34:56
hearts and minds or the priorities or the pulse of maybe
00:35:00
the conversations that they're having?
00:35:02
I know that your remarks and responses in those meetings and
00:35:05
contribution have been incredible, giving perspective
00:35:08
on a range of things.
00:35:09
But how has that been useful, I guess, for you in that aspect?
00:35:14
Speaker 2: Well, thank you.
00:35:14
Yes, I'm glad that I've been able to contribute and I
00:35:17
definitely find it extremely valuable.
00:35:20
You know our client-based advisory board.
00:35:25
You know they're a range of positions C-suite to you know,
00:35:31
regionally leveled.
00:35:32
They don't have the availability to meet on a weekly
00:35:34
basis, so those are really beneficial meetings to direct
00:35:41
our roadmap and understand our platform, either deficiencies or
00:35:46
augmenting it or enhancing it.
00:35:48
I would say, and I would highly recommend the council meetings
00:35:53
because the frequency weekly sometimes I can't make it, I
00:35:59
always try to but the variety of people that are attending that
00:36:05
it is a great opportunity to understand a broader scale
00:36:09
perspective of the market, from whether it's a CapEx
00:36:15
conversation or whether it's a technology conversation or
00:36:18
compliance.
00:36:19
I think that it is great insight that you cannot get
00:36:25
anywhere else in the industry and not as consistent as it.
00:36:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think the vision there is to help us
00:36:32
build more useful things, right.
00:36:34
So I think there's been an imbalance to you know there's
00:36:38
the owners and operators have been so successful for so long,
00:36:42
right, and so they haven't been in a situation where they've
00:36:45
needed to change.
00:36:46
And so it's always great to have what we brought in industry
00:36:52
partners to really help guide the technical, the diverse set
00:36:58
Because, again, like I said, if we're in a vacuum, you're in
00:37:01
conversations across industry with some of the top
00:37:03
organizations and all across different markets, and you've
00:37:06
seen the regulation relation and that's just been really
00:37:10
valuable to bring your words, your vision, your contribution
00:37:17
to some of those means, and sometimes they may be even off
00:37:20
topic to product.
00:37:21
It's just more like back to your point of people and
00:37:24
relationships and we're outside of sales, so there's no sales in
00:37:28
there.
00:37:28
So you're really being helpful and productive.
00:37:31
I always just ask, because I'm always curious, like how do you
00:37:34
make innovation flow more efficiently in the industry?
00:37:37
And it's really bringing those conversations together.
00:37:47
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, I think that there's a standard.
00:37:49
It's innovate or die right and especially they know that, but
00:37:52
sometimes they don't Like still, what do you think that is?
00:37:54
It is the legacy unwillingness to change, and it goes more so
00:37:57
to that, and I'll almost say it's a property management
00:38:01
system origin.
00:38:03
Sure, because, fundamentally, once you've picked your platform
00:38:06
, it's like are you an Apple user or an Android user?
00:38:09
Right, it's really hard to change out of an ecosystem, and
00:38:13
so a lot of change is met with adversity, and you have to be
00:38:17
able to provide as a supplier partner.
00:38:20
You have to be innovative, but you also have to be dynamic and
00:38:25
flexible enough to create the opportunity that the owner
00:38:30
operator can see Not only the value, but that change
00:38:32
management is not going to be the opportunity.
00:38:32
That the owner operator can see not only the value, but that
00:38:34
change management is not going to be the hurdle Sure, it's.
00:38:38
It's more so, fundamentally getting alignment across the
00:38:42
organization and the buy-in from the different task holders and
00:38:45
groups.
00:38:45
So, yeah, I think that that's really important, that you know
00:38:48
change is hard, which is one of the reasons why we approach it
00:38:52
cautiously, as is Does that give them a little ease, like, oh,
00:38:56
this is actually refreshing a little bit?
00:38:58
I think so.
00:38:59
I mean fundamentally.
00:39:01
It's probably selfish in our intention because we are really
00:39:05
vested in our brand and we don't want to risk speed and haste,
00:39:11
you know, to that would negatively impact.
00:39:13
That.
00:39:13
It's also protective of the client, obviously.
00:39:16
So I think that by creating the opportunity to step into it
00:39:20
slowly, essentially, you know test the water and you know
00:39:24
acclimate that it does negate some of the fear.
00:39:28
If you're going to roll out on, you know, on 25% of a portfolio
00:39:33
, it's a lot easier to unwind if for some reason they didn't
00:39:37
want to or they had a problem.
00:39:39
And we're a very simple contract.
00:39:42
We have a 30-day out If a client doesn't want to work with
00:39:45
us.
00:39:45
We don't want them to.
00:39:46
Fortunately, we've never lost a client, so I'm proud of that
00:39:50
fact.
00:39:50
But we also would make it easy if a client did need to make a
00:39:55
change.
00:39:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's it been, as a founder, doing all this?
00:39:58
How's that?
00:40:00
Speaker 2: Well, I've lost a lot of hair over the years.
00:40:03
I mean we've grown so much over eight years and we have an
00:40:18
amazing group of individuals.
00:40:21
Through leadership, sales, our support teams.
00:40:25
We've found so many new friendships along the way.
00:40:28
In our industry there's an element of pride along the way.
00:40:32
In our industry there's an element of pride, obviously.
00:40:34
I mean we're human.
00:40:35
So I'm profoundly grateful that we have met and retained the
00:40:39
clients that we have.
00:40:40
I mean they truly are partners and I have developed some of my
00:40:49
deepest friendships through this business that I would not have
00:40:51
today had I not created this company.
00:40:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, any advice you give to other founders thinking
00:40:56
about building stuff in multifamily.
00:40:58
Speaker 2: I think the two things that I would say is trust
00:41:02
in your heart that if you truly feel you have a product that
00:41:08
solves for pain, to go forward with it.
00:41:13
Be cautious and respectful of everybody, because this industry
00:41:19
is an elephant, not only by size but also by memory.
00:41:22
And the last piece that I would say is we're bootstrapped.
00:41:29
We've we've never taken an investment and I was cautioned
00:41:32
multiple times by the same peer that told me to build tech, that
00:41:37
it is a difficult position to be in because when you, when you
00:41:42
take capital, it's not a benefit, it's an obligation.
00:41:46
And so if you're, if you're taking seed money or if you have
00:41:51
to do an investment round, make sure you're doing it for the
00:41:53
right reasons, and there absolutely are right reasons.
00:41:57
Fundamentally, if your product is what it is and what you need
00:42:01
to get it off the ground requires capital you don't have
00:42:05
absolutely there are right reasons, but go into it
00:42:08
understanding that it is an obligation, not an opportunity.
00:42:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, what would you share about building that team?
00:42:14
I mean, that team needs different things over those
00:42:16
stages and phases.
00:42:18
Speaker 2: I am blessed with great people and we, you know we
00:42:23
are slow to hire, even slower to fire, and I mean we really
00:42:29
haven't fired anybody, but I think I've been the opposite at
00:42:33
times.
00:42:35
You worry about it, but I think that we've been really lucky to
00:42:39
find the people that we have, and some of our folks are people
00:42:43
that I've worked with in the past.
00:42:45
Our industry, like I said, is a big one and people have a
00:42:49
variety of experiences, and if you bring together the right
00:42:54
people and create a culture that is team oriented you know we
00:42:59
don't do individualized commission plans or bonuses it's
00:43:03
all group, everybody shares in in the opportunity and the
00:43:07
benefits, and so that dynamic vastly alters the way that
00:43:12
everybody interacts.
00:43:13
There's no me or I, it's all a team.
00:43:18
And I think that, fundamentally , finding the right people that
00:43:22
fit in your organization is probably the hardest task to do.
00:43:27
When you're building and growing too quickly is also a
00:43:32
painful process because you will inadvertently bring on more
00:43:37
people than you're ready for in the hopes or in the expectation
00:43:43
of new business.
00:43:43
And you know, being responsible for people's lives, their kids,
00:43:48
their spouses, you know is a very stressful burden, so you
00:43:54
need to make sure that you do it cautiously.
00:43:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then going to market sales.
00:43:58
I mean you guys have done such a great job with with the brand.
00:44:01
What advice do you share there?
00:44:04
Speaker 2: I think the brand component and I've I've actually
00:44:06
struggled with this a few times .
00:44:08
You know, when we first launched, we launched as Deposit
00:44:11
Cloud and pretty much our entire existence has been under
00:44:15
that umbrella.
00:44:16
And then when we added additional service lines right
00:44:20
at the beginning of the pandemic and then post or through and
00:44:23
post pandemic, it became confusing Like, oh, who are you
00:44:27
with?
00:44:27
And you know, you describe what you do.
00:44:30
Oh, you're with that company, you know.
00:44:31
And so there was a confusion, which is what led to the
00:44:33
rebranding under Resident Radius , trying to create a connective
00:44:38
brand with those.
00:44:41
I think that pivoting like that is hard because they hear or
00:44:45
know of your, you know a different name and so morphing
00:44:49
that into a new one or marketing under that can be difficult.
00:44:52
But I think the brand, the most significant piece of branding
00:45:12
that I, the multiple products you know, connecting everything
00:45:16
to the resident at the center.
00:45:17
So I think that marketing is really important from the aspect
00:45:23
of having clean one pagers and having a website experience or a
00:45:28
marketing experience that can relate what you do fundamentally
00:45:31
without spilling the secret sauce per se.
00:45:33
Um, so that's the difficult piece for me is, you know, we
00:45:37
don't have, we don't have the marketing department that I
00:45:41
would like to have, and someday we will, uh, but it's, it is a,
00:45:46
it's a team effort and we have a , you know, a key marketing
00:45:49
person that helps to put everything together.
00:45:51
Um, but it is.
00:45:52
But it is difficult from the brand perspective to ensure that
00:45:55
people know what you do.
00:45:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's easy to clarify a message when you have
00:46:02
a focus and the ideal customer in mind.
00:46:05
You're kind of just arriving at those needs.
00:46:08
Are there questions that I should be asking, that I haven't
00:46:12
asked, that you know, people should know.
00:46:14
Speaker 2: Well, you've asked some really great questions,
00:46:16
I'll say so, I don't know that, as far as questions that you
00:46:20
should ask, I don't know that there's a question that you
00:46:22
should ask that you haven't already asked.
00:46:25
There's, obviously, questions that I would love for you to ask
00:46:28
, but Well, let's go there.
00:46:30
What is that for you to ask?
00:46:35
But Well, let's go there.
00:46:35
What is that?
00:46:36
Well, I mean, it's a selfish method to ask, but I mean we
00:46:37
always try to figure out where the pain is within the
00:46:41
organization, and so, you know, we oftentimes get asked the
00:46:46
questions of.
00:46:47
You know, when you said you know, what are you solving for?
00:46:49
It's more so, who are you solving for and for us?
00:46:50
Like that, you know.
00:46:50
When you said you know what are you solving for?
00:46:51
It's more so, who are you solving for and for us?
00:46:54
Like that, you know the answer to that is that we're solving
00:46:57
for every layer of the organization, whereas a lot of
00:47:00
products out there are solving for a specific pain point, not
00:47:04
necessarily who it serves or who it solves for.
00:47:08
Speaker 1: So yeah, good people.
00:47:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:47:11
Speaker 1: We're a people industry, you know ultimately.
00:47:14
Yeah, Anything.
00:47:15
Uh, maybe you can't say now, but anything on the horizon for
00:47:19
what's next for the brand?
00:47:21
Speaker 2: We specialize.
00:47:22
Our goal is to specialize and do one thing better than
00:47:26
anything else, and that is that's the cash management
00:47:29
deposit secure deposit piece.
00:47:31
The additional products that we've added have been supportive
00:47:35
, tied into or tandem with.
00:47:37
Next on our horizon is an operational compliance platform
00:47:44
that all of those products dovetail into, and so we're
00:47:49
looking to launch that in Q2, q3 of next year.
00:47:52
We have a couple of clients that we're building it with, so
00:47:56
we're excited about that piece of it, but that will be the last
00:48:00
additional service line that we add.
00:48:03
We just don't want to.
00:48:04
We don't want to distract ourselves from what is most
00:48:08
important.
00:48:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to ask where people can.
00:48:11
We'll put all this information in the show notes, but how?
00:48:14
How would you want people to reach out and connect?
00:48:17
Speaker 2: We have a sales email address sales at
00:48:20
residentradiuscom.
00:48:21
Our website is residentradiuscom and they can
00:48:26
connect through LinkedIn with any of our team myself directly
00:48:30
with DMs and LinkedIn, with any of our team myself directly with
00:48:31
DMs and LinkedIn.
00:48:33
We've got Wade McGowan, gabriella Jones, and they would
00:48:38
be happy to help anyone that wants to find out more
00:48:41
information.
00:48:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, you've built what sounds like an
00:48:48
amazing product, great team, and I love the way that you show up
00:48:50
your heart to serve you know.
00:48:51
So it's always good when you're interacting with a brand and
00:48:53
they're there to make improve the lives of the people they're
00:48:56
working for.
00:48:56
I love the center on the people you meant.
00:48:59
I asked you the question around .
00:49:00
You know what problems you saw in the pain points and you went
00:49:03
to like well, who are we solving for?
00:49:05
At the end of the day, behind every company is just a
00:49:07
collection of people, and if you can make their lives better,
00:49:10
it's always a good thing.
00:49:12
Absolutely Well, listen, this has been amazing.
00:49:15
I know we'll be following all of your success.
00:49:17
We're excited to see you at the summit and hopefully we can
00:49:21
have you back on.
00:49:21
Do some more education and, of course, our Friday meetings.
00:49:24
That'll be great to see you there.
00:49:26
Speaker 2: Yes, love to.
00:49:28
Speaker 1: All right, good to have you on, thanks, thank you.
00:49:29
All right, so all about Resident Radius.
00:49:32
Click the links in the show notes and listen more Share if
00:49:35
you know anybody that would find this episode valuable.
00:49:38
We'll see you in the next one.
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