Interview With New Realty Startup, WhoseYourLandlord
TalkMarkets had the opportunity to interview Ofo Ezeugwu, the impressive young CEO of the new breakout startup, WhoseYourLandlord (WYL).
WYL brings quality, accountability, and transparency to the rental experience and is currently raising a round of funding. To date, the company has had some remarkable success and traction.
Q. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and WhoseYourLandlord?
A. My name is Ofo Ezeugwu and I’m a serial entrepreneur and CEO & co-founder of WhoseYourLandlord, a web platform bringing quality to the rental experience by connecting good renters with good home providers through landlord reviews, verified tenant information, and – real time – available listings.
Ofo Ezeugwu, CEO & Co-founder of WhoseYourLandlord
Photo credit: Brendan Lowry, Curalate
Q. How did you get the idea for WhoseYourLandlord?
A. During my senior year at Temple University, I was the VP of the student body. In that position, I often fielded questions from inquiring students about issues they were having with their landlords and property managers. I thought ‘What if renters could review their landlords, that way those coming in, know what to expect before signing their lease?’ The idea stuck and we expanded it to provide quality overall, from both sides – Tenants and Home Providers.
Q. At what point did you realize you had a viable business model?
A. Within the first few months of running the business, a former landlord of mine reached out inquiring about paying for ad space on the site.
Q. Did you hit any roadblocks that almost caused you to throw in the towel?
A. Most roadblocks are financial. Once you figure out the business, the brand, the team, and the growth strategy, you need to add fuel to the fire to get it out there. For us, raising investments in this macro-economic climate, hasn’t been easy, but we’re still here and still growing 30% MOM while also locking up several five-digit ad deals, this year, in the process.
Q. We met at the Impact Capital Conference 2016 where we were both Featured Companies. Has your company won any other recognition?
A. We’ve been featured in TechCrunch, Newsweek, on MSNBC, The Philadelphia Inquirer, BET, Black Enterprise, and more. We graduated from DreamIt Ventures in 2015. And, we’ve been dubbed the future of real estate tech by several prominent institutions, while also winning several business plan competitions, too.
Q. You seem to have impressive traction in terms of registered users and realty listings, partnerships, integration with Google and more. Can you expand upon these and how did you manage to achieve these accomplishments?
A. Google has layered our data into their offering via available APIs. We have partnered with Allstate, Roadway Moving, Uber, Fab.com, DOZE Beds, Target, and others. We now have over 160k users and 400k listings, nationwide. The answer, re: how we’ve achieved all this, is by creating a product that’s an actual need. 80% of our user base are millennials, 40% are college students, and we’ve created a strong brand that others buy into.
Q. I understand you are looking for another round of financing. What are you looking for in a potential investor, and how can interested readers get in touch/learn more?
A. An interested reader can reach out to me here. Secondly, We’re looking for an investor who likes unique businesses radically changing antiquated spaces. They don’t need to be super hands on in the ops. We have strong advisors in the real estate and tech space that we work with. Should they have some real estate, digital marketing, or other related experience that would prove helpful, we’d like to chat with them more about strategy and involvement. We just want good energy and for them to believe in us and our ability to achieve the vision.
Q. Where do you see the company in 5 years and how do you plan to get there?
A. We will be the preeminent place to find your rental, nationwide, and we’ll be in the midst of expanding into new foreign markets. We will get there by creating a brand connection with young people, building out our data offerings to renters and home providers, and by putting ourselves in financial position to expand rapidly. When you think of the cab industry, if you’re not catching one on the side of the street, you’re thinking Uber of Lyft. When you think of the hotel industry, if you’re not booking at the Hilton, you’re heading over to Airbnb. When you think of visiting a club, bar, or restaurant, you think Yelp, first. WhoseYourLandlord is the go-to site for housing.
Q. Is there any advice you'd give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?
A. Never stop. Learn, adapt fast, be scrappy as hell, and be consistent. Half the battle is being around long enough for something to happen.
Q. Anything else you want to share with our audience?
A. We’re raising a round currently with over 50% committed. It closes at the top of the new year (end of Jan). Join us in bringing quality to the rental experience. Again, if you’re interested in learning more, ping me here. Happy holidays and go review your landlords!
@[Ofo Ezeugwu](user:36473), I'm curious as to why you chose the name "WhoseYourLandlord" over the grammatically proper "WhosYourLandlord?"
Hi Michele, appreciate you asking. We have the description across the bottom of our platform and posted here: https://www.whoseyourlandlord.com/about
This is a great idea. I'll be registering at WYL.
Awesome! Glad to hear it.
Really interesting concept. Do you have a crowdfunding campaign?
Hi James, we do not currently but are raising a round, should you be interested in more info surrounding that.
Nice idea but I assume there are others already doing this. Who do you view as your competition?
Hi Carol - currently, there isn't anyone approaching this the way we are. We are fixated on providing useful data to give access to information and to create good decision making practices, as a result. We also have a strong brand that resonates with today's renter. Re: companies that undoubtedly are in this space that we're being mindful of and watching: Craigslist, StreetEasy, Radpad, and VeryApt. All either have a contemporary feel or are, at the very least, are looking to a similar young demographic.
You should reach out to @[Mark Cuban](user:5919) or @[Than Merrill](user:28092) to see if they would be interested. They both write here and operate in this space.
Will do! I'll drop them a note, on here. I'd also be open to any direct intros, if folks on here are connected with them, too.
This is a very interesting idea and with some pretty extraordinary progress so far. I see the site is free, so how does the company make money and what's the exit strategy?
Thank you! We generate rev in 3 ways: sponsorships (Allstate, Roadway Moving, DOZE beds, etc.), sponsored listings, and by renters verifying their information via our partnership with TransUnion. Exit strategy - opportunity to exit to Yelp, Google, RentPath, Costar Group, etc. This is something with legs, so we could see this growing into a strong, international company that may do business with these folks mentioned through partnerships and acquisitions of our own, too.
Thanks for the speedy response. Your strategy makes a lot of sense. I'll seriously think about this and discuss with my partner.
Ok, no problem. Sounds good and looking forward!
I like the idea of targeting college students. An easy market to reach and filled with early adopters. That's the same strategy #Facebook $FB followed. And once you get them as users in college, you'll keep them post graduation. Best of luck to you.
Absolutely, that's the goal. Thank you!
My initial reaction was that this is a good idea but will never take off since you won't get any landlords on the site unless you have renters. And you won't have any renters unless you have landlords.
But then I got to the part where you said you have 160k users and 400k listings and that blew me away. Clearly you are on to something!
Yes, we've been growing. Our purpose is to build a community of quality, on both sides. We've been very clear in articulating that message and folks have and continue to respond.
I may be interested but I'd need more information. What's the minimum investment?
Hi, it there an email you can provide where I can send more info? Minimum is $25k.
I'm interested but too much for me. If you ever lower it to $5k or maybe even $10k, let me know.
Very reasonable investment amount.
I can provide more info to you, too. Best email to reach you?
I don't publish my email on public sites (I've found it leads to too much spam) and I am too old to switch to a new email address again. But you can contact me directly from my profile page.
@[Ofo Ezeugwu](user:36473), you are an exemplary young man to have accomplished such success so quickly.
Thanks so much!