Leaseleds

David spent six years running a web development agency focused on real estate, starting in 2015 with $300K in first-year revenue. While building custom websites for property managers and agents, he noticed a persistent problem: real estate companies used multiple systems (property management software, CRMs, data feeds) that constantly updated pricing, availability, and floor plans—but their websites showed static, outdated information. "The data is static," he explained. "You either use the crappy websites that they have out of the box, or you get a big custom site, but the problem is the data is static."

By 2020, the agency had grown to $1.75M in revenue with 9 full-time employees and nearly 50 vetted freelancers. David had become deeply embedded in the API and custom integration space, learning exactly what these customers needed. He saw an opportunity: instead of selling one-off custom builds, he could productize the solution.

In early 2024, David split from his co-founder (who stayed with the agency, now called InterGrowth) and launched Leaseleds with Dylan, a CTO partner. Critically, David retained some equity in the original agency as part of the restructuring, but kept Leaseleds' cap table clean. He bootstrapped the venture entirely, rolling personal cash from the agency into the new business.

The MVP was deliberately narrow: David focused on the core value prop—the virtual leasing agent, a conversion tool that sits in the website corner and automates lead capture. He resisted feature creep and shipped with standard templates rather than custom builds.

David's path to customers was his biggest advantage: he converted his existing agency clients directly into Leaseleds customers. These weren't cold outreach wins—they were warm transitions from the agency. Website templates ranged from $5K–$6K for initial setup, with recurring fees starting at $200/month for basic data feeds. The flagship virtual leasing agent product launched at $350/month.

By the time of this interview (late 2024, roughly 9 months after launch), he had 70 customers generating $80K/month in all-in revenue. Of that, $25K was pure SaaS recurring revenue; the rest came from productized services (website builds and custom integrations).

The service component—initially seen as a VC red flag—became David's secret weapon. Customers who paid $5K upfront for a website build had no incentive to churn. The switching costs were real: Leaseleds pulled live API data from their property management systems, and canceling meant losing automatic updates. Churn was effectively non-existent (less than 1%).

David acknowledged that not every customer could fit into a template. Some had custom stacks—multiple CRMs, two separate data feeds, bespoke workflows. He didn't force them into the box. Instead, he offered custom integration services alongside the standard offering. This hybrid model—some recurring SaaS, some productized services—let him serve the market profitably without overengineering.

For hiring, David was methodical. He vets freelancers intensely via a Typeform that tests personality, availability, and skill depth (for developers, he'd ask about code architecture preferences and what frustrated them about WordPress). Test projects came before calls.

Leaseleds is on track for $1M in trailing 12-month revenue, nine months after launch. The team is lean: 6 full-time employees plus 15 freelancers. David bootstrapped entirely and has no plans to raise capital yet.

The model is working because it's solving a real problem with real stickiness. Property managers can't afford to have outdated pricing on their websites—it costs leads. Leaseleds ensures their site is always in sync with reality, and the integration complexity keeps customers locked in. As David put it: "If their floor plans change, the pricing changes, it's really contingent on that." One customer isn't leaving because canceling means their data stops updating and their leads dry up.