Thank You, Next
TL;DR: After 2.5 defining years at Uber, I’m leaving to build a technology-operations company, Doorstead. We are a full-service property management brokerage that provides cash-flow certainty to rental property owners.
This past week was my last week at Uber. I’ve had the opportunity to explore network effects on rider growth, lead a team on applied machine learning techniques for operational efficiency, and kick off social impact initiatives with the Office of the CTO.
I recently stumbled upon a great book by Carlota Perez on Technology Revolutions and Financial Capital, which helped me formulate my view of the world for the next several decades. I believe that we have reached the limit of the Information Revolution, and the next chapter involves a structural change of the workforce that will unfold over the next 30 to 60 years. This should create thousands of startup opportunities.
Today, we are seeing the emergence of technology-operations companies with both operations and technology crafted into their DNA. In these companies, software cannot exist without the offline component, and the operations cannot exist without software managing the process.
These businesses are inherently hard to scale since they involve managing dynamic offline systems. I believe these companies will be built upon a combination of marketplaces for services, augmented technology (to enhance performance), and automation (to eliminate mechanical processes).
After much exploration, I am building a technology-operations company, Doorstead. We are a full-service property management brokerage that provides cash-flow certainty to rental property owners. Traditionally, property managers (NPS 8) overpromise on rent to sign owners, creating months of vacancy and lost income for owners. By collecting precise data during inspections and leveraging historical rental data, we are able to provide an AI-powered rental guarantee to owners (ex. $3,500/mo starting in 28 days).
My co-founder, Jenn (Lu) Bronzo, is a Berkeley engineer whom I’ve known for over a decade. She led BD for one of the top mobile gaming companies, founded several businesses including a bluetooth wireless toy startup (YC ‘14), and led UI/UX design for over 25 projects at Gigster. For the last few years, she has been managing rental properties throughout the Bay Area.
I’d love to catch up with old friends and meet new folks who may be relevant for this next chapter! Please reach out at ryan (at) doorstead.com.
