Latitude’s investment in Goodlord

Stories written about tech startups tend to fall into one of two categories — rocketship or flameout. Today these stories spill over from the tech press to coffee table magazines, as tech has become central to our world. Founders are compared to Henry Ford, or snake oil salesmen. Readers are invited to gasp in awe, or condemn.

Reality though is typically more prosaic — the path to success is not a straight line. There are downs, often many of them, but they make the ups all the more satisfying — they feel earned.

Latitude’s series B investment in Goodlord speaks to the power of mission and the resolve of a hundred or so Goodlordians.

Since LocalGlobe led Goodlord’s seed round in 2016, both little and a lot has changed.

The mission remains undented — transform the rental experience. Goodlord today offers a product which is quietly becoming the market standard and repeatedly delighting customers at an incredibly stressful moment in their lives.

However, there are many new faces around the table. Founders have moved on and layoffs were significant. There was real pain in the business (although fortunately customers did not end up feeling this).

Two years on from that period, the transformation in the business is remarkable. Goodlord is again growing fast — and efficiently — and has an exciting roadmap ahead for how it will add increasing value to both tenants and lettings agents. It is also now well funded following this round with further investment from our friends at Finch and Oxx Capital.

The power of mission

Moving house is well-documented as one of the most stressful things we will do in our lives. With the emergence of #GenerationRent, this is going to become an increasingly regular pain point.

Goodlord’s solution is a simple, yet rich, digital experience that manages everything from the point a property is found to receiving the keys.

Goodlord’s 5* Trustpilot rating highlights it is pretty good at seamlessly managing the nitty gritty of offers, payments, referencing, contracts, insurance and setting up utilities — no mean feat to deliver such customer love at a time when so much can go wrong.

Goodlord also represents a central point of reference at a moment when tenants rebuild their personal infrastructure around their new home — this is good business. The distribution Goodlord can offer service providers through access to tens of thousands of tenants each month provides great leverage, which Goodlord can in turn share with tenants.

Lettings agents value the simplified overhead and compliance Goodlord supports, moving a paper and spreadsheet process online. Entering the payments flow is especially attractive for agents, as they look to avoid the administrative and regulatory burden of handling tenant cash.

Goodlord also speaks to LocalGlobe and Latitude’s love of software that empowers SMEs, a theme we’ve pursued in a number of other investments including Tide and Justworks.

Multi-generational success

No single decision has been more important in recent years than the appointment of William Reeve as CEO in 2018. Up to this point Goodlord had been scaling fast, very fast, but it needed to refocus on quality growth. This was a painful process — staff left, marketing spend was scaled back and the tech strategy and roadmap was rebuilt from first principles.

This was not an easy move to pull off, and then accelerate out of. We’ve known William for many years going back to when Saul and William worked together at LOVEFiLM (Robin was an investor). Despite this history it was my partner at LocalGlobe, Remus, who approached William about the CEO role. True LocalGlobe/Latitude teamwork, or ‘total football’ as we refer to it.

William was shortly joined by Donovan Frew who took the reins as CTO. Like the great Alex Ferguson Man Utd sides of the ’90s and ’00s, this experienced double act was embellished with young talent from within, including Tom Mundy who has emerged as an integral part of the brains trust as COO. Beyond, there lies a core of Goodlordians who powered through the transition, resolved not to waste this second coming.

We often talk about how Latitude looks to invest based on ‘access and insights’. This is perhaps the purest essence of that — a true diamond in the rough.

The Goodlord movie has been tough to watch at times, but we have never felt more optimistic that there is an iconic UK tech company to be built here. When that story gets written, hopefully this post will help serve as a reminder that the path to success has not been a straight line, but maybe more satisfying for it.