Both landlords and tenants know: The process surrounding a tenant change can be long and complicated. But a solution is in sight! Because the Munich startup apartment heroes has made it its mission to make this process more transparent and therefore simpler. Co-founder Martin Staudacher explains how.
1. Who are you and what do you do? Please briefly introduce yourself and your services!
We provide housing companies and their landlords with a SaaS solution for digitizing the entire tenant transition process. What's unique about our white-label solution is that it requires no interface adjustments and is ready for use within a day. Our customers immediately optimize and standardize their processes. This can increase efficiency by up to 80% and reduce vacancy rates. At the same time, customer focus is increased by ensuring consistent and transparent communication with prospective tenants.
Our current functionalities at a glance:
- Consolidation of contact requests from all marketing channels (portals, social media, websites)
- Comprehensive prospect and appointment management
- Collection of digital self-disclosures and preparation of rental agreements
- Evaluation of process data for data-driven control of the switching
- Mapping complex procurement processes of municipalities
We, the founders, Daniel and Martin, met at a foosball table during our time together in IT consulting and discussed a variety of problems. This ultimately led to the idea of actively shaping digitalization in the real estate industry—that is, in the PropTech sector. Daniel Vallés Valls (31 – M.Sc. in Computer Science) contributes his experience in software development and project management. Martin Staudacher (31 – Business Information Systems), on the other hand, covers business intelligence, design, and finance.
2. But that's been around for a long time!
Rentals have, of course, been around for a few years, as has software for communication. However, in our discussions with real estate companies, we've found that leasing is largely handled bilaterally and involves significant effort for everyone involved. Furthermore, there's a lack of transparency in the processes and analysis tools for management. A solution that digitally supports the entire process of tenant changeover doesn't currently exist.
Reorientation was the right step
3. What has been your biggest challenge so far?
We originally launched with our own traditional real estate marketplace. However, since this space was already heavily dominated by major players like Immobilienscout and Immowelt, we had a difficult start. When we realized that the concept wasn't working, we launched a small B2C side project. Since then, Mietradar has been supporting people during the stressful search for their own apartment or contact requests. Especially in Munich, we've noticed that we're making life easier for many people.
With some time to spare, we refocused the old concepts on B2B customers and made the crucial adjustments. It was difficult, of course, to discard a large part of the product, but in retrospect, it was the right move.
4. Let’s get down to business: How is business going?
Several large housing companies (e.g., BUWOG with 40,000 residential units) now lease both residential and commercial units through us. We also have numerous real estate agents as clients, who also benefit greatly from the increased efficiency. Regardless of size, we observe high levels of satisfaction among all our clients and strive to improve every day.
5. What does Munich mean to you?
We feel very comfortable in Munich and receive a lot of support from Founding country Bavaria. Furthermore, after almost 3 years, we are well integrated into the local scene, as we have, among other things, our office in WERK1 have.
“We solve the problem of a broad mass”
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
The number of unicorns in Germany is very manageable, and the goal of reaching a valuation of over one billion is very ambitious. What's crucial for us right now is that we're solving a problem for a broad audience and that our solution can be easily rolled out to other markets. The first steps toward this have been taken, as we'll soon be launching in Austria. But we'll see where the journey takes us from there.
7. Isar or English Garden?
Isar in the English Garden – although we will probably be in Frankfurt more often soon… 😉
