EP. 36 // How to Build One of the Fastest Growing Companies in the Country w/ David Lecko
On today’s episode, we have the founder and CEO of DealMachine, Real Estate Investor David Lecko, out of Indianapolis, Indiana. While David is a successful real estate investor in his own right, he is known for inventing the proprietary software for what would become the 36th fastest growing company in the entire country, DealMachine. Creating over $400,000,000 worth of value for real estate investors across the country, DealMachine is a titan in the real estate tech space. On today’s episode, David walks through how he built this massively successful company: how to build a team from the ground up, how this company happened organically to an investor who was just trying to automate a task for himself, and how he leads his personal life to get wasted time back.
Stream This Episode on Your Favorite Podcast App!
Key Points from This Episode:
David started his journey driving for dollars. When he missed a deal on his list, he saw that someone bought it for a price he knew he could’ve afforded! He knew there must be a better way. He developed an app that could pin address and automatically print mail. His friends started using it, and that’s when Deal Machine was born.
DealMachine was launched in 2017. It’s in the top 50 fastest growing companies in the country according to Inc. 5000. David accredits the success to the demand and need for a product that made driving for dollars easier; they were doing it manually and he fixed that issue.
When David was young, a manager of his told him the value of cashflowing investments versus stocks. Any appreciation is really icing on the cake to a regularly cashflowing investment. Rich Dad Poor Dad showed him the way!
The first partnership that David went on was getting his friend Dave to help develop the DealMachine app. His second hire was a friend who had experience working with start-ups; this hire helped create a tier structure for DealMachine subscriptions.
Any business partnerships: you should write everything down right at the beginning! Ownership, responsibilities, etc. A partnership agreement will help further down the line.
David started travelling going to the hotspots of where people taught real estate so they would recommend to students. He developed an affiliate program where any recommendation would give payments for the lifetime of the sign up with a negative acquisition cost. David suggests that you should focus on Revenue Generating Activities before worrying about branding or PR.
In his first year of business they made $100,000. In the second year, $1,300,000. In the third year $6,000,000. This is what got DealMachine recognized as a fast growing company.
The company has gotten 400,000 downloads this year alone. 15,000 subscribers who use the app regularly.
In April of 2021 there was a pullback in subscribers. We’re now in a gap where sellers believe their house costs MORE than it actually is, after years of an unrealistically hot market. But as of September 2021, the subscribers are up again, indicating that the market is leveling and anxiety is lowering. David Choi recommends that now is the time to jump in when values are lower; it’s truly the time to get started.
Relevant Links from Today’s Episode:
ABOUT DAVID LECKO
David Lecko is the CEO of DealMachine, an app that enables real estate investors to find off-market deals and contact any property owner via direct mail, email, and phone with a single click. In the last year, the app has been downloaded over 400,000 times and used to capture over 22,000,000 potential deals by “driving for dollars” teams. DealMachine has added millions of dollars of revenue to scaling home buying businesses around the United States.
David is a real estate investor himself building a rental portfolio of 10 rents in Indianapolis.
