This week we are talking with Ben Pleat, Ben is CEO and founder of Cobu, a platform powering genuine communities in apartment buildings.

After graduating from Harvard, Ben discovered his interest in real estate through working on the growth team at WeWork and later through the real estate private equity group at Goldman Sachs.

During this time, Ben learned just how big of a problem turnover to residential real estate owners and managers. He was shocked to learn that on average, apartment buildings would see around 50% churn in residents every year.

This problem combined with the personal experience of his mom experiencing feeling isolated in a very nice apartment she lived in, inspired Ben to create a solution. Ben developed a thesis that a key contributor to high turnover is the lack of ‘stickiness’ caused by a weak community.