THE DIGIBLE DUDE

Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. This week, we have a conversation about one of the most important aspects of the future of Digible. As you know, we recently celebrated our 5 Year Anniversary. With that huge milestone, we’re at a transitional phase of the organization. In this episode, David Staley and Reid Wicoff share their thoughts on Digible’s approach to becoming a product company.

For the past five years, Digible has been operating as a predominantly services-based company. We start the conversation with what product companies are, how they differ from service-based companies, and what it means for Digible to become a product company. We also dive into the changes that may become apparent while Digible is on its path to becoming a product company.

A key piece of the strategy to becoming a product company is productizing services. David and Reid share their thoughts on how Digible might approach this in the future. Another area we touch on today is platforms and suites. We dive into how these two marketing tech structures work and the possibility of Digible transitioning into becoming one of these. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about how Digible keeps the commitment and passion toward its vision alive and how Digible may transition into a product company.

[06:44] Defining Product– How Digible will define what it means to become a product company.

[12:23] Changes – What changes we can expect while Digible is moving toward becoming a product company.

[16:45] Productizing Services – David shares his thoughts on Digible’s approach to productizing its services.

[24:00] Going to Market – How Digible might approach going to the market as a product platform.

[32:32] Focus – What a company should consider when choosing their focus in a way they don’t end up choosing too big or too small of a niche.

[40:18] Passion and Commitment – How to maintain the passion and commitment to long-term goals and vision as an organization.

[44:41] Transition – David and Reid share their thoughts on how Digible will transition towards becoming a product company in the coming years.

Digible recently celebrated its fifth birthday, and throughout this five-year journey, we’ve learned quite a lot about running a startup, building a fantastic work environment, innovation, thought-leadership, and more. We dedicated this episode to diving into some of the lessons we learned over the years. Joining today with the podcast are David Staley, president and co-founder of Digible, and Reid Wicoff, founding partner of Digible.

In any business venture, hard work can contribute to its success and growth. However, luck can contribute to defining the path of an organization as well. We start the conversation by talking about how these two factors come into play in a business venture. Another area we touch on is the concept of "Fake it till you make it." Over the years, we’ve seen many startups in the tech space following this sort of philosophy in their early years of business. We have also seen a fair amount of businesses getting in trouble as a result of this sort of thinking and discuss the sustainable growth of a business venture.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen the downfall of quite a few startups that quickly grew into the ‘unicorn’ status. We talk about some of these startups, some traits they had in common in terms of leadership, and what contributed to their untimely fall. Towards the end of the episode, we dive into what a business should do when they reach a point where they’re running out of cash and how to scale.

[02:15] Luck & Hard Work – Kicking off the conversation, Reid shares his take on the roles played by hard work and luck in the path to success of an organization.

[05:58] Advice for Startups – David shares some of his learnings from the five-year journey of Digible.

[11:44] Fake It Till You Make It? – Reid’s take on the implications of working based on the ‘fake it till you make it’ concept and whether businesses should embrace that concept in some cases.

[19:18] Failed Unicorns – We talk about some examples of failed startups that used to be worth billions at some point, including WeWork and Theranos, and the role leadership played in their downfall.

[27:18] Ensuring Longevity – How the leadership roles of a startup should be arranged in a way that improves its longevity.

[30:24] Running Out of Cash – David shares his advice on what to do if a startup is in a situation where it looks like the company is burning through cash for too long without getting enough traction.

[37:00] The Great Game – David shares some of the strategies he learned from the book ‘The Great Game of Business.’

[46:10] Mediocrity – How mediocrity affects the growth of a startup and how organizations should deal with it.

Resources

Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All

The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

The Great Game of Business: Unlocking the Power and Profitability of Open-Book Management

Welcome back to the Digible Dudes podcast. This week on the show, we’re celebrating Digible’s 5th anniversary. This marks a precious milestone in the story of Digible. In today’s episode, we’re diving into some amazing moments and lessons learned from the five years, and what to expect in the next five years. Joining us today are the three co-founders of Digible, David Staley, Reid Wicoff, and Nicole Staley.

Digible’s story is full of memorable events. We start the conversation with some of the most entertaining memories of the company. Moving on to strategic initiatives that helped Digible grow, Nicole dives into the outcomes of the program that was started to analyze errors that were made in Digible’s early years and learn from them.

Every successful company has its own set of unique values that makes them special and stand out from the crowd. In the next section, Reid, Nicole, and David share their take on the secret sauce that makes Digible special and successful. They also share some of the most memorable moments and experiences they had in their time with Digible.

One of the things about leadership that often goes unnoticed is that the higher the leadership position is the lonelier it gets. We dive into what Digible is doing to prevent that in terms of career development opportunities and cultural changes. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about what to expect in the next five years for Digible.

[01:00] Big Moments – We start the conversation with some important & entertaining moments from the first five years of the history of the firm.

[07:33] Analyzing Errors – Nicole shares her thoughts about the program that was started to analyze errors and mistakes and some of the learnings from this program.

[14:40] Secret Sauce – The unique values of Digible that have helped them become successful in the five years and some advice for startups to avoid failure.

[21:58] Most Memorable Things – Most precious and memorable moments from Digible’s history.

[26:29] Fighting Loneliness – Being in leadership roles in fast-growing companies can be lonely. We dive into the cultural measures Digible has in place to prevent this.

[31:08] Advice to Women – Nicole shares her advice to women who strive to be great leaders.

[34:38] Next Five Years – We talk about the plans we have for the next five years of Digible.

The concept of Fair Housing is what brings consumers the right to choose housing free from unlawful discrimination. And marketers in the multifamily housing space must be in accordance with Fair Housing laws when planning their marketing strategies and on-site. We don't have to tell you that when it comes to Fair Housing violations, ignorance is not bliss. We dedicated this episode of the Digible Dudes podcast to uncovering some answers to frequently asked questions about Fair Housing regulations. Joining us today is Doug Chasick, aka That Fair Housing Guy™, Digible’s resident Fair Housing consultant.

Doug started his career in the retail industry, and he gradually shifted his career path to Fair Housing. We start the conversation with his background and how Fair Housing regulations have evolved over the years. One of the first things we touch on is the current progress of Fair Housing practices. We dive deep into why Doug sees a lot more room for improvement in terms of implementing Fair Housing practices.

Commenting on how businesses work on maintaining compliance, Doug shares an observation about some companies that are implementing Fair Housing practices just for the sake of being compliant. We dive deep into how to ensure a better dedication to Fair Housing among businesses. Moving onto the marketing aspect of real estate, we discuss best practices for using ad copy, graphics, and models in a way that’s compliant with Fair Housing regulations. Wrapping up the episode, Doug shares some of the tips and tricks for maintaining compliance in the future.

[07:56] Doug’s Background – How Doug started his career and moved into the apartment industry and his Fair Housing work.

[14:00] Speed of Progress – Doug shares his take on the pace of the progress of the laws that were put in place to improve Fair Housing availability for everyone.

[19:40] Fair-housing Cases – We asked Doug how the number of cases related to fair housing has behaved over the years and what it means in terms of progress.

[31:10] Improving Compliance – Doug shares his thoughts on what could be done to make sure that companies are truly dedicated to working towards improving Fair Housing compliance.

[35:10] Active Adult Living – Doug shares his take on the usage of the term ‘active.’

[43:29] Creative Assets – We asked Doug about some best practices for writing ad copy and creating other creative assets.

[48:43] Graphics – How to use photographs, drawings, and models in advertising while complying with Fair Housing regulations.

[54:55] Disparate Impact – Doug shares his thoughts on what could be done to ensure that the regulations that are put in place will not create an adverse impact on the progress of Fair Housing practices.

[1:01:20] Student Housing – Fair Housing-related issues that students have to face when in the market and some of the things that could be done to address these issues.

[1:06:18] Tips & Tricks – Doug shares his wisdom on how to prepare for the future of Fair Housing.

Resources

Connect with Doug:

Previous podcast with Doug:

Welcome back to the Digible Dudes Podcast. In this episode, we chat with the one and only, Janet Rosseth. Janet is the Founder & CMO of Cadence Marketing Solutions, a firm based in Minneapolis that focuses on pacing strategies to help multifamily owners, operators, and developers achieve continued marketing growth. Throughout the interview, we dive into several areas of real estate marketing, including what it takes to build a marketing firm, new developments in prop-tech, staffing, and more.

Janet’s career packs decades worth of experience in real estate marketing. We start today’s conversation with Janet’s journey and the process of developing her firm, Cadence Marketing Solutions. We dive deep into some of the lessons Janet learned from building her firm and her future vision for her company.

Hiring the right people and making the right decisions on what to outsource versus what to keep in-house are some of the most crucial parts of a new company. We asked Janet about what her preferences would be for a new firm in terms of hiring and outsourcing. Moving on to prop-tech, Janet shares her thoughts on the longevity of prop-tech initiatives, integrations between different platforms, and her perspective on the most overvalued and undervalued prop-tech platforms.

Another key point we touch on is on-site staffing in the real estate space. Janet dives into some of the things the industry should change about staffing, utilization of AI lease agents, and what people typically expect from staff. Wrapping up the episode, Janet talks about how the utilization of data science could benefit the industry.

[04:26] Janet’s Story – We start the conversation with a brief look at Janet’s career in marketing and the path that led her to start Cadence Marketing Solutions.

[12:16] Growth – We dive into what it was like to start Cadence Marketing Solutions and grow it into the successful venture it is today and the future vision of the firm.

[20:29] Mentorship – Janet shares with us how her firm offers mentorship-based initiatives to folks who want to get up to speed on the industry & marketing.

[24:41] Building a Team – Janet talks about the process of building a firm from one person to a team of 18 people.

[29:01] Outsourcing & Hiring – Janet shares her thoughts on what would be the ideal first hires for a new management company and some of the things to outsource in the beginning.

[37:56] Longevity of Prop-tech - Janet shares her take on the typical lifespan of the newcomers that pop up in the pro-tech space.

[44:51] Integrations – We talk about the possibility of integrating different platforms together to determine the utilization and the effectiveness of the money spent on building features.

[49:55] Value of Prop-tech – Janet shares her thoughts on the most undervalued and overvalued players in the prop-tech space.

[52:06] On-site Teams – The importance of on-site teams and Janet’s perspective on how on-site teams should evolve.

[56:21] AI leasing Agents – Janet talks about the value AI leasing agents when it comes to dealing with one-off questions from customers.

[1:00:33] Staffing – Janet dives into what people usually look for in terms of support from staff in properties.

[0:07:02] Data Science – How the marketing space could use data science more in the future.

16 million children struggle with childhood hunger in the United States. In this episode of the Digible Dudes, we talk with Bob Bell, Co-Founder of Food for Thought, an organization dedicated to fighting childhood poverty with a unique approach. He joins us to talk about the impact they’ve been creating in the Denver community and helping countless children who struggle with childhood hunger.

In Denver, many children receive free or reduced lunches at school. However, according to Food for Thought, many teachers and principals have reported that for many of these children, the lunch they receive on Friday is their last meal until they’re back at school on Monday morning. Food for Thought is dedicated to solving this issue by providing children with food bags for students to take home to their families for the weekend.

We start today’s conversation by asking Bob about the beginning of Food for thought and how it grew over the years. Bob shares with us how their Friday program works, and what their process looks like for gathering food items, along with packaging and distribution. He also shares some statistics that show the impact and the value of the work they’ve been doing, and how they connect with brands and businesses to provide food for children.

Another point we touch on is the challenges that these children from low-income families face and how these issues affect their food habits. We also talk about how Food for Thought adapted quickly to the pandemic and never missed a Friday throughout all the lockdowns.

[08:49] Story of Food for Thought – We start the conversation with a brief look at what inspires the idea behind the Food for Thought initiative and the issues they’re addressing.

[14:02] Fridays with Food for Thought – Bob talks about the weekly Friday program that provides food for underprivileged children.

[18:33] Numbers – Bob shares some numbers that describe the scale of their operation and how many children they have been able to help.

[25:25] Brands and Businesses – Bob talks about their process of partnering with businesses and brands to provide food for children.

[29:26] Cultural Issues – Bob shares some stories about some of the cultural issues related to food that they face and what they have learned from these experiences.

[34:40] Life in Motels – We asked Bob about the hardships of the surprising number of people who live in motels and the challenges they face on a day-to-day basis.

[38:26] Ripple Effects of COVID – How the operations of Food for Thought drastically changed due to the closure of schools during the pandemic, and how it has impacted the initiative and the children.

[46:03] Fundraising – How the way Food for Thought has evolved over the last few years and how they’ve been able to gather the support of more entities than ever.

[52:47] Reaching Beyond Colorado – Bob dives into how the concept of Food for Thought could be implemented in other places as well.

Needless to say, the way we work has been drastically transformed in the last couple of years. The widespread adoption of remote work and trends such as the great resignation has initiated a new era of working that enables everyone to thrive in their work environment -- wherever that is. At Digible, we always look for ways to improve our work environment and culture. That’s why we recently announced the new work from anywhere initiative. In today’s episode of the Digible Dudes, David Staley and Reid Wicoff dive into what inspired this move and the steps ahead to implement WFA.

[01:30] The Idea – Why Digible decided to introduce work-from-anywhere and how it benefits the business as well as the team members.

[08:30] Transition – How the operating procedures are going to be updated to allow WFA.

[12:00] Challenges – Reid shares his thoughts on the challenges of working remotely and his levels of confidence about WFA.

[15:20] Productivity – David shares his take on how the WFA policy may shape the productivity of the organization.

[20:00] Expectations – David and Reid dive into what they expect from WFA in the next few years in terms of cultural transformation.

[25:44] Values and Vision – How introducing WFA is going to align with Digible’s vision and core values and how it’s going to improve the work environment for everyone involved.

Virtual reality and augmented reality technologies have been gaining traction in many industries in the last few years. And with all the hype around Metaverse and many tech giants jumping on the VR bandwagon, VR is becoming something people are more familiar with. We dedicated this episode of the Digible Dudes to discuss how VR will shape the future of our industry. 

We start the conversation with personal experiences from David and Reid. They share their experience of using several VR products, cool features they like about VR, and some of the practical issues that became apparent while using, such as fatigue. We also dive deep into the limitations of existing VR technologies and how these limitations may be overcome in the future.

Cloud technologies are way more widespread than they were a decade ago and with the introduction of 5G, the internet bandwidth of the average user is rapidly expanding, allowing apps to utilize cloud processing rather than relying on the user’s hardware. David and Reid dive into how this phenomenon could enhance the user experience. They also talk about the difference between virtual reality and augmented reality and how the two technologies coexist in apps.

New technologies sometimes come with new implications as well. We talk about possible health implications of using VR products for extended periods, in terms of mental health as well as physical health. Wrapping up the episode, Reid and David dive into some of the ways that VR apps could use existing data to create amazing new user experiences.

[01:00] VR Experience  - David and Reid start the conversation by sharing their own experiences with VR applications and the interactive features of different VR platforms.

[05:46] Limitations – Limitations of existing VR technologies and how these limitations affect the user experience.

[13:29] VR and Business – Financial feasibility of VR for consumer markets and how companies that are working on VR technologies prepare for the future.

[17:34] Impact of Cloud – How the new innovations in the cloud space and expansions of internet bandwidth could enhance VR user experience.

[22:47] AR vs VR – Similarities and differences between the two technologies; virtual reality and augmented reality.

[29:08] VR & Apartments – How VR technologies could enter the apartment industry and how it would enhance the user experience.

[34:34] Readiness of Users – Reid poses the question of whether the users are ready to be more comfortable with VR and how close people will prefer to be with VR.

[38:00] Health Implications – Possibility of mental and physical health implications from VR devices.

[42:10] New Technologies – David dives into how new apps could create awesome experiences by utilizing data from existing platforms such as Google Maps.

[47:14] Connecting the World – Reid, and David share their thoughts on Meta’s efforts to connect the world.

Facebook has been under a considerable amount of pressure from various parties to make changes to its platform to eliminate discriminatory practices. As a result, Facebook has been introducing new updates to its advertising policy. However, these new updates introduce some new complexities as well. In today’s episode of the Digible Dudes, we’re joined by Jenny Haacker, Paid Media Manager at Digible. Throughout the episode, we talk about how Facebook’s policy updates affect and influence several aspects of advertising and how they impact the real estate industry.

We start the conversation with a brief look at what’s new in these policy updates and the real-world implications for marketers in the multifamily industry. We also talk about why Facebook is introducing these policies and how they pass some responsibilities to advertisers rather than making changes in their systems. Some advertisers fall into special ad categories that come with their own restrictions when it comes to ad content. We talk about these restrictions, the new complexities they introduce, and what marketers can do to comply with the policies.

Another thing we touch on is loopholes that exist within these policies. We dive deep into how some advertisers are able to slide through loopholes in the platforms and what organizations such as Facebook can do to ensure that the possibility of using these loopholes is limited. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about the 31 buckets of prohibited content Facebook has introduced and how they affect the strategies of marketers.

[01:10] New Policy Updates – What forces Facebook to introduce these new policy updates, and what the new policy update means in real life in terms of liability.

[04:13] Concerns of Facebook – We talk about why this new policy update feels more like Facebook is trying to pass the responsibilities of compliance to advertisers rather than updating their back end to improve compliance.

[08:30] Special Ad Categories – How Facebook’s advertising platform works for special ad categories and the restrictions that come with it.

[10:45] Complexities – Some of the difficulties that advertisers have to face are because of the restrictions that come with the new policy updates.

[16:15] Habits – David & Reid share their thoughts on how they interact with certain features in search engines and social media and some of the concerns related to the features.

[19:00] Loopholes – Loopholes related to targeting that exists in advertising platforms and why it’s hard for platforms to monitor the content that slides through these loopholes.

[24:20] Reviewing – Facebook’s content review process and its efficacy of it when it comes to reviewing discriminatory content.

[30:00] Meta’s New Ventures – How the tendency of Facebook’s parent company to lean towards VR and AR technology may influence the advertising space in the next few years.

[37:20] Transformative Technologies – How the adoption of transformative technologies has evolved throughout history.

[44:24] Prohibited Content – We talk about the 31 types of content Facebook has prohibited and what marketers can do to comply with the new policy.

Creating an environment where employees can do their work comfortably and can thrive in their professional lives is one of the best things a business can do for their staff, as well as the long-term growth and reputation of the company itself. That’s why Digible is dedicated to creating the best possible work environment and culture for the team. In Today’s episode, we have a conversation with Ryan Dorhout, Controller at Digible, who has been working on the strategic aspect of human resources for Digible in recent months. Throughout the episode, Ryan shares his thoughts on the way Digible approaches improving several aspects of employee experience.

We start the conversation with the strategic work Ryan has been contributing to over the last few months and how Digible’s organizational structure was developed. He dives deep into what is involved in defining salary ranges for various positions in the organization and how Digible is keeping its offers competitive by including attractive benefits packages.

The ability to move up in the organizational structure and the available opportunities are some of the key factors that drive team members to dedicate their time and effort to an organization. Ryan shares his thoughts on some of the frameworks and procedures developed for Digible to assist with promotions and professional growth.

Transparency is an extremely important concept for Digible. We talk about some of the information Digible discloses to stakeholders that are not often disclosed by many businesses in the industry and how that transparency helps Digible build trust within the organization. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about how Digible plans to deal with inflation and the cost of growth.

[02:25] Digible’s Growth – How Digible has been growing in recent years in terms of recruiting the process of developing and fine-tuning the hiring procedures.

[06:42] Ryan’s Background – Ryan talks about his previous experiences in several companies and the impact he’s been making at Digible in developing salary ranges.

[11:02] Benefits – Digible’s approach to benefits and strategies Digible utilizes to keep offering competitive benefits.

[19:26] Promotions – Ryan dives deep into some of the procedures and controls that are put in place to define the way people move up in the organization.

[25:00] New Generations – How Digible handles communication regarding the upward mobility aspect of employment, especially for people from younger generations.

[31:00] Transparency – We discuss the measures that Digible takes to ensure transparency about salary ranges throughout the organization.

[37:53] Career Development – David and Reid share their thoughts on Digible’s plans to help employees with career development.

[48:00] Dealing with Inflation – Ryan dives into some ideas on how an organization may revise pay ranges to compensate for inflation.

[52:00] Cost of Growth – The financial impact of growth for a business and strategies for efficiently growing an organization.