Seattle startup uses AI to streamline rental process
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Daniel Li (left) and Daniel Kim (right) of Seattle startup Marble. Photo courtesy of Marble
After feeling thwarted as students looking for and living in rental housing, computer engineers Daniel Li and Daniel Kim figured there had to be a better system. So they created a company that uses AI to address 80% of the tasks required to manage rental properties.
Why it matters: Their platform, Marble, shows how AI is being adopted to streamline and simplify once time-consuming jobs.
Driving the news: Marble took a leap forward in mid-March when OpenAI API beta launched, bringing much of what their platform now does "into the realm of possibility," Li told Axios.
- AI powers the search function in Marble's app, quickly answering prospective tenant questions — such as "Is there a fence in the backyard?" — by searching for relevant context provided by the property owner and from information in Marble's own internal systems.
- It turns out most of the property management business involves answering questions from prospective tenants, which AI can do excellently and almost instantaneously, Li said.
Zoom in: Even before integrating AI, "the Daniels," as the two call themselves, were finding ways to improve property management. That includes developing a smart lock system that allows vacant rentals to be toured seven days a week without the need for a showing agent.
- Potential tenants schedule a time for a tour and are given an access code that works for a small window of time before resetting automatically, Li explained.
- Building on models created by ride-share platforms like Uber, tenants can also use Marble's app to report maintenance problems, which are then directed to a (human-powered) 24-hour operation center that dispatches local vendors and contractors such as plumbers.
- Property owners pay $50 per month per unit to use Marble's services.
Backstory: Former roommates, Li and Kim have firsthand knowledge of renter pitfalls: when looking for new places, it often took several days before they could get in for a tour, Li said.
- And it once took a property manager 18 months to have a leak in their townhome fixed.
- After graduating from the University of Washington with degrees in computer science and engineering in 2018, Li and Kim began building Marble while working at Facebook and Adobe respectively. They started working full time on Marble in 2020.
By the numbers: The startup was backed by $2 million in seed money from Y Combinator, the accelerator program that funded Airbnb, Coinbase and DoorDash, among others.
- Currently, Marble is managing approximately 800 rental units, mostly single-family homes, across the country, Li said.
- Li said owners report Marble has decreased by 30% the time it takes to find new tenants.
What's next: Li and Kim are now aimed at scaling up to managing entire apartment buildings.