The Biggest Leverage That We Learned About Mortgages

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Mortgages are controlled by government agencies, which define a box. You can't really differentiate that much if you're selling a mortgage. Not everybody understands how mortgage work. People have no idea how much principle they've paid down over five years.

Laks Srini is the cofounder and CTO of ZeroDown. Before that he was the cofounder and CTO of Zenefits.

You can find him on Twitter at @laks_srini.

The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

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Topics

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - What is ZeroDown?

1:50 - How did they test the idea?

3:50 - What did they learn from companies that failed in the space?

8:00 - Breaking down the product

11:25 - ZeroDown's customers

13:35 - Expanding to other markets

15:50 - What if a downturn happens?

17:10 - ZeroDown's hiring strategy

20:10 - What are their hardest technical challenges?

22:05 - ZeroDown's breadth and product strategy

26:40 - Customer interviews

28:35 - Should everyone own a house?

29:50 - Home ownership in the future

32:45 - Build something you really want to see in the world

34:40 - Working with his cofounders was the most important consideration