00:00 Introduction to PropHero

Steve: Welcome to Give It A Nudge. We are here for yet another episode and today we have Suvidh from PropHero. I’m excited about this because I actually don’t know anything about PropHero. So welcome to the show.

Suvidh: Thanks for having me. So PropHero, we used to define ourselves as the next-gen buyers agency for Australian property. But over the last couple of years we’ve evolved into a wider proptech and we now are basically people’s property wealth management partner. We use data, artificial intelligence to pick good properties for clients, but we’ve evolved into a lot more using tech to manage full portfolios.

02:00 How the AI model works

Suvidh: Our founder Michael Roger was head of McKinsey’s artificial intelligence practice in Australia. He basically found a gap in the market where most of the decisions to buy property were made on emotion. There was no objectivity. The buying agent liked the particular area or had relationships in a particular area and that’s what they would recommend. He developed these AI models where we now source data from 26 different sources. There’s about 200 different variables. All the various parameters go into this model, there’s a different weighting allocated to each, and based on that there are about 200 million plus permutations and combinations that then spit out the top 1 to 3% of suburbs.

05:00 Why traditional buyers agents get it wrong

Suvidh: Most of the so-called data companies or other buyers agents are using on average four to five sources. Whereas we’re using all 26 that are available. A lot more comprehensive in our analysis. It’s a bit like back in the investment banking days. We used to do all these valuations for mergers and acquisitions and the managing partner would come in and say actually mark it up by 20%. The decision’s made first and then you make the data work.

08:00 Suvidh’s background

Suvidh: I used to be an investment banker ages ago, 15 years ago. Moved to Australia about 10 years ago. Started my own finance broking business 7 years ago. Grew that from scratch to a team of 20. Last year I was awarded Australia’s number one mortgage broker.

12:00 How the PropHero partnership happened

Suvidh: My wife actually works for McKinsey and when Michael left, she asked me to get in touch with him. We spent a couple of hours talking about the product. I said, you’re just starting out, how about I help you by opening up my clients to you. That relationship just became very organic. A few months ago I got a call from Pablo saying, look, we’ve been thinking about it for 18 months, why don’t you come and join us. That conversation lasted three days.

15:00 Evolving into property wealth management

Suvidh: We’ve evolved into a wider proptech. We now manage full portfolios for our clients using technology. The business started about two and a half years ago and it’s been expanding internationally. Michael and Pablo moved overseas both to expand the business and to be closer to their families.