Helping Landlords Find Tenants – Sean Mitchell of Rezi

TL;DR

Rezi (spelled Resi in transcript) is a rental marketplace that guarantees landlords lease-out of vacant units by providing upfront cash, funded through a separate debt-securitization structure. The company pivoted during YC from a tenant-screening tool to solving vacancy risk entirely. Tenants get automated, fee-free applications in under ten minutes.

Key insights

• The core value proposition is transferring vacancy risk from landlord to Rezi, not just improving screening.
• The pivot happened within the first month of YC: applied with a screening product, switched to vacancy guarantee by January 6.
• First transaction used 40% of YC safe capital; the cofounder told the team that was the plan.