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64 "It's a big industry, but there are no large companies in the space. Which is fine, but there are also no companies in the space that have really embraced technology." -Colin Wiel, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Mynd specializes in operations and human logistics, whereas Wiel gravitates toward technology. ey share a focus on Mynd's strategy going forward. UPPING THE GAME "Historically, property management has been done in a very ad hoc, manual, paper- based way," Brien told DS News. "To create the paradigm shift and do something different in real estate, which is needed, you have to come at it from more of a technology perspective. Having said that, you could definitely err on being too technology-centric and build technology for technology's sake. You can sit in a room and think, 'Oh, these tools will be so cool,' but then you take them out to the market and nobody cares about them. It has to be both, and having that balance is important." In keeping with Brien's comments, Mynd is trying to strike the perfect balance. e company is a continuation of the co-CEOs' work at Waypoint. Underlying both companies is the fundamental bet that software can reduce—or even eliminate—the time-intensive logistical headache of managing a rental property, thus increasing the effective ROI of the investment, and allowing the management system to scale to a very large number of units. At Waypoint, they got up to 17,000. However, Mynd is not trying to do away with humans altogether. e company's operations and sales will require manpower to support the digital component. "Our whole philosophy—that I think was a big part of our success at Waypoint— was marrying the benefits of scale [and] the technology platform [...] with local experts that are boots on the ground," Brien said. "Real estate is and always will be a very, very local business. No matter how great of an operating platform we build, if we didn't have the right people on the ground, it wouldn't work. I would say that our philosophy is very much about making people more efficient." Some of those people on the ground may be independent contractors or part-time employees, potentially reducing Mynd's costs. When the product opens up to the public in March, Mynd's co-CEOs intend to acquire customers through a mix of digital and traditional avenues. Brien and Wiel expect to ramp up content marketing in 2017, using articles, webinars, and similar means to build name recognition and generate inbound leads. Still, Mynd will have a standard sales department. "It's always going to be a fairly high-touch sales process," Brien explained. "For most people, a majority of their net worth is tied up in this real estate. We met with someone today; he's probably got a million dollars of equity in his building. I don't know of any asset class when people are talking about million-dollar investments where they just kind of haphazardly decide to try something." Mynd's CEOs hope to charge lower fees than the current crop of non-digital property managers, while offering a more convenient, more transparent experience for owners. eir platform will coordinate things like dispatching a plumber to fix a leaky faucet without having to align three different people's schedules. Data about what's happening at each property will be