Jesse Burrell: It absolutely changed my life from going from broke to,
Steve Trang: oh, I don't have to worry about gas.
Jesse: I still remember those moments. It's like all those little things, and I remember going out to dinners and, like, I hope the chicken's under $25. I can get one drink, I get chicken, and I'm putting it on my credit card, and I have to figure out how to pay this in two weeks. And it's like $50. And having those things melt away, I know how big that is to your moment.
That's how it always kept me driven. It's like we're helping these people Mhmm. You know, change their lives through our software. And we're just a part of that. It was just like, I'm not a coach.
That's not who I am. That's not how I'm built. So my way was always, like, how can I make impact? And I felt like it was always through our software.
Steve: Welcome, and thank you for joining us for today's episode of Disruptors, where millionaires are made. Today, we've got my good friend, Jesse Burrell, with Batch, and he basically drove up the street, right, to talk about his whole journey from starting Batch Leads to selling Batch Leads. We're going full circle on today's show here. Now, guys, I'm on a mission to create a 100 millionaires. Information on the show alone is enough to help you become a millionaire in the next five to seven years.
If you take consistent action, you'll become one. And, you know, we have Jesse here who is officially millionaire number three. You guys watched, you know, the pre roll on this channel. You guys will see when Jesse received his, plaque himself. Now, guys, if you're already a millionaire, we want to recognize you here.
So please scan that QR code. Let us know. And if you want even more help to become a millionaire even faster, make sure you scan that same code. And before we jump in, if you're here to learn how real entrepreneurs built real empires, hit hit that subscribe button because every week, we're dropping lessons that can help you create your first or your next million. And today's show is brought to you by Objection Proof AI.
If you're ready to turn your existing sales team into a self managing sales team, go to objectionproof.ai. You ready? I'm ready. Man, like, I can't believe the journey we've gone through, you've gone through, right, in in the, last seven, eight years. And I say we because just because, like, I'm able to witness it.
So it's pretty cool to see it on the sidelines.
Jesse: We're gonna start at the beginning because it all started with with you and you getting on. Was it whole scaling live? Or what was it called, the event?
Steve: The the big one
Jesse: It was whole scaling.
Speaker 2: Was, we Max is a Max event. Right?
Steve: WeLive.
Jesse: Okay.
Steve: WeLive nineteen. Right? WeLive, which is Wholesaling Elite. WeLive nineteen. That was, I think, the big lift.
But it even started before then.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Steve: Right? I mean, like, I still remember you guys may have you guys have been with the show, right, from 2019. Because you started like, the first show Yeah. Was literally six years ago. Right?
Jesse: That's crazy.
Steve: That you were on here. But, you know, like, we talk about the go abundance, the the working together, the I mean, Brandon Simmons, right, putting us all in the same room.
Jesse: I know.
Steve: Like, it all started in I'll I'll be in the same room when Brandon Simmons masterminded Phoenix. Yeah. Right? It's where I
Jesse: met you.
Steve: Yeah. Alright? But, yeah, like, you've I mean, let's talk about, like, that journey from, like, not having Bash because, you know, like, you were you ran a wholesaling company. Right. And if I recall correctly, you had a partnership as well, or maybe not a partnership when by the time we met.
Jesse: No. When we met, I was I was on my own doing my thing. And that's when, I met Annie and Eva, my my partners, through this whole journey at that Mastermind. And that's where you were, Brent was there. And then I think, like, Jamil and Pace, we met a little for a couple months later, I believe.
But him and Jamil were, like, doing a ride along, and some Pace guy came in. I'm like, who are you?
Steve: I do remember PACE bringing random random people to your mastermind. Yes.
Jesse: So it it's just been I've had I'd say we sold actually last Tuesday Mhmm. So about a week ago. I've had a little bit of time to reflect, and it's just been a lot of gratitude for all the people that have helped us along the way. And you're a very big part of that as well. So, you know, I appreciate, all of us and all of what you did and what everyone did because, I I think the biggest catalyst for, me personally, and I'd say batch as a company was being in a room with you and Rafael and not even like, after that mastermind, when that kind of group that we put together was Rafael, me, you, Annie, Evo, Ace Cortez.
Cortez. Clear. Ace, Jamil, Brent, and you. And we would just for a period
Steve: of time, there was Carlos Reyes, Alex Ives.
Jesse: No. But that little little group, we would we'd meet. And I remember we had some, like I think we had a quarterly meeting here that
Steve: We had one quarterly meeting in this room. Yes. Along the way.
Jesse: Yes. And but we would meet. And and I think we had a couple meetings in the batch office back when me and Brent were there, at the old office. And it was just the the mindset everyone had and the hunger and the ambition and seeing kinda where everyone is is now. But everyone, like I mean, if you're in a room with pace, nothing's ever enough, to be honest with you.
He's like the alien of of everything because it's just like whenever I thought I was really pushing my limits, I'd listen to him talk and like this I was like and I also learned that I don't I don't wanna be that, and I don't wanna compare to that. But it always gave me a reason to be like, if if I'm not doing enough, you know, if I feel like I'm not doing enough, you know, I'm probably not.
Steve: Yeah. Well, so, like, just to add context. Right? So we go we talk about talk about hanging out Dave and Busters Yep. For Brandon.
Right? Yeah. And then after that, but from there, let's talk about the the we'll we'll go through this in chronological order. Let's talk about the evolution of you and Evo working together.
Jesse: Okay. So, yeah, it was it was Brandon that connected us.
Steve: Mhmm.
Jesse: He's like, Jesse, I think you could help Evo with some things. Mhmm. And Evo, you could help Jesse with some things, but he didn't tell me that. Right. So, like, Evo just, like, reached out to me, and I I met up with him at some dumpy Mexican restaurant or something on the West Side where he lives currently.
He's moving soon. But he's like he shows up.
Steve: He's like, so what can I help you with?
Jesse: I'm like, I kind of have the same thought. So it was just this organic conversation of he's a systems and process guy. I'm a sales and marketing guy. Mhmm. And we just started helping each other naturally.
And then he's like, hey. I'm I'm selling, like, the skip tracing. And at that literally moment, I lost my TLO account. Like, I could definitely use some of that right now. And it's like, how much?
He's like, cost. I'm like, you're a great negotiator. And then I started using it, having some success with his batch skip tracing product that he created. And, soon after, I'm like, well, I have a bunch of friends. Like, you know, what do I get if I sell it?
He's like, half. I was like, cool. Works for me. And then it just kinda started taking off from there. And then once we decided to do it together and kinda solidify that, I was kinda holding this in my back pocket.
And the first call I made was, like, Brent Daniels is a cold calling coach, and his influence is just growing. I called Brent, like, you want skip tracing for free? Mhmm. Like, duh. Alright.
He's like, what what I have to do? He's like I was like, just talk like, use it. Talk about it if you like it. Mhmm. And then it just kinda snowballed from there, and, we kinda had a viral moment against Carlos and Sal on Facebook groups, need to skip versus batch skip tracing.
And that just them getting mad at us just got more eyeballs on us because, like, Carlos had such a huge brand there with Alex Sainz and Sal. And I was like, you shouldn't punch down because you just gave us a bunch of publicity. Appreciate you. And then it just snowballed from there. And, before I knew it, I had this wholesale company that was doing great, and we're making a bunch of money on on script tracing.
That's when the, I would say, cold calling got really big, and then when it really blew up is when, you know, the texting started to come out. And that's when it was just a rush of of everything, and it was Right. Chaos.
Steve: So it was basically Ivo, who was just basically you know, I kinda look at him. I'm sorry, Evo, if this is offensive. Right? It's like he's just really good at, like, taking a bunch of stuff and just, like, kind of putting things together. Right?
Like because, like, the guy has a licensing something and everything. He does. Right? Like, he's a contractor. He's a plumber.
He's an HVAC guy. He's got literally, like, a whatever official thing, designation
Jesse: Yeah.
Steve: For everything. Right?
Jesse: He's a real estate license still.
Steve: Right. Well, yeah, it's funny. I wrote this down. Like, you and I you and Eva were both licensed with my brokerage Yeah. Right?
At some point, starting Holmes Realty Yeah. When this was still starting Holmes Realty before we moved everyone over to Real. Yeah. And so, there's been, like, a lot going on there. So, like, with you and Evo collaborating and then, obviously, Annie getting involved because, like, you and you and Ivo cannot be left to your own devices.
Right?
Jesse: Nope. She she was she's always been so underrepresented even in our organization today. It's like what people don't understand is she lets me and Evo be great. And where she's great, we're awful. And people are like, well, what does she do?
I'm like, everything. And she lets us work in our genius zone all the time. And if there's problems, she'll burden them until they need to be our problem, and she handles it. And, I'm I'm just blessed to have two incredible partners, to be honest with you. I know there's a lot of partnerships that have went sideways and went sour.
And, you know, we're able to make it through the first bite of the apple, which we'll talk about later. But, I mean, without them, I I don't know where I'd be today.
Steve: Yeah. And then just again, you know, for the recap, like, you recently just sold what were the two things you sold?
Jesse: BatchLeads and BatchDialer to PropStream.
Steve: To PropStream. Right? Which is a big deal. And PropStream, they got acquired by Stewart, a couple years back now. Yeah.
Jesse: I mean, technically, Stewart, but PropStream, I don't know how how I'm supposed to position it. But
Steve: Well, I'm just saying, like, they got acquired. That was a big deal.
Jesse: Oh, huge.
Steve: Right? I remember when they actually, when that happened, I called you. I was like, congratulations. Like, you got you got, like, a road map here.
Jesse: I I guess the road map was to them.
Steve: I would have never known it. I put
Jesse: on a PropStream hat last week, and, man, that was weird. But, hey, they're my new favorite company. What could I say?
Steve: Yeah. So, but, you know, along the way,
Jesse: I mean, we have
Steve: to talk about, like, WeLive nineteen. Yes. Because I think that was such a pivotal moment. Because you talked about all the names you mentioned earlier. Right?
But, like, that was when, like, that was a big, big event for me. Huge. Right? Because that's when I got on stage, booked at Max Maxwell's event. There's a thousand people there because Max can draw an audience.
For sure. Right? And so, you know, so Max Maxwell has us go out, asked me to come out, and you guys weren't affiliated in any way whatsoever. Right? But, like
Jesse: We all supported you.
Steve: You, Evo, Annie, Brian Aplus, which we haven't talked about.
Jesse: He's a part of my journey too.
Steve: Yeah. Pace, Jamil, trying to think, was there anyone else, that I think that was it. Right? And spouses. Yep.
Right? Mhmm. And, it's like, you guys all came out to support me Mhmm. With no expectations, no obligations, no commitments. It's like, hey.
Like, you're doing this. Like, let's just all hang out together. We'll be the Phoenix crew Yep. In Dallas. Mhmm.
And we made some noise there too because, like, there were a bunch of people who were like, who are all these people from Phoenix, and why are they here? Because
Jesse: We're all competitors too in the in the wholesale space.
Speaker: We're all
Steve: competitors, but, like, people didn't necessarily know who PACE was yet. Nope. Or Jamil. No. Right?
Or you guys. No. Like, we're all just kinda hanging out.
Jesse: To learn about that. There's some batch script tracing people there, and we just rocked our shirts and we're in a vendor and tried to sell our data, for free. Yeah. You know?
Steve: So But, like, that was kinda like I still remember, like, in Dallas, they're like, who are these people and, like, why are they close because they're all competitors. And we're like,
Jesse: you know, collaboration over competition. Yeah.
Steve: And that was the beginning, right, of of all that. And it it was funny as we talked about it a couple times on the show was that when we were doing that, it's like, yeah, we're all competitors and wholesalers as wholesalers, but we also, at around the same time, started creating our own different products. Right? Some people might have heard of sub two. Right?
Some people might have heard of AstroFlipping. Mhmm. And then, batch. And then I had you know, I didn't have a coaching program at the time, but I had to make one after that event because of all the notoriety I gained.
Jesse: Right.
Steve: And we were meeting on a regular basis to compare notes. So not only were we collaborating on wholesaling, hey. What are you doing? What's working here? What's working there?
We also began collaborating on, like, hey. How are you working with this client, that client? How are you getting clients? How are you building your business? Who are you hiring?
Right? Like, remember, specifically, Ivo invited me in to meet with him and Annie to just show us his org chart. Right? Like, here's our org chart, right, at, batch. Mhmm.
Deal with that information whatever you want.
Jesse: Right.
Steve: Right? Like, that's a that's a blessing that not everyone really has that opportunity, especially on, you know, on the come up. Like, after you've done some deals, after you made some noise, yes. But on the come up, like, that's very rare for us all to be sharing so so much.
Jesse: Yeah. We all met through this thing, this real estate investing vehicle. Mhmm. And then we became the software people. You became the sales coach.
Pace and Jamille did their thing. Mhmm. Brent, you know, was doing his thing. We all have this collective thing that we're doing at that time together, but we also just naturally fell into our own places with the other things that we wanted to grow, and no one really stepped on each other. Everyone kinda had their own little niche, and it was just so that time, I probably missed more than anything because, you know, it's it's it's truly the journey.
It's not the destination. And I think in all of us, none of us were, I would say, extremely wealthy at that time. We all had I mean, we all had money and were doing well. And it was just it was so exciting to see everyone win and have all these ambitions. And then, what is this, six years later now, seeing where everyone's at now and all the fruits of of all the hard work, it's it's so fun to be a part of that.
I remember I I gave Pace his very first affiliate check that he ever received from anyone. He's like, oh, this is kinda cool. And she probably makes, like, a million dollars a month on affiliates now or something. But I was his first, and, you know, that that means something to me that we've had so many people just have so much greatness that's came out of Phoenix, and it's because we truly rooted for each other. And, I just I feel like that's rare.
I know we're not as close as we once were. We all have big brands and all these crazy things going on, but I'm saying it on the show today. Like, we we have to get, like, some reunion together soon and just have all of us go to Pace's Ranch in Montana and chop it up for a weekend or something.
Steve: What I even remember, right, I was in your guys' office, in Tempe not that long ago, and I don't think you guys have that building anymore. But I I was You
Jesse: still have it.
Steve: You still have it?
Jesse: Yeah. But I
Steve: remember when I was there, I was like, oh, like, you got here's the Sub 2 Room.
Jesse: Yep. Right?
Steve: Here's the Keeley Room. Like, you're honoring people. You wanna talk about that?
Jesse: Yeah. So, you know, we got this big corporate office that we don't need anymore because we sold the the the larger part of our business. So it's up for sale. If anybody wants an office in Tempe, let me know. No.
But yeah. I mean, so all of our conference room, there's, like, a Kegley Room, an Astro Room or not Kegley. There's a Astro Sub 2 and a TTP Room. And so it's just funny. It's, like, I think some of the people that work there now have no idea.
They're like, these are the dumbest names ever. And it's just me, Annie and Evo never forgot, who really got it, the people that cared and helped us get to to where we were because, like, when batch leads came out and our texting came out and that product was just truly incredible, still is, but we created a really cool texting platform, which is no longer. But, all you guys screaming about it from the rooftops, it just it lit fuel on that fire, and it let us continue to pour and develop into the into the products and then to create BatchDialer. Now we have BatchData, which is the company that I own now. And it was all from, like, people just you guys were using it and having success with it, but at the same time, you guys were going out of your way to support your friends.
And Yeah. I think that's something we've never forgot.
Steve: Right. And, we can't really go too deep into this. Right? Especially anyone else is watching later on later on. You know, but some of my best memories were at that event in Dallas.
Right? Because there was that guy that rode along who we we we punished. Yeah.
Jesse: And
Steve: then there were some things that we did in the evenings, you know, some, fun stuff Mhmm. That Pace is like, I don't know what's wrong with you guys, but I want no part of this. So there's a lot of fun and great great memories there. Now moving forward, we did the same thing in Houston with whole scaling.
Jesse: Yeah. Okay. That was whole scaling. Okay. Yeah.
Steve: Yeah. So we did again, like so that was March was we live 19. Like, that is a bed in my memory. Right? It was a pivotal moment in my life.
Jesse: Mhmm.
Steve: And we did it again in whole scaling in Houston. They're like, hey. Like, whatever you guys did in Dallas, like, let's do this again in Houston because there's no reason why what's happening in Phoenix cannot be recreated in Houston.
Jesse: Mhmm. I don't
Steve: think it got recreated, but that was their intention. So do you what do you wanna talk about there with whole scaling?
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Jesse: Yeah. I think that's really where, I believe we were a vendor at that one, but that's where I think, like, we started talking about, like, the squatting up thing. I think we kinda named it, and then Right. Jamille and Pace still talk about Mhmm. Squatting up, and it's a huge part of their brands Yeah.
Still today. And the the whole scaling event, I think that was fun too. Who's who spoke on stage for that one? I think, actually, Annie or Ivo?
Steve: Annie and Ivo spoke. Jamil spoke. Pei spoke. I spoke, and then RJ with Cassie. Cassie.
Yeah. So
Jesse: RJ was kind of like a impromptu Phoenix honorary member. Yeah. You know, he he technically had flipped a bunch of houses out there, and he came out all the time. That's true. But, yeah, I mean, RJ is also, like, huge shout out to you, RJ.
You were and Cassie, you guys were a big part and a huge supporter of Batch Leads and Batch Dollar for, you know, a very, very long time. Still are. Yeah. But that event, like, I don't remember that one as much because I think same thing for me is, like, that WeLive event is, like, ingrained in in my memory too of, like, just a pivotal moment of just a springboard to our success. But I remember whole scaling being another super fun event, and that's when not just you, but everyone else I felt like started to shine.
I absolutely hate being on stages trying to to get better at it. I think the only the last time I spoke in front of more than a 100 people, I think, was at Dave and Buster's Mhmm. In 2021 at your monthly event.
Steve: Yeah. So I and that's something I think is important too. Right? Because, like, part of my journey was that, you know, I had the podcast, right, that did well. And I also had my monthly meetups that did all the way up until COVID.
Jesse: Those were awesome too.
Steve: They were great events. But, like, people were, like, asking me, like, oh, how do you run these events? Like, how much did it cost? Like, not only did it cost me nothing. Right?
But, like, food was provided. Mhmm. Alcohol was provided.
Jesse: That's true. Right?
Steve: And so what did we how did we get it done? It's like, well, we had a local title company. Right? So Magnus East, that was my title company. Mhmm.
We had Hard Money Lender. So I think, Capital Fund one was a big one, but we also had a couple other ones. And then Batch Yep. Was a big sponsor at every event. Right?
We had a big Batch, poster Yep. Right, at every single event. And then in in the end, like, even Kegel was sponsoring events. Right? So Yeah.
So it wasn't difficult to run a big event with over a 100 people that we were happy to be at. Just have some vendors to be. And all you guys asked for was just a shout out. Like, it wasn't like, hey. Let me speak for ten minutes to your audience.
Like No. All you guys asked, like, hey, Steve. Just say that this event was sponsored by these companies. Like, no problem.
Jesse: Yeah. I know. Well, it's just, you know, people are naturally gonna come up and, you know, be, paste, Jamille, everyone. We're very social, talkative people, and there's a lot of new people there. So it's just asking them about where they're at in their journey and if there's any tidbits we could give, you know, to help them.
And and that was it. I I thought those were those were always so fun because it gave us a reason to all catch up. Mhmm. They're always fun. You always would have some type of good speaker, and you found the balance of having someone maybe speak for thirty, forty minutes.
Mhmm. But, I mean, we didn't even need that. It's just it could just have been a social hour. Yeah.
Steve: I mean, I don't one of the best speakers we have was Chris Jefferson. So he he spoke I remember that. At the very last one before we ended it. Because, like, man, like, what's going on? Why aren't people coming?
I was like, oh, they're worried about this virus thing? Okay. That's weird. So because that was, again, like, that was, like, March before March 12 because March 12 was, like, the big day.
Jesse: The shutdown day.
Steve: Yeah. So it was before March 12. So and then before we move forward, I wanna just touch on real quick Brian Atlas, right, who also introduced us or not introduced us, but, like, you know, like, we connected. You said he was part of your journey.
Jesse: I he is early on, I dated his his sister was my high school sweetheart. I met him when I was 16 years old.
Steve: Oh, I didn't know that.
Jesse: You didn't? No. So I didn't he was in my college, and he's Brian, he's doing a million things, hands
Steve: Yes. All
Jesse: over the place, scatterbrained as all it could be. And, and then Casey moved down here because he had a, t shirt printing company. He basically sold all around the country. It's pretty big business to sororities, fraternities Mhmm. Even had some big corporate accounts.
And we were kinda on and off at that time, and I came and visited a couple times and, like, just I love Phoenix. I'm a golfer. The weather is nice. I'm from Washington state and, like, this,
Steve: That's what brought you down here.
Jesse: So what brought me down here, was a a couple things was me and Casey had we're, like, broken up, but we never, like, given it a shot. And I just I didn't wanna be like, what if? Mhmm. And, I soon found out it was not meant to be. But I needed I just didn't wanna regret, like, this is my first love.
Mhmm. We've had, like, this weird relationship to where she went off to college and we're, like, long distance and kinda on and off. And I just needed to know because that's just my personal I was like, I I I don't wanna regret something. Mhmm. And but during that time, I I didn't know anyone, and Brian let me go live with him and in case he was nice enough to let me live with him Mhmm.
Too. And, I mean, we kind of knew each other, and he was a great first influence for me because I got to see someone that was so passionate about building a company and making all this money that I mean, I was some broke dude that was going back to ASU to try to get into the golf industry. Mhmm. And so he's, like, a huge early part of my journey that a lot of people don't know about because he was the first person, like, firsthand that I got to see day in and day out of what it looked like to be an entrepreneur. And I was like, man, that looks hard, but I was like, it also looks fun because he's a very passionate person.
He's a still to this day, like, one of the hardest workers that I know, like, can't turn it off. And he sold a business, and he has all these things going on. I talked to him, like, a week ago, and, like, can you just, like, concentrate, like, on less and build that bigger instead of
Steve: Focus is not a superpower. No. Love Brian. Focus is not a superpower. And, again, someone else that was, you know, at our brokerage for a bit and, like, we were run buddies for a bit.
You know, he used to come run with us. So, yeah, awesome awesome dude. And then just a quick thing here before we move on.
Jesse: Mhmm.
Steve: Golf. So, I was playing golf. And I bought some clubs, got some shoes. Right? And I think this is the last time I asked you for help.
And I was like, hey, Jesse. I'm going golfing.
Jesse: It was like with some CG guys. Right?
Steve: CG guys. Right? With Eric Brewer, with Renbart. I was like, hey. Like, give me two quick tips so I don't make a complete fool of myself.
Jesse: Yep. Went to Papago.
Steve: Yeah. And you gave me golf lessons. Right? And we spent, like, you know, a few hours together. Yep.
Jesse: And it
Steve: was the best I ever golfed. Right? Like, what's it called? Is it a scramble where you, like, use the best ball? Yep.
Jesse: Scramble.
Steve: So you did scramble. And, like, I've never hit par in my life when I've golfed. And on that scramble, we used my ball on all three to get a par. I was like, oh, so Jesse knows something about golf.
Jesse: Yeah. I mean, that was that was really my passion. I've loved golf since I was a little kid and, you know, wanted to turn that into, you know, my career. And after going to ASU, finishing up there, getting my PGA cert, and all the internships, I I quickly learned that it just it was gonna take forever to hit my financial goals. And I looked at myself one day, scrubbing clubs at Greyhawk Golf Course.
And I was like, why don't I figure out
Steve: a way to be, like,
Jesse: a member at a golf course, not work for one, and just, like, let golf be your passion, not Yeah. Not your career? And then I, soon after, got my first job in real estate, and then we're kind of talking about that journey now.
Steve: Alright. So, we talked a lot about the the people along the way that helped you get there. Mhmm.
Jesse: And I
Steve: think that's absolutely critical. Right? Like, you know, without them, it doesn't happen. Mhmm. But at the same time, you guys did the work.
Right? And so to go from, like, you know, here's an idea, like, hey, maybe we should work together to selling a company, which, you know, like, I don't know how much you can disclose, but, you know, I would say eight figures.
Jesse: Yeah. Multiple multiply eight figures.
Steve: Multiply eight figures. So you sold the company for multiple eight figures to which you and your partners owned.
Jesse: Yes. Right? This isn't like Bootstrapped. Yep.
Steve: This isn't like a private equity firm, investor, or venture capital. I was like, no. You guys bootstrapped it all the way We did. And sold it with no partners.
Jesse: Correct.
Steve: Right? So let's talk about that journey.
Jesse: Well, let's start with, two guys that are still a part of our team, Jay and Rob, employee number one, employee number two. So it's just fun to have, you know, people that have started it and got and one of them staying on batch data, and one of them is going, over with PropStream. So that's kind of a a bittersweet moment for Yeah. For Rob. You know?
And Rob's like, I'll go rock it over here. Like, you know, I'm I'm still a part of it, and let's grow this side now. So they all have they're all excited and have good attitudes, and they understand, like, what's going on. But
Steve: I think
Jesse: what me and Annie and Evo did greatly was, we worked our asses off. We learned quickly. But we also learned, I think, faster on hiring talent and hiring people that have done stuff in the software space that we haven't and really vision casted of what we wanted, you know, this to look like and how we wanted to grow it. And it was it was our leadership from from our leadership all the way down to our self contributors. It was they wanted to make the best product in the industry and help people change their lives through our software.
It's like, hey. You're these people that are using our software are trying to do what I did on that real estate investing and wholesaling side. Like, I I I mean, it absolutely changed my life from going from broke to I think my fourth wholesale deal was a $250,000 clip.
Steve: And I was like, oh, I don't have to
Jesse: worry about gas. And, like, I I still remember those moments. It's like all those little things. And I remember going out to dinners with, you know, friends that would go to a fancy restaurant for their birthday. I'm like, I hope the chicken's under $25.
You know? Like, this I I could get one drink, I get chicken, and I'm putting it on my credit card, and I have to figure out how to pay this in two weeks. And it's, like, $50. Mhmm. And, like, having those things melt away, I know how big that is to your moment.
We got to help people. That's how it always kept company driven. It's like we're helping these people Mhmm. You know, change their lives through our software. And we're just a part of that.
It's not like the software solves all the things, but Right. Putting a good product in front of people with great coaches like you and Brent and Pace and all these guys saying, here here's how you guys get deals and teach them how to do it. It was just like, I'm not a coach. That's not who I am. That's not how I'm built.
Mhmm. So my way was always, like, how can I make impact? And I felt like it was always through our software.
Steve: Yeah. So let's talk about hiring and firing. Mhmm. How many people do you think you hired in their duration at Batch? The BatchLeads and or all all the way from Batch starting till now.
Jesse: I mean, there was one point where our org, was over 200 people.
Steve: 200?
Jesse: Yes. Man. So, a lot.
Steve: What was that payroll like?
Jesse: A lot. I mean, as of until last week, we're at a 130. Mhmm. So, you know, we grew it to this big, obviously, and then revenue shifted as the texting regulations change and stuff like that. So we slowly had to contract and and get a little bit leaner.
But, honestly, that's that's a kudos to Annie. She built out I mean, we had recruiters. We had assistants for the recruiters. We had people that onboarded. I mean, it was this whole entire org within our org.
Steve: Get there. Right?
Jesse: Yes. When So
Steve: but, like, you didn't start off that way. So let's talk about so just before we get there, do you remember what your worst month was in payroll as far as, like, the highest?
Jesse: Highest? It's probably been upwards of, like, 700 k.
Steve: 700 k a month in payroll. Mhmm. Right. And I bring this up because, like, it's easy to say That's payroll. That's payroll.
Right? Like, as you say, like, oh, you know, they sold them like, their business. Like, they had help. They had someone did this for them. Maybe they had resources that I didn't have access
Jesse: or resources to. We had to figure it the fuck out, dude.
Steve: Right. But, like, everyone wants, like, the glory. But were there ever was there ever a night you're like, crap. Payrolls, 700 k.
Jesse: No. No. Awesome. That is due to Annie keeping a lot of money in reserves in her account. That's what I'm telling you.
Like, you're gonna hear this over and over. She is she's the star of the show that no one knows about. Evo too. But, like, she has always made sure that there was never a chance that we weren't making payroll ever. Yeah.
We always had lots of months of reserves in, and I would get annoyed. I'm like, we have so much money. I could have this money working for me. She's like, trust me. Like Yeah.
She's she never wanted us to have to draw and fund the company. Mhmm. She's like, what we take home is what we take home. Like, I'm gonna keep a war chest and she I mean, it was it would something crazy and some crazy stuff did happen with all those things, at the same time happening with the, you know, rates changing and the texting changing and and this and that. But we were always in a good place where employees never had to worry about their jobs, and we didn't have to worry about worrying about their jobs.
I mean, we kinda did if it kept going to shit. You know? But it's
Steve: a testament to Annie, who's awesome. Right? And, by the way, like, you guys are watching, like, if you guys wanna go back, then we have an episode with Annie. We have an episode with Eva. Right?
Yeah. In Real Estate Disrupters. Mhmm. So definitely a testament there. But going back, okay, so you guys have that physical discipline, but not everyone does.
Right? So, again, it's easy to look back and say, like, man, you know, it's easy for them. They could figure it out or they had this, they had that. But there's not a lot of people that can stomach a 6 figure payroll or a 6 figure expenses before anything comes in.
Jesse: So we've we've had, I've seen a 300 k loss in a month before.
Steve: Yeah.
Jesse: That's hard to stomach.
Steve: So let's talk about that. What happened there, and how did you stomach it? So what what what led up to a 300 k a month loss? Because that's, I mean, that's that's clickbait right there, right, for for a title. We're not gonna use that, but that's something that would work.
So
Jesse: That was a combination of just, like, annual big annual prepays with data deals and stuff like that that we're hitting. So it was like I don't know if it was it was like a cash basis loss. I don't think it was, like, a net cash or net loss, but that was we had negative three 100 k come out of the account and testament to Annie. But it was like it was just a weird month, and I think payroll hit three time it was just a weird month wherein I was like, I look at our finance lady, Leanne, and I'm like she's like, we're okay. I'm like, okay.
She's like, we do need to go make some more money, though. I was like Yeah. On it.
Steve: Alright. So then what let's say then the worst month. Right? Because, you know, to have that kind of volume, there has to be, like, you know, this kind of peaks and valleys. So whether it was texting, regulation, or you talking about interest rates, like, what were some of, like, the worst times in this journey?
Jesse: So speaking of that I mean, that was in the thick of it, and we decided, product is not going to so if you wanna talk about sacrifice and discipline, like, product is not gonna suffer. Like, if we do that, it's a spiral effect.
Steve: Mhmm.
Jesse: And, like, employees, like, we need to contract, we need to get revenue right, but, like, key people, that's important. Me, Annie, and Evo did not take a draw out of the company for over twelve months. Like, we actively said, like, we have to show all these months in a row of growth again. Back to Annie being conservative. We
Steve: made a
Jesse: lot of money during the couple years. We made good investments. We had passive income coming in. We all had luckily, all three of us as owners had very low monthly bills. Mhmm.
And we were covered and we were okay. And we're like, we need to do what's best for the business. Yeah. And but that's what got us those are some of the decisions we made a year and a half ago Mhmm. To get us to sell today
Steve: Yeah.
Jesse: Or last week.
Steve: Well, of course, what were some of those things that led up to, like, the bad
Jesse: It it was it was the texting regulations changing. It was the skip tracing getting, commoditized because we had a stranglehold on that, and the margins were way better. And they started to get dry driven down, and people didn't care as much about the quality versus just cheaper because, like, the wholesalers were feeling it too. The investors were feeling it.
Steve: Mhmm.
Jesse: So then we had to change our pricing there. And at the same time, with interest rates interest rates changing, you know, just less people were coming in and more people were going out. Mhmm. And it was just it was dude, it was like three hooks in a row. And I was like, what are we gonna do?
And luckily at that time, you know, we we weathered through it. We repositioned our pricing and packaging. I mean, we we grinded, and we had to grind taking home $0. It was a mental it was struggle mentally to to work through that. It was that was that was our hardest times, all three of us, because putting in so much work and so much effort.
And and I was like, Annie, could we just take on $5? Like, please. Like, I just need something to say you've worked hard. She's like, no. Yeah.
And I'm like, please. But it it's what got us to the other side. And luckily, during that time, batch data was really starting to pick up and grow and grow its revenue. So that was starting to help on the other side as well.
Steve: And we're gonna talk about batch data definitely, later on. So something else along the way as well, and I wrote down a few different things. First, there was a health adjustment.
Jesse: There was.
Steve: So the very first time we were on the show, it was a little different. It did. It did. So what happened there?
Jesse: I I grew up playing sports as you did. And, when you met me, that is not the image that I saw in the mirror. And, you know, I got so focused and so on balance of when I started making money, never making more than $30 until I was 29 years old. Mhmm.
Steve: I
Jesse: was just obsessed with it, and I kinda started getting away from exercising regularly and eating a little bit worse, and I'd be so busy. Then I binge eat at night and binge eat again later that night. And, my wife has a crazy metabolism and could eat a lot, and I just eat with her all the time. And before I knew it, she looked the same, and I was huge. And then eventually, I think once I started to, like, be the face of batch and, I think I just wanted to be a better leader, not just, professionally, but on the personal side too.
And that really drove me to, just really find a balance and hone in my discipline. And I I want, people that follow me or look up to me that I really practice what I preach in all aspects of my life and and especially the people on my team. I think me being obsessed with being healthier and drinking less, when I'm excited about something, it it spews out of me. And there's a lot of people that have lost a ton of weight inside our organization. We did The Biggest Loser multiple times, and, I feel like it really got people to just eat better and and exercise more because I'm so passionate about it.
I think it's rubbed off onto people.
Steve: Yeah. That's great. Because I've seen it. Not only do you do you do it, but you're sharing it over and over again, like, every day on Instagram.
Jesse: Right? I I dues paid every day.
Steve: Every single day. So I think it's good, and it's inspiring. And another thing too is, you had what I think for the longest time was the best free lead magnet. Now, I would argue my lead magnet today is better. Right?
It's biased. Right? Objectionproof.ai. But, I sent a lot of people to your lead magnet, which is the batch litigator.
Jesse: Oh, yeah. At the very beginning, we gave that away. That was Evo's brilliant idea. We, back before litigation scrub was inside, you know, and easier to get access to inside batch leads, Ivo was like I think cost us, like, 3 or $4 a month. But all the lead leads that we got from it, I mean, kudos
Steve: to him.
Jesse: That was such a brilliant idea.
Steve: Yeah. So for everyone that doesn't work wasn't around for batch litigate or the litigator scrub Yeah. What was litigator scrub?
Jesse: So what it was is, you know, you wanted to scrub people that were in, like, known litigations that are relatives of people that could lawyers, and I think there's a couple other things. But those are, like, no no people that you wanna call or text because it's just a recipe for you to have to settle some lawsuit that you probably don't even need to settle.
Steve: Yeah. So this is not legal advice. Right? So, you know, deal with this information what you wish. We chose as an operation to disregard the do not call list.
Jesse: Right? Well, that's different than the do not call list.
Steve: So I know. But if we're gonna disregard the do not call list Yes. We need to make sure we remove all the attorneys that can work for themselves
Jesse: Yes.
Steve: All the people that are related to attorneys Yep. And all the people that have a history of suing other people.
Jesse: Yes.
Steve: So when Evo came up with this, I was like because this is before it was a free tool. It was like, hey. This is me just hanging out at his office. Like, I have this other thing that, you know, like, it has all the attorneys and all they do. You're just like, can I get that?
Can you email it to me? Like, I remember, like, asking him to email me this list so I can, like, scrub against it Yeah. Before calling. Right? So this is before with the lead magnet.
So I just wanna, again, like, just shout out, like, this whole journey. Like, you guys did a lot of really cool stuff. That was one of them.
Jesse: I forgot about that, honestly.
Steve: Yeah. The other
Jesse: thing So that's built in now to, like, our systems and processes. But Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we get tons of people using it all the time. Yeah.
That was kudos.
Steve: That was a brilliant move. The other thing too is, there were maybe, I don't know, wins or challenges or whatever. But you guys have had now three different locations. Yeah. The first location was the idea like, hey.
Let's collaborate. Yep. What did you guys spend a lot of money on? Mhmm. I don't know if you guys sold that thing for a profit or not.
So let's talk about the first location.
Jesse: Oh, to print? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We did. We made some good money on that.
Steve: Oh, you're good. Yeah. So good. So let's talk about that. So what was the vision for the first location?
Jesse: The first location was, basically, let's get a building because we have this cool business now that was about the thought process.
Steve: Mhmm.
Jesse: And be able to write it off against our taxes. Mhmm. And we wanted something big enough to where we could have, because Brent had an office there. So, like, we wanted to be closest to our biggest affiliates. And we, in 2020, decided to, you know, stop wholesaling because we felt like competing against our customer just that wasn't for us.
And we had everyone's data and all these different things, never touched it, never would because, like, I would never jeopardize that business Is that worth it? Ever. But people kept coming up in questions, and we were so busy. I mean, it was so dumb 2020. We would have made so much money flipping during that time.
But in retrospect, we're able to we grew the heck out of our, batch leads dialer and batch clip tracing products during that time. So, you know, there's no kinda looking back and saying what if type thing. And Right. You would have eventually got your hand caught in the cookie jar because I know a lot of people that had to give a lot of those profits back, once the market shifted. Mhmm.
But it was and then Pace had an office. Like, he just rented one office, and was never there. Mhmm. But he could just show up and film whenever he wanted. So we created the studio so Brent could film, Pace could film, and then they were always doing content.
So it gave me the opportunity to go I mean, me and Pace had if you go back to Pace's, like I think I have, like, one of his first videos on his YouTube channel. I'm with them. But, dude, just the energy being a part of it, hosting meetups. We just wanted a spot for everyone to be able to do their thing. It was probably disruptive to our our team to some degree.
But that's what we wanted at that time, and I kinda wish we didn't get away from it as much as we did. And I felt like batch, once we went to our big headquarters, it felt isolated.
Steve: But at the same time, like, everyone kinda blew up. Right? Like, Brent, Pace, and you guys can't be in the same building. It's just not gonna work. No.
And Rafael Cortez. Yeah.
Jesse: Oh, yeah. Rafa's there too.
Steve: Yeah. You can't put them all in the same office. And then you guys got another location.
Jesse: Mhmm.
Steve: There were some challenges at that other location. Off the 143?
Jesse: Oh, that building. Oh my gosh. I was like, three. I'm like, what are you talk yeah.
Steve: Me and Brent. Black you already blacked that building out.
Jesse: Yeah. I forgot about that.
Steve: All the worst memories here.
Jesse: Yeah. Me and Brent, me and Ivo, Brent bought a building and then it turned into a cluster f. And, we spent all this money on architecture and this and that, and I don't know what happened. I I don't even remember. That's how busy my life's been.
Thank god we sold it for, like, a breakeven number. So, yeah, we got that building. So we're stuck in our same building and didn't have a new building moved to. And we had to rent a place, like, a block away, because we grown so much. And then we found this this huge building that we were gonna grow into.
Mhmm. And then that's when the market shifted. So now I have way too big of a building. And and now that we're sold, I have way, way too big of a building. So, unfortunately, we bought that at the peak.
So there's there will be a a probably a multimillion dollar loss on on that building. Oh, really? Yeah. So if you wanna talk about Biggest Hell, hasn't quite happened yet. But we put a ton down, so I I'm not gonna have to come out of pocket for that, but my money's gone.
It's written off. Yeah.
Steve: So I'm bringing all the the worst time we see it. But, like like, we're we're not saying, like, hey. Like, we know each other. Like, this has been a journey Yeah. To witness, and, like, we compare notes here and there.
Right? I mean, I got to play with your golf simulator or whatever you call that thing. Like, what's the plan for that thing?
Jesse: I don't know. I'm building a guest house at my house, so I'm gonna ask for a finder's fee for putting together the PropStream deal for my partners that I have it. So I'm assuming they won't care.
Steve: Yeah. Okay. So then I wanna talk about, so I guess a couple more things. So we haven't really emphasized. I know you said that Annie was very heavily involved in hiring recruiters.
Right? And and, assistance to the recruiters. Right. Right? But a key part, I think you said, like, you know, having 200 people on payroll at one point, you guys must have gotten good at hiring fire.
Or do did you and Eva never get good at it? It was only Annie that was good at it.
Jesse: No. I mean, ultimately, we would we we had really good people to where the managers and the directors and, some of the executives. Like, I I haven't hired someone in years Mhmm. To be honest with you. I will occasionally because we've had our core leadership in place for quite a long time.
Mhmm. So we haven't had to it it goes back to we have some really incredible people that are in the on the on our executive team that we build out that are passionate, that are that are very intelligent, that are better than me at certain things. Like, I they know what attributes look like in their specific departments better than me, Annie, or Ivo did. It goes back to our people. Like, we have incredible people.
So Or have incredible people.
Steve: So let's talk about then. Right? Someone and obviously, it's not easy to just go ahead and replicate this. Right? No.
But let's just say, like, you know, what were the three things that separated you from someone else that wanted to do the same thing? Because, like, you weren't the only skip tracing services.
Jesse: Right.
Steve: Right? There I mean, you said, like, there was a viral deal. Right? Need to skip versus, like, bash. Right?
Yeah. But there have been a lot of people that come along the way. Like, there's a lot of data companies. Right? And then right now, more data companies come all the way.
I get pitched on a regular basis. Like, hey. Well, you wanna push my skip tracing when you push my product and this and that. Happens quite a bit. Yeah.
There's always someone new coming. Right? So what would you say are two or three of the biggest things that allowed you guys to go from, like, bootstrapping to a successful exit? Not like, hey, maybe we exit something like a actual successful exit versus someone else that's, like, kinda like tinkering in the space.
Jesse: I mean, product, people, process. Mhmm. It's that's that's what it is. Okay. We we poured we never took out a ton of money.
We always kept pouring into the company. I mean, there was during the texting days, we were printing money. Like, if you you know that. Mhmm. Like, printing money.
But we kept hiring better and better and better people. We kept pouring into the products. Like, you know, don't don't get complacent. If if you hit a product market fit and you start doing really good and you're growing like crazy, which it seems we've been having some conversations off camera about, you know, you're doing really good with your product right now.
Steve: Right.
Jesse: And I'm like, continue to develop, put more fuel on the marketing fire, grow, grow, grow, grow. And then start hiring people that are way better than you at certain things, and they're very expensive. You're gonna get uncomfortable doing it. But that's what got us to where we're at today. You know, I have I have a lot of people with 6 figure salaries.
I have a lot of people with multiple 6 figure salaries, and they're not greatness is not cheap. And that that's something that we learned, and that's something that I'm proud of is we we did a really good job at hiring incredible people and that they make the process better and and those people make the product better. Like, you you cannot cheap out, on great people because they're the ones that get that they're the ones that help get us to this exit. You know, we had a vision cast and it's our money, and it's our asses on the line, but the people, I've I've I've so many incredible people that just left me, and I still have, incredible people that are with us to go grow this other side and have another exit in in the future. And I know we'll do it because I know what people that I have, and and now some people got opportunities to uplift their to have their shot now.
Like, we have a new CTO, and he's brilliant. And, Omar, if you're watching this, like, I'm excited to see what you could do because he he's he's been waiting and, like, he get he gets to shoot his shot now and he gets that title. So I'm I'm just very blessed with with great people, and and that's really it's not rocket science, but I've told you a lot of the sacrifices, you know, that we've had to make to to get here as well. Yeah.
Steve: So two things I took from that. Like, you know, we saw, like, Amazon and most tech companies, but definitely Amazon, I think, is, like, like, the ultimate, case study of this is, like, just as you're making money doesn't mean you need to go, like, pull that money out. Like, every dollar they put back into making Amazon bigger and better, bigger and better. And it sounds like you did the same thing. And the second thing is the, investing in people Mhmm.
Which is something that's commonly said, but you guys actually did it. Mhmm.
Jesse: Like,
Steve: you guys actually are paying people a lot of money Mhmm. Paying the best minds. Mhmm. So I know you you kinda mentioned this. Maybe you got it's all gonna be the same answer.
But, like, how did you guys how do you guys go about, like, making sure you hire the best people? Like, was was there a criteria that you gave to the leadership team? Or, like, you're just like, alright. You guys just go hire.
Jesse: Well, it was really building like, the best people was building out the leadership team, and then they brought incredible people under them for directors or managers or self contributors.
Steve: How did you build the right leadership team?
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Jesse: We puckered up and said, I don't think we could do this without them and make sure they're happy. Like, honestly, it like, I remember, our head of product and then our CTO that just went over, and now he's the CTO of Batch PropStream. So, like, I'm so excited for him to go lead that team. Mhmm. But Ivo, just like he's like, okay.
I'm gonna tell you a number that they are, and you're gonna tell me to f off. But I'm telling you, they're gonna get us to where we need to get to. And he told me the number, and I said, absolutely not. And he's like, trust me. And I was like, this is a lot.
Like, a lot, a lot. And he's like, trust me. And I was like, okay. And we each kinda hired our people in those roles. There's a couple people that we've phased in and out, but, like Sure.
Our, head of marketing, has been around for, like, three and a half years or, he's actually our chief growth officer now, but he kinda oversees marketing. And he's kinda like my right hand. He's like the mini CEO of the company. His hands are everywhere. Product, sales, marketing, everywhere.
And then it took us a while to find the right sales leader, but we nailed that about two years ago. But on the product side, we had our CTO and our and our, chief product officer.
Steve: Mhmm.
Jesse: And, I mean, those were and then Omar who was, doing a lot of our back end stuff in our, AI and our LOM modeling and his his brilliance. So we just had some core people and then all the great people underneath all of them that they were able to hire and train and develop, you know, comes from a great leadership team.
Steve: So let's talk about the first expensive hire costly hire. Not expensive, but, like, first big investment hire. You don't have the same name or title, but dollar amount. That was the first one you're like,
Jesse: this is this is gonna be funny. Because I I remember I think I called you. This is gonna bounce we're gonna go way back early. I remember we had, we had this girl come on for marketing, The $60,000 salary, and I thought that was expensive.
Steve: I do remember that conversation. Do you? Yes.
Speaker: And I
Jesse: was like, Steve, I just hired someone for 60 k.
Steve: And I
Jesse: was like, what am I gonna do? We're, like, making a bunch of money. And I couldn't even wrap my head around. And then, like, six months later That was
Steve: my answer to you. I was like, what are you what are we talking about here?
Jesse: Like, what are they doing? Are they gonna change your business? But that was, like, we hadn't hired people. Like, it was, like, commission only people and, like, yeah, we'd pay them a bunch of money if they made us a bunch of money. But, like, some salaried position, you're, like, $5 a month?
Like, really? My like, that that's where my head goes back to. But as I said with, it was Evo. Like, we hired a couple people on Upwork to work on, projects, and that's when Evo came to me with the first multi 6 figure salary. It's like, hey.
I want this dude full time. This is how much he's gonna cost. I was like, get the hell out. Because I think I think, like, 60, 70, 80 was, like, the next highest thing we have. Then Ivo likes triple.
And I'm like, what? Yeah.
Steve: Okay. But clearly, he was right. Oh, so right. Yeah. Another thing too is, we've been hanging out now at Collective Genius as well.
Yeah. Right? So you're a CG CEO. Mhmm. So what brought about that?
Jesse: CG CEO. You know, it actually kinda stems from our group kind of not being as close as we once were with the Phoenix crew as I was really, I'd say, yearning for just some great intelligent people in a room that could inspire me, that can motivate me. We're all in different parts of our journey and and and learning from other just crazy successful people. Yeah. I really wanted that, and I kept getting blocked by, David Lecco at DealMachine who just wouldn't let us in as a vendor.
And, ultimately, I got in as a, you know, a member in the CEO group. And I didn't really care about the vendor thing. I I wanted to be more like, this actually is way better for me. I wanted to be in a room with people. I don't wanna be that vendor there being like, here you saw my stuff.
I wanted to be inspired and wanted to be around incredible people. And, you know, Jason Medley has been just, kind of a pseudo mentor to me, and I really I think he remind I see a lot of myself in him, and I think the same because he's like, we're hyper competitive. We're both just very aggressive and, want wanna see greatness and wanna see greatness out of ourselves. And Yeah. It's been it's been a really, really fun group.
I haven't been able to go for the last couple quarters, but I'm excited to get back there in September.
Steve: Well and, I mean, Jason Medley, like, I I share with him. Right? Because, like, we were there, I wanna say a month and a half ago. And, I mean, I told him, like, look, Objection Proof AI doesn't exist without him, like, constantly on my case about focus. Yeah.
He was constantly, like, writing about focus. And finally, like, I'm focused. And because I'm focused, I actually have openings on my calendar. Right? Interesting.
Like, I'm only working twenty five, thirty hours a week. I'm not I'm working more than twenty five, thirty hours a week. I mean, I was working probably, like, 50 still a week, but it's just things I wanted to do.
Jesse: It's not work when you're excited about it. Right.
Steve: But, like, obligations is, like, twenty, thirty hours a week. Right? And so, like, hey. Let's do this other thing. Like, done.
It's easy. Like, I have the time. I have the bandwidth to handle it. Yeah. That only happens because he was, again, writing my case to to He's
Jesse: he's great. Great human.
Steve: Yeah. He's awesome. So now let's talk about now okay. So now that we don't have BatchLeads or BatchDialer, which you were known for Right. For a long time Yep.
You got batch data. And I wanna, before we get into it, like, I remember you having a conversation with me. It's like, hey. Look. Wholesalers are great.
Everything we're doing wholesaling works in every other industry too. Yep. I'm gonna monetize this. Yeah. So let's talk about that.
Let's talk about the evolution of batch data.
Jesse: Yeah. So, you know Not
Steve: only evolution, but, like, the innovation of where where it comes along.
Jesse: So, this is back to Ivo's brilliance. As I said, great partners. He we're really building this very complex API, and large dataset for batch leads and for batch dialer. And he's like, hey, other people would want this. Like, we're not we just don't license something and then put it in the batch leads.
Like, we have our own proprietary stuff. We aggregate all this data, all the skip tracing, and all these different places. Why can't we sell it to other software companies like us, or adjacent to us? Mhmm. And I was like, I was like, how much will we make?
He's like, I don't know. Like, a million bucks a year maybe? Like, I I was like, cool. You know? Because it doesn't cost us anymore for the data.
BatchLeads already needed most of this. Now as time has evolved, we've brought on stuff that BatchLeads doesn't use. But, we were just trying to find another way to monetize all the stuff that we're paying for. And before we knew it, now we're servicing, you know, InvestorLift, Crexi. Now PropStream, is a partner of ours.
And, there there's a bunch of other in the space, there's a bunch of others. A lot of home service people are coming out with softwares and apps, and I feel like they're a few years behind us and door knocking stuff. And they all need data, and they all need contact information, for that. And then also, just larger, more sophisticated real estate operations or big like, pods uses us to where they want certain datasets. Mhmm.
So, like, all of their lead form, all their abandoned carts, you know, they they have an address. So they they send those through API over to us. Mhmm. We'll give them the contact information, then they kinda have a warm cold lead, and they're able to, like, up their conversion rate. There's so many different ways to use our datasets through API or through bulk data.
Mhmm. Or if you want stuff if you're a more sophisticated real estate investor and you want it piped into your CRM and us being able to cleanse things like, and we have some AI tools. There's just so much cool stuff on that side. I'm really excited to I feel like we really got batch leads and batch dialer to where we could get it. I think it's gonna be in very, very good hands with PropStream.
They're gonna go build the the super app, and I get to help be a part of that product road map over the next year. And, I think the people that are gonna benefit are the wholesalers and flippers because they already had an incredible product. And I think what we have, and us being able to power some of their data, it's it's gonna be it's gonna be tough for the deal machines of the world out there.
Steve: Yeah. Well, I think it's it's cool that you guys are powering Crexi because, like, for the longest time, CoStar, right, was, like, the big bad wolf. They got LoopNet, which is, like, the free thing.
Jesse: Not the
Steve: free thing. Super cheap thing. Yep. Right? And you got CoStar, which is, like, you know, the big gorilla.
Yep. Right? And I got Crexi Mhmm. Who I I don't know. Seems like a newer
Jesse: Yeah. No. They're they're kind of the the little kid knocking on the door saying, hey, we're we're doing some cool stuff too. And we've we've had a partnership with them for, like, three years now. They've been great.
They did a data study on our on the skip tracing. They put us against, like, 33 different competitors, and we just shine. Like, that was our early thing. That's our bread and butter. We're not just getting phone numbers and reselling them.
Like, we have so much proprietary stuff going on there, even more so with the LLCs, and we've done some really cool stuff there. So, you know, now I really get to focus on how can I help empower all these other software companies? And luckily, I built and sold, you know, two SaaS products to PropStream, and I could give a lot of advice to people that are getting started or people that are growing their business on, kinda, where to focus, what to do, what data you may need now versus later. So I'm excited to take, like, a consultive approach, and now I'm getting a lot of questions of, like, okay. Well, what do you need to look at to sell?
And this and that. And I was, like, just focus on growing, and here's some metrics you might wanna look at.
Steve: Yeah. Well, and so I think just going back to even, like, cruxier, like, that's just just competitive advantage to the dataset. Because, like, CoStar, I had a subscription with them. Hate them. Right.
They were one of my first, like, lousy investments I made. But, I only say that because, like, they obligated me to pay them. Right? Like, I signed a twelve month agreement that I didn't cancel in time, so they made me pay for a second year.
Jesse: Oh, it's yeah. It's worst.
Steve: So, anyway, still hate them. I'll scrub this if you guys reimburse me the 24,000 I paid you guys for no reason. And so with that, the data is what sets them apart. And you get to do that for multiple organizations now. Right?
Like, just a simple thing. Right? For pods. Right? Hey.
Like, this person gave us an address, but then they fill out the form. Such an obvious thing for us in PPC and wholesaling. Right? Hey. They gave us the address.
They gave us nothing else. Like, oh, just script tracer. That's easy.
Jesse: Mhmm.
Steve: But wholesaling has always been on the innovative side. Right. And you take that for granted because we're in it. Mhmm. But then you talk to these other industries, like
Jesse: Home service?
Steve: What do you do now?
Jesse: Solar's getting good. Roofing's starting to get better. Like, they're just all starting to cold call. I'm like, yo, this was, like, eight years ago, you guys. Like, oh, you could create targeted lists and out call people that may be interested through, like, thought into putting a list together.
Oh my goodness. This is groundbreaking. I'm like, what is wrong with you people?
Steve: Well, the fortunate thing, kinda like, you know, America gets to be, like, the r and d for, like, medicine. Yep. For wholesaling, right, at least, like, we're the r and d because the margins are so ridiculous in wholesaling. Right. Right?
Like, the margins aren't necessarily the same in all these other industries. So I think that's that's been a big thing. Right? Because, like, even when when
Jesse: Solar, they're pretty big.
Steve: Yeah. Sure. It's true. But, like, I was I was saying, like, when I was on the realtor side, right, I'm using follow-up laws. I'm using commissions, and they're pretty cool.
Pretty good.
Jesse: Mhmm. Right?
Steve: Like, they were, like, the leading software on the realtor side. Mhmm. Right? And then I do a demo with Donald Ross for Beast Mode CRM Podio. Yep.
I was like, what do you guys do? That's so round? No. I'm saying 2018.
Jesse: Right.
Steve: Right? I go I I I swap out my realtor broker hat for the wholesaler hat, and, like, I'm doing pretty good on the realtor side. Yeah. And I see and I see a demo of Bismol CRM.
Jesse: Like, what is this?
Steve: What is this? Yeah. You can just go in there and just click the call inside the CRM.
Jesse: I know. Right? And, like, see
Steve: and so it sounds dumb, right, for everyone who's watching this right now in 2025. Right. But in 2018 Innovative. That was innovative. Right?
And now we're getting to see this propagate to all the other industries with you guys taking the data.
Jesse: Yeah. It's it's great for us and it's it's fun. It's exciting. It's new. It's a new challenge because, you know, the SMB or the micro SMB is a lot of the, you know, people paying $100 subscriptions with us and Mhmm.
The sales cycle is so different and the talk tracks. And we have to have sales engineers now on the call. So, like, I need even more smart people on on the batch data side of things, and it's been very fun to to learn a new motion. And it it it feels like, a fresh new business. Not saying I didn't love the other side, but I feel like me, Annie, and Evo got it to where we could get it to and we needed, if it wasn't PropStream, like, someone needed to take it to the next level.
And I'm so glad that we got to partner with, such a great company the more I've got to learn about them and and their plans to just absolutely disrupt the industry even further because they're by far the biggest. Right.
Steve: Well, definitely the biggest now. No. They already were. It's it's just now it's just a choke hold.
Jesse: Like, good luck. Good luck to all you other ones. Yeah. Because, you know, they they really have that vision too of, like, like, I that's when I knew selling, to them was the right thing. I was talking to Brian, the CEO of the company who took over for what was the name of the founder?
Steve: I don't remember because he was always low key.
Jesse: Yeah. Super low key. Super rich now. But he's like, our job is to change lives. Like, exactly what I said.
Like, that's customer obsessed. Like, we're helping changing real estate investors' lives. And I was like, okay. We have similar visions. Our employees there think the same way.
Like and it seems like, you know, this this first week, the integration has been going with, like, the culture Yeah. You know, quite well. And, ultimately, if I'm gonna sell a part of my business, a lot of these people got us where they're at, and I wanna make sure that they have an opportunity to succeed and to grow and and feel at their new home at a place with some comfort because there's a lot of places and companies that we could have sold to that would that would not be the case. Yeah. And and they understand exactly our business and and what we're trying to do.
Steve: So what's the vision now for batch data in the next few years?
Jesse: The batch data is to just let more people know about what batch is today. And and, you know, if you're interested in in large datasets or you're building, you know, softwares or have a sophisticated marketing team, Like, we wanna be your person because we're gonna be pretty cutting edge with some of this AI stuff, as well with some stuff we're already doing. But Mhmm. I have a secret weapon. His name is Ivo Ivo Dragunov, and he is obsessed with innovating in this space.
And I am really eager to see what he comes up with. Yeah.
Steve: And then I mentioned earlier, like, you really helped me quite a bit with my golf swing. Right?
Jesse: That
Steve: was, like, the last time I asked you for help. But in the last couple weeks, we've had different conversations
Jesse: Mhmm.
Steve: About, like, you know, your journey, what you learned along the way, and, like, what I'm doing and what I'm trying to figure out. That has been really helpful. It's like, hey. Like, you need to consider this in your pricing model and who your avatar is. If your goal is to exit and sell it, here are the things you need to build out right now Mhmm.
So that when you sell it later on
Jesse: Mhmm.
Steve: It looks better to the investment bankers and to the end buyer, which I think you don't think about when you're building a business.
Jesse: One thing too is, whoever's helping you on it, if there is anyone, if they're going to, make sure this is something that we learned. Actually, I will talk about this off camera. Never mind.
Steve: Okay. I mean, if there's one thing you wanna share for everyone else because we kinda, like, opened that loop, just one thing and we can finish it the rest of off camera.
Jesse: No. No. I meant just this. We'll we'll Okay.
Steve: Alright. Cool. Well, so then, that's it. You know, you know, I appreciate you coming on here. You know, like, this is a big deal.
Right? Like, we we opened it. You already started it, but, like, we kinda, like, announced it. Right? Yep.
July 2019. Yep. Right? And six years later, because it was legitimately, like, July 10, right, which is in two days. And we're gonna be releasing this on Sunday, so, like, a few days after July 10.
That's crazy. So it'll be exactly six years from, like, when you started it or when you announced it to closing that loop. An incredible journey. And I and it was important to me, for you to come on here and talk about it because, like, I got to witness this whole deal and now everyone gets to hear, like, some of the back stories. Like, you guys won't ever hear about, like, the the craziness in Dallas.
But everything else, they guys kinda hear, like, the back stories.
Jesse: No. It's, it's been it's been so much fun, and it's, like, it feels so short yet so long. But I'm just I'm excited to see where where everyone's going next and, you know, I'm I'm eager to to see what you do and see where I could kinda help a little bit because, you know, if you're gonna fail, I at least want you to fail on things that I don't know. Like, if I if I could help you where not to fail, that would be helpful. But, you know, I'm I'm really excited to to where all of our friends and, you know, all the people that have that helped us along this journey of where you guys are going.
And then just all the people in general that have supported, you know, bachelors and batched out. I'm very, very grateful for Yeah. For all of it because I've had so many people. I had people I haven't talked to in five years, you know, send me personal text messages, yesterday and just be like, oh my gosh. I'm so happy for you.
And, I I got a lot of those, and I was like, oh, man. I I was like, you were, like, super early and loved our product and promoted it for us. And I think we had so many customer ads back in the day and had some of these guys filming ads for us. I I mean, so many people helped us get there and and just truly, like, so, so grateful for all of it.
Steve: Yeah. Again, like, this testament, right, collaboration over competition.
Jesse: Absolutely.
Steve: Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you guys for watching. We'll see you guys next time. Steve train.
Jump on the Steve train. Disrupt us.
