Whether strategically orchestrated or naturally occurring, growth shapes an organization’s trajectory, ethos and impact. At Stavvy, these individual growth elements meld into a purposeful approach to scaling in which “when” and “how” are as important as “why.”
The Boston-based company provides real estate and mortgage professionals with a digital, all-in-one platform to collaborate with lending, title and settlement, notarial, and loan servicing partners.
Stavvy, derived from the Greek word “Stavros” — meaning cross or intersection — finds itself at the convergence of real estate and technology. At this unique intersection, Stavvy’s team closely monitors macro trends like fluctuations in mortgage rates, the adoption of remote online notarization and evolving discussions surrounding servicing.
To keep up with the shifting demands of the mortgage ecosystem, the company opts for measured growth where every employee plays a role in creating valuable tools for customers.
“The true character of an organization is the ability to grow in our challenging market,” said Chief Revenue Officer Kara Banosian. “It’s not always about speed; it’s about smarts and the ability to execute, adapt, learn, change and respond.”
“The true character of an organization is its ability to grow — it’s about smarts and the ability to execute, adapt, learn and respond.
For Stavvy, responding to the market’s demands sometimes calls for rapid scaling. Leaders have demonstrated their ability to know when to push forward and when to ease up, understanding that meeting market conditions and meaningful innovation are more important than growth for the sake of growth.
“In 2022, Stavvy’s focus was fast-paced growth to support our platform and customers with acute needs in light of the pandemic,” said CEO Kosta Ligris. “We are really focused on what responsible growth and innovation can look like for the next several years.”
This focus on long-term digital transformation is evident in Stavvy’s acquisition of the digital mortgage service platform BraceAI in August. By unifying these platforms, the company will provide streamlined solutions for every stage of default servicing.
“The growth historically has been fairly organic, growing headcount without being acquisitive — that changed this year with the acquisition of Brace, which brought talent and large customers in the servicing space,” said Executive Vice President Eric Rachmel. “Stavvy has leaned into being opportunistic when it comes to growth.”
As these leaders and their teams develop solutions at the cross-sections of present challenges and future possibilities, a thoughtful approach to scaling emerges.
Finding Opportunity in the Challenges
Purposeful growth doesn’t necessarily mean being overly risk-averse. In fact, purpose lies in knowing when to take risks.
“The real estate and mortgage industries are lagging behind technology; if there was ever a time to focus, it is now,” said Banosian, noting that “technology provides organizations an opportunity to update processes and systems now to be better prepared for a market turnaround that they can capitalize on.”
As organizations in these industries look for solutions to daunting challenges, Stavvy’s technology goes beyond the needs of the moment, setting them up for success now and when market conditions become more favorable.
“Current market conditions pave the way for technology to disrupt an industry, and we feel it is our responsibility to help them come out stronger on the other side,” explained Banosian.
While this dynamic environment has led many organizations to take a more defensive posture, Stavvy’s team is determined to learn from challenges and build transformative solutions to help those in the industry down the line.
Focusing on Its People
Stavvy’s digital tools are only possible because of what its team brings to the table. Even in times of growth, company leaders never lose sight of this fact.
The company’s successes, resilience and creativity do not spring from any one person but an amalgamation of its team members’ collective knowledge, ambition and support.
“Our people have always been and will continue to be our most valued resource,” said Ligris. “We are blessed to have a remarkable leadership team with industry and real-world experience. This positions us to be able to adapt and support our people and customers regardless of the challenges that come at us.”
With its recent workforce expansion following the acquisition of BraceAI, Stavvy will continue to empower its people to be changemakers in the industry.
“We are focusing on optimizing our combined workforce to create the most value for the mortgage and financial services industries and continue to drive digital transformation across the entire ecosystem,” said Ligris.
The Right Time to Grow
As it stands now, there is an absence of competitors investing in resources and hiring talent for the sector’s future.
Current developers have relied on existing relationships to boost the usage of their products, even if the products aren’t in their clients’ best interest. Stavvy is a customer-centric outlier that fills this gap by developing tools based on market demands and trajectory.
“We continue to push the gas on building what the market needs that helps lower costs for services, provide meaningful ROI for investors and help keep consumers in their homes,” said Rachmel. “We never faltered or lost focus on providing a unique solution to a market that needed a solution to an impactful problem.”
Technology will only grow more prominent in real estate and financial services, and leaders realize that over-reliance on yesteryear’s status quo is no longer sufficient.
‘‘We’re seeing more of the ‘old guard’ waking up, understanding that new technology could put them at a significant disadvantage to other market participants — new champions are coming out of the woodwork and are encouraged by our early results thus far,” explained Rachmel.
With the continued digital transformation of the space, Stavvy’s growing team remains dedicated to applying their skills to build a better, simpler and more adaptable real estate and mortgage sector.
