Episode 55: A Transparent Rental Ecosystem with Openroom CEO
Co-host, RISE Network
Weiting Bollu discusses the legality of Openroom and non-payment of rent statistics in Ontario.
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On this episode, the boys welcome Weiting Bollu who co-founded "OpenRoom" which aims to provide transparency in the rental ecosystem. What started off as a small passion project from a tenancy dispute has quickly grown into an online database with almost 2 million searches in past year by nearly 130,000 visitors to help Canadians make informed decisions on succeeding in the rental market.
Weiting also dives into the world of entrepreneurship and product management with key leadership roles along the way. Lastly, Weiting shares her key success factors with inter-racial marriages, parenting and immigrant parents.
Salvi: We are live. Welcome back to the on three podcast, everyone. You got myself again, Salvi and nickname Teddy, apparently, again, I got my co host, Navid, who's, what was your nickname again? Slim Shady.
Navid: Let's go with that. Let's go with that.
Salvi: Nosynav, that's what we call you.
Navid: We'll go there. We'll go with that one.
Salvi: And today we got a very special guest. She does not have a nickname, but she goes by the nameWeiting. This is actually kind of a high school reunion. We all went to high school together at Satec at W Porter, for those who you know, and Weiting and I also went to undergrad together. So this is very nostalgic for me sitting across from you because she's also the founder of Openroom who is trying to bring transparency to the rental market. And we will get into all of that very soon. But welcome to the pod, we think.
Weiting Bollu: Thank you very much for having me. I really enjoyed listening to your podcast because it really does sound like best friends having fun. And many of the podcasts that I show up on are very serious. So hopefully today we'll get into some of the fun things that I do in life.
Salvi: Absolutely. Yeah. So we try to keep it fun. As many stories as you can tell from your life, from your journey to the point where you are right now. We appreciate hearing all of that. But yeah, just tell us about openroom a bit. Let's just get started off. I know that's like what you're working on right now currently. And that's you mentioned it's your 24/7 year life.
Weiting Bollu: Yes. We can rewind back to how Openroom even begun. So I've been helping my parents as an immigrant, they bought houses or they had basement units for rent. So I've been helping them over the last decade. And then after I graduated, I purchased a house and then decided I'm going to rent it out before I move into it myself. During that time of the pandemic, I had thought about, all right, I'm going to start growing my family. So I wanted to move back into my actual purchased house. I issued my tenants an n twelve. For those listening who don't know what that is, it's called the notice to evict for personal use. Because in the Ontario market, before you say you want to evict someone, you have to have a reason to evict and then you have to pay compensation for it. That quickly turned into a nonpayment of rent situation. So that landed me in about $35,000, plus another ten grand in administrative legal cleanup fees. So I had gone to what we call the landlord tenant board in Ontario that manages all the disputes of tenancy agreements, or disagreements, actually. So then from there, I came out with about seven court orders, and then I had went to a website called CanLII, which is the Canadian Legal Institute of Information. They are supposed to have these orders up online, but they didn't. They just completely ignored me, didn't want to post this. And I was like, well, how do I hold my tenants accountable for this? Because I had gone through hell for about two years throughout this whole thing. So then that's when my co founder and I decided, you know what? We're gonna go do something about it, because we literally build software for a living, so why don't we go do it? And that's how Openroom got started. But the premise of Openroom, what we do currently, is that we help you make informed decisions. So with that, it is you upload court orders of tenancy disagreements or. Yeah, agreements, and then we make it searchable to the public. So before you rent, you want to go onto our site, you can search Weiting Bollu to see if you want to rent from me or to me.
Salvi: That is very interesting. That is super helpful, because we've both been in situations where we're managing our parents properties. Yeah. Getting to the. Actually learning about a person's background and whether they're telling the truth or nothing, that is so difficult sometimes. Especially because if someone wants to lie, it's not that hard to really come across as someone you're not.
Weiting Bollu: Absolutely. I can't tell you how many stories that I've heard where even if you get a realtor involved or a property management firm, if they don't do their due diligence, it is very, very easy to end up getting a fraud case, and you don't even know until, well, you land in a nonpayment or damage to your property.
Salvi: Yeah, absolutely. Your journey through to now opening Openroom, which we'll get into even more in detail in a bit. But as I said, we've known each other since high school. You were the president of our student council, and I remember that one. Yeah, that was probably the best year we had when she was our president. So it was some of the most fun times of my life. And only that, as I mentioned, you also helped me when I was trying to get into Shulich School of Business through my application. So you've kind of played a pivotal role in that during that time. And so, yeah, it's as I mentioned, it's like going back in time. So tell us about your high school days, because I know you were someone who, even back in the day, seemed to me like you were always on the run, you were always doing something. And I know you mentioned this, you were sometimes tired going through high school. So tell us about that. Let's go all the way back.
Weiting Bollu:Wow. Okay. Going all the way back. This is over a decade ago, right? A couple fond memories. I used to fall asleep in class all the time because I was so tired. I think I used to drink coffee from McDonald's because I used to work at McDonald's. And then I would always take, I would have the closing shift and then take home the leftover chicken nuggets and coffee and then go home, study. I vividly remember sitting in front of the computer at midnight trying to learn computer science. I did not do very well in the class, let's just put it that way. And I thought, okay, I'm never going into tech, which is very awkward or odd, because we went to Satech, which is a tech focused school. Yeah. Didn't do anything. I didn't study. I didn't think I would go into tech, so I went into business school. But anyways, some of my other fond memories is meeting my partner. Life partner.
Salvi: Also from Satec.
Weiting Bollu: Exactly. Exactly. So I remember in grade ten or grade nine, end of grade nine, when the office posted grade point averages on the office.
Navid: They did that?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, but they only did it for one year, so maybe somebody complained and then it didn't end up being a thing anymore. They used to post it. And I remember being, like, third on the list, and I was like, so who is this second person that I don't know beat me? I need to find out who this south asian person is. I knew the first person, but didn't know the second. So I was like, okay, I need to go find him. And that's how I learned about my current partner, Vishal. And that goes on from there.
Salvi: That is awesome. We know Vishal as well. An amazing guy, as I mentioned, too. He's my peer tutor as well.
Weiting Bollu:What a small world, right?
Navid: Yeah, exactly. So I guess once you had that journey in high school and then you transitioned into Schulich, which is a business school, how did you. Where was that switch when you went from? Well, essentially enrolling into a business school and then eventually getting into product management.
Weiting Bollu:Â Good question. When I was in high school, I didn't even know what I wanted to study. I didn't even know there was something called commerce until my dad sat me down one day. I was like, okay, so we tang, where are you gonna go for school? Post secondary? That's typical conversation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, well, I spoke to my boss's son, and they were talking about business school. I was like, oh, okay, that could be good. If I don't go into engineering and having asian parents or east asian parents recommending business school, I was like, okay, yeah, let me look into that. So then I started searching all of the business schools that were in Ontario because I didn't really want to go into the states or anywhere. Not that I could even get in at the time, but I. That was where I started. I said, okay, where are these schools that I wanted to go? And then what could take me international? And that's how I landed at Schulich as my top pick, because there was the IBBA program. Yes. That's how I got in.
Salvi: Was your goal to maybe work internationally, or was that the motivation behind it?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, yeah. Actually, I wanted, because I am from an east asian background, so I wanted to go to China for exchange, because Schulich had the exchange program in third or fourth year that you get to go. And I was like, yeah, I want to go to Beijing. I want to work internationally, study Mandarin again, because when we first immigrated to Canada, I wasn't born in Canada. When we first came here, I didn't learn that much Mandarin or Chinese. I knew a little bit. I can still speak, but I can't speak it fluently. So what that meant was that I had to go and learn it again. So I spent many days of my university life relearning Mandarin.
Navid: Oh, wow. And this was on the side?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, pretty much on the side. But I also took courses, and then I also did a couple exchange semesters in China as well, like, over the summer, because I couldn't find an internship. Whoever is in business school or even in school now, if you're not in a co op program, it's so hard to find a job.
Salvi: See? Really hard. Yeah.
Weiting Bollu: Yes. And you feel that pressure when you are in school. Everybody's asking you, okay, so what's your internship over the summer? And they start asking you, like, January, like, I don't have anything. I don't have anything yet. So then I ended up going abroad. Yeah.
Salvi: Oh, so that's very interesting to hear that you had a difficult time finding internships, because when I looked at you, you were someone I looked up to and I was like, okay, she has her life figured out. She has everything figured out. She's doing great in life.
Navid: And look, I don't think it was just him. I think there was a lot of us, actually, that kind of referenced you in certain point in times.
Weiting Bollu:Thank you very much. I would say what you see is only what you see. There are many things behind the scenes that I failed at. I had to learn hard. There were hard learnings from. And it's never all sunshine and rainbows.
Salvi:Absolutely. That's for everyone. And I think also going back to Schulich, one of the things I regret is not going on the exchange program, because I didn't. I was in BBA, so it wasn't, like, mandatory for me. But, yeah, I definitely missed out because I hear so many stories on my friends from Schulich who went on exchange. I was doing accounting, and the term, I had to go on exchange. I had some mandatory courses, so I didn't end up going, and I didn't even end up doing accounting. So I was like, why didn't I just go on exchange?
Weiting Bollu: Yes. I think that exchange was a really inspiring or life opening part for me because in high school or even growing up, my parents didn't have enough money. There was no such thing as a yearly annual vacation.
Salvi:Oh, yeah.
Weiting Bollu: No such thing. And so when exchange came about, and I was like, wow, okay, I can spend some money going abroad. And then everybody knew, when you go abroad on these exchange semesters, it's basically a big vacation trip. So you travel especially for me. When I got chosen to go to Thailand, I basically went all across Southeast Asia.
Salvi: That's amazing.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, it was a lot of fun, other than the part that I broke my arm, but that's okay.
Navid:Wait, you what?
Salvi: How did that happen?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, well, Vishal came to visit me in Thailand. So at the time.
Salvi:Did his parents know? Probably not.
Navid:
Yeah, yeah.
Weiting Bollu:No, no, no. His parents knew. Yeah, yeah.
Salvi:Okay.
Weiting Bollu:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Salvi:Brown parents, more chill than mine.
Weiting Bollu:We can dive into interracial relationships momentarily. But, yeah, we were in Thailand, and then we decided, you know what? We're gonna go to Bali. And then in Bali, we decided to rent a motorbike. Folks listening. Do not try if you don't know how to ride a motorbike, because we tried. And then we were riding, riding, hit the curb and then fell. Nobody hit us. We didn't hit anybody. We just hit the curb, fell, it tipped over, and then I broke my arm.
Salvi:Oh, no.
Weiting Bollu:Yeah. And then it canceled the rest of the month. Long trip that I had booked. Like, I booked back to back trips to other southeast asian countries that I haven't gone to and then had to cancel it all.
Navid:So you end up coming back?
Weiting Bollu: Yes. Cause my parents were very, very afraid. They were like, we don't know about the doctors over there. Your arm might be forever broken. How about you just come home? We'll take good care of you. You forget the money, just come back.
Salvi: Did you ever end up riding on a motorbike again?
Weiting Bollu: You know what? It's on my bucket list to learn. Cause it feels like unfinished business. But I haven't got to conquer that hill. Exactly.
Navid: You talk about that exchange program going to several countries, and there's the traveling component to it as well, I guess. What were your main takeaways from that exchange program than leading into your, I guess, early graduate career?
Weiting Bollu: You have to learn to have fun. There are days when I worked twenty four seven, I basically eat, sleep, and work. I think I still do it today. But it's work hard. But you also relax and breathe and enjoy your time. But then part of that means self care and taking care of your mental health. And from an immigrant family, mental health is just like, there's no such thing. Yes, there is. And it's very, very critical. So in my career so far, I've had the experience of getting laid off, for example. And then times when I've lost a lot of money from the example of Openroom, like, these are moments when I go back and I say, all right, we ting. What do you need in order to keep your mental health top notch? Because if I can't function, then I can't do anything else. Very critical for me. So anybody else listening to this podcast, I want to make sure that you all know to take care of yourself.
Navid: No, that's super commendable, because I think, you know, in social media and our age right now, I think a lot of people are results oriented, which is great, right? But I think the source of that comes from within you. So if you prioritize that mental health, then, you know, everything else will kind of fallen forth.
Weiting Bollu: Yes, but caution, when you watch these instagram reels and photos of people on vacation, it's always fabricated, right? Because you always want to put the best out there. So take it as a grain of salt.
Salvi: It's very interesting you say that because literally, in our last episode, one thing we were talking about is, should social media be a curriculum in high school? Because to teach kids how to deal with social media, the realities of social media and also how to handle the mental health issues that come from that.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, you know what that course should contain? It should be all right. You watch the actual reel or the post, and then it's like you have a second camera that shows all the behind the scenes that they actually put up, and it's really just that little component that is perfect, but everything else is just a mess everywhere. And I think people need to see that raw component, which we don't see today 100%.
Salvi: So you mentioned you now getting into a bit more after you graduate.
Weiting Bollu:Yeah
Salvi:You mentioned that you were able to buy a house. We don't have to say the exact value. You can say that if you want, but only six months, right after he graduated. I don't know about you. I was broke six months after I graduated.
Navid:That's true luxury already.
Salvi:How'd you manage to do that?
Weiting Bollu:
Yeah. You know, I am very, very privileged, and I'll say that right here. My parents worked very, very hard. So when we graduated, my father, my mom was already thinking about, all right, we think, how do you prepare for the next phase of your life? Right? So my support system around me, I wouldn't be able to do what I do without them. So my dad actually supported me in this purchase of this first initial house, of course, mortgage downpayment. I did a lot of that myself because I've also saved up throughout the years. But then he was a major play in this strategy of buying a house. I also had a great job at Bell giving that initial start. So I started my career at Bell Canada, was in that leadership rotational program where I got to experience different components of Bell. So starting off there, fantastic. But then how I also got the money to actually buy a house with my dad was because I saved a lot in university. And I didn't mention it earlier, but when I went into university, I also picked Schulich because York University had given me about a $30,000 scholarship going in.
Salvi: That is amazing.
Weiting Bollu: Yes. So if you think about the costs of going to school and how much I saved. Oh, gosh. That's how I was able to do what I did.
Salvi: Were you commuting from home?
Weiting Bollu: No, I stayed on residence first year, I did have to pay. I think it was six grand at the time. And then there's, like, the food plan. But then second and third year, I was like, how do I get to live on campus for free? Because I'm always like, how do I get free money? Or how do I. Yeah, how do I get to do things for free? How do people give me free things? So that was one of the things I looked into and then I noticed, okay, well, you can be a residence, dawn. And so that's how I got to live in residence for free, because I got to look after students on my floor.
Navid: Wow, there you go. University hack for people, all the people out there. You mentioned six months after you graduated, you buy that house. Did you know at that point in time or even before that that you wanted, wanted to start managing properties because you mentioned how you overseed extended families.
Weiting Bollu: No, I never wanted to get into the property management business. No, no, no, no. Or real estate business. It was more of something that I just wanted to do on the aside for extended family. I mean, you also mentioned that you look after family property, right?
Salvi:Yep.
Weiting Bollu:Yeah. I think how our family looks at it is, okay, well, you're young, you're smart. Maybe you went to business school. How about you look after my properties for me? You know what's going on. And that's originally how I started. I didn't know anything. And it was all trial and error. And that is how the majority of small housing providers or small landlords learn today. Trial and error. We just think, okay, we buy a property, oh, yeah, we're going to rent it out. And then it's passive income. But it's not passive income. There is so much involved in running a good compliant rental business.
Salvi: Absolutely. And sometimes, yeah, I tell my dad, I'm like, do you need this house? You know, you have enough invested in it. Maybe just take the money out, live life, and let me not have to travel all the time to take care of it.
Weiting Bollu: It's stressful when you get into a tenancy dispute, extremely stressful, because it's not just a financial nonpayment of rent, it is your house being taken hostage basically is like, quote unquote, what people tell me when you get into a dispute and then it becomes a mental health concern because it's now affecting your body, it's legal disputes because now you have to hire a paralegal if you want to fight it properly. So much that goes around, and there are stories or people who I've met who have had their house burnt down, who have had miscarriages, this is what people are going through or people taking medication now for mental health concerns.
Salvi: Man.
Navid: So where do you think this misperceived notion comes from? Of passive income from the real estate market.
Weiting Bollu:Those who are really good at social media or marketing, where they talk about, okay, get rich quick, there's no such thing, first of all. But then they always talk about, all right, take my course and you're going to earn millions over the weekend. That doesn't happen. And then they only tell you how to buy a house and then they don't actually tell you how to manage that investment.
Salvi: Exactly. And I think, yeah, I saw you posted it on Openrooms clips. One of them was talking about the exact same thing, that it's not really a passive income. You don't factor in all the maintenance. You have to do all the stresses. You have to deal with every admin work you gotta do. There's so much that goes into it. It's almost like having another job.
Weiting Bollu: It really is. It really is. But for most small landlords or small housing providers, it is part time. We don't do this full time. But the thing is, we come from a good place where we want to have that nest egg and be able to provide it, rent it out, and also be a good business small business owner. And it's okay. It's how small businesses start. And I really appreciate people who open up their second homes or build lane suites now that the government has started to incentivize people for that. But the thing is, right now in the Ontario market at least, it's so risky that people don't want to do that. And they just keep their units vacant like their basement, because they're like, well, I don't want to end up with a bad tenant. So how do you hold people accountable so that if they end up being a bad tenant that they will face repercussions?
Navid: You know, one question I had was, I think everybody knows the prevalency of landlords and tenants and the issues in Ontario right now. But you seem like you've done quite a bit of research into it. But from a historical perspective, it's sort of cyclical in terms of the dynamic relationship between landlord power and then tenant power.
Weiting Bollu: Well, you know what they say that the worst relationship is between mother and daughter and then the second is between landlord and a tenant. So if we think about that, I don't think it's actually cyclical. I think that it is heightened after the pandemic. After the pandemic, I believe that there seems to have been behavior shifts in the market where, all right, I don't have enough money, I could get away with this. And then people keep talking about getting away with, say, non payment of rent or damaging properties. And then what that leads into is the delay in the landlord and tenant board space where now landlords and tenants are trying to file for disputes. Right? And then you have this big backlog at the landlord tenant board. Ah. Even after you go to the landlord tenant board, what happens after? It's like, nothing. No repercussions. So I think that it has really been heightened by the pandemic, and it's not exactly cyclical because the bad relationship has always been there, and there will always be a feel that the landlord has more power than the tenants.
Salvi: Didn't you have a case like that, too, where.
Navid: Yeah, I was just saying everything you're talking about, like, it's coming right to my heart right now. Because you said you go to the landlord tenant board, that's step one. Getting a hold of the sheriff and him taking you seriously. Come to your situation and attend to it. Completely different scenario. He came and he's like, you know what? Ex tenant. She's actually a serial evicted tenant. And I'm like, wow, I feel stupid. Not only did I, you know, I went through all the damages and all my time wasted. I was actually the third victim of the chain.
Weiting Bollu: Wow.
Navid:And I'm like, how did you know.
Weiting Bollu: Though, that you were third?
Navid: The sheriff disclose that to us. Yeah, he came and he's like, oh, who's the. Who's the tenant, if you don't mind me asking? I provide the name, and he's like, oh, yeah, pure region. She's known for it. I'm like.
Salvi: Well, if only you had Openroom.
Weiting Bollu: Only for you, right? That. That is exactly the. The type of reaction that I hear people talk about. And that's how we landed in CBC back in January, was because an exact same scenario as yours where there was a tenant, non paying rent a tenant, or damaging tenant, a damaging property tenant. And then the landlord ended up going inside openroom and then doing a search, found out that they were a repeat offender. Yeah. And then they told CBC about it. Cause CBC actually was talking to that particular housing provider. And then CBC was like, well, wait, I've never heard of Openroom. And yet I cover landlord tenant issues all the time. Who is this? What is this? So that's how we landed in CBC, because repeat offenders need to be held accountable.
Navid: Oh, for sure. But you mentioned CBC. You know, interesting part about that is they don't cover this kind of stuff usually. So how did they get around to Openroom?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, CBC usually doesn't do promotional stuff, so it's either, like, social issues. It's the news.
Salvi: Exactly.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah. Yeah. That's really how it got started, because Mike Smee at CBC was very curious about what the heck is Openroom and why hasn't he heard of it before? And there are actually millions of people or millions of searches being done by hundreds of thousands of people today.
Navid:That's amazing.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah.
Salvi: So before you get too much into the CBC article, because I don't want to get into that and kind of what that entailed and what happened after, I want to talk more about your career leading up to Openroom. So you started off as a product manager and I believe you built a career as a product manager. How was that? And are you essentially your technique is still doing product because you're an entrepreneur now?
Weiting Bollu: Oh, I never thought that I would get into product management because during my time in university, I didn't even know that product management existed.
Salvi:Oh, yeah, right. You only learned that after you started in tech. You're like, oh, what is that?
Weiting Bollu:Yeah, but a couple comments on that. I think that some people think product managers are just people who can earn a lot of money and not have to code, which is completely false. Software product managers have the opportunity to be such high value contributors to the. Because you basically own a whole bunch of what happens to the product and how people use it, that interaction. But anyways, okay, diving back, product management, I got into it because my partner Vishal actually told me that there is this thing called a product manager when he was doing his coding, software engineering interviews and internships. Right. So he had the opportunity because he went to Waterloo, went to the states for some of his internships, and then he's like, oh yeah, there's something called a product manager. Maybe you could look into that. And I was like, oh yeah, that does sound cool. Let's. Let me see what that is.
Salvi: So you didn't know a product manager when he got into Schulich. So what did you actually want to become? I guess when you first got into Schulich?
Weiting Bollu: I have no idea. When I got into Schulich, I didn't even join any of the Schulich clubs.
Salvi: Really?
Weiting Bollu:Yeah, yeah. I ended up really getting involved in Rotary or rotor act.
Salvi: I remember that, yes.
Weiting Bollu:And that was really the one thing that I honed in on. I did some of those deca competitions or was part, I was a proctor at one point for the rise competition, but that was about it. I didn't really do anything in Schulich, so I always felt like I was outcast.
Salvi: I feel that. Yeah, yeah. Was there anything behind that feeling or you kind of. That's just how it is.
Weiting Bollu: There was definitely a lot because when you're in business school, everybody's either an accountant or going into finance or want to be an investment banker. And I was like, damn, I don't want to do any of that. Maybe I picked the wrong field, I don't know. So I was really just feeling my way around until, you know, Vishal and I, he told me about product management, but then how I actually really got into it was when Vishal and I wanted to build a mobile app. It was called propel me. And then we actually went back to SaTac and tried to like, launch something as Satec. And I remember Mister Mavriganis being a big part of it. He was principal. Yeah, he's our principal. Or was our principal. Yeah, he was a big part. And wanting us to do more, trying to help us succeed. So he allowed us to do a whole bunch of things or experiments, but that didn't end up turning out to be anything at all because we didn't really know what product management or building a company. Building a product really was. But that was my first foray into a practical product management experience.
Salvi: Okay, nice. So, okay, so you're not, I guess, technically like a first time entrepreneur. You've had a little bit of experience at least. What was propel me like? What did you guys do with that?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, we were building a mobile app to help with leadership, resources and communications between high school students in the school. So it was like you could post your club's announcement so you don't have to listen to the announcements every day because you can barely hear them. Anyways, back in the day, right? So it's like, okay, read about it in the app. Do that. It was basically fostering an environment of extracurricular activities because, you know, I was very big in high school with extracurricular activities.
Salvi: That's awesome. And when you were talking about Schulich, that was almost like a yemenite, I guess, Schulich therapy for me, because I tell them this all the time when I went to Schulich as well. It's like I just kind of did accounting, but I had no idea what I wanted to do, if I even really wanted to do accounting. And yeah, that was. You also feel inadequate because everyone's super smart around you. It's like a super competitive program, and you're like, oh, okay, maybe I don't belong. I don't even belong here. What am I doing here? But, yeah, so it's nice to hear from someone else. I mean, maybe you didn't feel exactly that way, but you were still figuring things out of your own.
Weiting Bollu: Oh, absolutely. One thing I want to mention to your reader listeners is that when you're in a spot and you get opportunities to do stuff, know that you're there for a reason and that you deserve to be there. So, yes, you might feel imposter syndrome, but you deserve everything because you have the experience, the knowledge, you worked hard to be where you are.
Salvi: That's good to know.
Navid: That was literally my follow up question. I was going to say that, you know, a lot of people can relate to the concept of going through university or college or whatever other avenue, and they're going through it and they don't know what they want to do. It's not defined yet, and everybody else around them is defined. So how do you consistently stay in that mindset to be like, you know, I will get there. I don't know where it is, but I will get there.
Weiting Bollu: Be a curious learner all day, every day. If you don't know, it's okay that you don't know how my dad, what did he say to me? He sat me down one day and said, Weiting, I don't care what you do. You just better be the best at it.
Navid: Wow.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah. Yeah. So then I was like, okay, I'm just gonna go and do whatever, but I better be good at whatever I choose to do. It's like, don't go out there and do it half assed. Oh, I don't know if I'm allowed to.
Navid: Oh, that's all good.
Weiting Bollu: So go out there and try to be so good at it. Right. If you're gonna be doing it just half assed, then you're like, okay, well, no one really knows who you are then. You're not really building value for the world or for yourself. So how do you do what you do but do be very, very good at it?
Navid: That's quite powerful.
Weiting Bollu: Thank you.
Salvi: So it seems like you're obviously, you've mentioned your parents a few times, and it seems like they did play a pretty pivotal role in your life. What are some, I guess, learnings from them that you can, some other learnings from them that you can share?
Weiting Bollu: Oh, that it's never too late. So earlier about young professionals thinking you don't know what to do with your life, it is okay. Let me give you the example of my mom. My mom came to Canada, didn't know a single word of English, and still doesn't know today to this day. I mean, she can speak a couple words because my little kids are learning English so she can speak just a few words. But she didn't know. And she only worked minimum wage because for her not knowing English, she wasn't able to get any english speaking jobs that paid any more than minimum wage. So it would just be grocery stores or bakery section at the grocery stores or working as a nanny for chinese immigrant families as well, or rich families. But she still got paid minimum wage anyway. So for her, she's now in, like, her late fifties, and she has found her groove, I kid you not. A few years ago, she took a doula course. Oh, my gosh. And she earns more than anybody in the family.
Salvi: Really? Wow.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah. Yeah. Yes.
Salvi: That is awesome.
Weiting Bollu: Yes. It is actually so amazing to see that she gets contracts, because as a doula. But for the chinese community, the first 30 days is very important for postpartum moms and babies. So she'll go and help them do everything, like take care of their baby. She'll be the one to take the baby to sleep, feed the baby, take care of the mom, cook for them, and clean. So she's like a three in one for the family. So she gets paid a lot of money to do this. And I look at her, I'm like, wow. She has found her stride in her late fifties, so that's really inspiring for me. So it's never too late.
Salvi: Was that before or after? I guess. Did you always want to be an entrepreneur?
Weiting Bollu: It's not that I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. It's that I wanted to solve good problems. Right. I think many people go in and say, oh, I want to be an entrepreneur. But being an entrepreneur is so lonely and so hard. You have to have the resilience and the good mindset, the consistent mindset to go and be an entrepreneur. I think some people might glamorize it, just like earlier, how we mentioned the get rich quick scheme. But it's not like that. You have to be committed to maybe do this for the next ten years. Can you do it? Can you commit? I mean, if you actually ask me, I'm like, oh, my gosh, I'm so overwhelmed. So, no, I did not always want to be an entrepreneur.
Salvi:That makes sense. But what I was going to go with that is it sounds like your mom inspired you in whatever way, to just keep going. Right?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah. Yeah. What I always thought was going to be my end game, which I hopefully I'll still get there, is be a philanthropist, because I studied on basically a full ride on a scholarship I want to give back in the future. So then if we work my way back on, how the heck am I going to be a philanthropist if I have no money, I got to go make money. So that's when I thought, all right, then what's an ideal path? Maybe I could be an entrepreneur and build something for myself. Because if I work for someone forever, I will never make enough money to do anything.
Navid: So would you say that was your switch from, quote unquote, go from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial realm? Because you said, you know, you love solving, well, problems. So was it, was it, was it like a lack of problems in the corporate world or just, you knew, your time, Washington, to set foot in the entrepreneurial route?
Weiting Bollu: It is not a lack of problems. There are many problems to solve in the corporate world and very interesting problems, too. But the pivotal switch for me was when I was attending some of the velocity entrepreneurship sessions at Waterloo. There's the velocity accelerator. But there was a professor, I can't remember who or what his name was. I think he teaches economics. But he did a talk and what he said, oh, my gosh. I still quote to this day, you always work for somebody else and help them build their empire. When are you going to build your own? And from that day forward, I was just like, yeah, I don't want to work for someone forever.
Salvi: That is powerful. So you mentioned solving problems and working in product. What are some of the biggest problems, I guess, you wanted to solve while you were there?
Weiting Bollu: Ooh. The most mind boggling problem that I had to solve was in my last organization. I worked for Assurance IQ, which is an insurance brokerage technology firm that was bought out by Prudential for about $2.3 billion back in 2019, right before the pandemic. But I didn't catch the acquisition I came in after. So I didn't get a big payout like everybody else may have gotten. But in my term at Assurance, I got to build a lot of the zero to one features or solve some of the problems that were related to insurance agents and their tooling. But the best one was around their compensation. So how they got paid, what they got paid, what was the distribution, the frequency? And that was particularly powerful for me because you're sitting there thinking just in front of that computer and you're thinking, wow, you're basically controlling how someone gets paid. If you mess up a single dollar, that means that person maybe can't pay their rent for the month or that they can't put their kids in school because they have to pay tuition. It matters a lot. And those are some of the behavioral problems that I really find fascinating.
Salvi: Product managers do play an extremely critical role, and especially organizations that are based on a product that's a very interesting field. So now you've worked at a product, I think you said eight years, is that right? So now, when you started openroom, were there things that you learned in your career that applied in openroom? And are you still doing, I guess, an entrepreneur version of a product management?
Weiting Bollu: Oh, there are so many learnings. I'd say anybody who wants to be an entrepreneur, don't rush into it. I think the average age that people say to be a successful entrepreneur is like 35. I forgot what it was, but it was like, or maybe it was 45, but it's not in your early twenties, right? Because when you're in your early twenties, then you don't know enough about life. Maybe you don't know enough. And it's okay that you don't know. And you don't have to be in a rush to go start a company and try to earn millions of dollars. It's okay. You can wait and earn some of the relationships, build relationships, know people who are in your circle, and then learn. Learn a whole bunch. So during my time, like last decade in product management, I learned so much. Say, for example, earlier we were talking about building propel me as an app back in the day. We were like, oh, yeah, we're going to guess so many users, we better build for scale. So what we ended up doing was thinking about, wow, what happens when we get 100,000 users? We should build our tech stack with the best and the greatest, latest technology. But the thing is, if we haven't even found product market fit, tested the market, nobody even wants our stuff. So even if you build the latest, greatest, if nobody uses it, then it's moot. There's nothing to be proud of, right? So that is something that I brought into Openroom. Whereas when we built Openroom, it was, we built it over the weekend because we were just so angry at the system. We built a single page application that doesn't even have a logged experience. Like when you go onto the Openroom website today and you type in Openroom Ca, so it's o p e n r o m ca for those who are listening. You don't even have to log in, and all you have to do is just experience it. But we drive, like 50,000 visitors every single month, conducting millions of searches.
Salvi: That's crazy.
Weiting Bollu: That is crazy for me, too, that we're actually changing the rental ecosystem and the behavior of people in the system. I never imagined that it would be like that. So that was my learning, basically. Don't build for something at scale. When you don't even have initial users, you have to make sure that your product, someone wants to use it, and that you, when you build for scale, that some, those people will continue to use it.
Navid: And where did you think. When did you notice that switch from when you were working from the ground on the way up for Openroom. When did you notice that, that this has the potential to be scaled?
Weiting Bollu: Ooh. Huh. When we first went out, it was that weekend, we built that single page application. Just one page, right? And I remember the copy being, like, copy on the website saying, fight for a future, brighter, transparent future from two angry landlords. And we were anonymous. Like, nobody knew who we were because we were just so angry and we wanted to put this out there. And that's the thing I learned in my career before, which is marketing. How do you sell something? How do you tug at the heartstrings of people? So that's how we went out with that kind of language. But going back to, how did we know that Openroom was gonna be something that we wanted to work on? It was because we went viral when the CBC article came out. And then even before CBC talked about us, other influencers seemed to want to talk about us, and they go viral on our content, Openroom content, and our brand. And I was just sitting there thinking, okay, if they can do it, there must be something interesting about us. So that's when we started sitting down thinking about the strategy. Where could we take this? Into the future or in the future? That's how we really thought about it.
Salvi: So did when you guys started it. I know it started off some from frustrations that you had. Did you think it could be like, a viable, viable product? Was it more like a passion project that you just want to put it out there?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, I think managing properties for my extended family and what I thought throughout the years was, there has to be a better way to do this, because as a small housing provider, I was not using any particular tools, but I was doing things over and over again. That was super manual for me. And then I was always thinking about creating something in this prop tech space, but I never ended up doing anything successful. So I tested certain things, used certain things that I built with, like, no code apps.
Salvi: Okay.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, yeah. But it never really turned out to be anything. So really, when you think about entrepreneurship, it's the right problem that you're solving at the right time with the right people.
Salvi: Absolutely. So, speaking of people, you've mentioned him a few times, your partner, Vishal, and he's also your co founder, right?
Weiting Bollu: Yes.
Salvi: How does that, I mean, because you're essentially with your partner twenty four seven. And I know a lot of people say, okay, sometimes I want to go away, get some space. How does that dynamic work between you and your partner working on Openroom together?
Weiting Bollu: There is nobody else better to work on Openroom than Vishal with me. Nobody better. And I think there exists a great deal of respect that I have for him. I mean, back how many years ago, I lost count now, but I didn't think that I would even want to date Vishal at the beginning. Yeah, I didn't think that I would. And then in the end, it just became very organic. And he taught me a lot. Or maybe he learned a lot of things from me too. And together we really, really grew to who we are today. And when we get to debate, I get really nervous. Debating with Vishal. He's very strategic. If you play board games with him, I never want to play because I constantly lose. But this is the type of personality that Vishal brings to the table where he'll make me think hard. And you'd think that I'm so familiar with him. Yes, I am very familiar. So he's very comfortable just shitting on the things that or some of my ideas. If it's bad, he will tell me it is bad. And not many people in my life get to do that or will do that in front of me. So I appreciate that. But at the root of it, it's the respect that we have for each other. I have a great deal of respect for him.
Salvi: That is probably the key to working with your partner, because without that, yeah, I can imagine how you might get tired of each other working with each other all the time.
Weiting Bollu: Let me tell you something, actually, for those who, I mean, some people might think that this is completely weird, but prior to us even starting Openroom, what we used to do as a couple is every quarter we would go on these, I think, weekends. So basically we would plan a Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday, and we would go on a few dates, but we would book a specific cottage spot. Or like we went to Niagara Falls one time, and then we would pepper in think sessions where we think about life, family, and we'll plan it out almost like in tech, what we call sprints, right? So we would think, okay, in the next three months, what would that look like? What would each sprint of a couple weeks look like, yeah, we would do things like that. We would do retrospectives on our life, what went well this last quarter, what didn't go well, what can we improve on together? So we're quirky that way, too.
Salvi: That's not quirky at all. That's something my wife and I have been trying to do as well, which is not sprint planning. I'll actually bring that up to her. But at least setting goals and then having retrospectives at every time interval to see how we're reaching towards those goals. And I think that was very important as a couple.
Weiting Bollu: Very important. And something else that we do is the shout outs to each other. So we don't say our own wins, we actually force each other to commend each other for the wins that we've had. So what that means is, Salvi, if you're doing a great job over the last quarter, I will find all of your good moments and your wins. We call them the small wins. During the small wins, when they happen, we'll go out for a bubble tea celebration or something, or we'll buy an ice cap, like a $2 ice cap. It used to be $2, but now they've inflated the price.
Salvi: Definitely not $2 now.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, so those are some of the things. And I think finding appreciation in each other is very critical to a good working relationship, but also a family dynamic.
Salvi: Absolutely. And so Vishal did software engineering, right? In undergrad and now, and he worked as a software engineer. So you guys are like a match made in entrepreneurship heaven. A product manager and a software engineer.
Navid: That's a catchy phrase. I like that.
Weiting Bollu: You know what, prior to starting Openroom, I always said, Vishal, we need to go do something. And we have been thinking over the years, but there was never a problem that we wanted to solve so badly. We just, we came. How our relationship works is that I have all of the crazy ideas, and then I would pitch it to Vishal and then he'll tell me, no, we tamed. This sucks. Don't know. There's no opportunity there, right? So in the past, yeah, we, we have thought about various different ideas, but they were never really a go until Openroom came about. And I just kept pitching it to him, pitching it, and I was like, vishal, think about this. This is how big it could be. He didn't see it at the beginning because it was originally just like, okay, court orders. But then later on, as more people actually paid for some of our services, then he was like, like, wow, people are actually forking over money for us building this janky one page site. That's incredible. And that was his pivotal point that rang to him that said, wow, we could do something really big with this.
Navid: So now you talk about goal setting. Where do you guys see or envision the future of Openroom going, oh.
Weiting Bollu: That is too big of a question. I think that we have the potential to be part of a solution to the housing crisis, is how I would see it. I don't know who else will be part of that solution, but I really do think that we'll be part of it. Partly because if we can give or empower housing providers to bring out more of their property, that means that there will be greater supply. Because right now one of the issues is people don't want to rent out anymore, right? They'd rather keep their units vacant. So if you have lower supply and yet increased demand because of the seniors that are now actually downsizing, immigrants coming in, students looking for housing, and then you have the middle class trying to rent before they buy property, that's increased demand. So when you have low supply, increased demand, you'll have that fight for the house and you'll continue to have that cyclical cycle or the vicious cycle of housing unaffordability, because prices are still going to be high with low supply. So what does that do to the market? We're going to continue to be in this housing crisis, and hopefully with more of the things that we're building that will bring out more of the supply, hopefully.
Salvi: I'm also curious. I know you guys have certain goals about Openroom, and you guys have known each other for so long, and you guys have kind of built this thing, envisioned this thing together. You guys are also an interracial marriage. Do you think that has a part to play in the diverse thoughts and ideas that you guys.
Weiting Bollu: Oh, probably. Probably. I'd say when Vishal and I started our relationship, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. It was actually very difficult from my side, my family, although they're super supportive at the beginning, they were so shell shocked at the fact that I am even considering someone that isn't asian, east asian. I was like, what? What? No, Weiting. Why aren't you marrying someone asian, east asian and rich? That would make your life so much easier. Not to make fun of my mom and dad, but that was originally, like, their thought. But of course, we know that is not how we work in today's environment. I mean, now they love Vishal, they love the grandkids, and it's a whole different sphere. But back at the beginning, it was rather difficult. And I had those moments when I said, okay, if I can't talk to you without getting mad, then we shouldn't talk about this topic. I love you both, but I need time to breathe. And eventually we'll come back to this topic. Because they didn't know Vishal.
Salvi: Yeah, now they know. So you've also mentioned you have two beautiful babies, kiddos.
Weiting Bollu:Yeah, they are two under two.
Salvi: You're an entrepreneur, your husband also an entrepreneur with you?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah.
Salvi: You have two kids, and you mentioned this. Being a mom is like being on call 24/7 on your LinkedIn bio. I read that. It's actually very funny. How do you manage all that?
Weiting Bollu: I can't do it all on my own. Vishal's a fantastic dad, and grandparents are always there for us. My mom's a doula, as I was mentioning before, and because she's a doula, she helps, helped us for a good two years. Right. Over the last couple of years, we have her for a few more weeks, she has been by our side helping us. So she forgot her work again because of us. And I want to thank her. If she's listening to this, I'll translate it for her. But that's how we're able to do it. And we have very specific routines that we try to follow, because in the evenings, those who have kids will know that in the evenings, from 04:00 p.m. to 08:00 p.m. it's pickup, dinner, shower, sleep, bedtime, play, all of that needs to fit in those 4 hours, and you can't really do much out of it. So I would say Vishal and I are quite the workaholics, but we do have very specific time for family.
Salvi: So my dream has also been to be an entrepreneur. Ask him. I go through ten different ideas, haven't executed on any, which is a bad thing.
Weiting Bollu: I don't think it's a bad thing. I think that you, you just keep having these ideas, but then when you find that right idea with the right time and the right people to work with, you will know. You will know.
Salvi: Yeah. And I'm hoping to get there. And I tell my wife all the time that, oh, because we don't have kids yet. So I'm like, okay, I need to get this done before we have kids, because after I have kids, I'm not gonna have any time. Like, how am I gonna do this? But then I look at you doing perfectly fine with not one, but two kids and being an entrepreneur. And I'm like, okay, well, maybe we can do it. Maybe we can have kids, and I can still come up with my business idea after.
Weiting Bollu: I will say this. When you have kids, it does limit you from the things that you're able to do. So there are events that we get invited to that are in the evenings, that are on the weekends. And the thing is, with both of us involved in Openroom, we can't go out to all of those events. And besides being an entrepreneur, if you're not building or if you're not selling, those events are probably not worth your time anyways. But that's besides the point, is that, yes, I do feel a lot of the fomo that if I didn't have kids and I wasn't tied down like this, then I probably could attend. So it's not all to say that we could do everything, because we can't, but we have to then prioritize what we actually.
Navid: Yeah, I was just gonna say, you think this whole concept of having kids and then, quote, unquote, pursuing your dreams at the same time you think it's overplayed in today's society.
Weiting Bollu: No, I think that we have to stop looking at society and just think, what. What do we want in life? And pursuing your dreams doesn't have to be excluded or in the narrative of having kids. I think that it can go hand in hand. And if kids is something that you want to have, then talk about it with each other. Talk about the financial burdens that. That might bring you in the relationship, because having kids, it's stressful, but the money involved in having kids, oh, my gosh. I did not think that they are so. They were so expensive. They are quite expensive. If we talk about daycare. But the government came out with, like, almost 50% discount at daycares. That has been very helpful. When we first put our kids in daycare and we looked at the Price, and we. We were like, wow. I think that at one point, they're gonna eventually do $10 a day. Daycare is gonna be, like, free. So maybe that will entice more people to have kids. Maybe that's why the government wants to do this. Yes.
Salvi: I'm assuming the kids also play as a significant motivator in you wanting to do your best.
Weiting Bollu: I do. I do. I often think, do I want to be a parent who is never there for my kids because I work so much? And I hope that I don't end up having that reputation with my kids. I do want to be there. I want to be at the soccer lessons or soccer games. I want to be there. They're not ready to play soccer just yet, but we'll see how that goes. I want to be seen as a responsible parent in their eyes, and hopefully I will be a good role model to them. Them.
Salvi: I think you're definitely doing a great job already.
Navid: You know, we're talking about Openroom a lot. We're talking about everything pertaining to that. But let's say you weren't running Openroom. What would you be doing right now?
Weiting Bollu: Ooh, maybe I would still be working at assurance as a product manager, but I always said that, not always said, I did think about what I would want to do next. Say, for example, if I wasn't a product manager, I would probably go be chief of staff to somebody. Chief of staff, for those who don't know, it is where you kind of just do a whole bunch of different things. But for a specific leader, it could be the CEO having a right hand person as chief of staff, and you could be a glorified admin assistant, for example. That's one, maybe one of your tasks. But you could also be thinking about the strategy behind the specific leader on what are the main pain points that they're going through. That could be one, or maybe like the chief operations officer or something like that. To small startups, those were some of the things that I was considering or thinking about.
Navid: That would be amazing.
Salvi: So we've talked about your successes so far and how you got here. Let's dive into some times when you feel like you failed. What would you say has been your biggest failure to date?
Weiting Bollu: Oh, other than losing $35,000 in a completely, maybe. Oh, man. Some of the things I think when people see me go out there talking about my experiences, they think that it's all sunshine and rainbows. But when we go back to how I started, a couple of things, like back in high school, for example, grade ten English, there was Macbeth, I think was the English.
Navid: That's the one.
Weiting Bollu: English, yeah, yeah, English where you had to memorize something, and I hate memorizing. I think I'm still having a little bit of traumatic experiences from that english class because our teacher required us to memorize Macbeth.
Salvi: Was that the one where it's like, is this the dagger I see before me?
Navid:Yeah, that's the. No, that's the one. That's Macbeth. Yeah. Is this a dagger?
Weiting Bollu: I said before me, I can't remember what it was, but you had to memorize Shakespeare, and you have to go up there and memorize a verse. I got up there, I said one verse, and then I completely forgot the rest of it. And I think I failed that assignment. I'm pretty sure I did. I didn't do well.
Navid: Let me just ask you this. Do you remember in what part of the order you were in relation to that presentation? No, because it was a hackath. You know, if you went after 1012 people, you kind of got the script.
Salvi: True.
Navid: Because it was the same person saying the same goddamn thing.
Weiting Bollu: Well, even if I was the 20th person, I probably still couldn't memorize it. I am very bad at memorizing, and that is something that I want to share with everybody, because I failed multiple times when I was younger when it came to public speaking. And then I trained myself over the last ten years to get out there in front of people and actually practice, but I didn't need to memorize things. And another instance where I completely froze up was when it was the rise competition at Schulich, where in first year, you could. Or was it second year where you get to be a proctor? Proctor is where you usher people from one room to another room. And then these proctors also get an opportunity to do a case competition presentation. And I remember standing in front of the judges from industry. I was so nervous. And then we had four people on the team. I was saying my line, and I completely forgot what the heck I was talking about. And then my partner standing beside me basically said my line, and then I went and repeated her line.
Salvi: Oh, really?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, yeah. Because I lost my. I just. I just couldn't present. I completely lost it. I blanked out. Yeah. From that moment on, I really just said to myself, okay, how do I make sure that I can get in front of people on the stage, put myself in those positions where I could practice? And I really believe in the. I can't remember who said it, but if you spend a decade doing stuff for free, you'll eventually get paid to do it. I see that happening in my life right now.
Salvi: Wow, that's very true. It's very surprising that you struggle with public speaking, because I remember in SATEC, as, like, the school president, you would not think you were scared of public speaking because you were pretty well put together. And as I mentioned earlier, probably our best school year.
Weiting Bollu: But you have to think what you see isn't always what is behind the scenes, and that each person behind the scenes, when I got up to speak, for example, at SAtEC, I would have practiced several days in advance, written out a whole script that I wish I could memorize, but I didn't. I would practice a lot before I go out to do anything. And even in preparation for this podcast, I would do a lot of research, because when it comes to debate or on the spot thinking, I have trouble with it. I know I have trouble.
Salvi: We wouldn't be able to tell at all, that's for sure.
Navid: No, but I think you attributed it to right there. I think a lot of people, maybe including myself as well, we kind of get focused on memorizing and just knowing what we need to do or what to say. But instead of that, if you could get drilled down into, like, a really understanding why you're doing it, and in your case, actually preparing and putting the time in, then results will show.
Weiting Bollu: Yes. Practice. Practice. What I say to people in Zoom meetings nowadays, because many meetings are just all over Zoom or now using Zoom, is you can write a script if you're going to prepare something, and then you can actually read off the script, but you have to actually read off in a way that it doesn't look like you're reading off the script. Exactly. But that's how I used to do things. If I'm doing presentations on Zoom, that I would have a script. Yeah.
Salvi: Preparation is the key to success, and you've done that really well. And I think that goes with any kind of fear. I think that people have. If you're scared of doing something, but you prepare enough, eventually, even if you're scared, you'll still succeed because you've put that preparation work in.
Weiting Bollu: What about you two? Are you two gonna stay in the current career that you are thinking about or thinking, you know what, I might try something else later on.
Navid: You know, it's funny. I probably can't speak for myself, but I can speak for him.
Weiting Bollu: Okay.
Navid: And he's probably gonna switch careers. Cause honestly, I think he's.
Salvi: I hope my manager doesn't hear this.
Navid: Some people just have a knack. And he, I think, again, on that forefront of continuous learning and just that curiosity, he just. I think he's gonna go in a different field. What's next?
Salvi: I was actually just mentioned this. Yeah. Product management.
Navid:Look at that.
Salvi: Yeah. Because I went to Schulich, same as you, and I worked in tech. So I'm like, okay, that would be a good blend of my, I guess, backgrounds, and also I want to eventually get to a place where I can be a successful entrepreneur. So I just feel like that's a good stepping stone to getting there. So, yeah, that's the goal right now. Again, hopefully my manager doesn't hear this, but, yeah, let's see where that goes.
Weiting Bollu: Awesome. I love talking to product managers, and I remember being in a leadership position at companies, hiring for product managers or hiring for different positions. But I got to interview hundreds of people. So blessed to be able to do that. But I remember taking chances on aspiring product managers, people who came from hardware, for example. Right. It's very different from software product managers. And taking a chance on aspiring product managers has been so fulfilling because I can see their growth. They get promotions every year because they're actually so good at what they do, and they're learning, constantly learning. And it brings me a lot of joy to watch people grow.
Salvi: Yeah, exactly. And I think another thing about, for me is I feel like I get bored if I'm not challenged. So my switch from accounting was because of that. I don't know if I was getting bored because I wasn't challenged, but I think I got to a point where I was finding accounting kind of boring. I was, okay, what's next? All right, let me teach myself some programming. And then I was like, okay, let me do that. And then start building a career in that. And now I'm like, hmm, kind of want to do something else.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah. Well, if you look at your career from an accounting perspective, right. You have that expertise in accounting. Bring that to the table. When you're looking at what kind of products could I manage that? Maybe their team wants the financial background of things, and there are many products out there that would love someone with an accounting background just putting it out there.
Salvi: Yeah, that's fair. That's a fair point. I gotta brush up on my accounting again. It's been quite a few years, so.
Navid: If I throw this question right back at you, what's next for weting at Openroom?
Weiting Bollu: For me, I am no longer doing product management. I am doing sales and marketing, and I'm trying to crack the code in social media, like the TikTok, the Instagram. And I'm learning a lot of neat tricks and techniques on how to produce great videos. So anything you see on the Instagram or social media accounts from openroom, I script, film, and produce all of that on my own. I have some helpers, but mainly it's my storyboards that go out there, because the thought here I'm trying to tap into is mindshare. What that means is people aren't ready to buy something just yet when they first land on openroom ca 95% are probably not ready to buy. So how do we keep people engaged and thinking about openroom as a resource for them when they are ready to buy? So that's why we go into the content play right now, and that's what I want to specialize. That is where all of my focus.
Salvi: Is going into social media. Extremely important. We've been learning that, too, while trying to promote this podcast and having good quality content out there. What are some tricks or tips you would give to people who are trying to grow on social media?
Weiting Bollu: Ooh. Okay. These are things that I have learned, but I'm no expert. I can share. Just so people listening know that I'm a little bit credible. Is that one of our latest videos almost reach half. Actually, it passed half a million views.
Salvi: Oh, nice.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah. And then the recent few that I posted, like 20,000, 10,000. I was like, okay, something seems to be working in comparison. If you watch my first few videos, they are quite funny. When I look at it, and the way that I've edited and added emojis on there, they're kind of tacky. But anyways, okay, so.
Salvi: So when did you first start posting versus when you actually kind of hit one that went viral?
Weiting Bollu: Oh, good question. It was like July last year. July last year was when I first started. I really did not want to be public and out there and doing social media because I actually don't browse a lot. And then this year, January, was when I met people who actually owned agencies that help people go viral, and then I started learning from them. So one of my posts on LinkedIn lately was, okay, I asked one of these agency people, hire me for a month, I just want to follow you so that you could teach me how everything works. And then they were like, hell no, I'm not spending time on you. Why would I do that? Okay, fine, fine. Then help me. Give me feedback on some of these things that I'm doing. Okay, so few techniques. Number one, have a good hook in the first two to 5 seconds is when people are choosing whether or not they're going to continue watching. Okay, so that's number one. And there are many ways that you can find good hooks and that are already pretested by other people. Number two is every second counts in your video. So if there's ums, uh, pauses, cut them out. Rigorous cutting throughout the entire segment of whatever you're doing. And then number three, good lighting and good voice volume. So sometimes there was one video that I posted, and I was asking people for feedback, and then they were saying you were wearing airpods. Airpods don't have good sound and volume. So take that out, use something else. Else. Yeah. And then number four, last one here. Look at the camera when you're speaking. If you're trying to talk to the audience, like podcasts, it's a little bit different, right. But if you're gonna do an educational video and it's a, you just, you, you talk to the camera. And because talking to the camera actually got me thousands more views, I recognize that in comparison to the video that I didn't look at it. So these are like the little subtle things. Very cool. I did not know know.
Salvi: Yeah. You live and you learn. The only way to learn about these things is once you actually start doing them and you look at it, okay, this is working, this isn't. And then obviously you pick up some tricks and tips from other people along the way, and then you start implementing them when they work. That's like magic.
Weiting Bollu: Yes. And then, oh, you know what? I'll just give your audience and yourself a fifth tip. Depending on if it's a like comment, save, share. Each of those represented different engagement pieces. So if you have more shares than a like, it means different things, like relatability or shareability. Like, there are different things and then depending on what you want to hit. So you could have like 50,000 views, but only a couple comments. What does that tell you? Like, data tells you a lot, so gotta analyze. Which I didn't think about before.
Salvi:I've also noticed one thing. Controversial things really get people riled up. Like, I have people flaming me on YouTube over some random stuff. And there were some basketball clips that we posted. I was talking about the NBA and people love their sports. So I made a controversial comment and they're like, oh, this guy's an old head. Of course he's saying there's a Toronto Raptors fan. That's our highest. That video has the most engagement. I'm like, okay, that's something.
Navid: But I'd say the same thing about your content, right? I don't know if it's controversial per se, but it is super relatable. Everybody and their uncles and aunts is somewhere in the real estate market. They want to know how they can prosper and get through this hurdle with the landlord and tenant space.
Weiting Bollu: Yes, yes. I would say Openroom does come out with, it's not all, how do I say, like, we do want people talking about us. And that's how people start ending up going viral on our content, which we find fascinating. Right. And it's very important to provide education that is entertaining to people. It's not just spewing facts at people, but it's okay. Can they learn from my mistakes? Will they find it funny? They can roast me if they want, but if they can learn from me, then that's fantastic. How I see it is I don't look at my past to just learn to do what I want in the future, but it's really to think about alternative futures that could happen. Only then can I actually build for a better future. That's how I see it.
Salvi: Absolutely. Also, when talking about social media, I noticed you're also pretty active on LinkedIn. Do those tips, I guess, kind of. Are they similar for written content versus video content?
Weiting Bollu: Ooh. I was very active on LinkedIn, and that was my first social media foray, Instagram and TikTok, I was very uncomfortable with. For LinkedIn, it is actually very different because you have a different audience. It's the professional group, and the content on there is generally a little bit more professional. So, yes, very different. But I do notice a couple things that you should do on LinkedIn, which is when people comment right away, you should comment right away, and then that'll find more engagement, more impression. Tagging people was really good. And posting in the mornings, like, when do professionals actually browse LinkedIn and actually interact? It's in the mornings. That's when I found it. It might not be. I don't know what it says.
Salvi: That's when they start their day and like, I need a new job. Let's look at LinkedIn.
Weiting Bollu:Yeah. And every time when I go on LinkedIn, I really don't like it when people start saying, oh, I congrats to blah blah blah for getting a new opportunity, or like, they congratulate themselves. Right. And I think that's kind of tacky. Yeah. So I usually never do that. But post, think about what will be a value for other people. People go on LinkedIn. And one of the cliche things about LinkedIn is when people go on there to humble brag. Yeah, I've seen those.
Salvi: That happens on Instagram, too.
Weiting Bollu: It's true. It's true.
Salvi: Yeah. I've been, I mean, for us, for our podcast, I would say for now, we're active on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, YouTube shorts. But, yeah, LinkedIn and X as well are two platforms that we're exploring as well, that we're hopefully going to start posting on soon. That's definitely a bit of a different demographic.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah. And with each social media platform that you go on, you have to think about ways to grow it, and it's a lot to think about and to manage. So I'm not on ads, and I don't really know how to work YouTube yet. Cause I don't do a lot of YouTube content consumption, but maybe I'll.
Salvi: This will be on YouTube.
Weiting Bollu: Okay. Okay. So we'll see how you start. Yeah, yeah.
Salvi: All right, awesome. Do you have anything else?
Navid: No, I just wanted to go back to that hook. I think that's the video that went viral as soon as you started off with the. You know, I lost 35,000. I don't know why, but I was like, okay, I need to hear this.
Salvi: People care about losing 35,000.
Navid: Exactly.
Weiting Bollu:
Yeah. Yeah. Another thing that these agencies taught me was, if you have a video that is getting good comments, pick a comment and reply back to that comment in video form.
Navid: Oh, really?
Weiting Bollu: Yeah. So one of the comments that I had was, well, sorry, let's go back to. What is that video? It's, I lost 35,000 as a dumb landlord, and it was a list of all of my mistakes that I didn't do back in the day when I was vetting my tenant. So that's why I lost 35,000. So then someone posted, you didn't do shit. Did you even get their name?
Salvi: Oh, yeah, I've seen that one.
Weiting Bollu: Right? Yeah. So then I basically did a video reply on it and. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it got a whole bunch of reactions and comments from people.
Navid:
Oh, that's amazing.
Weiting Bollu:Yeah. Use your audience and their comments as good content.
Salvi:
They're the most likely to engage.
Weiting Bollu: Yes.
Salvi:All right. You've given us a lot of great tidbits and advice throughout this podcast. My last thing for me, if you had to kind of give an overall advice just for audience who are listening for mostly from our analytics, it says people who are young professionals or people who are aspiring to grow their careers. What's a piece of advice that you would give them?
Weiting Bollu: Find people where you can ask great questions to, and don't be afraid to ask, because the worst thing that could happen is that they'll just ignore you or they'll say no. But who cares? What do you have to lose? If you want to get into product management, reach out to me and ask me some questions. Grill me on if this is even the career that you want to go into. Don't go into it blindsided, right? Yeah. That's what I would say is keep asking questions. Just don't be afraid to ask questions.
Salvi: There you go. Keep asking questions. We've asked you quite a few questions on this podcast. Thank you for answering them. We learned a lot. It's great. Also reconnecting after so many years. We saw each other in high school, undergrad, and now here as adults. And you as a mom, me as a married man, you as a single.
Navid: Man, but a single man that is aspiring to get into their real estate market. So same thing as him. Want to reiterate? Thank you for coming onto the pod. And I will definitely check out openroom a bit more than I already have today.
Weiting Bollu:
Your aunties and your aunts should check out.
Salvi: They are definitely yellow for sure.
Weiting Bollu:
Yeah. What is super interesting about Openroom is that once people hear about Openroom and they're going through the rental, is that we are the first thing that people start with. And you will use Openroom. If you don't, you might be missing out on a piece of your vetting process or making informed decisions about your rent. So that was something that we didn't expect at all. So aunties and uncles who are listening in the south asian or east asian immigrant community, I think it'll be really good for them.
Salvi: I'm sending this to all my aunts and uncles, and I have quite a few of them.
Navid: I was just gonna say that's a significant amount of population we just tapped into. So thank you, Weiting.
Weiting Bollu: You're welcome.
Salvi: Before we let you go, you have any closing thoughts?
Weiting Bollu: Closing thoughts? I want to say thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to reach a new demographic. I really want to give back to the community. It's really important. So earlier I was talking about doing things for ten years and then getting paid eventually to do it. That's why I say to people, don't give up. So a couple things that I did ten years for free, hosting events. I hosted constant events starting from high school and with the Rotary organization, weekly, monthly, all for free. And conferences too. And then I property managed basically for free for our parents, for my parents. And I know you manage. I don't think that they pay you, do they?
Salvi: No, no. Hopefully an inheritance in the future.
Weiting Bollu: Yeah, exactly. So that, and then public speaking. I've pushed myself to go out there over the last decade. Then now it's like you get paid to do, or I get paid to do these things. So that's why I really believe in it and that's why I'm telling people. It's like if you want to go pursue something, you ask the questions and then you just go and try to learn as much as you can. That's my closing thought.
Salvi: All right. There you have it. Thank you so much, Weiting, for joining us again. We are myself, Salvi, again, Navid, and anyone from our high school. If you guys want to come as well for another reunion, you're welcome to come down. We love reconnecting with people from our high school or anywhere else in our lives. But, yeah, really glad you came down. This was an amazing conversation and I hope people learn a lot, and I hope more people tap into Openroom because it is an amazing product. And if you're in the real estate market, you are definitely going to get a lot of benefit out of openroom. And I wish you guys nothing but great success because it's a product that also people, especially in a market like Toronto, it's very much needed. And I'm so glad that you guys are doing it. And I have no doubt you guys are going to to get even bigger and bigger as time goes on.
Weiting Bollu: Well, we have a few more months to do experimentation, so we will see where we get to by the end of the year. Thank you.
Salvi:Absolutely. All right, on three, we out.
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Weiting's entrepreneurial journey began with a costly lesson in rental property management, where she experienced losses exceeding $35,000 due to non-paying tenants. Determined to prevent others from facing similar challenges, she built Openroom to pave a future towards a transparent and connected rental ecosystem.
Drawing from her extensive background in software product management spanning education, telecommunications, insurance, and artificial intelligence, Weiting has become a trusted advisor to founders of venture-backed companies. Beyond the tech sphere, Weiting managed properties for over a decade and made significant contributions to community leadership. She’s served on the Board of Rotary District 7070 and chaired various organizational committees.
Weiting balances her professional endeavours with being a parent of two kids under two. Alongside thousands of other parents, she was awarded participation trophies in innovative improvisation, ever-changing expectations management, daily roadmap planning, and hardcore patience!
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