Max Simkoff - Redesigning the Home Buying Experience - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 47]

My guest today is Max Simkoff, Founder and CEO of Doma. Max founded Doma in 2016 after experiencing the pain and manual process associated with title insurance and real estate transactions. With a background in predictive analytics, Max built Doma to bring a digital-first approach to a historically manual and labor-intensive process. In our conversation, we cover the history behind mortgage closings, where title companies fall into that process, and how Doma is using technology to improve the client experience. We also discuss Max’s formative experiences at his previous venture, Evolv, and the lessons he’s learned from taking Doma from an idea to a public company. There are many great lessons in this episode, and Max’s entrepreneurial energy shines throughout. Please enjoy this great conversation with Max Simkoff. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by SnackMagic. SnackMagic is the only 100% customizable snack and swag service that allows recipients to build their own snack stash. Whether you want to thank your global team, need goodie bags for your upcoming hybrid event or want to stock your office pantry, the menu of over 1,000 types of snacks and sips covers just about every preference. To learn more and get 10% off your first order with code Patrick at snackmagic.com/patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to get and maintain your SOC 2, HIPAA or ISO 27001 reports at a fraction of the typical cost. Founder’s Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:17] - [First question] - What Doma does and what they do for customers [00:04:38] - What Title is and why it sits at the center of such a large transaction [00:08:41] - Overview of the business economics of this space [00:13:55] - How the ecosystem works writ large [00:18:05] - The formative business experiences he had that led him to today [00:23:03] - What it means to be great at this whole process [00:26:53] - The thing Doma tries to predict and the inputs that allow them to do so [00:32:50] - Defining his biggest roadblocks and how they’ve changed over time [00:36:02] - Managing stakeholder expectations and perception [00:40:22] - Learning to walk to the line of having a large vision and communicating it [00:42:51] - What his loose screw is as a founder [00:45:06] - The square-peg-round-hole they encountered during the pandemic [00:51:20] - What the counterproductive byproduct of his genius is [00:53:35] - Figuring out where to take the company next [00:56:52] - The big lessons learned from interacting with capital markets [00:59:30] - Other entrepreneurs he feels are maniacs that he respects [01:00:55] - What will be the biggest contributing factors to their success over the next decade [01:02:44] - The key ingredients for building a winning team [01:04:34] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him