The Market Kept Moving
Part of the change came from the market itself.
In reserve planning and property management, we have seen consolidation, changes in regulation, and changes in what customers and end users need and expect. The market kept moving while we were building for it.
FirstService Residential acquired Core Real Estate Group in 2025. Florida changed its structural integrity reserve study and reserve funding requirements that same year. Both are examples of the changes happening around this industry.
We also learned more about the market by spending time with property managers, board members, and reserve professionals. We heard what mattered to them, where they struggled, and how they saw their needs evolving.
That learning changed our view of who we should serve first and which capabilities deserved the most attention.
Customers Needed Something to React To
The most significant changes began when we started showing potential customers what we were building.
We had an early product and a way of explaining it. People could see how it might fit into their work, identify what was missing, and challenge our assumptions. That let us understand why a feature mattered, who would use it, and what would make it valuable.
I don’t think we would have learned nearly as much by just describing an idea and asking people what they wanted.
Slack’s early development offers a useful parallel. When its founders put the product in the hands of outside teams, they discovered problems that had not appeared within their own smaller team. As larger groups used it, Slack changed the product in response. Having something people could actually use exposed needs the founders had not anticipated.
Our original specification and messaging gave us the starting point for that kind of learning. The work we put into them helped us ask better questions and gave customers something concrete to challenge.
One of the most useful things an early product can do is help you understand what you need to change.
Better Tools Still Need Human Judgment
We used AI as we worked through questions about our audiences, the market opportunity, our features, and our messaging. It helped us explore possibilities and refine how we expressed our thinking.
I value that help. But I don’t see how we could have reached the same understanding without meeting people, going to conferences, and spending time with potential customers.
Those conversations gave us the context for the decisions. We could ask another question, explore a concern, and understand why something mattered to the person sitting across from us.
Airbnb’s founders learned something similar when they visited early hosts in New York. They went to improve listings, including taking better photographs. They also discovered how many hosts depended on that income to pay their rent. Spending time with those people deepened their understanding of the business they were building.
At EZRS®, AI helped us work through what we were learning. We still had to go out and learn it.
The Team Had to Work Through It Together
Customer feedback also gave us plenty to debate internally.
Who should be our primary audience? Where was the strongest opportunity? Which features mattered most to that audience? What words would make the value clear? How should we name the different parts of the product?
We spent hours working through those questions.
Our team brings different backgrounds, training, and experience. That means we look at the same problem from different angles. It also means reaching a decision can take work.
A suggestion that seems obvious to one person may raise an important concern for someone else. Working through those differences forces us to explain our reasoning, examine our assumptions, and connect our decisions to what customers have told us.
AI contributed to that process. So did the judgment of the people in the room.
As CEO, I see real value in the trust it takes to have those discussions. People need to be able to challenge an idea, including mine. We need to be willing to change our minds. And eventually, we need to make a decision and move forward together.
That is a substantial part of building a company. It takes time even when the tools make parts of the work faster.
The Alignment Is Worth the Effort
Today, we are aligned on what we are taking to market, who we are building it for, and why we believe it matters.
We are also excited about it. That is a good feeling.
I know how much work went into getting here. The clarity we have now came through collaboration, trust, debate, and the voice of the customer. Our team understands the decisions because we worked through them together.
There will be more changes. As more people use EZRS®, we will learn things we cannot see today. I expect us to keep listening and adapting.
Starting a business is messy. AI has been valuable to us throughout that process, and I expect it to become more valuable. The responsibility for understanding our customers, making choices, and building a team that believes in those choices still sits with us.
I’m proud of how this team has done that work. I’m excited to take the result to market. For association managers, the test is whether what we’ve built fits the work you need to do, from keeping reserve information current to explaining funding choices to a board.
As we prepare to launch in November, I invite you to explore the solutions EZRS brings to the industry and see how the platform could support your business.
Examples and Further Reading
- Property management consolidation: FirstService Residential Acquires Core Real Estate Group — FirstService Residential’s May 2025 announcement provides a concrete example of consolidation in the industry.
- Changing reserve requirements: Florida Senate summary of HB 913 (2025) — Documents changes to structural integrity reserve studies and reserve funding. Florida DBPR’s guidance also explains changes following the law’s passage. Florida DBPR guidance.
- Learning through an early product: Slack’s founder on its launch strategy — Stewart Butterfield describes how feedback from outside teams shaped Slack’s product and the way the company explained it.
- Learning by meeting customers: The Airbnbs — Paul Graham’s firsthand account of how visits to early hosts helped Airbnb’s founders understand the people they were serving.
About Easy Reserve Study (EZRS)
EZRS® makes reserve management and capital planning easy—from collecting and managing data to building plans and keeping them current between studies. Built for property management companies, resort management companies, reserve professionals, and the boards they serve, EZRS® brings reserve data, funding scenarios, budgets, and board-ready reports into one platform.
