Answer extracted from The Boulos Beat: A Commercial Real Estate Podcast — listen to the full episode below.
What market validation moment convinced a startup to pivot from a universal search product to focused due diligence automation?
After a conversation with the team at Visuto revealed that transition and diligence exercises were the same core problem, George Matelich and his co-founder found 30 property management firms in a single week all saying they would buy a due diligence automation product immediately—the validation that triggered their pivot in April.
The moment of clarity arrived unexpectedly. What began as a universal search tool for real estate became sharply focused when Matelich and his team recognized a pattern across customer conversations: property managers faced nearly identical challenges whether handling portfolio transitions or acquisition due diligence.
The speed of that market response was decisive. Thirty firms in seven days, each expressing immediate intent to purchase, eliminated any remaining doubt about demand. This wasn't a "maybe we should explore this" signal—it was an unambiguous market pull. As Matelich describes in the episode, the conversation with Visuto crystallized what had been vague instinct into concrete customer need.
"I wasn't put on this earth to build someone else's dream."
George Matelich — Co-Founder of Rely, a 29-year-old software entrepreneur who spent his early career in product roles at major tech companies on the West Coast, including Updater as a product lead focused on multifamily property management. He relocated from San Francisco to Kennebunk, Maine two and a half years ago to build Rely, his own vision.
The pivot took place in April, just weeks after that validation week. The team at Cardinal Group then spent approximately five months building the due diligence platform, launching in January 2026. The AI-powered approach compressed due diligence from the standard 60 to 90 days down to a single day, solving a pain point that affects the entire $100 billion property management industry.
What made this validation moment so convincing was not just the number of interested parties, but the consistency of their message. Property managers didn't need convincing to see the value—they already lived the problem daily. The episode explores how this customer discovery process shaped every decision that followed, from product architecture to go-to-market strategy.
See also
How can artificial intelligence compress real estate due diligence timelines from 90 days to a single day?
Rely's AI-powered software automates lease file audits, utility audits, contract audits, and financial audits on apartment complexes. The platform uses artificial intelligence to streamline these critical functions at scale.
How did aggressive networking and community building accelerate startup success in a new geographic market?
George Matelich and a co-founder created Nexus Maine as an online community in Slack with the goal of reaching 100 members, but it grew to over 1,000 members, building a foundation of relationships and trust essential to launching a real estate software company.
What prompted a software engineer to relocate from San Francisco to Maine and build a business there?
George Matelich and his wife visited Kennebunk during New Year's 2021-2022 after 18 months of considering Maine, and they loved it. Nine months later, after spending only four cumulative days in the state, they bought a house and moved across the country.