In Good Company: EliseAI Multifamily Podcast

EliseAI

Host Jacob Kosior sits down with multifamily operators, executives, and leaders to talk about what it actually takes to build, lead, and grow something that lasts. Every episode covers the decisions, the hard lessons, and the kind of thinking you only develop from years in the work. If you're building something in multifamily or property management—a business, a team, a career—this is the conversation. New episodes twice a month. A podcast by EliseAI.

Episodes

  1. Jul 8

    What Wins Renters in a Concession-Heavy Market │ Marcella Eppsteiner, CXO at Mission Rock Residential

    Marcella Eppsteiner holds one of the most unique titles in multifamily, and she makes the case that it's about to become essential. As Chief Experience Officer at Mission Rock Residential, she owns both the customer experience and the team member experience, spanning marketing, revenue management, learning and development, and people and culture. Marcella has spent more than 20 years in the industry, starting onsite for student housing and rising through sales and marketing leadership into the CXO seat. Jacob Kosior and Marcella get into why experience, not price, is the real differentiator in a concession-heavy market, what a micro moment is and why every interaction is one, why staff turnover is more of a clarity problem than a pay problem, and how the onsite role is being redefined as AI absorbs the busy work. They also talk about the data she watches every day, why she reads every resident review herself, and why she believes the human layer only grows more valuable when added on top of AI. Timestamps: 01:09  This or That 02:04  The rare CXO seat, and what it actually includes 04:06  Why experience beats price in a concession-heavy market 04:32  Every interaction is a micro moment 06:25  The data she reads every single day 08:44  Centralization: centralizing functions, not just roles 13:40  Two causes of turnover you can actually control 15:50  A leasing consultant in 2026 vs one index card in 2003 17:05  The human layer, and why it grows more valuable with AI New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one.  In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI.  🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

    What Wins Renters in a Concession-Heavy Market │ Marcella Eppsteiner, CXO at Mission Rock Residential

  2. Jun 25

    Why Your Next Leasing Agent Might Be a Bartender │ Nick Deveau, Co-Founder & CEO at GrottoAI

    Nick Deveau is on a mission to fix billions of dollars being lost through apartments sitting vacant each year. As Co-Founder and CEO of GrottoAI, he's built a coaching tool that works alongside multifamily leasing teams on their calls and onsite tours, a first for the industry, to find insights into what moves a prospect to lease. Nick has spent nearly a decade building vertical AI in highly regulated industries, from hiring to healthcare to insurance. Most recently, he and Co-founder Ben Epstein led the core technology behind EvolutionIQ's $730 million acquisition in late 2024, one of the first major vertical AI exits. He has graduate training from Stanford, and a long-running fascination with behavior change that traces back to his early days in psychiatry research. Jacob Kosior and Nick get into the half-trillion-dollar vacancy problem hiding behind every empty unit, the human signals that predict whether a prospect moves forward, why the tour is the richest and most overlooked data source in leasing, how operators are hiring for rapport over resumes, and why leasing is sales. Plus Greta, the in-house AI employee that built Grotto's paid-search engine over a weekend. Timestamps: 01:31 - This or That 02:50 - The psychiatry-to-AI thread 04:41 - Leaving a $730M exit for apartment leasing 05:34 - The half-trillion-dollar vacancy problem 06:43 - What the data says converts a prospect 09:04 - The tour: leasing's richest data source 10:36 - Hiring for rapport, and why a bartender works 13:16 - Leasing is sales 14:58 - What vertical AI sees that horizontal tools miss 16:11 - Greta, Grotto's in-house AI employee New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one.  In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI.  🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

    Why Your Next Leasing Agent Might Be a Bartender │ Nick Deveau, Co-Founder & CEO at GrottoAI

  3. Jun 9

    One in Three Prospects Never Get a Follow-Up: Inside Grace Hill Data │ Jen Tindle, VP of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives at Grace Hill

    Jen Tindle has spent her career at the intersection of real estate and technology. Today she's VP of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives at Grace Hill, where she leads M&A, partner programs, and data products. She also writes the All About CRE Substack newsletter and co-created Build Order, a podcast and essay series about how systems shape cities. Before Grace Hill, Jen led data and analytics at private equity firm Pennybacker Capital before co-founding CREx, a CRE tech company that she ran as CEO. Jacob Kosior and Jen get into what Grace Hill's data is actually showing about the multifamily industry right now, including why one in three prospects never gets contacted after their tour. They talk about the fastest proptech consolidation Jen's ever seen in her career, the one thing every operator should be focused on for the rest of 2026, why AI adoption keeps getting driven from the wrong seat of the org, and much more. Timestamps: 0:52 - Get to Know Jen 4:00 - Beyond the Day Job 7:17 - Where Humans Shine 9:52 - What the Data Shows 12:04 - The Priority in 2026 17:16 - AI in Work and Life New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one.  In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI.  🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

    One in Three Prospects Never Get a Follow-Up: Inside Grace Hill Data │ Jen Tindle, VP of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives at Grace Hill

  4. May 29

    25 Years In The Multifamily C-Suite: Why The Onsite Role Must Change │ Jamie Gorski, Founder & President at Catchpoint Collective

    Jamie Gorski has 25+ years of C-suite multifamily experience across marketing, operations, and resident experience. Through her companies Catchpoint Collective and Journey Lens, she advises operators, proptech companies, and investors. Jamie started in multifamily as a groundskeeper in Baltimore. She was picking up trash, walking door to door, and helping residents with the kinds of small but meaningful things that stay with you. That first job taught her something she has never forgotten: this industry matters because we provide homes. Jacob Kosior and Jamie get into why the onsite role has to change as AI and centralization reshape multifamily operations. They talk about tours that have not changed in years, residents getting a better experience buying a purse than renewing a lease, centralized leasing teams that can improve speed and consistency, and much more.  Timestamps: 1:14 - Get to Know Jamie 4:40 - Redesigning the Onsite Role 6:40 - Where Humans Shine 11:11 - The Proptech Landscape 16:41 - Getting Centralization Right 21:00 - AI in Work and Life New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one.  In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI.  🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

    25 Years In The Multifamily C-Suite: Why The Onsite Role Must Change │ Jamie Gorski, Founder & President at Catchpoint Collective

  5. May 13

    Centralization in Multifamily: The Hard Skills Aren't the Hard Part │ Brittany Gonzalez, Senior Manager of Centralized Services at RangeWater

    Brittany Gonzalez has built centralized services teams twice, at two different organizations. Brittany is Senior Manager of Centralized Services at RangeWater Residential. Before RangeWater, she spent over six years at Cardinal Group, starting as an assistant community manager in student housing before becoming one of the earliest hires on Cardinal's centralized services team.  Jacob Kosior and Brittany get into what it actually looks like to go from on-site burnout to building a centralized program across 75,000+ units. They talk about the moment she realized the community manager role wasn't for her, what changed when she moved into centralized services, the skills she looks for when hiring that have nothing to do with property management experience, and more.   In this episode:  00:18 — Introduction 01:01 — Getting to Know Brittany 03:28 — From On-Site to Centralized 07:27 — Why Centralization Matters 09:10 — New Tools and Workflows 12:31 — Building the Right Team 16:45 — AI in Work and Life  New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one.  In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI.

    Centralization in Multifamily: The Hard Skills Aren't the Hard Part │ Brittany Gonzalez, Senior Manager of Centralized Services at RangeWater

  6. Apr 29

    Surviving vs. Thriving: What Separates Multifamily Operators in 2026 │ Dan Oltersdorf, President of Centricity

    Dan Oltersdorf has spent over 20 years thinking about how housing operators actually work. Dan is President of Centricity, the back-office partner for property accounting, HR, IT, insurance, and ancillary revenue. Before Centricity, he spent more than two decades at Campus Advantage, ultimately as Chief People Officer, after starting his career as an RA at Colorado State University. Jacob Kosior and Dan get into what's quietly costing operators their focus in 2026, and what separates the teams who are thriving from the ones in survival mode. They talk about the ‘white water’ of scaling, the operator who had to turn down a portfolio because the back office couldn't support it, why thriving operators build systems before they need them, how AI fits in as a power tool rather than a replacement, and creating a "do not do" list. In this episode: 00:49 — Getting to Know Dan 02:25 — The Path to Centricity 04:39 — The Back-Office Bottleneck 06:31 — Surviving vs Thriving 10:07 — People, Process, and Technology 13:36 — What Actually Matters 16:09 — The "Do Not Do" List 17:17 — AI in Practice New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one.  In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI.

    Surviving vs. Thriving: What Separates Multifamily Operators in 2026 │ Dan Oltersdorf, President of Centricity

  7. Apr 15

    What Nobody Tells You About Building From Scratch in Multifamily │ Bobbi Steward, CEO & Co-Founder of Revyse

    Bobbi Steward saw multifamily vendor management was broken and decided to fix it. Bobbi is Co-Founder & CEO of Revyse, the vendor management platform helping operators bring clarity to contracts, compliance, and spend. Before Revyse, Bobbi came up through proptech before leading marketing and customer experience at a top-15 multifamily operator. It was on the operator side where she saw how fragmented vendor management really was: property management companies working with thousands of vendors and no single source of truth. Two weeks after her daughter was born, a planned career break lasted 48 hours before she decided to build the solution herself. Jacob Kosior and Bobbi get into what that journey actually looked like. They talk about crossing from the vendor side to the operator side and realizing you only understood half the picture, teaching yourself corporate accounting from YouTube, the myth that founders have some intrinsic knowledge the rest of us don't, and the leadership lesson Bobbi carries from making the same mistake more than once: make yourself sustainable. In this episode: 01:12 — Get to Know Bobbi: This or That rapid fire02:06 — From Vendor to Operator: What led Bobbi from proptech to leading marketing at a top-ten operator06:19 — Building Revyse: The vendor management problem and the 48-hour career break that led to starting a company08:51 — The Founder Myth: Hubris, perseverance, YouTube accounting, and why it's really about relationships10:29 — Making Yourself Sustainable: The leadership mistake Bobbi kept repeating and the mantra that came from it14:28 — AI in Work and Life: Using ChatGPT as an executive coach, for trip planning, and more New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one.  In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI. 🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4chJSFs

    What Nobody Tells You About Building From Scratch in Multifamily │ Bobbi Steward, CEO & Co-Founder of Revyse

  8. Apr 1

    The Uncomfortable Truths About Transformation at Scale │ Managing 40,000+ Apartments ft. Chris Lahna of Dominium

    The hardest part of adopting new technology isn't the software. It's the people.  Chris Lahna is Partner, President of Property Management and Chief Talent Officer at Dominium — one of the country's largest affordable housing operators, with 50 years in business and more than 40,000 apartments across 19 states. His path to the role wasn't traditional. He's helped build jet engines, worked in asset management, and started at Dominium leading HR.  Now he leads transformation across people, process, and technology — in the unique position of owning both sides of it: what changes and how you bring your people with you. Jacob Kosior and Chris get into what it actually takes to reinvent operations at that scale. They talk about why change is fundamentally difficult for humans, the paradox of needing patience when you're the most impatient person in the room, and the moment Chris stopped worrying about losing his job and started doing his best work. Plus, Chris shares how he sees roles evolving across the industry and why AI doesn't have to mean fewer people. In this episode: 00:44 — This or That rapid fire 01:23 — Why every operator is going through transformation right now 02:19 — From building jet engines to running property management 02:40 — "You probably should not hire me as the head of property management" 03:26 — Signals that transformation is actually working 04:56 — The uncomfortable truth about patience and urgency 06:44 — Why process, technology, and people are all connected 07:06 — From handwritten applications to digital transformation 09:50 — Coaching advice for leaders stepping into change 10:15 — What it means to believe your people are fundamentally good 12:30 — Why AI doesn't have to mean fewer people 13:13 — How specialized roles could reshape staffing across the industry 15:43 — How Chris is using AI in his personal and professional life New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one.  In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI. 🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4chJSFs

    The Uncomfortable Truths About Transformation at Scale │ Managing 40,000+ Apartments ft. Chris Lahna of Dominium

  9. Mar 26

    How Cardinal Group Builds Leaders, Not Managers ft. CEO Alex O'Brien

    In the debut episode of In Good Company, host Jacob Kosior sits down with Alex O'Brien, co-founder and CEO of Cardinal Group Companies. Cardinal is celebrating 20 years in business and just hit 110,000+ beds under management in student housing. Jacob and Alex dig into what it actually takes to be a modern leader in multifamily. They talk about why this might be the hardest time to lead, the difference between managing and leading through uncertainty, why your title "before the comma" matters more than the technical skills after it, and how Alex thinks about always recruiting even when there's no open role to fill. Plus, Alex gets honest about burnout, being kind to yourself as a leader, and why there's no destination in leadership. Just the journey. New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI.

    How Cardinal Group Builds Leaders, Not Managers ft. CEO Alex O'Brien

  10. Season 1 Trailer

    In Good Company: A New Multifamily Podcast

    In Good Company is a new podcast about the people building multifamily. Host Jacob Kosior sits down with operators and leaders to talk about how businesses are built, decisions get made, and communities come to life. New episodes twice a month. A podcast by EliseAI.

Trailer

About

Host Jacob Kosior sits down with multifamily operators, executives, and leaders to talk about what it actually takes to build, lead, and grow something that lasts. Every episode covers the decisions, the hard lessons, and the kind of thinking you only develop from years in the work. If you're building something in multifamily or property management—a business, a team, a career—this is the conversation. New episodes twice a month. A podcast by EliseAI.

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