Steven Rea

YEAR ONE

Technology EN ↓ 3 episodes

AI and automation only work when layered onto well-designed processes—not thrown at broken systems hoping to fix them. Innovation isn't just technology. It's process design, training and support for teammates, and then layering in technology and AI where it makes sense to augment already well-thought-out workflows. Technology applied to a broken foundation doesn't create transformation—it amplifies dysfunction. Year One documents what happens when you apply this philosophy to a real company, in real time, with full transparency. What Year One IsYear One is a "build in public" series documentin...

Author

Steven Rea

Episodes

Discovery Day and the Work Group Model 30.03.2026 28:18

I scrapped the original Episode 3. Here's why. We had it recorded — a clean explanation of the process framework we were using to rebuild Northpoint. Then I looked at what was actually happening with our team and realized a lot of what we thought was working... wasn't. This episode is about what we changed. We stopped trying to design processes from a desk and started putting the right people in t...

The Consolidation Decision 26.01.2026 40:59

When I arrived at Northpoint, we had 14 different software tools in use—PropertyMeld for maintenance, zInspector for inspections, Findigs for screening, Google Sheets for the leasing pipeline, DocuSign for leases, QuickBooks for financials, and more. AppFolio was technically our property management system, but functionally it was almost an afterthought. This episode explains why we're consolidatin...

What I Walked Into 12.01.2026 10:59

When Steven Rea joined Northpoint Asset Management as Chief Innovation Officer, he asked a simple question on Day 1: "How do we track our leasing pipeline?" The answer wasn't a CRM or a specialized SFR platform. It was a Google Sheet. In this debut episode of Year One, Steven pulls back the curtain on the reality of modernizing a legacy Single Family Rental (SFR) operator. This isn't a story about...