At the intersection of Insurtech and Real Estate with Derek Merrill (LeaseLock)

<p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidyakobovitch/">David Yakobovitch</a> spoke to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekmerrill/">Derek Merrill</a>, CEO of <a href="https://leaselock.com/">LeaseLock</a> about how to get rid of one of the most painful steps in real estate transactions, paying a security deposit, by using technology. Derek is a product and financial technology-focused entrepreneur with a special interest in building data-driven products that service the enterprise.</p><p>As CEO, Derek leads the overall product, marketing, sales and engineering efforts at LeaseLock. Prior to LeaseLock, Derek founded Infreeda, a mobile advertising platform acquired by AT&amp;T. Next, he founded MoVoxx, a pioneering mobile messaging ad network acquired by Motricity. In search of a large industry late to apply technology, Derek launched EverySignal to automate the detection of life events for insurance agents across social networks using natural language processing and machine learning. He later joined ZipRecruiter, the fastest-growing job. </p><p><br></p><p><strong> LeaseLock's founding story</strong></p><ul><li>After being denied housing in New York City because he did not earn the requisite 80x the monthly rent to live at a certain building, co-founder Reichen Kuhl set out to solve this problem to help people at all rent levels ease the expensive move-in experience while still providing the financial protection apartment owners need. He joined the Mucker Capital accelerator program in 2014 where he met Derek who had been working with a small engineering and data science team. After meeting, the two joined forces and LeaseLock was founded. </li></ul><p><strong>LeaseLock's flagship product </strong></p><ul><li>LeaseLock's flagship product is “Zero Deposit” lease insurance. The company leverages artificial intelligence to eliminate security deposits and deliver the world’s first financial technology platform for enterprise rental housing. Its product seamlessly deploys through native property manag