REDC, the Real Estate Development Calculator, is the brainchild of an experience real estate entrepreneur based in the Atlanta area. He wanted to create a new software tool to help his colleagues more quickly and accurately analyze potential deals.
Company type: Entrepreneur
Company size: <10 people
Developed product from the ground up
Sprint-based development kept timelines in check
Iterative development based on customer feedback
Custom-built React and Python webapp
Products deployed on GCP
Included solution design briefs and mockups
Engagement: 9 - 18 months
Budget: $10k - $40k
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Real estate developers, especially smaller firms and individual entrepreneurs, faced significant challenges in analyzing potential deals. Large companies relied on complex, proprietary spreadsheets, while smaller players often made decisions based on gut instinct or rudimentary calculations. This led to inefficiencies, inaccuracies, and missed opportunities in the real estate development process.
Porter Software (PS) partnered with an experienced real estate entrepreneur to create REDC (the Real Estate Development Calculator), a user-friendly web application that streamlines the deal analysis process. By combining deep industry knowledge with cutting-edge technology, PS developed a tool that replaces "back-of-the-envelope" calculations with accurate, comprehensive analyses accessible to developers of all sizes.
Unlike traditional software development firms, Porter Software took a holistic approach to product creation. We integrated Lean Startup principles, conducted user interviews, and actively participated in customer discovery. This methodology ensured that REDC was tailored to meet real user needs, rather than simply fulfilling a set of predefined specifications.
The REDC project demonstrates our ability to transform industry expertise into powerful, user-centric software solutions. By combining technical prowess with a deep understanding of the target market, PS created a product that gained hundreds of active users through word-of-mouth alone, maintaining 100% uptime and zero security incidents over the past four years.
Opportunity: Real estate developers needed a more efficient way to perform initial "back-of-the-envelope" analysis for potential deals. Existing solutions were either too complex or too simplistic, leaving a gap in the market for a user-friendly yet comprehensive tool.
Solution: Porter Software developed REDC as a web application built with ReactJS and Python, deployed on Google Cloud Platform. The team focused on creating an intuitive user experience that allowed users to sign up and start analyzing deals immediately, without a lengthy onboarding process. This approach directly addressed the need for quick, reliable assessments in the early stages of deal evaluation.
Opportunity: The non-technical client had a deep understanding of the real estate market but lacked the expertise to translate that knowledge into a software product. This gap between industry insight and technical implementation often leads to misaligned products that fail to meet user needs.
Solution: PS implemented a robust design phase, including technical specifications and design mockups, to ensure alignment between the client's vision and the final product. The team's iterative development process, combined with regular demos to potential users, allowed for continuous refinement of the product. This approach ensured that the final version of REDC accurately reflected both the client's expertise and user requirements.
Opportunity: Many software development projects fail to gain traction due to a lack of understanding of the target market and user behavior. There was a need to create a product that would be immediately useful and adopted by real estate professionals.
Solution: Porter Software went beyond typical development practices by introducing Lean Startup principles into the process. We conducted user interviews and participated in customer discovery, gathering crucial insights that informed product decisions. This approach resulted in a tool that effectively replaced traditional "back-of-the-envelope" analysis, meeting a specific need identified through market research.
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