Founder Charles Chan built the app as a side project and later raised a seed round to form a company and hire staff.

Small landlords who downloaded the iOS and Android apps to track rent and expenses became its first paying users.

Startup Rollercoaster

The Spark

While living in London, Charles Chan purchased a rental property and was frustrated by the lack of simple, well-designed tools to manage it. He built a minimal app to track rent and expenses and released it on the App Store as a side project.

Charles has a background in software development and worked in firms like Datacom and ASB before starting Landlord Studio.

The Peak

The app received positive feedback and downloads from landlords around the world. It added features like support for multiple currencies, rental accounting, tax reporting, and document storage.

By mid-2024, Landlord Studio was trusted by over 80,000 landlords and property managers in more than 60 countries.

The Drop

Supporting paying customers globally placed demands on infrastructure, customer support, and maintaining regulatory compliance (for example with bank feeds, tax laws, etc.).

The dual demands of developing the product further while offering stability pushed Charles to move beyond solo work.

The Reset

Charles Chan raised seed funding to hire a dedicated team and transform Landlord Studio from a solo developer’s side project into a full business.

They developed a web platform in addition to mobile apps, added rental listing syndication via partnerships with channels like Zillow and Zumper, and enhanced features like tenant screening, document storage, and financial dashboards.

The Discipline

The company focused on building global availability, simplicity of pricing plans, and an emphasis on UX and customer support.

They also invested in features aimed at streamlining tax time, automating income/expense categorisation, and integrating bank feeds where regulation permits.

The Climb

Landlord Studio expanded its market presence especially in the US and UK, offering free and subscription-based tiers (e.g. GO and PRO plans).

Its listing syndication feature (2024) allowed landlords to post vacancies to major sites automatically, boosting visibility and lead generation.

Read more

• https://www.landlordstudio.com/features/find-tenants
• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mozzarellalabs.landlordstudio
• https://matchstiq.io/interviews/founder-and-ceo-at-landlord-studio

New Zealand Start-a-Startup Wiki