Block HQ wants to help you find the perfect home through SMS and machine learning

COMPANY
Name: Block HQ
Legal Name: Block HQ Inc
Location: Los Angeles
Founded: 2016
Founder(s): Nick Dazé
Website: https://www.block.app
Social Media Following: 373 Followers on Twitter, 33 Followers on Facebook, 115 Followers on
Instagram
Reviews: N/A

INDUSTRY - Mobile app

Size: $1.3 trillion in 2016
Projections: $6.3 trillion by 2021

Product: Block HQ is a mobile app that helps streamline the process prospective renters go
through when trying to find a new home.
USP: The app gleans information about the renter through a series of SMSes, and uses machine
learning and AI to analyse this information to help quickly find the perfect home.

Introduction
Currently in R&D but open to users for free (at the moment), Block helps prospective renters
moving to LA find homes that suit their needs by learning as much as possible about their renters
through a series of SMS-based conversations, and then matching renters with properties. They
send renters one listing a day based on the information provided, and claim that they “regularly”
find renters homes within a week, whereas the average a person would spend looking for a home
without the app is supposedly 45 days.

Founder Nick Daze says that 25% of Block’s users come from out-of-state, looking to move into
LA, and their most effusive reviews and feedback come from out-of-state users.

The Product

Block uses machine learning and AI to analyse the information collected from users, particularly in
areas like image classification and recognition, to streamline the process of finding the perfect
home that would appeal to different kinds of renters. They also employ on-the-ground Scouts, who
visit rental properties to take reliable stock, high-quality images (including 3D models) of the
spaces available, to provide as comprehensive an idea about the home as possible to the
prospective renter, and to avoid customers acing the unpleasant experience of viewing a home
that looks nothing like the pictures in a listing.

Block also collates self-reported data that renters provide through the process, including after
having found their perfect home, to monitor generational shifts in housing preferences (like shorter
Lyft wait times, walkable neighbourhoods and access to public transport), indicating that its an app
aimed at younger prospective renters.

Origin and Founding Team

Founder Nick Dazé completed his BA from USC in 2006, and has since worked as a product
designer for various companies, including Pose, Bit Kitchen, Fullscreen and Faraday Future. He is
also the founder of an iPhone app called Happy Hour.
Dazé says that he was motivated to start Block after a ghastly experience moving cities with his
wife and 5-month-old child, which was when he realised how difficult the experience was, and how
much potential there was for a product that could streamline and revolutionise this process.

Performance and Trends

Block is associated with LA-based startup incubator Viterbi Startup Garage, and relies on them for
mentorship, guidance and expertise, and Dazé says that they’ve thus far raised a “modest amount”
from angel investors.