Zeus Living is a company that designs and manages modern homes that can be rented for 30 days or longer across over 125 destinations in the U.S. Through a leading technology platform and the expertise of dedicated hospitality professionals around the country, the company strives to help people live well, and on their terms. Zeus Living drives revenue for owners while taking care of their properties and delivering support to residents, ensuring memorable experiences wherever they choose to stay. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Zeus Living Vice President of Finance Abhinav Swarup, to learn more.
Abhinav Swarup’s Background
Swarup grew up in India, where he attended undergrad at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, and received a bachelor’s degree in technology, specifically electrical engineering. Swarup said:
“I also attended the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, where I received my postgraduate diploma in management. My first job was with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in their Corporate Finance & Investment Banking practice in Mumbai, India. I worked across industries advising small to mid-market businesses on M&A, private equity fundraising, valuations, and due diligence. In 2011, I moved to the U.S. to get my MBA in finance from Yale University. Post MBA, I have worked as a finance leader at big tech companies like Amazon, Netflix, and PayPal before moving on to roles with startups Patreon and Zeus Living. At present, I lead the finance team at Zeus Living, a furnished housing rental company.”
“At Zeus Living, I lead both the strategic finance and accounting teams. On the strategic finance side, my responsibilities include owning company-level planning and forecasting, formulating a growth strategy for the company, and driving improvements in the unit economics while working with company founders and business heads. On the accounting side, since most of the day-to-day work is done by our accounting team, I come in whenever there is a need for strategic decision-making in areas like our accounting policies, redesigning chart of accounts, and finalizing inventory management processes, to name a few.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for Zeus Living so far? Also, any notable memories from your time at Patreon, Amazon, Netflix, or PayPal? Swarup reflected:
“My favorite memories are from major project-level wins in which I have had a hand either on the planning and development side or on the execution side. A few include:
Launching the unfurnished rental business at Zeus Living has become a cornerstone of our strategy moving forward.
While at Patreon, I enjoyed working on the launch of a native video hosting and the launch of a multi-currency ability where patrons could pay in the currency of their choice, and creators would receive pledges in the currency of their choice.
While at Netflix, I was heavily involved with our partnerships with Google and Apple, where I negotiated deal terms for revenue share, bounty, and billing fees. Not to mention engaging with partners and keeping track of deal performance post-launch, in particular, forecasting for millions of dollars in expenses incurred and resulting subscriber acquisition and revenue.”
Challenges Faced
What are some challenges Swarup faced in building a finance organization from the ground up, especially in the current macroeconomic climate? Swarup acknowledged:
“The main challenge is recruiting the correct people on the team and balancing investor expectations with internal plans. It is very important to hire the right people who possess the specific skill sets you are looking for. I look for prospects who are strategic and analytical, have strong Excel modeling skills, and have a good temperament to partner with diverse internal teams on strategic initiatives. It is also important to consider the level at which one is hiring. The more senior level a hire is, the more focus there is on leadership and communication skills. In the current macro climate, these realities have not changed.”
Evolution Of Property Management Technology
How has property management technology evolved over the last several years? Swarup noted:
“Prop Tech, as the industry is called in the startup world, has been through many changes. Technology has made a big impact on improving pricing strategy, lowering the cost of operations, and providing a better experience for both homeowners and residents. But the more important changes have been to the business model side.”
“We have seen various contract types emerge, such as master leases with minimum guarantees for homeowners on monthly rent payouts, revenue sharing contracts where owners and property manager share both the upside and downside risks in rents, and revenue pools where multiple homeowners can combine their properties into a pool and share both upside and downside risks amongst themselves.”
Benefits Of AI In Property Management
What are the benefits of leveraging data and AI in property management? Swarup pointed out:
“Property management is a relatively lower margin business in a highly competitive industry. This means data is fundamental to operating a property management business. We need data on rental rates in any given area to price the apartments, and we need data to measure our financial and operational health continuously.”
“The insights we get from this data are further used to improve and make existing processes more efficient. AI methods have been used in property management for quite some time on pricing strategy. But more recently, with the development of generative AI, there is a lot of opportunity to streamline the customer service side of the business. But one must be careful that the AI strategies implemented ultimately improve the customer experience.”
Using Data And AI For Cost Efficiencies
What are a few ways Zeus Living is using data and AI to be more cost-effective in property management? Swarup explained:
“We are data first and use data in all our decision-making, whether pricing, determining which areas to grow into, where to advertise our listings, and how to reduce costs, to name a few. More recently, we created a detailed view of the company financials based on unit economics (revenue earned per home – costs incurred per home) for all business activities we engage in to rent out a home like marketing, onboarding a home, assembling furniture, inspection, cleaning, renting out, and turnover operations.”
“This gives us a very good view of where we could optimize our revenue and costs. On the AI side, we use AI methodologies mainly to determine pricing. As the generative AI field becomes more mature, I anticipate new tools will become available which could have a positive impact on customer service, marketing, and even finance.”
Success Story
Can you share any success stories you have seen over your career? Swarup replied:
“One that stands out in my current role at Zeus Living, is an initiative where we’ve focused a lot of our efforts over the past year and a half on optimizing our processes. As a result of the team’s hard work, we have been able to reduce our cash burn by more than half and are on track to break even.”
“This was a result of a lot of planning at the company level and mainly involved reimagining our operations in a big way. It also enabled us to be more efficient in improving our revenue through better collections and pricing. Additionally, this allowed us to work on improving our working capital cycle to match our cash outflows with cash inflows.”
Differentiating From Competition
In your expertise, what are three differentiators property management companies should do to stand out from the competition? Swarup affirmed:
“The first thing companies must focus on is the customer experience. No matter where a property management company lists its homes, it’s important to remember that customer reviews are what drive traffic and reputation. In addition, search rankings on various platforms consider customer reviews, without which people will not even get to see your offerings.”
“Second is the use of data. Property management is a low margin highly competitive industry, so it is crucial that companies use data to optimize both revenue and costs. An optimized business model is a big differentiator.”
“The third is a company’s location strategy. As is often said, real estate is all about location. Property management is no different. In the end, the success of a property manager depends on where the homes are located, which determines the rent as well as the demand for the homes. Both inputs (rents and demands) must be optimized to create a successful property management business.”
Future Goals
What are some of your goals as a finance leader? Swarup concluded:
“As a finance leader, my primary focus is to serve as a trusted advisor to the executive team and help them formulate and execute the strategic vision. Additionally, I aim to focus much of my attention on managing investor expectations when it comes to our performance versus the company guidance.”
