The Missing Marketplace for Short-Term Rental Investors | Brianna Camp

Brianna Camp (00:00)

So when people have steady bookings they obviously have a decent amount of revenue and they’re gonna think, hey, let me expand right away. I would recommend holding off on that. invest in yourself, invest in your business. do a deep dive of what your business actually is offering right now. do you have the reliable team or can you get a little bit more reliable? are there any tools that you could use to automate some of your business already to give you more time to then obviously expand? and then also just growing your network, investing in

that network could allow you to have growth faster, better growth as well. so anything that can create efficiency for you, more opportunities and then also just the long term value.

Scott Bursey (01:07)

Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey Glad you’re with us. Today we’re pleased to be joined by Brianna Camp, founder of STREXYL a platform built to bring the short-term rental world together. Brianna spent years in corporate leadership as an ALDI district manager. Then she made the leap.

Today she manages and invests in rentals of her own, and she builds for the people she works beside. Listeners get ready to hear how a host built the platform where trust comes first. Brianna, welcome to the show.

Brianna Camp (01:43)

Thank you. Welcome. happy to be here, Scott.

Scott Bursey (01:46)

Awesome having you here and to help our listeners get up to speed. Please give us the ninety second highlight reel if you will, of how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Brianna Camp (01:57)

Yeah, of course. so like you said, I was a district manager for ALDI for about three years. during that time I realized I wanted to work for myself rather than working for other people. So real estate is definitely one of those paths you could do that. so I decided to jump into real estate. I got my real estate license and then I didn’t have much capital. So short term rental industry is definitely one that people can get involved in quickly with low capital. so I joined a mastermind there and I was able to get my first property.

in this past March. and I launched it within a month. So that was awesome. so now I am a host and I wanted to expand my business. I wanted to be a co-host for other posts. If you’re not familiar with what that is, it’s essentially a property manager where you deal with all the daily operations of having hosts or sorry, having guests. And when I went to Go Expand, there weren’t really any platforms available professionally. So you’re going to Facebook groups where you don’t know who you’re dealing with. posts get buried. So if I found

something. it was from three weeks ago and that’s not very helpful. and LinkedIn, of course it’s always a good place, but not necessarily real estate focused. So I saw that gap in the industry and decided to create STREXYL which stands for Short-Term Rental Exchange. So on there you can expand your business, connect with other industry professionals, and really just grow your business.

Scott Bursey (03:07)

Thanks for walking us through that. That’s fascinating. What really caught my attention about you, Brianna, was the way you’ve been able to put trust first and build around it. you host in a world where people get burned in group chats every week. So you made the ID check the price of entry and you really built the room around it. Taking that a step further.

Every member of STREXYL is ID checked. What does that one rule do for trust on the platform?

Brianna Camp (03:37)

Yeah. so obviously when you’re wanting to expand your business, you want to be able to trust the person you’re talking to and any deal that you want to create. so having everyone be ID-verified ensures that everybody on the platform is a real person. It’s not an AI bot, not a scammer. They definitely are also there to grow their business as well. So I’m just really trying to build a space where people feel comfortable working with others to expand their business.

Scott Bursey (04:38)

How do members feel that difference in the first week, that trust factor?

Brianna Camp (04:42)

it grows their confidence to expand their business and it obviously allows them to grow their business faster because they know they don’t have to jump through that extra step of making sure the other person drilled, they already know that they are.

Scott Bursey (04:53)

Thanks for laying that out for our listeners. Curious to know, Brianna, you’ve said the first wall is trust. People hear new platform and they think scam. How do you get past the first wall?

Brianna Camp (05:05)

I’ve just really been leaning in on being transparent with people. I wanna show them the value that STREXYL does offer and being transparent is one of the quickest ways to do that. and like you said, establishing trust is the number one key. another thing that I’ve been doing is just leaning into the credibility factor. I am the founder, I am the one reaching out to you, so I’m not hiding behind a company. So

I’m able to kind of showcase the fact that I have the expertise needed for them to also be successful.

Scott Bursey (05:30)

I guess the big question is what is one thing you are testing to make that first step easier?

Brianna Camp (05:36)

just being transparent with the fact that they do have to get ID verified. always kind of showing that yes, it’s a new platform, but other big name brands also are doing it. So before you’re a host on Airbnb, you have to get your ID verified. If you want to post something on Zillow or Furnished Finder, you also have to do that. so kind of just comparing it to those bigger names as well.

Scott Bursey (05:55)

Where would you like your business in twelve months from now?

Brianna Camp (05:59)

I want it to be the go to for the short term rental industry. I want people to obviously go there when they think of short term rentals, they’re going to STREXYL and people are also word of mouth, recommending it. hey, I have a friend who wants to get into it, where should they go? They would obviously recommend STREXYL

Scott Bursey (06:12)

And for our listeners that are tuning in and they’re thinking to themselves, Hey, this is fascinating and this is somebody that I like. what would you like them to know first about STREXYL

Brianna Camp (06:23)

it was built for this industry by someone in the industry, which I think is really cool. there’s a lot of platforms out there that are built from the outside in, but this was really built from the inside out.

Scott Bursey (06:32)

Now we wanna ask you this. Your listings cover services, lease takeovers, and turnkey homes. Where is the open lane for a platform like yours?

Brianna Camp (07:19)

so I said, when I identified this gap in the industry because I was trying to expand, I was trying to find properties. I was going on one platform. Then I was trying to find a real estate agent to help me going on another platform. just trying to learn about the real estate industry, another platform. So I constantly had multiple tabs open. I’d had to make so many accounts, it was so confusing, constantly getting blasted with emails. So STREXYL really takes all of those platforms and creates a centralized place. so this is honestly the first in the industry. So

that open lane I saw that opportunity and I ran with it.

Scott Bursey (07:47)

Brianna, out of operators, investors, and agents, who do you want in the door next?

Brianna Camp (07:53)

Yeah, definitely real estate agents individually, but they are able to offer their services and properties that they’re willing to sell or representing to sell, I should say. so because the platform is dual marketplace, people are able to post their profile services. so co-hosts, agents and investors, and then properties as well, but agents have the ability to post both.

Scott Bursey (08:11)

Thank you for walking us through that step by step. And Brianna, this is something that I’ve been wanting to ask you. What could potentially knock a young platform off course in the next year?

Brianna Camp (08:22)

This is definitely the biggest challenge. I would say the cold start problem. So being able to fill the marketplace with quality, number one, and then also just the numbers as well. I want people to come on the platform and use it right away, but if there’s no listings, it’s very hard for them to use. So just making sure I am filling the marketplace with quality specifically first. and also leaning into the user retention, I want people to continue to use STREXYL

I want them to grow their business, so I want them to go to STREXYL make a deal, Wow, that was so easy. Let me go back to STREXYL to keep growing my business.

Scott Bursey (08:50)

Wow, what a breakdown. Now, hypothetically, if a bigger player copied the idea, what would still be yours?

Brianna Camp (08:58)

I’m very adaptable and always trying to be one step ahead. So if somebody is going to copy me, STREXYL offers so many features. So you’re able to connect with somebody, find a listing, make the deal on the platform, there’s a messaging feature, so sending documents, Google meeting within the platform, as well as getting the education forum piece. So it is very complex platform, but if somebody were to mimic it, they might not have all of the features.

So that’s number one. And number two, like I said, being adaptable, I am very open to feedback. So collecting the feedback from the users and then actively taking their feedback and implementing it into the platform will allow them to keep coming back to me.

Scott Bursey (09:32)

Thanks for that perspective. Brianna curious to know, you ran districts for ALDI before all this. What did those years teach you that you use in the build today?

Brianna Camp (09:44)

so ALDI, I might be a little bit biased, but they are a great business model, have a great concept. So working there made me realize that that’s one piece of it, but execution is the next piece, which is equally as important. So understanding your customer base, always adapting to whatever they need and constantly looking to improve. I did that every day walking into the store, so now I’m keeping that mindset when building this off the ground.

Scott Bursey (10:05)

And how does hosting your own rental shape what goes into the product?

Brianna Camp (10:09)

Yeah. so I know exactly what it takes to host a rental, I know what it takes to get there and then what it takes to the aftermath as well. So having all of that perspective in mind is what allowed me to build STREXYL for the people in the industry.

Scott Bursey (10:22)

Who are the people in your corner right now, the ones you lean on in your operation?

Brianna Camp (10:28)

so like you said, I am the sole founder and sole CEO of the company. So it is an independent project, but I am lucky to be supported by great friends and family who keep me optimistic about it no matter what the day brings. and then also just other people in the industry. Like I said, I was part of a investor academy mastermind. So leaning into those connections, hearing their stories, their perspectives, that also allows me to build STREXYL.

Scott Bursey (10:51)

Those are the types of connections right there that change a business. That’s awesome. Brianna, let’s dive deep. If a host listening has steady bookings and a bigger idea of their own, where should they put their money first in your view?

Brianna Camp (11:06)

So when people have steady bookings they obviously have a decent amount of revenue and they’re gonna think, hey, let me expand right away. I would recommend holding off on that. invest in yourself, invest in your business. do a deep dive of what your business actually is offering right now. do you have the reliable team or can you get a little bit more reliable? are there any tools that you could use to automate some of your business already to give you more time to then obviously expand? and then also just growing your network, investing in

that network could allow you to have growth faster, better growth as well. so anything that can create efficiency for you, more opportunities and then also just the long term value.

Scott Bursey (11:39)

Thanks for the walkthrough on that. And Brianna, you really have given us a lot of perspective here today on your unique niche. Is there any other additional words of wisdom or a golden nugget or two that you’d like to leave with our listeners?

Brianna Camp (11:53)

Yeah, of course. so with STREXYL, like I said, it is to grow your business. It is truly meant for people helping other people. something great about STREXYL is it’s zero percent commission taken. So the money that you earn is completely yours. it’s not built to, make you successful and take a percentage of success like other platforms out there. it’s truly just to connect people with like minded people and make it easier for you.

Scott Bursey (12:14)

Wow, that is powerful. Thank you for that. Brianna, for those of our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane. Collaborate with you on future deals, perhaps. What’s the best way for them to reach out to you and connect?

Brianna Camp (12:28)

so definitely recommend checking out strexyl.com if you’re looking to grow your business, expand your network, or just get more visibility for any services or properties that you have to offer. We’d love to have you. so you can sign up there as a thank you for having me on the podcast, I am offering a free listing for all of our listeners with promo code Investor Fuel.

Scott Bursey (12:45)

that is sensational. Thank you for that, Brianna. You’re welcome. And Brianna, thank you for joining us on the Real Estate Pros podcast today.

Brianna Camp (12:53)

Thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure.

Scott Bursey (12:55)

It’s been a sincere pleasure. And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you received value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be fueling your tanks with a lineup of Elite Guest, just like Brianna Camp, who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.