From broker to builder

The Problem

I've been building software solutions for over a decade now. It started long before mortgage broking—back when I was working at IGA and built an Android app in Java to make the store run more efficiently. That early experience taught me something important: the best software comes from people who actually do the work.

When I moved into banking at Greater Bank, I kept building. Internal finance tools to streamline processes. Then at Aussie, I went deeper—building notes automation tools, file processing systems, and document sorting utilities that saved the team countless hours every week. And now at The Lending Lab, where I've taken everything I've learned and turned it into a full product suite.

After moving into mortgage broking, I quickly realised something: the industry was drowning in manual work.

Every morning, I'd spend hours in spreadsheets tracking my trail book. I'd manually check for at-risk loans. I'd chase up compliance documents. I'd reconcile commissions against aggregator statements. All before I could even think about helping clients.

The irony wasn't lost on me. Here I was, helping people secure their financial futures, while my own business was held together by Excel formulas and sticky notes.

The Obsession

My colleagues used to call me the "freak in the Excel sheets." They weren't wrong. I'd spend my nights building elaborate spreadsheets with VBA macros, trying to automate the tedious parts of broking.

But spreadsheets only get you so far. So I taught myself to code. Python first, then TypeScript. I built internal tools to monitor my trail book, flag at-risk clients, and automate compliance workflows.

The results were immediate. I was spending less time on admin and more time with clients. My clawback rate dropped. My book value grew. I started climbing the rankings.

The Realisation

Other brokers started noticing. "How do you keep track of everything?" "How do you know which clients are about to refinance?" "How is your clawback rate so low?"

That's when it clicked. These weren't just my problems. Every broker I knew was fighting the same battles with the same broken tools.

I'd spent years building a competitive advantage for myself. Maybe it was time to level the playing field.

Digital Broker Labs

Digital Broker Labs is the result of everything I've learned as both a broker and a developer. Every product we build solves a problem I've personally experienced.

MyLoanBook came from years of manually tracking my trail book and watching colleagues lose income to unexpected clawbacks.

LoanCompli was born from the frustration of spending hours on compliance paperwork instead of helping clients.

Commercial PowerHub addresses the unique challenges of commercial lending that residential-focused tools completely ignore.

I still run my brokerage at The Lending Lab. I still meet with clients. I still deal with lenders and compliance and everything that comes with the job.

That's the point. I'm not some tech founder who read a report about mortgage broking. I live this every day. Every frustration you have, I've had. Every problem you face, I've faced.

And now I get to fix them—for both of us.