Anthony Chow: From Airbnb Hustle to Global Smart Locks, COVID Pivot & the Rise of the Rental Economy – E676

Anthony Chow, Co-founder and CEO of Igloo, joins Jeremy Au to discuss how a side hustle managing Airbnb properties turned into a global proptech company. Anthony explains how operational pain points like guest check-ins led him to build smart lock technology designed for short-term rentals. They explore how early hardware failures forced product redesign, why focusing on a narrow customer segment helped the company stand out, and how a partnership with Airbnb accelerated global growth. Anthony also shares how Igloo expanded from vacation rentals into the broader rental and asset sharing economy, how COVID nearly collapsed the company, and how relocating to the United States helped reboot the business. Finally, he reflects on the leadership shifts required to scale a company across cultures, teams, and global markets.

02:15 Airbnb hosting exposed the real problem: Managing multiple Airbnb units while working full-time made guest check-ins and key handovers painful, which pushed Anthony to build a remote smart lock solution.

03:54 Singapore’s Airbnb ban forced a startup pivot: When short-term rentals became illegal in Singapore, the Airbnb business shut down and the founders turned their internal tool into a product for global hosts.

11:40 Offline smart lock technology unlocked product market fit: Igloo redesigned the product to generate time-based access codes that worked without WiFi, solving reliability problems for remote properties.

12:31 Airbnb partnership accelerated global adoption: Airbnb promoted Igloo to hosts worldwide, helping the company gain distribution partners and manufacturing scale.

18:45 COVID destroyed the core market but revealed a new one: Global lockdowns collapsed vacation rentals while demand from US long-term rental operators started rising.

19:26 The founding team moved to Texas to save the company: Anthony and his partners bought one-way tickets to the United States during COVID to rebuild the business around rental housing.

28:21 Leadership evolved as the company scaled globally: Anthony shifted from working with friends to building a structured organization and managing teams across Asia and the United States.

Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/anthony-chow-rental-tech-shift

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