a16z@a16z10h ago

a16z's Angela Strange sits down with @Valon's Andrew Wang and Linda Du to unpack what it takes to rebuild the infrastructure underneath a $13 trillion mortgage market that still relies heavily on systems designed before the internet. Linda and Andrew explain why Valon chose the hardest path: becoming a regulated mortgage servicer, translating decades of federal and state regulation into software, and proving the platform on its own loans before selling it to the industry. That foundation made Valon roughly 3x as efficient as traditional servicing and created the system of record it is now using to bring AI into complex mortgage workflows. They also discuss what AI makes possible on top of that infrastructure, from agents handling long-tail servicing tasks to voice interfaces and more personalized customer experiences. And they explain why deploying the technology into large regulated enterprises is ultimately as much a change-management challenge as a technical one. 01:02 From Soros to mortgage math 03:00 $13 trillion still on 1960s systems 09:38 Why build the whole stack from scratch 11:47 The 3-5 year licensing gauntlet 15:50 Turning 50 states of regulation into code 18:00 Winning the first customers 22:34 What AI unlocks now 29:47 Everything is servicing 32:52 $200M in deals within six months YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBDGuT6EGPY @wangandrewd @xlindadu @astrange