# Ownwell Financial Model

Automated property tax appeal and monitoring service that charges a contingency fee only on successful tax reductions.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/ownwell
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/ownwell.xlsx
- Category: Fintech
- Model type: Marketplace / GMV
- Funding round: Seed
- Funding: $5.75M
- Founded: 2022
- Geography: United States (LA County example cited; national ambition implied). [DECK]
- Customer: B2B

## About the company

Ownwell automates property-tax appeals and ongoing tax monitoring for homeowners and property investors. Customers pay nothing upfront; the company earns only when it successfully reduces a property’s assessed tax burden.

This contingency structure aligns the service with customer outcomes but makes revenue dependent on case conversion and realised savings rather than subscriptions. Direct mail and digital outreach create the acquisition funnel for a service that can expand into adjacent property-finance products over time.

The model should forecast leads, appeal filings, win rate, average annual tax savings, and Ownwell’s 25% contingency fee. Case-processing capacity, acquisition cost, timing from filing to resolution, and repeat monitoring should be modelled explicitly because they govern cash conversion and operating leverage.

## What's included

- 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions
- Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule
- Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking
- Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check
- Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR
- Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention

## Product & value proposition

- Online platform for property owners to track their real estate asset and expenses.
- Core initial product: property tax monitoring covering three services - Property Tax Appeals, Missing Exemptions, Property Tax Refunds.
- ML-powered personalised targeting to reach owners who are over-assessed and can save.
- No-win-no-fee: 25% contingency fee charged only when taxes are successfully reduced.
- Average annual property savings delivered to customers: $1,457.
- Longer-term vision: expand beyond property taxes to become a full real estate financial management platform ("manage your largest asset like an investor").

## Market

- US residential real estate stock: $12.2 trillion mismanaged by property owners.
- Annual property tax overpayment by US owners: $40 billion/year.
- Total annual single-family property taxes levied (2020): $323 billion, up 5.4% YoY - largest 4-year increase.
- 65% of owners are overpaying on real estate expenses.
- 84% of owners do not understand the financial products associated with real estate.
- No explicit SAM/SOM segmentation or addressable-customer-count provided.

## Revenue model

- Single revenue stream (at time of deck): 25% contingency fee on property tax savings achieved.
- Zero upfront cost to customer; fee triggered only on a successful reduction.
- Customer acquisition: outbound direct mail and digital outreach (Mehmet A. review references receiving a mailer; Sudhir S. review references being reached out to).
- Longer-term revenue expansion implied: additional financial products / services for property owners (slide 3 references "complex financial products" as an opportunity), but no pricing or timeline given.

## Traction & metrics

- Google Reviews rating: 5.0 stars with 125 reviews.
- Review dates span November 2020 – October 2021, indicating active operations for at least ~12 months by the time of the deck.
- No revenue figures, customer count, case volume, or growth rate disclosed.
- Sample savings outcomes from reviews: ~$1,600 (Diana B.), ~$1,000 (Mehmet A., >10% assessment reduction), thousands saved (Robert H.), tens of thousands in valuation reduction (Geneva B.).
- Product case study: Tax assessment reduced from $6,260,000 to $5,800,000 post-Ownwell → $5,000 tax savings, 8% bill reduction.

## Unit economics

- Average annual property savings per customer: $1,457.
- Implied average revenue per successful case: $1,457 × 25% = ~$364.

## Competition / moat

- Competitive framing is indirect: deck positions against the status quo (expensive/inaccessible traditional real estate advisors) rather than naming direct competitors.
- Moat claims:
  - ML-driven targeting to find over-assessed properties at scale.
  - Automation of the appeal process makes it scalable where human-advisory firms cannot go.
  - Advisor team: 34 years tax assessment experience, 25 years real estate law, 40 years real estate investing, 62 years consumer tech.
  - Property tax appeal process has moved virtual ("The New Normal"), increasing scalability.
- No direct competitor matrix or named competitors shown.

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

- Co-founders:
  - Colton Pace - Co-founder, CEO (background: Compass, Sonder)
  - Joseph Noor - Co-founder, CTO (background: NVIDIA, Landry's, Selina)
  - Frank DiZenzo, CPA - Co-founder, CRO (background: Vulcan Capital, KPMG, EY)
- Investors (existing): Wonder Ventures, Founder Collective, Long Journey Ventures.
- Advisors: backgrounds in Consumer Tech (62 yrs), Tax Assessment (34 yrs), Real Estate Law (25 yrs), Real Estate Investing (40 yrs). Also Madrona Venture Group and Keller Williams listed.

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## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why:** Contingency-fee service / volume-based revenue model. Ownwell earns a % of savings on each successfully closed case - this is closest to a professional-services or marketplace model with pure variable revenue. Not SaaS (no subscription), not DTC inventory. The right frame is a **case-volume × win-rate × average-savings × fee-rate** P&L with outbound CAC and scalable ops costs.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 3 years monthly (Y1–Y2 monthly detail; Y3 quarterly), given early stage and rapidly growing volume.

- **Key drivers & assumptions:**

| Driver | Value | Source |
| -- | -- | -- |
| Annual property tax overpayment pool (US) | $40B | - |
| Average savings per winning case | $1,457 | - |
| Contingency fee rate | 25% | - |
| Implied revenue per winning case | ~$364 | - |
| Win rate (% of submitted appeals that succeed) | 60–70% | - |
| Monthly case growth rate | 10–15% MoM | - |
| CAC (outbound mail + digital) | $50–$150 per submitted case | - |
| Case processing time (submission to close) | 2–6 months | - |
| Gross margin | 60–70% | - |
| States served | Expanding from CA; national ambition | - |

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
  - **Bear:** Lower win rate (50%), slower case ramp (5% MoM), higher CAC, single-state.
  - **Base:** 65% win rate, 10% MoM case growth, CAC ~$100, 3-state expansion by Y2.
  - **Bull:** 70%+ win rate, 15% MoM growth, CAC falls with word-of-mouth, national by Y2, cross-sell of additional products begins Y2.

- **Required sheets / outputs:**
  1. **Assumptions** - all drivers in one tab with toggle for scenario.
  2. **Case funnel** - prospects reached → cases submitted → cases won → revenue recognised (with lag for processing time).
  3. **Revenue** - monthly: cases won × average savings × fee rate.
  4. **COGS** - agent/attorney fees on winning cases (variable); any data/platform costs.
  5. **Opex** - headcount, marketing/CAC, tech, G&A.
  6. **P&L** - gross profit, EBITDA.
  7. **Cash flow** - important: revenue is recognised ~2–6 months after case submission; model the cash timing gap.
  8. **Unit economics summary** - CAC, revenue per case, payback, LTV (assuming repeat/annual monitoring).
  9. **Scenario toggle / sensitivity** - win rate vs. case volume matrix.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Ownwell financial model free?

Yes. The Ownwell model is a free Excel download with live formulas.

### Can I change the assumptions?

Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.