Sadly, our origin story does not include any radioactive spiders or exposure to gamma rays.
Vertical City was started by a Condominium Owner that built up some experience from serving on his Condominium Board. To address certain challenges, he was able to leverage his proficiency in software development, machine learning and artificial intelligence to create valuable solutions. After implementing some key changes using his unique solutions, he soon realized that some of his work could help many other Condominium Boards in his community.
The Quick Application of Past Experiences
Directors that serve on Condominium Boards are typically volunteer Owners elected by other Owners during annual general meetings. Given the natural diversity that exists in a group of Condominium Owners, it should come as no surprise that every director will have a unique set of experiences to draw upon when serving on the Board.
In October 2019, our founder joined his Condominium Board and brought with him a unique set of skills and experiences that included:
A computer science degree and extensive experience building complex and commercial grade software
A strong mathematical background that included research projects in the fields of cryptography and computer vision
A wide range of capital markets experiences that included: building quantitative models, managing the risk of large portfolios, and executing orders across many asset classes
Shortly after joining the Board, he was able to leverage his skill set to create a few software solutions to address various challenges the building was facing. Later on he learned these challenges were not unique to his building and many other Condominium Boards in the community faced similar challenges.
Seeing Positive Impacts Early
After being elected to his Board, several opportunities presented themselves where he was able to apply his skill set to create custom tools to address challenges in his Condominium. Some of the early projects included:
Utility Consumption Tool - Using historical utility bills and weather data, he built a utility consumption forecast model to predict expected utility consumption based on the prevailing weather. The tool clearly identified an existing mechanical issue that had been unresolved for the previous two months. The unresolved issue had already cost the Corporation over $100K. Read more here.
Budget Trends - Software was developed to aggregate historical budget information from various sources and to visualize historical trends for any budget line item. The tool enabled the Board to have more efficient and informed budget discussions.
Historical Reserve Fund Analysis - A research effort was undertaken and clearly showed a consistent reserve fund shortfall versus the reserve fund study projections for over 10+ years. The complex analysis allowed his Board to address concerns and be more aligned with projections in the current reserve fund study.
Reserve Fund Management - A forecast tool was built to observe the potential impacts of various reserve fund management actions. Market linked GIC investments were slowly added to the reserve fund in an effort to increase investment returns. The tool continues to evolve to help with the complexity of managing the reserve fund. Read more here.
Community Feedback to Identify Gaps
Connecting with Industry Professionals - Through conversations with professionals across various industries, it slowly became apparent that some of the research and solutions were ahead of the curve and in some cases we shocked some industry experts with our approach.
Other Condominium Boards - Conversations with other Condominium Boards in the community quickly highlighted the lack of solutions and support available for Corporations to address the common challenges that the Condominium community struggle with.
The founder, extremely motivated to help address the gap that was uncovered, created Vertical City to provide support the Condominium community. The objective was to provide an online toolkit that could help everyone address the various common challenges that exist in the community.
On a mission to provide every Condominium Owner in Ontario the tools they need to protect their home and grow their investment
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