3 Questions With… Varun Krishna, Rocket Companies

It didn’t take much to convince Varun Krishna, the Chief Executive Officer of Rocket Companies and Chief Executive Officer of Rocket Mortgage, to join the retail mortgage giant last year. The role provided the Intuit veteran with an opportunity to test out transformative new fintech strategies, think through regulatory and cultural challenges, and guide a large company through the most ground-breaking of new platform shifts: generative AI. 

a16z General Partner Alex Rampell, who joined Rocket’s Board of Directors as an independent director earlier this year, recently spoke to Krishna at a16z’s Connect/Fintech event about how he’s approaching his newest role, how Rocket thinks about the intersection of AI and fintech, and the future of real estate. 

Here’s an edited excerpt from their conversation. 

Alex Rampell: In startup land, we often talk about the concept of 0-to-1 and building a product from scratch. Rocket is a multi-billion dollar company, which is probably more akin to 1-to-a-billion, or 1-to-infinity. Given the size of the company, how do you start thinking about growth, especially in light of the revolutionary change being brought on by generative AI?

Varun Krishna: The starting point for me was really founded in learning from companies that understand 0-to-1 and 1-to-100. These are two different things, and they require two different types of teams and people. In the 0-to-1 world, you need more entrepreneurial types who have seen failure, have endurance, and understand product-market fit. In the 1-to-100 or 1-to-a-million world, you’re looking for people who understand growth, have a leadership mindset, and understand analytics. Using product as an example, because that’s in my DNA, your 0-to-1 product manager is obsessed with customer experimentation so they can figure out product-market fit, whereas your 1-to-100 product manager knows how to write query language and is looking at analytics every day. 

In the AI world, that’s exacerbated, because you have to understand a different level of technology, a different scale, a different pace. There’s a big, big learning curve. So, you have to figure out how to inject your company with talent that can infect the rest of the populace — you have to figure out how to drive transformation in a bigger way. 

Alex Rampell: Gen AI models are known to hallucinate results, which is fine when you’re writing song lyrics, but is disastrous for a regulatory-heavy industry like fintech. You can’t have a Rocket chatbot tell a customer they can get a 1% 30-year mortgage, just because the customer threatened the bot, for example. How do you think about the integration of AI into fintech companies and products? 

Varun Krishna: The bar for accuracy in fintech is extremely high, and unlike with open-ended generative AI, in fintech, when users ask a question, they want a specific answer. I think fintech companies must think about how to put guardrails around the prompt or origination thesis, so that users can get a more specific answer. Additionally, as we’re experimenting, we have a higher threshold of accuracy. We also have a high threshold on risk, brand, security, reliability – all those things. 

What’s also tricky is figuring out how you experiment at scale. I think the practice of perfecting early adopter programs, where you can work with power users who are more tolerant of things going wrong, is really hard to do in fintech. But it’s incredibly necessary. 

Alex Rampell: The National Association of Realtors recently settled a lawsuit that could eliminate the traditional agent’s 5-6% commission and effectively change the way real estate agents are paid. This will obviously have a big impact for Rocket and the real estate industry at large. What’s your take on this change?

Varun Krishna: This is big news. When you look at the mortgage industry as a whole, it’s a massive $1.5 trillion total addressable market with the vast majority of that being purchase transactions. If you take that and say, “Hey, 6% of that is what the realtors command,” that’s a $90 billion market that is on the brink of disruption. So, we’re excited about that, because fundamentally, our thesis is around value creation for the consumer, and this ultimately passes more value to them. Whether you’re the buyer or the seller, you’re either saving more money or you’re making more money, and the commoditization of knowledge plays out. Then, when you add AI on top of it, to provide personalization and simplification, and add transparency to things like fee structures, appraisals, remodeling fees… I could go on and on. It’s going to be a better world for consumers.

Learn more about the intersection of AI and fintech

• BarbAIrians at the Gate: The Financial Opportunity of AI
• More Countries, More Problems: Selling AI Products Around the World is Still Too Hard
• Money on Autopilot: The Future of AI x Personal Finance

Connect with a16z

• Interested in receiving this newsletter on a monthly basis? Subscribe here.
• Want more insights from a16z? Subscribe to our suite of newsletters here.

The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements; a16z has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.