Rently Found PMF After Two Failed Ideas — Here’s What Changed

It’s easy to talk about pivots in hindsight — but living through them is messy. Especially when you’ve already shipped, burned time, and lost momentum.

That’s what Kutlay Kunbi, co-founder and CTO of Rently, experienced first-hand. Rently wasn’t an overnight success. In fact, it started with two failed products. But on their third try — after stripping things down, listening harder, and avoiding the urge to “build just in case” — they found the signal.

Now they’re growing 25% month-over-month in Singapore, expanding into new markets, and building financial infrastructure for a category that’s long been neglected.

Key Takeaways

• Rently went through two pivots before finding product-market fit
• Early products were overbuilt and under-validated
• The team stopped building features before testing the problem
• Their third product — deposit financing — hit an underserved pain
• The turning point came from embedding with operators and landing a flagship partner

The First Two Ideas: Built Too Much, Too Soon

Rently started with a contract automation engine for real estate agents. The problem? Agents didn’t care. Adoption was zero.

Then they pivoted into property management tooling. Again — too early, not sticky, and not aligned with what the market actually needed.

“We spent a year building. We shipped. And we couldn’t sell it. We failed — twice.”

The team had tech, but no traction. And the root cause? They were building based on ideas — not pain.

What Worked: Starting with the Pain, Not the Product

In August 2023, everything changed.

One of the co-founders pitched a new idea: deposit financing. In markets like Singapore and Hong Kong, renters often pay huge upfront deposits — which many can’t afford. Meanwhile, landlords deal with fraud, flaky payments, and low-trust dynamics.

Rently created “Rent Care,” a financing product that: • Lets tenants move in without upfront cash
• Protects landlords with AML, credit, and digital ID verification
• Bundles into rent, making it a high-priority payment

The biggest unlock? Partnering with Habit — a co-living brand who agreed to make Rent Care their default offering in multiple countries.

“We went from being a nice-to-have to part of the rent itself — and everything changed.”

What They Did Differently This Time

Instead of overbuilding, Rently: • Ran manual workflows before writing any code
• Validated the market by closing deals before building product
• Embedded with operators to understand emotional pain, not just technical friction
• Reused existing tools (contract engine, marketplace) without assuming they'd create value on their own

“Now, if we can’t test it manually, we don’t build it. We only write code after we prove demand.”

The Big Lesson: Churn Starts at the Idea Stage

You don’t lose customers when they cancel — you lose them the moment you build something they didn’t really need.

“We learned the hard way: ideas are worthless until someone pays for them. And pain is the only validation that matters.”

Rently now uses this process everywhere — from testing new products in Dubai to expanding their core offering in Asia. They’re focused, cash-efficient, and only build what people have already shown they’ll use.

Final Thought: Don’t Fall in Love with the Build

“Our first product was beautiful. But no one wanted it. Now we test with docs and conversations — and it works.”

Book a Free AI Assessment if you’re building something big but unsure if it’s the right thing — or if you’ve shipped, stalled, and need a process that brings you back to signal.