Wayline

What do they actually do

Wayline provides an AI Operator for property teams that answers phone, text, and chat 24/7. It handles leasing and maintenance intake, books showings, creates or updates work orders inside the customer’s property‑management system, and warm‑transfers to a human when a situation needs judgment. The service is designed as human + AI: most routine items are handled automatically, with clear escalation paths and context sharing when a person needs to step in (transcripts, ticket history) (Wayline homepage, YC company page).

The product plugs into existing tools rather than replacing them. Wayline advertises integrations with major property stacks (e.g., Entrata, Yardi, AppFolio, Buildium, Zillow, Slack, Gmail) and says customers can get set up quickly, with the YC listing claiming “setup in as little as 24 hours.” All conversations are recorded, transcribed, and indexed so operators can audit and tune playbooks over time (Wayline homepage, YC company page).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Portfolio property managers (regional / multi‑site operators): High call and text volume across buildings makes 24/7 coverage hard; leads and urgent issues slip or get inconsistent handling. They need centralized intake tied to their PMS to avoid missed responses and duplicate work.
• Leasing teams and onsite agents: Time‑sensitive leads and showing requests are lost while staff juggle tours and phone duty, hurting conversion and vacant‑unit revenue. They need quick lead capture and automatic booking into their CRM/calendar so tours happen.
• Maintenance coordinators and facilities managers: Manual intake/triage and vendor selection cause errors and slow repairs. They need accurate intake that creates/updates work orders, sets priority, and notifies vendors without repeated phone calls.
• Front‑desk / reception / concierge staff: Repetitive status checks and after‑hours calls overwhelm small teams, leading to long waits or costly overtime. They need routine requests handled automatically, escalating only complex cases with full context.
• Third‑party operators and hospitality teams: Different client SLAs and PMS/phone setups make standardized response and reporting difficult. They need a plug‑in assistant that works across multiple systems and preserves audit trails and handoffs.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led, short paid pilots via warm intros to regional portfolio managers and third‑party operators, with white‑glove onboarding and tuning; lean on the “setup in as little as 24 hours” promise and capture before/after metrics for case studies (Wayline homepage, YC company page).
• First 50: Stand up a focused SDR/AE motion targeting multi‑site operators and leasing/maintenance leads; reuse the pilot playbook to convert to short‑term contracts while incentivizing referrals, and ship templated integrations (Entrata, Yardi, AppFolio) to cut onboarding time (Wayline homepage).
• First 100: Add channel partnerships with PMS vendors, service firms, and vendor networks; build lightweight self‑serve onboarding and repeatable playbooks, and publish case studies/marketplace listings to drive inbound and channel leads (Wayline homepage).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Wayline targets the U.S. rental market, which they cite as roughly 46 million rental units, positioning the Operator as a front‑desk replacement for that universe (YC company page).

Bottom-up calculation:

Assume 25 million applicable, professionally managed units within the 46 million total, priced at ~$30 per unit per year ($2.50 per unit per month). That implies a TAM of roughly $750 million annually.

Assumptions:

• Applicable segment equals ~25M units (subset of ~46M U.S. rental units) [YC company page].
• Pricing model of ~$2.50 per unit per month for an AI operator covering leasing and maintenance intake.
• TAM assumes 100% adoption within the applicable segment; no attach‑rate discount applied.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Smith.ai: General 24/7 virtual receptionist that mixes AI with live agents to handle calls, lead capture, scheduling, and messaging across industries; overlaps on front‑desk/reception but is broader and less PMS‑specific.
• EliseAI: AI leasing automation for housing: manages leasing conversations, tour scheduling, follow‑ups, and some maintenance routing; overlaps on lead capture, booking, and resident messaging.
• STAN.AI (Stan): AI assistant for property managers and communities with property‑focused automations and integrations; competes on tenant communications and intake in multifamily/student housing.
• Vendoroo: Maintenance coordination and dispatch automation that focuses on vendor selection, approvals, and work‑order workflows; overlaps most with maintenance triage and vendor notifications.
• Super (hiresuper.com): AI receptionist for property teams handling call/text triage, routine inquiry resolution, and escalation; differentiation is depth of backend PMS/work‑order automation and quality of human handoff.