In this episode of Mortgage Tech Talks, host Tom Hall sits down with Rich Spence, President of Mortgage Centre Canada (part of the DLCG network), for a powerful deep dive into the past, present, and future of mortgage tech.

Rich shares:

• His origin story launching Nexxa, the first web-based CRM for brokers

• The mindset and grind that helped scale to 7,000+ users

• How DLCG and Velocity are future-proofing the mortgage industry

• Why emotional intelligence is just as important as AI

• And how consumer expectations are forcing innovation faster than ever

Whether you're a broker, lender, tech founder, or industry leader—this episode will challenge how you think about change, innovation, and what it really takes to stay relevant.

📍 Timestamps 00:00 – The future belongs to brokers who text 00:20 – The power of DLCG’s network and tech adoption 01:00 – Meet today’s guest: Rich Spence 02:00 – The untold origin story of Nexxa CRM 05:00 – How they scaled to 7,000 mortgage brokers 08:30 – Building software by hand—then hitting the phones 10:00 – What brokers can learn from DLCG's growth 14:00 – The evolution of Velocity and its rapid release cycle 18:00 – Why persistence and iteration drive tech success 21:00 – AI, cold calls, and the irreplaceable human touch 25:00 – How brokers need to adapt to Gen Z and tech trends 29:00 – What your clients expect (and how DLCG is building it) 34:00 – Why the right partnerships matter in 2025 and beyond

🔗 Connect with Rich Spence Instagram: @richspence3

LinkedIn: @richspence3

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#MortgageTech #DLCG #RichSpence #VelocityCRM #MortgageBroker #AIInMortgages #BrokerInnovation #CRM #MortgageIndustry #TechForBrokers

In this episode of Mortgage Tech Talks, Tom sits down with Karen Wilson — founder of Broker Complete and VP of Training & Operations at DLC Elite Team — to unpack what truly drives success in today’s mortgage industry: trust, accountability, community, and process efficiency.

Karen shares her journey from running a successful fitness business to becoming a leader in the mortgage world, drawing powerful lessons about relationship-building, creating accountability structures, and optimizing your business for long-term growth.

If you’re a broker looking to strengthen your client relationships, scale your business, and implement more effective systems — this conversation is packed with practical insights.

👉 Follow Karen on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokercomplete/

Timestamps:

00:00 – Why trust is the most valuable currency in today’s mortgage industry 01:11 – Welcome and intro: Who is Karen Wilson? 02:45 – Karen’s background in the fitness industry and transferable skills 05:19 – Rebranding from fitness to finance: The learning curve 08:06 – How accountability groups helped Karen scale her mortgage business 09:13 – Building an accountability call that delivers real industry value 11:30 – The "give, give, give, ask" principle for long-term relationship-building 14:36 – Why trust-building matters more than rates or speed 15:29 – Leveraging tech to scale personal connections 16:40 – Types of social media content that actually build trust 19:14 – Human, imperfect content vs polished posts 20:14 – Coaching agents to recognise when to seek help and training 22:00 – Mapping your client process from lead gen to post-close 25:28 – Customising your mortgage process to match your strengths 27:44 – Process first — then pick the right tech or team 29:18 – The wrong way to implement new tools — and how to avoid it 32:14 – Why free services often have low follow-through — and how accountability changes that 34:12 – Building a brokerage culture of high standards and high expectations 35:18 – The value of surrounding yourself with high achievers 37:05 – Recognising opportunities and relationships that move your business forward 39:22 – How to connect with Karen and learn more about Broker Complete and DLC Elite Team

In this episode of Mortgage Tech Talks, I’m pulling back the curtain on everything I’ve learned building BluMortgage—and what I’d do differently if I were starting from scratch today.

I’m walking you through how I’d think about: → Building a simple, addictive product → Structuring a freemium model → Leveraging referrals over paid ads → Using AI (the right way) → And why simplicity always wins

Whether you’re in mortgage tech or any kind of SaaS, this episode will give you a fresh framework to think about how to build and scale your next product.

👇 Full timestamps below — enjoy the episode and leave a comment if you’d take a different approach!

Timestamps: 00:00 — Why AI should not be forced into your product 01:00 — If I launched a new mortgage tech company today 02:10 — The 3 key lessons from building BluMortgage 04:00 — What should your product actually offer? 06:00 — How to make your product simple and addictive 09:00 — Why onboarding should feel as seamless as Facebook or TikTok 11:00 — How to improve your product without feature bloat 12:30 — Why simplicity is harder than complexity 14:00 — How I’d market the product (freemium + referrals) 15:45 — How to drive viral referrals inside your app 16:50 — Why trade shows and in-person events still matter 17:45 — The right way to use AI inside your company 19:20 — Final thoughts + a challenge for you

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#MortgageTech #SaaSBusiness #FinTech #BluMortgage #AIInBusiness