Our business model was to help people find apartments and also acquire evidence that we really had. We'd then ask the apartment owner for a finder's fee, and pass $100 to the renter.
To do this we needed to present the apartment owner with evidence that we really were the ones to find the renter. Which means that we needed all of the touch points. And we also needed to help renters find an apartment then tell us. (We had data indicating that only half of renters we placed actually came back to us to tell us so that we knew to tell the apartment owner to pay up.)
We needed the email both as a login to track and tie back to that user, and to send people apartment listings and convince them to report their lease to get the $100.
So emails weren't actually the core product. But they were very, very important.
To do this we needed to present the apartment owner with evidence that we really were the ones to find the renter. Which means that we needed all of the touch points. And we also needed to help renters find an apartment then tell us. (We had data indicating that only half of renters we placed actually came back to us to tell us so that we knew to tell the apartment owner to pay up.)
We needed the email both as a login to track and tie back to that user, and to send people apartment listings and convince them to report their lease to get the $100.
So emails weren't actually the core product. But they were very, very important.