The CEO of ARIVE talks about creating a system that serves the needs of brokers, and why it's catching on
Despite recent market setbacks, ARIVE, the software that combines many broker tools into one system, has been thriving.
“We are seeing growth in all aspects—lenders, brokers, even our employees,” said Harish Tejwani, chief executive officer of ARIVE. The ecosystem approach that ARIVE is building is starting to become the default tech for the broker channel, and Tejwani has an idea why.
“We have truly built a platform that meets the needs of community loan officers,” he said.
The more brokers use the platform, the more indispensable it becomes to lenders trying to reach them, Tejwani said. “If they are trying to get more business from these loan officers, they have to be a part of our marketplace.”
Currently, ARIVE has 4,200 paid customers and around 27,000 users, including 20,000 loan officers. To reach these numbers, Tejwani said ARIVE has employed a strategy that focuses on the customers.
“Our system is simple. It is geared toward loan officers, and it is a true all-in-one platform,” he said. “It has a full-blown loan origination system, a connected point of sale, and an agent portal. We have a mini CRM. We have a great point of sale so our loan officers can truly collaborate with their employees, their business partners, their clients, and really grow their business.”
Despite operating in a market that has seen a reduction of roughly 30,000 loan originators compared to the previous year, ARIVE’s usage is trending in the opposite direction.
“The usage has definitely gone up,” Tejwani said. “Even though markets go down, the broker channel keeps growing.”
ARIVE is capitalizing on this shift. “We are the natural choice,” he said. “We're probably the de facto standard in this channel.”
The broader market environment seems to be working in ARIVE’s favor. Forecasts predict a bump in total loan volume this year, from $1.6 trillion to $2 trillion. In this climate, ARIVE is bringing in roughly 100 new customers every month. And each of those comes with a team, typically between five and ten loan officers, feeding the momentum.
Tejwani sees this not just as market luck, but the result of deliberate strategy. “The broker share is growing due to several reasons: faster, cheaper, easier. Tools like ARIVE help them,” he said. “We are working on some absolutely phenomenal features, which I think will bring our [loan officers] to the next level.”
One of these new features is autonomous task management. “The system is going to guide the loan officer and the processor and the team on what to do next, what needs to be done, who’s responsible, how much time they have,” he said. Alerts will go out if tasks are behind. “This is the first in the industry.” Tejwani expects this to drop by early May.
Tejwani’s team is listening to their customers to improve the platform. “Our platform is driven by feedback,” he said. “Our users tell us what to do, and we do that.”
None of this is being built in isolation. ARIVE’s communication with industry organizations has been a critical part of its outreach and growth. That includes their longstanding partnership with the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME).
“Partnership with an organization like AIME is very important to us,” Tejwani said. “AIME is also a broker; ARIVE is also a broker. That’s where we have this common mindset.”
This shared culture has tangible effects. “We get to come to their events. We invite them to our events. We get to meet the community, engage with them, and have a discussion about how business is, what they are doing,” he said. “AIME provides us with a platform by which we can network and engage with our community.”
