Growth looks simple on a spreadsheet until real-world execution begins. Rob Pieklo explains why eLEND’s rebrand only came after heavy investment in technology, talent, and infrastructure, not before. Pieklo explains how rebuilding a brand isn’t about the new logo, it’s about earning the right to change the name and building trust, and what went into eLEND’s rebuild.
In this interview with HousingWire’s CEO Clayton Collins, Pieklo details how owning customer touchpoints, choosing the right technology partners, and working closely with pricing engine Polly helped eLEND move capital markets closer to brokers. The conversation highlights why partner alignment, not “set it and forget it” vendors, is critical to scaling growth while maintaining pricing discipline and service consistency.
#MortgageTech #Eland #Rebranding #WholesaleMortgage
In this interview with HousingWire’s CEO Clayton Collins, Pieklo details how owning customer touchpoints, choosing the right technology partners, and working closely with pricing engine Polly helped eLEND move capital markets closer to brokers. The conversation highlights why partner alignment, not “set it and forget it” vendors, is critical to scaling growth while maintaining pricing discipline and service consistency.
#MortgageTech #Eland #Rebranding #WholesaleMortgage
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00:00Rob, your LinkedIn profile says just a mortgage guy, but I know you are much more than that.
00:13Today, we have you joining us as the president and CEO of Eland. Rob, tell us a story. How did
00:19Eland come to be? Thank you so much for having me, Clayton. This is always an honor to get to
00:24talk to you guys at Housing Wire. You guys are the best. So thank you for that first. And yeah,
00:28this was a long journey. I know we've talked about my journey before from where we were with AFR and
00:34where I was then and taking a five or six-year hiatus and coming back and purchasing AFR in
00:41February of 24. But people don't know it's a while back. We had this incredible brand called Eland.
00:48We tried to launch it, a tech-focused kind of tech-first mortgage lender. And when I left in
00:552017, it kind of sat on the back burner for the organization. So when we came back,
01:01we knew we wanted to put out into the forefront. But you can't just flip a logo and say things are
01:06different. We had a lot of building to do, a lot of tech to implement and release. And we're nowhere
01:12near where we want to be. But we finally reached a point last month where the name suits what we've
01:19delivered to our customers. So now we've made enough changes and have implemented enough technology that
01:23we can come out and bring out the Eland brand to the forefront.
01:27What was the hardest or most surprisingly challenging part of bringing this new brand
01:33to your core identity?
01:35It's really been about the build and about the technology build. You think things are going to
01:40be easy. I always go back in and say, oh, development is simple. We'll just develop this.
01:44We'll develop that. I have a lot of ideas. Big idea guy, if you haven't noticed. So I like to throw
01:48a lot of things at the technology team. But getting some simple things done in a timely
01:53fashion has been difficult, post difficult. We have a huge tech budget. We've been reinvesting
01:59a lot of money back into tech. But it's really been about the technology build more so than anything
02:04for the rebrand itself. So we really wanted to be in a place where we knew we had the foundation built
02:09to continue to innovate in the mortgage space, specifically in the wholesale channel.
02:15So that was the biggest challenge. I thought it was going to be you walk in, you start developing,
02:19you start making things. In a couple of months, you'll have this incredible platform. And it took
02:22over 18 months to get the platform to the spot where we can even think about calling it Eland.
02:29That's super interesting. So you've shared on stage at the Housing Wire Mortgage Banking Summit
02:35and on LinkedIn and with folks across the industry, the momentum that you've had in your origination
02:40volume at Eland. So you simultaneously have this momentum and origination growth, putting forward a
02:47new technology platform to enable future growth and momentum, but putting this new brand out at the
02:54same time. Were there periods in this last 18-month journey or since you officially came back into the
03:01business in February 2024 where you've changed the order of operations or rethought the strategy or has
03:08this been the vision from moment one? Every day it shifts, right? And you know this when you're
03:14running an organization in growth mode, it is you think you have it planned out and holy cow, it's easy
03:19on a spreadsheet. I tell that all the time. Whoever will listen is very simple to kind of map out your
03:24plan, what you're going to build, how much you're going to spend and put it into Excel and do your
03:28formulas. It is so easy. But then in implementation or you break something or service levels drop and
03:35you have to deal with that or pricing move, the Fed does something. There are so many different
03:39variables in our space. It's been, yeah, there's tons of doubt all the time. You think you have the
03:45plan, you think you have it right and then, hey, we have to shift or change or focus on our development
03:50resources to do something that wasn't in the plan based on service and what we have to deliver to
03:55our customers. So yeah, every day is something new. Every day is a new challenge. You kind of have
04:00your roadmap of like directionally where you're going and you have these kind of North Stars
04:05you're following. But in general, on a daily basis, you're making changes to the team and resources to
04:11what is needed that day and what's needed short term while still being able to build for the long
04:15term. It's the phenomenal part of entrepreneurship, like knowing what the North Star is, but knowing that
04:21the path is not always the straight line or the trail you thought you'd follow to get there.
04:27But it is phenomenal seeing you still continue toward that North Star. As you've gone through
04:32iterations and team and the exact tactical day-to-day strategy, what have been some of the
04:37levers in your tech stack and your people that have helped you achieve momentum and origination
04:44growth as you've gone through this transformation?
04:45Yeah. Bringing in right, not right-minded, but the like-minded executive team and bringing in
04:51partners. We talk about my COO, Michael Brennan, all the time. Like when you're so aligned in where
04:56you're going with your team, it really helps. And it helps with everything because you don't have to
05:01think about, are they going in the right direction? Is this the pathway you would go? They're already
05:04running in that direction. So, you know, first was the team making sure we have, you know,
05:10like-minded people that people that really are focused in, obviously they're obsessed with service
05:14levels and obsessed that the customer is having an incredible experience, but also team member
05:18experience has to be fantastic as well. So you bring in people like that first, and that really
05:23helps pave the way where you want to go. We've seen incredible growth. We've seen the numbers. We've
05:27talked about the numbers all the time. And then as you build out, I think one of the big pieces to
05:33what we've done is owning the technology of where the customer interacts. And that could be any type
05:39of customer, but as the customer interacts, we want to own that. We want to own that experience.
05:43So being able to do that and be nimble and shift and build things and add things that people
05:48suggest, it'd be great. I might get a suggestion on Monday morning and by Wednesday, it's implemented
05:53and out in our portal. So I'm not dealing with a giant corporation that I have to submit a ticket
05:58to and wait to develop something. So, so with having ownership of the, um, basically the touch points
06:05for the customer has been everything in this journey. So it's helped us a ton.
06:09Um, and how much of that ownership of the tech stack is tech tools and integrations you developed
06:16internally versus partners you work with? Give us a glimpse into that strategy.
06:19Yeah. It's everything, right? It's both because everybody wants to develop themselves. And then
06:23you understand like, holy cow, there is a lot of work. So when you go into these specific things,
06:26um, that you're building out, you, you weigh the options. Is it worth building or is it worth
06:31buying? Is it worth, is it worth working with partners that get it? And, um, and one of those things we,
06:36we talked a little bit about this prior to jumping on is, is, um, especially around pricing. It's been
06:41our, our huge, um, I would say differentiator for us where we go out and we're really trying to bring
06:48capital markets to the forefront, to the broker community. A lot of people don't do that. It's a
06:51pain. Uh, rate sheets are very difficult. It's very hard to price certain things that are happening
06:56and anomalies are happening in the market or executions that are happening in the market. How do we get
07:00that to the forefront? Um, so choosing your partners wisely, I've said that on stage a lot
07:05and we chose some partners and one of the best partners we have right now is, is a poly and poly
07:10is someone that, um, is a pricing engine. We've worked with them. It's a great example. We have
07:14a couple of different vendors that we just love the kind of where they're going approach and helping
07:18to build with us. Cause we have crazy ideas. I said, I'm the idea guy. So I'll throw stuff out
07:23there and to have partners like Adam and the team at poly be able to help us and help us build
07:27with it. Good. We're bad. Like we we've gone different directions with them. Some of their
07:31AI stuff we didn't want to move forward with right now. So we wanted to own the experience,
07:34but, but we know we're going to be moving over to that soon. So they've been a great partner in
07:38that and, and finding vendors like that is really, really important when you're trying to build
07:42something. I know you're very close with the, the brokers and lenders that you serve. When you talk
07:49to brokers, what do they say their top priorities are in, in tech and, uh, user experience with their
07:56wholesale partners? Yeah. Um, we, I get a lot of feedback, probably too much feedback. You know,
08:01I get too much feedback. I'm living in it. I think it's part of, I mean, it's not just a strategy.
08:05It's how I go about my day. Like I care what people think of the experience. Like I don't care
08:10what they think of me. I care about what they think about the experience. And it bothers me if I hear
08:13any negative feedback. Um, not that I'm out of the person who did it, just that we weren't able to
08:18deliver a certain level of experience for, for that customer. Uh, so we live in what we're hearing,
08:23obviously it's, um, just depends on the day, right? They want the best products. They want
08:28all the products out there. They want the best pricing. They want to be fast. They want speed.
08:32Speed is something that's been somewhat, I'll call it brainwashed into the community because it was
08:37something that didn't matter that much as long as you met your closing dates. But now there's,
08:40you know, on social, you'll see the amount of posts of it was clear to close in four days. You may
08:44have 30 days left on your contract. Uh, and there comes a cost with that. So they want all of the
08:49things, um, that are out there in terms of product pricing and service levels. Uh, and they want
08:54technology, but the brokers, like I said, they move towards what's best for the customer, right?
08:59And no matter what, and sometimes there are things that are best for the customer that isn't speed
09:04that, you know, we're quick, we're fast. We're not as fast as some of the big guys, as you know,
09:08out there that, that pride themselves on the speed, but our price is in a position that it gets it to
09:13what is the cost of a three day clear to close versus an eight? Is it worth 50, 60, 70 basis
09:20points? You know, I don't think so. So we're, we're there to serve the community. We take as
09:24much the feedback as we possibly can and what they expect, and then make a decision internally.
09:29What makes sense? You know, is it worth for me to hire a hundred more people to get our clear to
09:34close done in two days faster to match the guy, uh, the guys in Michigan? No, to me, it's not. So
09:40we'll make a business, uh, a business decision every single day on how we want to approach it,
09:44how we want to deliver our service levels to our customers and our pricing, and then move forward
09:48with that. But we, we love getting the feedback and that's sure. No, I get, I get a lot of it.
09:54Love that. So one of the things that's always impressed me about you, Rob is your, your steady
09:59hand, consistent leadership style, like just continuing to drive forward. And, um, it's, it's honestly
10:05impressive. I love your approach to leadership. Tell me about how that leadership
10:09style is reflected inside of your organization, how you work with your colleagues, how you work
10:14with your partners. I wonder, learn more about you as a leader of the business.
10:18Yeah. I feel bad for our team. Um, cause I'm, I'm a space cadet at times. Um, but yeah, it's,
10:23you know, for me, I don't, I don't perceive you that way. That feels that's a, that's a surprising
10:27statement. Yeah. So it's, um, well, I care, I'm, I'm just in, I'm in, I'm in it. I'm in it all.
10:32Right. So I don't want to be outside of it. And we have our team members and do the
10:35whole delegation thing, but I want the team to understand that I'm accessible. I'm there. I'm
10:40not sitting, um, you know, thousands of miles away golfing each day while they are working
10:46hard, trying to figure this out. We're in the weeds together. So if there's a question,
10:49if it's a team member that's working on a loan, I mean, I may go from a meeting about a $50 million
10:54line of credit or something, or, um, uh, dealing with a Fannie or Freddie in terms of an audit or doing
11:00something like that to then working on a condition on the Jones loan, you know, to figure out if,
11:05you know, if the experience is right, is this something that we really need? So, uh, with,
11:09with the team members, I think they respect the fact that leadership, um, rolls up their sleeves and
11:14is involved with them. And can we do that at 50,000 loans per month? Um, I hope so. You know,
11:20I want to be part of it, you know, that's it. So at the level we are now, we want to make decisions
11:24and be in the middle of it. I don't want to lose touch. I think there's a huge disconnect
11:27in leadership and mortgage, the bigger you get, the further away you get from what got you there,
11:33which is the front lines of, of, of loan origination. And I want to be part of that
11:37and understand and learn from it. So I think our team members really do appreciate that. They know
11:41I have the grander plan in my head and what we want to get to and what we're aspiring to be.
11:47Uh, and they do, uh, I get messages all the time that they're very appreciative of the approach
11:52that we're taking because it's just different than what they've seen in the mortgage space.
11:55And I'm kind of proud of that. Rob, we're closing out 2025 and heading into 26 right now. I know
12:01every executive and operator out there is working on 2026 business planning and budgets. Um, what
12:07should we expect from Elend in 2026? We have, um, we have a lot in store. So we've been building out
12:13a lot of our technology, obviously, and you should expect a little bit more of the same of what you're
12:18seeing in our growth trajectory. Um, you know, for over the next, next year, but really, uh,
12:24our build out is about 27 and beyond. This is about being a player and we've built the foundation.
12:30Now we have to do the things that these short-term fixes have to have some semblance or some kind of
12:38guidance towards what 2027 is going to look like 2028 for what we're building. You know,
12:43we're building, we're still, um, you know, very, we've grown a lot. I can't get on any of the big
12:48market share lists or anything, but we've grown significantly. We've definitely gained a huge
12:51amount of share run up, you know, over $5 billion monthly or yearly, uh, run rate, uh, based on our
12:57monthly volume now. And, uh, and we continue to see that success, but we want to, we want to grow
13:02and become one of the top three wholesale lenders in the country, if not number one, like we know
13:06that's crazy to some to say it that way, but that's what we're looking for. So building the
13:11foundations for that, can we continue to grow at the head count versus the, the volume level that
13:17goes up? Cause everybody's focused on cost to complete. Everybody wants to drive their costs
13:21down. Uh, we understand that and that's how you're going to compete in this space, uh, with the big
13:26guys. And we're doing that, but can we continue doing that as we grow to the level of getting to
13:31be a top, you know, now we're in the top 10, but top 10, top five wholesale lenders, can we compete?
13:36And that's going to be the prior, the main focus of 2026 is continue to grow without having to add
13:41thousands of people to be able to facilitate that growth. Yeah. You talked about all the feedback
13:46you get from your broker partners, the breakfast of champions there. Um, but if you're building
13:52toward a 2027 and, and further horizon in terms of tech and capabilities, are you able to work with
13:59your technology partners to make sure you're running toward the, the same horizon? Yeah. And that's
14:04really important. Again, the things that we've built, we have a big, significant development
14:09staff and then our vendors that we're working with that we've chosen. Um, that's why we've
14:12been so cautious on who we bring in. Um, we say it the same way all the time. It's like,
14:17we think we're building something special where we actually don't want to give out the secret sauce
14:20of exactly what we're doing for originators and what we're doing for the channel. So, um,
14:25bringing the right partners that are like, like-minded and focused on where we're going is really
14:30important. We know there's a lot of AI discussions. There's a lot of things about pricing. There's so much
14:33going on with execution on that side. And, um, and we're really excited for going forward with this.
14:39Now the feedback, um, is interesting because you get feedback and you, you hear like, Oh, you like,
14:44we need good tech. And then they'll send loans to a lender with the worst tech I've ever seen,
14:47where I need, I need great pricing. And they'll send it to the lender that gets a loan cleared to
14:51close in three days, but not the best pricing. So you see that and you have to understand,
14:55you have to pick your battles, um, in this, but as we grow and as we develop picking the right
14:59partners that are, um, again, in build mode and not in set it and forget it and, and have you
15:05captive in their environment, we have to stray from those kinds of vendors. If you want to succeed
15:10in 26 and beyond. Yeah. That's really interesting how you mentioned like, you know, brokers might
15:15make illogical decisions on if pricing is a top priority, they send to someone with terrible pricing
15:20or speed's top priority. They send someone with a poor tech stack. How do you, how does the industry
15:25conquer that? Like, how do you position yourself at Elend? How do you like brand yourself as someone
15:31who has the best pricing or the best tech or the best speed? Like, how do you want to position the
15:35business in the market as you, you keep looking for scale? You do. It's interesting because you
15:39don't want to actually be cornered into one of those solutions. Like you don't, you don't want to be the
15:43price person. I mean, everyone just makes the assumption. If you have the best price, I see,
15:46I saw this morning and up on a post and a comment line, I was like, Oh, best price means that
15:52they're trying to buy the market and there's something wrong or there's something, you know,
15:55they're not gonna be able to fulfill. And you see that all the time. And it's like,
15:58we don't want to be pigeonholed into, into one type of lender. What you want to do is
16:01gain the trust, gain the trust of the community. And, and I've done that personally, obviously I'm
16:07out there all the time and we'll talk to anybody or in very accessible, whether it's, you know,
16:11Facebook messages at 2am or text messages on my cell, like we're being, the idea is to be
16:16incredibly accessible for the community. And, you know, as you see it, as you see the growth,
16:21as you see kind of what the brokers are asking for, you have to pick, you have to pick, you know,
16:27certain areas that you're going to dive in, but you want to be the lender where they can count on
16:31you to deliver, give a good price, have the service levels, and then, and just know that
16:36you're going to close on time. And that's what you want. And you have to put decisions out there.
16:40I like educating. I like educating brokers. If there's something going on and then why,
16:43why is Elon doing this? I would say, this is why, you know, we slowed down our OTC program
16:48because it's really hard to get financing on the other end. We let them know we're very candid
16:52and clear and transparent about what's going on. And sometimes that like shakes brokers up a little
16:57bit because they're, they're not used to hearing that from, from a lender.
17:00Love it. Well, Rob, I knew you were more than just a mortgage guy. Thank you for giving us a
17:04glimpse into your, your strategy at Elon, the drivers and partnerships that are feeling success
17:09for you in 2025 and six and seven and beyond. Congrats on the success. And I look forward to
17:15checking back in frequently on what's happening. We're just getting started. Thank you for having
17:20us. Appreciate you clean.
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