November 2025

Bilt Founder Ankur Jain: How to Build an Enduring Brand

To scale a consumer brand to millions of customers is challenging in any market but to do so while creating a new category takes a unique approach. This is the story of Bilt. They have done something that many considered impossible: build a financial ecosystem based around rewards for renters. Bilt CEO and Founder, Ankur Jain, joined us for an intimate dinner sharing insights about building one of fintech's most audacious ventures.

Dinner Series

Born to Build

Ankur grew up immersed in entrepreneurship. His father left Microsoft to found InfoSpace when Ankur was six, and he spent afternoons in startup offices absorbing the business-building process. By eleven, he'd launched his first company. That early exposure instilled a conviction: technology could solve real problems affecting everyday people. After stints founding Humin (acquired by Tinder) and establishing Kairos as a venture studio, Ankur identified an enormous gap: Americans spend over $500 billion annually on rent with zero rewards or a path to homeownership.

Building Three Companies at Once

Ankur shared the challenges of building really three companies at once: a credit card program, a payments platform, and a merchant rewards network. The complexity behind this architecture is staggering. After a 2018 conversation with real estate magnate Barry Sternlicht revealed how profitable airline and hotel loyalty programs are, Ankur realized rent represented an even larger opportunity. But building it proved nearly impossible.

The Early Days

The early days tested every assumption. Landlords initially refused to fund the rewards program despite loving the concept. This forced Bilt to create its own loyalty currency, which in hindsight was actually a breakthrough that made the economics work. Then came 18 months petitioning the FHA, Fannie Mae, and Treasury Department to approve using rewards points toward home down payments, a use case regulators had never contemplated. Rejections piled up before approval finally came in October 2019. Meanwhile, Ankur assembled partners including Mastercard, Wells Fargo, and major property owners representing millions of rental units. Each partnership required solving unprecedented technical and regulatory challenges.

"The opportunity to reshape how Americans build wealth through housing is just beginning."
— Ankur Jain, Founder & CEO of Bilt

Pandemic Breakthrough

It wasn't until the pandemic that Bilt was able to start gaining traction with landlords. With the economy grinding to a halt, suddenly the big landlords were more open to new ideas to boost tenant retention.

What's Next

While providing few details, Ankur teased the release of Bilt for homeowners that will be launching in Q1 2026, which will move them beyond the rental market. Ankur's north star? In ten years, Bilt becomes the central financial platform for residential living, from renting to homeownership and every transaction in between.

Despite the late hour, everyone in the room remained fully engaged as Ankur shared how Bilt has become such a transformational company. His message was clear: the opportunity to reshape how Americans build wealth through housing is just beginning.

Bilt Founder Ankur Jain: How to Build an Enduring Brand

Born to Build

Building Three Companies at Once

The Early Days

Pandemic Breakthrough

What's Next

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