STARTUP STAGE: Boom wants to revolutionize property management with AI

Boom

Boom said its system behaves like a virtual workforce, handling day-to-day operations autonomously and allowing managers to focus on growth and strategy.

Boom launched in 2023 in South Florida and has worked with companies including Unique Stays, WeHomes and Housepitality.

What is your 30-second pitch to investors?

Boom is the world’s first AI-powered property management system (AiPMS), built to revolutionize the short-term rental industry by maximizing efficiency and profitability. Designed by property managers who understand the complexities of running short-term rentals, aparthotels and boutique hotels, Boom’s AiPMS is effectively a cutting-edge AI co-pilot. It behaves like a virtual workforce, handling day-to-day operations autonomously and allowing managers to focus on growth and strategy.

Describe both the business and technology aspects of your startup.

Business: Boom is a saas provider built by property managers, for property managers. We understand the unique challenges of short-term rental management, and we have built a single solution to solve them. Our AiPMS automates operations, increases efficiency and takes the pressure off managers so that they can scale their portfolios without increasing their workload.

Technology: Boom’s AiPMS is an all-in-one system that automates and optimizes every aspect of property management. It includes:

• AI-driven task automation: Assigns and tracks housekeeping, maintenance and operations in real time. 
• Smart guest communication: Multi-AI agents handle new bookings, check-ins and support in the guest’s language and style, 24/7. 
• Review management: AI reads and tags guest reviews, responding empathetically to feedback and creating follow-up tasks for the team. 
• Dynamic pricing optimization: AI analyzes market trends and occupancy data to maximize revenue. 
• Real-time financial insights: Tracks revenue, expenses and gives a real-time view to managers and owners, offering predictive analytics. 
• Seamless integrations: Connects with booking platforms, smart devices and staff tools for full automation. 

Give us your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the company. 

Strengths:

• AI is at the center of how Boom operates, rather than retrofitted, meaning everything is integrated. 
• Boom offers an innovative approach to property management based on the team’s extensive experience. 
• By implementing AI, guests get better personalized experiences, owners are up to speed on what’s happening with detailed reporting and staff are happier with AI taking the weight off their shoulders. 

Weaknesses: 

• Boom is still the new kid on the block meaning it has to put in more effort to reach potential clients. 
• Local regulations mean that onboarding clients in new areas may require special attention by the Boom team, but AI helps to speed this process up. 

Opportunities: 

• Growing demand for efficient property management software that removes the need for a complex tech stack. 
• Innovation-first structure means that new technology can be adapted quickly. 

Threats: 

• Some established PMS software providers have started to integrate AI into their legacy platforms. 
• The short-term rental market is volatile and new regulations are changing fast, requiring work to integrate and adapt the software. 

What are the travel pain points you are trying to alleviate from both the customer and the industry perspective? 

For property managers, Boom alleviates the burden of manual operations by automating guest communications, task management, reporting and more. Short-term rentals are the hardest asset class to manage in real estate: properties are decentralized, non-uniform and guests expect five-star service at all times. For small teams spread thin, handing simple jobs over to AI can give the team more time to focus on important strategic work and handling more complex guest cases. For guests, Boom offers high levels of personalization and lightning-quick responses to questions and queries, all while delivering a seamless, high-quality experience — eliminating issues like waiting for maintenance or unclear check-in instructions.

So you've got the product, now how will you get lots of customers?

In our experience, all it takes to get a new customer on board is a demo of how Boom works. Our strategy is focused on reaching property managers who are unhappy with their current tech stack and are interested in implementing AI. That means attending conferences, digital marketing and boosting Boom’s profile through media and speaking engagements, as well as social media. Boom’s best ambassadors are our clients, who regularly recommend us to other property managers and are happy to take part in case studies to share the amazing growth they’ve seen with Boom.

Tell us what process you've gone through to establish a genuine need for your company and the size of the addressable market.

Boom was born out of a real-world necessity: our co-founders ran a $150 million portfolio of vacation rentals, meaning they have firsthand experience of dealing with the complex challenges property managers face. Consulting with other top brokers, investment fund partners and STR operators confirmed the genuine market need for an all-in-one, AI-driven solution. The STR industry continues to grow and the hurdles it faces are constantly changing, but Boom’s innovative approach with AI at the center means it’s always at the forefront. 

How and when will you make money?

Boom operates on a SaaS subscription model, with different opportunities for upsells depending on the property manager’s needs including data models, multiple AI agents and guest upsells through the marketplace. Unlike many software companies in the space, Boom charges a flat fee per property rather than commission, so there are never any nasty surprises. The beauty of an AI-focused startup is that Boom – like its customers – is able to operate with a pared-back team, saving costs and increasing output. We expect to be profitable within a year. 

What are the backgrounds and previous achievements of the founding team?

Boom was founded by brothers Shahar (CEO), Moran (CTO), and Alon (CPO) Goldboim. Shahar and Alon formerly managed a portfolio of short-term rentals totaling $150 million in value in South Florida together. Shahar is an experienced real estate broker and investor, acting as GP of a $50 million real estate portfolio and vacation rental manager, with a sharp eye for business and years of hands-on industry experience. Moran is a product developer with a passion for using AI to solve real-world problems, and Alon is a software engineer and property manager who knows exactly what great software needs to deliver.

How are you addressing diversity and inclusion within your business?

Boom is a global company with team members across three continents. We hire the best talent regardless of location, embracing a remote-first model that allows us to bring together diverse perspectives across cultures and time zones. We also believe in the flexibility that AI gives staff, so it’s implemented across our operations as well as in our product.

What's been the most difficult part of founding the business so far?

Boom has been growing at breakneck speed since the day we launched. We have to be agile and handle a lot of things at once: running the business strategically and bringing in funding, all while operating a growing company and dealing with client onboardings, sales and various other issues that crop up along the way. One challenge that we’ve found is that as we’re growing faster than any other STR company, we’re also expanding geographically and every territory needs its own solutions — quickly.

Generally, travel startups face a fairly tough time making an impact - so why are you going to be one of lucky ones?

Boom has a true product-market fit — we know because we’ve been property managers ourselves. We’re solving real problems with innovative technology and offering a one-stop solution to boost efficiency at a time when costs are high and property managers don’t want to spend on a long list of tools. The uptake we’ve had so far has been impressive — it’s clear that there’s a thirst for AI-centric solutions in this industry. We also apply that innovative spirit to our own operations. We’re agile and have plans to develop even more exciting and original tools in the coming months.

A year from now, what state do you think your startup will be in?

We want to dominate the short-term rental tech market! We’ll continue to innovate, grow our market share and make our clients happy, all of which will keep us in the lead as the fastest-growing STR software company.

What is your end-game? Going public, acquisition, growing and staying private, etc.

Boom is built for scale, with the goal of becoming the industry standard in STR management. The ultimate vision? Going public and leading the AI-driven transformation of the STR industry at a global level. From there, the whole real estate industry is our oyster. We’ve already built a system that handles the complexities of the hardest-to-manage part of real estate. Now, we have the potential to transform the way people live in any type of property worldwide.