When Ying Tan became chief executive of Habito in May, the digital mortgage broker was arguably not in the best shape.
In the first five months of 2023, average monthly losses were £385,000. Last year its average monthly loss was £897,000, a year in which a merger with London & Country was reportedly being discussed, but ultimately did not come to fruition.
It was also the same year in which it was reported that Habito was looking to make more than a dozen redundancies in its broker team.
When asked if there was an element of "picking up the pieces" when he took up the role of chief executive, Tan agrees the sentiment is harsh but true.
“The merger with L&C failed. There was a restructure that happened at the business. And Liz Truss came along and threw a curveball at the market, which made it very difficult for the working, macroeconomic environment. And that’s what led to me coming in.
“It’s true to say that whilst I inherited some great people, a great brand and great technology, morale was probably not at its highest at that point.
“But at the same time, these are the same people who worked extremely hard during a tough environment, and that’s because they’re loyal and passionate about the brand; and therefore, it wasn’t that difficult to reignite excitement when I painted the future of where we want to take the business.”
Before Habito
Before becoming Habito’s CEO, Tan was a familiar name in the mortgage industry as the CEO of Dynamo, a buy-to-let broker he founded in 2006 and exited in 2021.
Between leaving Dynamo and joining Habito, Tan spent the time writing a book (Don't Push Too Many Trolleys: And Other Tips from Navigating Life and Business), as well as advising and investing in mortgage-related businesses such as Knowledge Bank and Propflo.
“I was lucky to have some money in the bank, and I wanted to invest in a business which aligned with my thinking of where the mortgage world would go to; that is, it’s very much digitally focused, tech-driven and that’s the way I believe that the world will go to in the world of mortgages.
“I knew Daniel [Hegarty, former Habito CEO] previously. So we were just talking, and he was looking at maybe starting his new venture. It was a challenging environment for the business as well.
“And therefore it was initially an investment [opportunity]; but that quickly came to a, ‘Well, you’ve got the perfect credentials to be CEO here’, especially given my bootstrap background for previous businesses. But also that balance of being very tech-driven and well known in the industry.”
Tan says they were not able to reach a deal the first time round, but he stayed in contact with Hegarty and Habito’s venture capital investors, and the opportunity returned in February. “This time we were able to negotiate a deal, which meant it was more and more suitable for me, because I didn’t want to be just an employed CEO.
