In this HousingWire exclusive conversation, Polly Chief Customer Officer Jesse Decker sits down with Diego Sanchez to share what makes Polly’s product strategy truly stand out from the competition. From breaking the mold of traditional pricing engines to listening deeply to customer feedback, Jesse explains how Polly is reshaping expectations for lenders.
Decker shares a deeper look at Polly’s latest product rollouts, including its cutting-edge Pricer UI and mobile locking capabilities. If you’re wondering what the future of mortgage tech could look like, this conversation lays it out clearly — with a human, customer-first perspective.
From enhancing the LO experience to “Along Came Polly,” Jesse Decker explains how Polly is pushing mortgage tech forward and challenging industry norms.
“It’s been a whirlwind — definitely drinking from the firehose, as they say,” Decker said of her first month in the role. “But all good learning and all good conversations. Talking to customers, talking to our folks, talking to our teams about how we’ve engaged in the past and how we want to go deeper moving forward.”
Decker shares a deeper look at Polly’s latest product rollouts, including its cutting-edge Pricer UI and mobile locking capabilities. If you’re wondering what the future of mortgage tech could look like, this conversation lays it out clearly — with a human, customer-first perspective.
From enhancing the LO experience to “Along Came Polly,” Jesse Decker explains how Polly is pushing mortgage tech forward and challenging industry norms.
“It’s been a whirlwind — definitely drinking from the firehose, as they say,” Decker said of her first month in the role. “But all good learning and all good conversations. Talking to customers, talking to our folks, talking to our teams about how we’ve engaged in the past and how we want to go deeper moving forward.”
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TechTranscript
00:00Live from New York, I'm Diego Sanchez, president of HousingWire, and my guest today is Jesse
00:14Decker, who is the chief customer officer at Poly.
00:17Jesse, it's so great to have you here today.
00:19Thank you for having me.
00:20I'm excited to be here.
00:21So the last time we spoke, you had just stepped into your role at Poly.
00:27Tell me how the last month has gone and what your perspective is on the product development
00:34strategy at Poly.
00:35Yeah, sure.
00:36So it's been a whirlwind.
00:37Definitely drinking from the fire hose, as they say, but all good learnings and all good
00:42conversations, talking to lots of customers, talking to our folks, talking to our teams
00:47about how it is we've engaged with customers in the past and how we want to engage more
00:51deeply with customers moving forward and build upon everything we've put into place from
00:55a customer relationship management perspective.
00:57You know, our product roadmap is and has always been driven by what our customers want and
01:02need and where we believe, you know, the proverbial where the skate to where the puck is going to
01:06be.
01:07So we're really trying to challenge ourselves and pick up the challenges that our customers
01:11have given us and build that into the product roadmap.
01:14And you've recently launched two new products.
01:17You've got Pricer UI and Mobile Locking.
01:20Yes.
01:21Tell us more about those.
01:22Yeah.
01:22So these are new products that have been in beta and are widely available.
01:28We've got live customers using them, live loan officers using them.
01:31And we're really trying to further the loan officer's ability to do work on the fly.
01:36Everything from full rate lock modifications that need to get made.
01:39So it's more than just, you know, we're not doing the basics, right?
01:43We're really trying to dive deep and give loan officers what they need for the way that
01:46they want to work in a modern world.
01:48So while the rest of the industry has been a little bit slow when it comes to mobile development,
01:54Polly has just recently announced mobile locking first in the industry and also enhancements
02:02to the LO experience.
02:03Could you tell me a little bit more about these innovations?
02:07It's really important to meet our customers where they are and understand what they need
02:11from a business perspective, not just focus on what it is we think is easier to provide,
02:16right, or that we can, you know, build quickly.
02:18So, you know, we're getting into a day and age where we expect as consumers to have access
02:24to awesome technology and be able to use it wherever we are.
02:27And I think loan officers are really no different, right?
02:30And so we need to provide them those capabilities where they can get their work done
02:33wherever they are, whenever they're, whenever their customers who may be in on the evenings
02:38or the weekends when they're out and about making decisions about this type of stuff,
02:42they need to not have to go back to their desk to get their work done.
02:44They should be able to do that wherever they are.
02:46The housing market doesn't take the weekend off.
02:49It doesn't.
02:49It doesn't.
02:50Our customers don't.
02:51Their customers don't.
02:52And we need to meet them where they are.
02:54So tell me how these new products fit into the broader product development roadmap at Polly.
03:00Yeah, I mean, there are newer products that we're rolling out, but they are 100% consistent
03:05with where we've been going and where we plan to go, right?
03:08I think people tend to think about Polly as a product and pricing engine company, and we're
03:13definitely more than that.
03:14And I think the market is seeing us move deeper in that area, to be sure.
03:20We're rolling out capabilities around the PPE all the time, but also looking to expand more
03:24broadly and provide our customers what they need that they haven't been able to get to date.
03:28So I imagine you are meeting a ton of customers here in New York at MBA Secondary.
03:34Tell me about that.
03:35How is it to meet people in person?
03:37It's so much better to meet in person.
03:40You know, we can't be everywhere all at once, right?
03:43So there's always a time and a place for meeting virtually, but there's nothing that compares
03:47with being able to sit down over a meal with folks, sit down at the bar, at the Marriott,
03:52and just, you know, have a conversation about their lives and their businesses and what they
03:58need and what we've done well to date and what we need to do better at.
04:02It's just a really great opportunity to learn from each other, right?
04:06And challenge each other to be better and then ultimately rise to that occasion.
04:10Is there any input that you're hearing over these couple of days that you're going to take
04:15back and talk to the team about?
04:17Yeah, for sure.
04:17Yeah, for sure.
04:18I mean, all of our customers are very different, right?
04:21They have a different set of loan officers, a different set of lock desk folks, different
04:24procedures, different processes, different things that they need from a business perspective.
04:28And we need to be able to work with our customers through what their wants and needs are and
04:33figure out what to deliver for them and when in a way that ultimately at the bottom line gives
04:39them value and benefit from the products and services that they buy from us.
04:42You have a tagline at Poly, which I really like, Along Came Poly.
04:47What does that mean to you and how does that integrate into your relationships with your
04:51customers?
04:52Yeah, so I love that tagline and it's one that's resonated obviously with the market and with
04:57our customers.
04:58To me, Along Came Poly, it has like a childlike wonder vibe to it and a new and changing the
05:09vibe kind of feel to it and I really like that.
05:12So to me, it means, you know, we are challenging ourselves and being challenged by our customers
05:17and challenging the space to do better, deliver more, really, again, meet our customers where
05:24they are and not just make excuses for why we're not able to deliver what customers want
05:29and what the market needs.
05:30So it just, Along Came Poly just feels like there's a joy there, right?
05:35There is a pushing the envelope.
05:37So yeah, Along Came Poly and we're doing this differently and that's purposeful.
05:41So let's project Along Came Poly into the future.
05:45How do you think that tagline and your interactions with customers are going to develop over the
05:52next year or two?
05:54And how do you think they're going to impact mortgage technology overall?
05:57Yeah, so I think we will continue to partner with our customers in ways that changes the
06:03industry.
06:05You know, it's not just, it's a great tagline and we love it and it, like as I was just
06:09saying, has some really awesome vibes to it.
06:11But ultimately, it's a way of being and it's a way of engaging with our customers.
06:15So I think you can expect us to continue to do what we've been doing and to, you know,
06:19press ahead and continue to, you know, just be different than Legacy Tech, right?
06:26Which has had a very different approach to customer engagement and delivery.
06:29Well, Jessie, it's been great to catch up with you again.
06:32This is round two.
06:33Yeah.
06:33Maybe we'll have round three in a couple months.
06:35Anytime, man.
06:35Anytime.
06:36This has been wonderful.