The Viking Chats: navigating the choppy waters of property, technology and business
Welcome aboard The Viking Chats—the podcast where property, tech, and business collide in candid, no-fluff conversations. Hosted by Kristjan Byfield—lettings veteran, proptech pioneer, and co-founder of Base Property Specialists and The Depositary—this show dives deep into the real-world challenges and bold innovations shaping the future of the housing sector and beyond.
Each episode, Kristjan drops anchor with industry leaders, disruptors, and entrepreneurs to unpack the messy, inspiring, and often chaotic reality of running a modern business in a rapidly evolving landscape. Expect sharp insights, honest stories, and the occasional Viking metaphor—all served with Kristjan’s trademark wit and big-hearted honesty.
Whether you’re in lettings, launching a startup, or just love a good story about navigating change—this podcast is your compass in the storm.
The Viking Chats: navigating the choppy waters of property, technology and business
Integration Nation: Why GlueDog Could Be the Future of PropTech
In this unmissable episode of The Viking Chats, Kristjan Byfield sits down with Mark McCorrie—founder of Made Snappy 360 and the innovator behind the integration tool GlueDog—for a no-holds-barred deep dive into the tangled, chaotic, and often comical world of PropTech in the UK property industry.
If you've ever felt frustrated by the sheer number of logins, dashboards, and disconnected systems in your daily agency life—you are not alone. Mark’s journey from coin-operated internet terminals to pioneering virtual tours and now launching an integration solution for CRMs, is equal parts inspiring and revelatory.
Over the course of this vibrant and fast-paced chat, Kristjan and Mark unravel:
- Why most PropTech platforms still don’t talk to each other—and how that’s killing productivity.
- The inspiration behind GlueDog and how it aims to fix the CRM integration nightmare agencies face daily.
- How smaller, agile innovators like Made Snappy are outpacing the behemoths in delivering value-driven tools for agents and landlords.
- The real cost of clunky tech on agency culture, customer service, and mental wellbeing.
- Why the lettings industry is perfectly primed for disruption—and how landlords and suppliers alike can benefit.
Mark doesn’t hold back. He candidly shares the challenges of scaling tech in an industry built on inertia, how the fear of legacy providers is stifling innovation, and why he believes agents shouldn’t have to be tech experts to run a modern, high-performing agency.
Kristjan, ever the disruptor, challenges assumptions around the industry's ‘techphobia’ and offers sharp insights into what makes technology genuinely valuable (hint: it's not another fancy dashboard). Together, they debate where property technology has gone wrong, where it can go right, and how collaboration—not domination—is the key to progress.
This episode is a must-listen for:
- Estate and letting agents who are tired of jumping between tools and want to understand what true integration could mean for their business.
- Landlords and investors looking for agents who harness tech to deliver better, faster, more transparent service.
- PropTech founders and suppliers ready to be part of a more open, connected ecosystem that actually solves agency pain points.
And yes, in true Viking fashion, there’s plenty of banter, a few tech tangents, and a mutual love of shaking up the status quo.
Whether you're a PropTech geek, a lettings veteran, or simply curious about where the industry is heading—this episode delivers insights, laughs, and some genuinely game-changing ideas.
Tune in, take notes, and most importantly: don’t miss what could be the future of how we all do property.
