Corey Boxx
The $100M Culture Shift: How to Scale Without Losing Your Soul | Corey Boxx
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"All the things that you value and prioritize, your team's going to look where they know you're looking. And where you don't, their eyes won't put as much time there. Everything in my life — all the good stuff and the bad stuff — I've made happen. If it's not going well, 50% of that is my responsibility too.
Key Takeaways
- ◆Corey grew from 60 units in 2020 to over 1,000 units under management by vertically integrating construction and maintenance in-house—eliminating reliance on scarce skilled labor and improving cost, speed, and quality for both residents and owners.
- ◆Corey and his business partner Adam run a monthly 'culture call out' system where any employee can nominate a colleague for living one of the company's core values; winners receive a bonus and public recognition, shifting focus from the 1% of problems to the 99% that's working.
- ◆Corey meets personally with every prospective landlord or client on the front end to vet values alignment, protecting his team from punching down and preventing firefighting later—'it takes three times the resources to fix a problem than to avoid it.'
- ◆Corey's rule for accountability: when something goes wrong, don't ask 'who messed up'—ask 'what didn't I do?' and 'what's my 50% responsibility in this?'—creating psychological safety for the team to surface issues early rather than hide mistakes.
- ◆Corey and Adam started as investor-partners buying single-family and duplex rentals individually in 2016; Adam hired his first employee in March 2020 (mid-pandemic) to scale third-party management, and Corey joined full-time shortly after to handle people and process while Adam focused on acquisitions.
- ◆Corey buys heavily distressed assets in North County St. Louis—the area where he grew up—renovates them to high standards, and rents them to working families as 'stopover' homes on the path to ownership, seeing it as legacy over profit maximization.
- ◆Corey audits his time by writing down everything that's 'plaguing' him, then cross-referencing against what he *should* be doing to move the business forward—the delta reveals what to delegate or stop entirely.
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About this episode
Corey Boxx on scaling a $100M company without losing the culture that built it.
Frequently asked questions
What does 'vertically integrated' actually mean in Complete Realty Solutions' business model?
Complete Realty Solutions brings construction, maintenance, and property management entirely in-house instead of outsourcing to third-party contractors. Corey explained they used to outsource 100% of construction and maintenance, but the slow turnarounds and quality issues forced them to build those capabilities internally. Now they control the entire process from asset acquisition through construction to ongoing property management, which lets them move faster, control quality, and take on heavily distressed properties other firms won't touch.
What is the Culture Call Out program Corey mentioned?
Culture Call Out is a monthly recognition program where anyone at Complete Realty Solutions can nominate a colleague for living one of the company's core values. Winners get recognized publicly in front of the whole team and receive a bonus. Corey says it helps the team focus on the positive in a business where property management and problem management are basically the same thing, reminding everyone that 99% of things are actually going according to plan.
What does Corey mean by a 'flat leadership style' and how does it work in practice?
Corey describes his role as working with his team rather than above them, saying he largely works for his people by removing obstacles and creating growth opportunities. In practice, this means Complete Realty Solutions doesn't make unilateral decisions. When someone identifies a problem, they bring it to a team meeting where the group triages it together, develops procedures, and figures out how to measure success. Corey focuses on tracking the leading and lagging metrics while his team owns the day-to-day execution.
How did Adam end up partnering with Corey in the business?
Adam was Corey's real estate agent starting in 2016 and agreed to manage Corey's first few rental properties. By March 2020, Adam had to either fire Corey as a client or officially start a property management company by hiring employees. He chose to hire his first employee right when COVID hit. Later, when Corey wanted to scale his personal real estate portfolio, Adam proposed they partner instead. Adam would focus on acquiring assets while Corey would manage the growing team, combining Adam's real estate expertise with Corey's background in growing people and businesses.
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