The Achieve Podcast - Santosh Kanse (Go Source)
In this episode of the Achieve Podcast, host Jesse Warner (Chase) interviews Santosh Kanse, founder and CEO of GoSource. Santosh recounts his 15‑year career in the mortgage lending and appraisal management space, describing how frustration with slow, opaque appraiser communication led him to launch GoSource in 2017 to empower appraisers with technology. Over nine years the company expanded from serving appraisers to partnering with the nation’s largest appraisal management companies, then adding lender‑side services (pre‑underwriting, QC, post‑closing) in 2022, and finally entering healthcare revenue‑cycle management in 2022 after a year of research. A central theme is his purpose‑driven vision to create 10,000 meaningful jobs in the next decade, shifting from money‑motivated goals to legacy impact. He explains how AI has become integral to GoSource’s strategy, culminating in the launch of GoCIQ (Collateral Intelligence Quotient), an AI‑backed valuation product that combines machine learning with human validation to deliver scalable, accurate, and consumer‑trusted outcomes. Santosh emphasizes a marketing‑first growth approach, noting that modern consumers are overwhelmed with information and need clear positioning before sales can succeed. He also shares technical challenges in selecting and fine‑tuning AI models, highlighting the need for clear product specifications and the right engineering talent. The conversation closes with advice for entrepreneurs: take calculated risks, avoid over‑analysis, iterate quickly, and focus on solving a burning, unsolvable problem for customers.
Chapters
Welcome to the Achieve Podcast, the show where we highlight the leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs who are building meaningful businesses. My name is Jesse Warner, and I'll be your host today. And we're excited to have Santosh Kansai with us today. Santosh, we're excited to have you on the show today.
I'm so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to be part of your show and have these some real And crazy conversation over here.
Great. Well, we're excited to have you. So our audience can get to know you a little bit, give us a quick backstory on your company, GoSource. So Santosh is the CEO of and founder of GoSource. Tell us a little bit about your company.
Awesome, man. So my journey is pretty long. You know, it might take 365 days. I'm gonna be definitely brief over here. So I have been in lending space over 15 years and started working with the lenders managing the appraisal task. That's kind of the story. I started getting more involved, more understand about the mortgage industry in the US, and then I did that for 3 years, and after that I landed to the appraisal management company space and managing the AMC, that's where I got an exposure with the appraisers, working with them very, very closely. And that's where everything happens. That's where everything starts, I can say, because I was not getting what I was supposed to get from the appraiser— communication, responses, transparency. And I was on the other side of the story, and I have to update the lender. And I kind of like, you know, kind of stuck situation 9 years back. And I was saying like, holy crazy, what we should do here? I mean, like now, what is this happening and why this is appraisers are so much, so much delay in the response and everything. And I started investigating more, understanding the real problem. And I can see that this is what Ghost was founded and start from the challenging situation. Where I understand the opportunity. And we started GoSource and founded 2017 just to empower the appraiser, high efficient and productive in the mortgage industry. That's where the journey started. And it's been 9 years. This is our 10th year we have been doing and working with the real estate appraisers. But I did not stop. After 2 years, we extended our solution to the appraisal management company and started serving nation's biggest AMC. You name it, 1 to 5, we work with them. And then 2021, I said, okay, let me— I just cover on valuation side. Let me just go back on the other side of the fence of origination, servicing, due diligence, and all. So we started doing that in 2022 for the loan setup, pre-underwriting, pre-funding, QC, post-closing for the lenders, bank, credit union. And it's been 3 years. So it's been overall 9 years of journey of the GoSource serving the mortgage professional, real estate appraisers, and the appraisal management company. But let me just go back and touch— this is very important for any entrepreneur to understand, because when you start being, you know, let's start going as an entrepreneur journey, your main, you know, goal might be solving the problem or maybe, you know, making more money. And then when you start like making more money, you're asking the question probably yourself, like, okay, That's what I got it after 3 years. I've already made money. What I'm doing and why I'm doing this? Is this my real, real thing that I'm just working for money? Is this what I really want to do and whom I'm doing just for my family? Is this something I really want to live and breathe for the rest of my life? I said no, I need to really get into it, you know, something where I can really have the legacy impact. On the people and community, and I started going back and understanding more and more about my life and purpose. And because money is not anymore motivating me, so then I got to the coach and understanding the purpose, vision, and all all kind of different things about my life. And then I landed and said that I want to live my life from now. This is I'm talking about 2020 and 21 for for creating the legacy, for serving the community that I born in and taking care of my. People, and I want to create 10,000 meaningful employment in next 10 years. And that's what I really want to live and breathe and create more leaders. So when I was on this vision, we are operating in the mortgage industry and basically all depends on so many external factors— your rate of interest, inflations, and everything. Now when you talk about that, then you may have some volatile, right? You can have here, you can be here next day. because of so much of change in the market. But I said, I can't have my people to go when I'm on the vision to create meaningful employment. So in 2022, I opened up another division after doing 1 year of research, healthcare. So now we also serve doctors, hospitals, medical billing companies, and home health services, urgent care for their revenue cycle management. So this is like whole 9 years of journey where I evolve and keep growing and just living for that one thing, that get to that 10,000 meaningful employment.
Well, I love what you said, right? You know, you started, you said, I started because I wanted to have, make money for my family, right? I wanted to provide for my family. I want to do well. And then suddenly you've reached that, right? You're like, okay, hey, I'm providing well for my family. We're doing great. And you kind of got to a point where it says, how do I give more? How do I give back? Right? And there were some interesting questions you had there. What does your company look like today? It started as you, and how many employees do you have now?
So, when I started, started just me and one employee. We are across the globe. I mean, across the globe, that means we are right now in 2 countries, India and US. So, I have over a little over 3 people mainly on the client relationship side. side, on the US side. And then we got over 300 people in India with 3 different locations who are just running behind. And we can call us— they are real, real army, what we are today.
And what a meaningful impact that is, right? You're impacting 300 people's lives. You're helping lift them up, giving them employment so they can take care of their family. And I love your vision. You're like, I'm not done, right? I want 10,000.
That's correct.
10,000 people. And the way you have to think about that changes fundamentally as well, right?
That's correct. So, you know what? So much of change happened because of that. You know, if you look around, my vision is 10,000 meaningful employment. But when I look at 2 years back with the AI, so much of things has changed. I'm like, you probably don't need that many people that you used to need.
Yeah.
So now because of that, should I change my vision? Should I change my real, real, what I really live and breathe for? Or should I go for it and bring— figure out how I can achieve it? So I chose the path. I'm gonna continue going it and figure out how I can do it. Maybe not in just one way. What I am in the industry right now, I can find other way Other way, other different avenues to do the business and get there. But that's what I really live and breathe today.
Yeah. Your business is really you want to make an impact on other people's lives, right?
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
When you look at sales, marketing, outreach, where are you seeing traction? What's working for you as you try to grow your business?
You know, marketing comes first. Sales come later. So marketing is the first layer for anything that you're going to do on the sales side. So you really need a strong market positioning so your sales become so much easier. And my success, or I can say, goes hands on hands in both angles— marketing and the sales at the same time. You know, that's where I am really focusing even today because it's revolving, it's changing. Everything has changed over the period of time. You can't go back even 10 years back, 15 years back, very limited information was available on site for the consumer online. Right now they have more than enough information available about the products, services, offering, anything ever before in today's world. So now the consumers are, I feel, more confused rather than very clear. So when you talk about the sales, you really need to go and talk to them as an advocate, as in, you know, the doctor, to figure out what really, really or need them and give them that treatment. So that's what I feel. And sales has changed over the period of time. So our success is more lies in the both foundation, but you have to have marketing very strong to get the real sales done on the sales side.
You mentioned AI and the impact AI is having, right? There's obviously a lot of buzz around AI automation. Everything that's happening and it's going at an accelerated rate, right? What you could do even a month ago versus what you can do today has changed, right? How are you using AI to improve your business? What are some ways you're using it?
Oh, that's a great question. You know, you cannot really get off it, you know, and get rid of the AI. What do you really need to do? You need to be a friend of the AI. So We have to, we integrated AI in a lot of different, you know, in our processes. So we are actually transforming entire GoSource where our AI or technology on the front, you know, on the front plus human expertise. So we just launched our GoCIQ product, which is Collateral Intelligence Quotient for the valuation. We have 2 more products in the series that we're gonna be launched. But all this product, all this AI backed by the human validation. So that's where we are taking the leverage of the technology and automating our process and figured out the data that we have for so many years and the intelligence, the experience that we have for so many years putting into the AI and technology and create that consistency, scalability, and accuracy with the higher rate of acceptance by the consumer, but validated by the human being. That's what we are completely reshaping our business model in.
So as you try to grow, what are some of the constraints that you keep having? Where do you keep hitting the wall as you try to grow? Like, what are those things that—
You know, that's a great question. I started developing this first product and I started getting into technology, understanding more the technology. Dealing with the engineers and everything, seeing so much happening, right? Every day so much is changing, and then one wrong can hit into 100 different spots. So you, you have to figure it out, really solid process, and the— you need to know clearly what exactly you want to do, where you want to go, and how you're going to get there in technology. Basically building your own product. If you know exactly, then it only makes sense. Otherwise, you're going to end up making a lot of change, continuously making the change. You're going to go there and you're going to start launching and something is happening wrong and inaccurate output. You're going to stop there and you're going to say that I need to probably do this in this way. So it's a lot of back and forth if you don't know really and you don't have on the paper what exactly you're going to do, which technology you're going to be using, which model you're going to be using, and what output you're going to be looking. Yes, of course, it's all coming through the experiences because every model is not compatible for your business. So finding that right model that works for your business language and business profession is kind of challenging that I can say.
So you've had some— hit some walls when it comes to the right model, some of the right processes.
We have done that. I mean, like, you know, recently I think when we are working on our program and our engineers is trying to use the model and I'm kind of like crazy, I'm against— I'm seeing like, hey, we are here after 14 days, we're not able to even crack 25 rules, man. I don't understand what's going on. So he's just saying, I'm trying this model, I'm trying this model, I'm trying this model. I said, man, we can't keep trying. Can you figure out what best works for us? You know, we can't. And that's where you're going to be really looking at your deadlines can go further, can go further, can go further. So it is very important to have the right person for your tech to understand which model can really work for your business or your product that you're building for.
Let's talk about the next stage of growth and GoSource. What are you most excited about?
I'm so excited about how we are looking at the businesses right now that we empowered last many years and who we gonna be now. Everything has changed. What GoSource is going for where our technology is gonna be on the front end, on the front side, and our human is gonna be— or our expert is gonna be on the back side. That's where we are heading out. That's what really making me so excited with this first product that we launched. And I really wanted to see how this is really solving the problem on the scalable way, absolutely accurate way, and then The credibility is going to be attached to the work we are gonna be doing on our product that we are really launched and, you know, we are gonna be taking to the market very soon.
All right, last question for you here. As you look back on your journey, the wins, the mistakes, what stands out the most? What advice do you give to entrepreneurs who are kind of going through what you're going through?
What I really want to say them, just, just take the risk. Some entrepreneurs which came in my life, we spent too much of time just validating our decision, validating our decision through the different, different sources, different, different people to just make sure that we are going on the right path. But you will never know until you hit the wall whether you are on the right path or not, or hit the road. So I highly recommend you just take your time, do the calculation, do the mathematics, do the all the things that you need to do, but just do it because time is not going to wait for you anyways. It is going. You have to do it. Then only you'll be able to learn. Because I made a mistake where you just take so much time, so much time to take the decision. You just waste your time, energy, and efforts, everything. And everything has changed after 6 months.
Yeah, I was talking to a business owner earlier today about pivoting, right? And I remember that I worked for a company, helped found a company called Actify, and it's back 2016. And I think it was like our 10th pivot when we finally figured out Hey, here's where the gold is, right? But you only— we only did that after launching, right? Have an idea, launch, hit, hit the problems. Hey, that didn't quite work the way we wanted it to work. Launch again, right? Okay, that wasn't quite right. I mean, there were elements that were right, but it wasn't until we kind of hit like, oh, here's the real problem in the industry that people are willing to pay for, right? And, and then we started to grow, right? And for me, it's exactly what you're saying, right? Is you have to launch, you have to try. You can't, you can't do all the analysis. There's a point you have to say enough is enough. And AI has made that way easier for us to get to that point, right?
That's correct.
Analyze this market. Okay, 5 minutes later, here you go, right? Not even that, 30 seconds later, you know. Here's your full analysis.
Yeah. One more thing I wanna really share with the entrepreneur as well. Yeah, you have to find the problem that is really burning and that your consumer cannot solve. And that should be stickable if you are able to figure this out. And launch it, I'm sure you'll get there.
Well, Santosh, it's a pleasure to have you on our show today. Thank you so much for joining us. For those who want to learn more about what he's doing, I invite you to go to his website, gosource.biz. And that'll wrap up today's episode of the Achieve Podcast. So a big thank you to our sponsor, Achieve Fractional, which provides fractional executives for growing businesses. And if you enjoyed today's show, I invite you to share it with another entrepreneur who would also find value in it. And we'll see you again on the next episode. Santosh, thank you for joining us today.
Thank you so much, Chase. Really my pleasure to be here and I'm grateful for this opportunity.
Okay. Thanks everyone.
