The impact of DealMachine’s data on individuals and communities has helped earn co-CEOs David Lecko and Dave Oster recognition as finalists for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2026 Heartland Award. The program recognizes business leaders for their ingenuity, courage, and entrepreneurial spirit. For David and Dave, this recognition is rooted in something specific: the measurable impact their platform has created for people and neighborhoods across the country.

The Problem That Started It All

Both David and Dave were raised in South County, St. Louis, MO. Their middle-class upbringing taught them to appreciate the value of every hard-earned dollar.

In 2017, David Lecko was driving around Indianapolis looking for run-down properties to invest in, a strategy known as driving for dollars. He would spot a house, write down the address, drive home, and spend an hour digging through county records to find the owner. It worked, but it was painfully slow. And it highlighted a bigger problem: The data that made real estate investing possible was scattered, expensive, and out of reach for most people.

David didn’t want anyone else to face the challenges and financial barriers he was up against. So, he built a mobile app that let you photograph a property and instantly pull up who owned it. Dave saw the potential but understood the app would need some serious engineering to become a viable service. He came on as co-founder, and they each invested $5,000. No outside investors, no safety net. Their mission was simple: make property data accessible to everyone, not just institutional players with deep pockets.

Making Data Accessible to Everyone

For years, the real estate data industry charged per record. Every piece of homeowner information came with a fee. That model locked out the people who needed data most: beginners trying to close their first deal, someone desperate for a second chance, or a veteran exploring a new career path.

David and Dave introduced unlimited access to skip tracing and property data at a flat subscription rate. The people who had been priced out of the industry finally had the same access to ownership data that large firms had always enjoyed. That single decision opened the door for thousands of people who otherwise would never have gotten started in real estate investing, and it has led to more than 100,000 transactions closed by DealMachine customers across all 50 states.

Real People, Real Outcomes

The individual stories behind those numbers are what bring DealMachine's impact to life. Many customers did not come from real estate backgrounds. They were teachers, veterans, firefighters, even homeless but looking for a way to build something on the side or find a path out of a situation that was not working.

Struggling to make ends meet and facing a significant injury, Brian Duhrkoop left his 12-year career as a math teacher to navigate wholesaling. He was able to create a network of over 50 people to provide him with leads, allowing him to focus solely on closing.

Patrick Martin experienced homelessness before changing his life with real estate investing. He committed to the process, quit his day job, and closed more than 14 deals including one that earned him $30,000.

Veteran Anthony, and his wife, Ashley Warren started wholesaling as a couple and got their first property under contract within a single week. They went on to close 17 deals, with two-thirds coming directly from DealMachine tools. Their story is a reminder that this platform supports families building a future together.

Aaron Gaunt was a former firefighter and veteran trying to fight his way out of debt. Aaron closed an $81,000 wholesale deal using DealMachine. For someone just getting started in real estate, that kind of outcome changes everything. It is a clear example of how access to quality data can translate directly into life-changing results for someone willing to put in the work.

These are not isolated cases. Thousands of DealMachine users have left their 9-to-5 jobs to focus on real estate investing full time. They reach out to the team regularly to share what has happened since they started: the first deal they closed, the job they finally walked away from, the financial future they are building for their families. Every one of those stories traces back to the same thing. Access to data facilitated real estate deals, changing the direction of their life.

Revitalizing Communities One Property at a Time

Wholesale real estate investing specifically targets neglected and distressed homes. These are properties that have been sitting vacant, falling into disrepair, and pulling down the value of the blocks around them. When an investor acquires one of these homes and renovates it, the effect is not contained to that single property. The house next door becomes more desirable. The street feels safer. The neighborhood starts to come back.

That impact extends to the homeowners on the other side of the transaction too. Andrea, a longtime Midwest homeowner, decided to sell her house and move to the West Coast to be closer to family. After a frustrating experience with another buyer, she connected with David. In her own words, the transition was smooth, the pressure was gone, and she wishes she had gone with David and the DealMachine team from the start. 

DealMachine customers have helped restore tens of thousands of properties across the country that might otherwise have continued to deteriorate. That is community revitalization powered by data access. It is not happening through a government program or a large institutional initiative. It is happening because individual investors now have the information they need to identify neglected properties, connect with owners, and close deals that bring those homes back to life.

The ripple effects touch everyone in the area. Property values stabilize or increase. Housing stock improves. Homeowners in the surrounding area benefit from the upgrades happening around them. What starts as a single data lookup in the DealMachine app can end with an entire block looking and feeling different. That kind of impact is hard to quantify in a single number but impossible to miss when you drive through a neighborhood that has been transformed one property at a time.

About the Entrepreneur Of The Year® Program

The Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2026 Heartland Award regional winners will be announced on Thursday, June 19, during a special celebration. The winners will then be considered by the independent panel of judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum®, one of the nation's most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. Notable past Entrepreneur of the Year National Award winners include Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Michael Dell (Dell Technologies), and Howard Schultz (Starbucks).