Zach Rattner

Zach Rattner is the CTO and co-founder of Yembo. Yembo builds computer vision that understands home interiors, turning a short phone video into a moving inventory for movers, or 3D models and floor plans for property insurers. The moving product is used in about 35 countries, with thousands of inspections a day. He joined us in Episode 49 (July 3, 2026).

The basic reason that we exist is we can compress down these tedious and complicated in home inspections that can take hours and cost billions, and we've shrunk it down into a process that takes just, ten, fifteen minutes.

— Zach Rattner, Episode 49

What Yembo does

Yembo sells to two kinds of customers (02:23). Moving companies use it worldwide, mostly in North America but also in Europe, Asia and Oceania. Property insurers use it for reconstruction estimates on claims; that business is more heavily regulated and was US-only at recording.

The moving problem is simple to picture (02:55). Before a move, someone comes to your door and lists every item, which decides the truck size, how many cartons to bring, and paperwork for customs or DOT rules. That visit takes 60 to 90 minutes. With Yembo, the mover texts you a link and you scan quick videos of each room in your phone's browser.

The demo

At 04:17, Zach shared what Yembo calls the visual inventory, the report its AI generates from those videos.

• Packing materials, calculated. The top of the report sums up the packing materials the AI worked out from the items in each room.
• Film strips of every item (04:43). Instead of a list saying "bed, lamp," each room has film strips of images with every item color-coded and numbered.
• Moving vs. not moving. Items are marked as moving or not moving, and those marks are date and time stamped.
• More than a checklist. The report helps the crew bring the right equipment, works as a load and unload checklist, and gives a before picture if something is damaged.

Around 2020, a destination mover in London got one of these reports for a move from Washington, DC and emailed asking who had the time to make it. They assumed a person had spent hours on it by hand. Yembo told them it happens on every move.

Key ideas from the conversation

• Do what was too expensive before (05:51). Zach said the obvious use of AI is doing the same work faster. The more interesting one is doing work that used to be too costly or labor intensive.
• The end user doesn't need to know it's AI (06:37). Jordan's take: movers get the benefit of AI without changing how they work. They just get a better document.
• Capture is the hard part (08:14). The homeowner may use Yembo once in ten years, so the app has to guide them without a tutorial. That is where a large share of Yembo's patents sit.
• Claude all day (07:49). Zach has Claude open from the moment he gets to his desk until he leaves, and sometimes on his phone after.

I think probably 30% of my company's patents are on what do you do during the camera capture process to make sure that the AI sees what it needs to see, but without making somebody, like, watch a two hour tutorial video or read a manual beforehand.

— Zach Rattner, Episode 49

In the news segment (09:57), we talked about Claude Fable 5 coming back, but not for coding. Zach compared AI to cars and drugs, which don't launch without safety testing, and said some clarity on guidance would help. Jordan pushed back that it may be too early, and that better KYC and self-regulation at the labs could have prevented some of the problems.

Yeah. I mean, in my view, I think the AI industry is sort of reaching adolescence.

— Zach Rattner, Episode 49

For more on the industries Yembo serves, see AI in logistics, AI in insurance and AI in real estate.

FAQ

Who is Zach Rattner?

Zach Rattner is the CTO and co-founder of Yembo. He named the company about ten years before his July 2026 appearance on Built This Week, choosing a made-up word so it would rank first on Google.

What does Yembo do?

Yembo builds computer vision that understands home interiors. From a short phone video, it makes moving inventories for moving companies and 3D models and floor plans for property insurers.

How does Yembo create a moving inventory?

The mover texts the homeowner a link, the homeowner scans quick videos of each room in their phone's web browser, and the AI builds an inventory with photos of each item and the packing materials needed, usually in ten to fifteen minutes.

Who uses Yembo?

Moving companies in about 35 countries, doing thousands of inspections a day, and US property insurance companies, which use it for 3D models and floor plans in claims.