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From OneNote Sketch to Launch: Building Nimbus Portfolio

S
Steven Destine
··8 min read
From OneNote Sketch to Launch: Building Nimbus Portfolio

The First Sketch

October 6, 2021. 11:03 AM. I opened OneNote and drew a box at the top: "Nimbus Portfolio Assessment."

Below it: pie charts for expenses, bar graphs for revenue, bullet points about drill-through features. It looked simple. I had no idea it would take four years to build.

I had the vision. I just didn't have the capabilities yet.

The Problem Nobody Was Solving

I began my real estate journey with traditional rentals, but quickly caught the itch for short-term rentals (STR) and other unconventional opportunities. I did several STRs — some I owned, some I subleased — but none where I had the full investment picture.

The questions kept multiplying: What was my actual return when I factored in appreciation and tax benefits? Was my Denver STR outperforming my long-term rental? Should I sell one and move capital elsewhere?

I got curious about other asset classes — storage units, parking lots, billboards — but didn't know how to evaluate them or get started. More importantly, I didn't know how to compare them against what I already owned.

When I needed to make a strategic decision, I had three options:

  1. Spreadsheets that broke every time I added complexity
  2. Property management tools built for landlords collecting rent, not investors building wealth
  3. Expensive advisors who couldn't see my full portfolio in real-time

None of these options helped me answer the strategic questions that actually mattered:

  • Which of my assets is performing best across appreciation, cash flow, and tax benefits?
  • If I sell this property and 1031 into something else, how does that affect my long-term wealth goals?
  • Which markets are showing early opportunity signals based on actual data?

The tools for tenant management existed. The tools for portfolio intelligence didn't.

So I started building it. At night. On weekends. While working full-time, helping organizations unlock the value of their data through advanced data analysis and engineering. Could I do the same for real estate investors?

What Changes in Four Years

When I first sketched Nimbus Portfolio, my question was: How do I acquire more properties?

Four years later, after learning to build cloud data platforms at scale, after getting married, after completing a master's degree, after watching markets shift and technology evolve, the question transformed:

How do I build a system that allows myself and others to sustain and grow real estate portfolios with confidence?

That shift — from acquisition to intelligence, from spreadsheets to systems — is what Nimbus Portfolio represents.

What I Built (And Why It Matters)

Nimbus Portfolio isn't another property management tool. It's a portfolio intelligence platform built for investors who think strategically about assets in the United States.

The Data Foundation

  • Automatic bank integration (Plaid) — no more manual entry of income and expenses
  • Real-time market intelligence (Zillow, Census, Federal Reserve data) — comprehensive market conditions for every location where you own assets
  • Sophisticated data pipelines — processing and standardizing data from multiple authoritative sources
  • Market-aware valuations — we apply actual market performance data to your assets, using real appreciation/depreciation rates

The Intelligence Layer

  • Cross-asset comparison — finally compare your STR in Tahoe to your storage facility in Texas using consistent metrics
  • AI-powered scenario modeling — "What if I sell this and 1031 into that?" answered with your actual portfolio data and current market conditions
  • Performance analytics — cash-on-cash return, cap rate, equity buildup, all calculated automatically
  • Geographic intelligence — choropleth maps showing market trends based on appreciation rates, vacancy data, and economic indicators

The Experience

  • Clean, focused interface — clarity over clutter
  • Mobile-responsive — check your portfolio anywhere
  • No asset limits — unlimited properties forever, even on the free plan

This is built on technical foundations I learned professionally: creating and managing cloud data platforms at enterprise scale with the foundation of data quality. Combined with the SQL background I've built throughout my career, the system is powered by FastAPI, PostgreSQL transactional databases, and modern data processing techniques.

But more importantly, it's built to answer the question every serious investor asks:

"Which of my investment decisions move me toward my goals in the near, mid, and long term?"

The People Who Made This Possible

First and foremost, my wife, Lauren. We got married this year — the same year I built this dream. You didn't just support this journey, you lived it with me. You carried so much of our life so I could pour into this vision. But more than what you did — thank you for who you were through it all. Patient. Believing. Present. I am building something worth building because I have someone worth building it with. Thank you for choosing this journey with me. I love you, sempre.

My mother — Your entrepreneurial spirit taught me that nothing comes easy, but learning always pays off. I watched you build businesses while I was growing up. This is your legacy.

My brother — You showed me there is no failure, only learning. Your lessons as a husband, father, brother, son, successful business owner, and so much more inspire me to keep being better. You have taught me that I can fail forward while still being loved unconditionally — thank you, I am forever a better human because I am loved by you.

My sisters — Thank you for accepting me as I am and allowing me the space to create my way in the world, separate from your own expectations of who I should be.

My friends — Thank you for letting our communication ebb and flow, for accepting that I might disappear into code for weeks at a time. You gave me the peace to work knowing I wasn't throwing away life's treasures, relationships.

Craig S — You mentored me through building cloud data platforms. The data quality and accessibility foundations of Nimbus Portfolio exist because you took me under your wing. Time with you was transformational and opened the opportunity for my next step.

Caleb F — You took a chance on me, then created the space for me to flourish. Your teachings have spanned beyond data — through finance, accounting, psychology, and leadership. Core technology that powers Nimbus Portfolio came through conversations with you on how to improve internal data accessibility. Thank you for growing with me along the way and here is to many more years of using technology to serve the end users.

Why This Matters Now

Most real estate tools are built for operational efficiency: collecting rent, managing tenants, tracking maintenance.

Nimbus Portfolio is built for strategic intelligence: understanding performance, modeling scenarios, making confident decisions about your assets.

We're not for everyone. We're for:

  • Legacy Builders — investors managing diverse portfolios (storage, STRs, billboards, land, commercial) who need cross-asset intelligence
  • Sophisticated Investors — people who think in multi-year horizons and want data-backed answers to strategic questions around address tied assets
  • Emerging Portfolio Operators — investors getting their first taste of what wealth through real estate looks like, whether you have one rental property or hundreds of assets under management

If you manage your portfolio in Excel and it's working fine, keep doing that.

But if you've ever asked yourself:

  • "Should I sell now or hold for another year?"
  • "Which of my properties is actually the best performer?"
  • "How does refinancing this asset affect my overall portfolio cash flow?"

And you wanted better answers than a spreadsheet could give you…

This is for you.

What Happens Next

Today, November 11, 2025, Nimbus Portfolio goes live.

100% of development happened in 2025 — before and after work hours, on weekends, while maintaining a full-time job.

Now I'm asking for help.

Here's what I need:

I'm asking for your support: try the demo, share your feedback, join if it resonates.

No matter what happens next, this is just the beginning.

Steven Destine
Founder, Nimbus Portfolio
Former spreadsheet sufferer
Current portfolio intelligence builder

P.S. — Pricing is simple: Free forever (unlimited properties), Portfolio ($19/month), Portfolio Plus ($39/month). No asset limits. No tricks. Just tools that help you make better decisions.