Culture Isn’t a Perk - It’s a Platform: Lessons from Stella Nicol and Street Group
At The Depositary, we’re always tuned in to the conversations that push our industry forward - and our recent Viking Chats episode with Stella Nicol, Group Sales Director at Street Group, delivered insight by the truckload.
This wasn’t just another chat about PropTech. It was a window into how a former agent, turned scale-up sales leader, is helping to shape a business that thinks like a SaaS company - not a supplier. And what that mindset shift means for letting agents, operations managers and leadership teams across the PRS, BTR and PBSA landscape.
From Viewings to Vision
Stella started out like many in the industry - at branch level, juggling lettings and sales, navigating M&A chaos and managing teams through uncertainty. It’s this operational grounding that makes her perspective so relatable to letting agents.
But what makes her current role at Street Group so powerful is that she hasn’t forgotten the frontline. Instead, she’s helping build tech with it in mind - creating tools that respect the agent, reduce friction, and ultimately help them deliver better outcomes for landlords, tenants and teams.
Tech Culture vs. Supplier Mentality
One of the standout themes from our chat was how Street Group approaches its business like a tech company, not a traditional property supplier. That means:
Product teams that actually sit with users
Constant iteration based on real feedback
Culture that promotes ownership, not burnout
Recruitment that prioritises values as much as CVs
For letting agents exploring new platforms or tools, this distinction matters. You want tech partners who solve problems, not just sell licences.
Agents Need Space to Be Great
Stella’s big message? Good agents know what to do - they’re just buried in admin.
Street Group’s goal - much like The Depositary’s - is to free agents from the repetitive, manual processes that eat up hours and energy. Whether it’s onboarding, marketing, progressing or concluding a tenancy - automating the 80% means your team has time to do the 20% that actually delivers value.
That could mean more time to:
Offer bespoke landlord advice
Handle sensitive tenant issues
Proactively manage renewals
Upskill teams and support wellbeing
Culture That Drives Performance
Culture isn’t a buzzword at Street - it’s the operating system. Stella talked candidly about leadership, internal comms, and how they’ve built a team of 160+ people that want to work in property tech.
At The Depositary, we see the same thing: agencies that invest in culture, clarity and process retention tend to have:
Lower staff turnover
Stronger landlord relationships
Better compliance records
More consistent growth
Final Thought: Look for Partners, Not Products
What Stella and Street Group remind us is that tech done right isn’t just about tools - it’s about trust. It’s about building platforms and partnerships that support the people who make lettings work.
Letting agents aren’t looking for more complexity. They’re looking for clarity, credibility and confidence - for themselves and their clients. And that only comes when tech companies build with empathy, transparency and a deep respect for the work agents do.
At The Depositary, that’s our ethos too.
Because in the end, it’s not about replacing agents. It’s about amplifying their impact - and making them the undeniable centre of their clients’ property universe.
