First Colony Mortgage Puts Tidalwave’s AI To The Test Over Hot Wings
Hot wings, hot sauce, and honest questions about what agentic AI means for loan officers and operations
First Colony Mortgage just fully launched both the wholesale and retail function with Tidalwave and they didn't start with a case study or a canned webinar.
They started with hot wings and hard questions. Over 30 minutes, the questions get harder and the wings get spicier as First Colony makes Tidalwave’s Head of Customer Success, Chris Olsen, answer in real time what agentic AI actually does for their team. No fluff. No pre‑rehearsed talking points.
Hosted by First Colony’s Brandon Christensen with questions from Chief Technology Product Officer Nick Christensen, the conversation digs into the real pressure points inside a mortgage file: 500‑page loan packages, rising origination costs, and the hire‑in‑the‑boom, fire‑in‑the‑bust staffing cycle that has defined the industry for decades.
They cover three big themes:
- What agentic AI actually means in a mortgage context: not just answering questions, but handling work across AUS, income, asset, and employment verification so loan officers spend less time copy‑pasting and more time with borrowers.
- How automation changes the life of a loan officer on a busy Tuesday, from instant pre‑approvals via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to clearing conditions without touching every document by hand.
- Why underwriting and post‑closing teams care just as much as sales: Tidalwave’s AI reviews closing and funding documents to catch errors before loans become unsellable or get pulled back years later.
For Tidalwave CEO and co‑founder Diane Yu, this isn’t abstract. At Better.com, she watched lenders hire hundreds of people when rates dropped and lay them off when rates climbed, again and again. Tidalwave was built to break that cycle by using agentic AI to absorb repetitive, rules‑based work so lenders can build stable, durable teams through every market.
Nick calls Tidalwave “the biggest opportunity for loan officers in a decade.” Chris pushes him to go even further. And when a lender that has been originating mortgages for nearly 40 years says this is the kind of technology they want at the center of their workflow, it says more than any slide or product demo.
You can watch the full First Colony “Burning Questions” episode featuring Brandon Christensen, Nick Christensen, and Chris Olsen here.