About Us
Room & Pillar is a family office with over eight decades of forensic investigation in property damage across 50 states and 1+ million investigations. Working for property & casualty industry, federal, state, and local governments, litigators, manufacturers and more, this experience powers our passion for identifying friction in property insurance and real estate through early-stage investment delivering transformative value.
Our Mission
We are redefining traditional property insurance and real estate industries with our strategic industry knowledge and bold vision. We are dynamic innovators forging powerful partnerships with trailblazing entrepreneurs. Together, we transform bold ideas into tomorrow’s reality.
Investment Philosophy
At Room & Pillar, we believe that the property we live and work in is one of the most important financial investments behind our entire economy, and that we should expect the best performance and highest returns from this asset class. And while legacy design, building codes, construction, and more drive that result, it’s not enough. Modern technology invites us to think creatively about how every facet of performance in the built world can be rethought – from before breaking ground to maintenance and repair to recovering from damage following catastrophes.
We grew up in forensic engineering, investigating more than one million property damage claims across all 50 states spanning eight decades. The dirt under our fingernails remains, and we’re inspired to help great entrepreneurs tackling the most exciting and impactful problems across property insurance and real estate.
Solutions for Today and Tomorrow
We are dedicated to working with entrepreneurs to solve the greatest challenges facing the Property Insurance and Real Estate markets through our 4 strategic directives:
We understand the current landscape
Through decades being in the trenches, we have experienced the pain of today’s obstacles and its impact on the Insurance and Real Estate industry
We create value
Room & Pillar has a proven track record scaling InsurTech & PropTech early-stage companies for sustained growth with groundbreaking solutions
We are industry experts
Through deep, panoramic views of insurance and property, its ecosystem, data and technology we understand how to redefine the status quo
We inspire vision
Our unique perspective and industry expertise fuels a future state perspective required to solve problems at scale through technology and data
Leadership
Lyle Donan
As founder of Room & Pillar, Lyle Donan has built decades of trust as a passionate industry expert and bold innovator, forging a new path forward for the insurance and real estate industries. Lyle studied Civil and Mining Engineering at Vanderbilt, continuing at the Colorado School of Mines where he graduated in 1999. He earned his professional engineering license in 2002 and after a year in commercial construction, he joined his father, John Donan, Jr., at Donan Engineering Co., Inc., a company founded by his grandfather in 1947. Over the next decade, Lyle specialized in forensic engineering investigations nationwide. Serving diverse clientele including property insurance companies, FEMA, and legal professionals, he developed his skills as an entrepreneurial leader. Under his leadership, Donan transformed from a small family business in Indiana and Kentucky into a national firm with four forensic investigation business lines and a workforce of over 400 employees by 2020. Lyle's entrepreneurial spirit and passion for forward-thinking approaches led him to co-found Seek-Now in 2011, seed invest and advise Flyreel starting in 2016, and co-found Source7 in 2018, where he continues to serve as Chairman of the Board. After stepping down as CEO of Donan following a majority recapitalization in 2021, Lyle focuses on investing, advising, and serving on boards for a portfolio of businesses across InsurTech and PropTech under Room & Pillar. He is married with three children and resides in Louisville, Kentucky. He enjoys spending time outdoors in the southern Appalachian Mountains, the Florida coast, and the Colorado Rockies.