Hi, My Name's Sig Anderman. Please Buy my IPO.

It's not easy being a technology company these days. And it's not easy being a mortgage lender either. Although origination profit margins are still wonderful, applications are starting to thin out a bit. So, where does that leave technology firms that sell their products to the market? Answer: In an interesting place. I only mention this because Ellie Mae, a mortgage tech vendor that is the brainchild of industry veteran Sig Anderman, hopes to go public sometime soon. Its investor road show has started and presumably Anderman will be answering all sorts of probing questions from institutional buyers. But there could be a story here — that story being the 'de-consolidation' of the mortgage industry. Yes, I know all the new regulations and rules favor the megabanks, but some of those rules will force these very same 'mortgage gorillas' to shed MSRs, which means small to mid-sized players could move up in the ranks during the next 10 years. That's actually good news for the industry and good news for tech vendors — that is, for those firms specializing in servicing-related products. Mega lenders and mega servicers can offer vendors a big payday, for sure. But these very same giants also demand volume discounts. It's better to have 200 clients instead of five. Or so I've been told.