Leland Remias had a problem most people would have been happy to keep.

He was succeeding.

Remias had just been named Rookie of the Year at a luxury real estate brokerage and was on pace to double his sales the following year. But every closing left him asking the same question: Why were families still paying tens of thousands of dollars in commissions for a process he believed technology could fundamentally improve?

“Once you see that, you cannot unsee it,” he said.

Walking away from failure is one thing. Walking away from success is another.

“When the status quo is paying you, leaving it looks irrational to everyone watching.”

So he left.

Today, VroomBrick is helping families keep more of the wealth they’ve earned during one of life’s biggest financial decisions. Along the way, it became just the second Hampton Roads-headquartered company to progress through the 757 Collab Pipeline—a founder journey that begins with 757 Startup Studios, advances through 757 Accelerate and culminates with investment from 757 Angels.

The first company to complete that journey was Crunchy Hydration.

Two companies don’t make a trend.

But they may signal something important.

For years, founders in Hampton Roads often built companies largely on their own or looked outside the region for resources. Today, the 757 Collab Pipeline offers a connected path—from refining an idea, to validating a business model, to preparing for growth and investment.

“I’m a systems thinker,” said Paul Nolde, executive director of 757 Collab. “I’d say that in this case, our platform is indeed functioning as a system.”

For Remias, the pipeline wasn’t a checklist. It was preparation.

Startup Studios challenged VroomBrick to validate assumptions through customer discovery. Accelerate shifted the company’s focus from proving the concept to building for scale. By the time it reached 757 Angels, the business was ready to pursue investment with greater confidence.

“Each stage prepared us for a challenge we had not hit yet,” Remias said.

Crunchy Hydration followed the same path.

Founder Megan Riggs credits each stage of the 757 Collab Pipeline with preparing the company for what came next. Today, Crunchy products are sold in more than 1,000 retail locations nationwide, but Riggs says one customer interaction stands out above the rest.

A woman shared that Crunchy had become part of her daily routine while navigating years of anxiety.

“As someone who started this company after my own struggles with anxiety and burnout, that message hit differently,” Riggs said.

Crunchy has since partnered with Project Blackbird to help provide free therapy for young people.

For Remias, impact is measured differently.

He imagines a family keeping $20,000 that otherwise might have disappeared into commissions.

“You’re not just making transactions cheaper,” he said. “You are creating prosperity that compounds and gets handed to the next generation.”

Nolde isn’t ready to declare victory.

“‘2’ is more proof of concept, but not proof of scale,” he said.

That’s true.

But every system has a first success. Then a second.

The question now isn’t whether Hampton Roads can produce companies capable of moving through the 757 Collab Pipeline.

It’s who will be next.

And if Remias has any advice for that founder, it’s simple.

“Stop sitting on it.

“Somebody here is going to build the next company that matters. It might as well be you.”