The Exchanges

Q And you became so popular because of the media. So I'm curious, like, when did you decide to take the media side so seriously?

A The media took me seriously. It wasn't a, it wasn't a, it was, it was a happy accident. I came to New York City after college in 2006 to do theater, and I ran out of money. And so I had to get a job and it was go back to school, which sounded terrible, or move home, which was way worse, or Bartend, you know, do a survival job. And so I got my real estate license because a friend said it was just like theater. It's all a game of improv. You meet someone on the streets. They say, I want to find an apartment. You say yes. And yes. And it's just acting is selling, right? Except you're doing it authentically and it's not about taking from people. It's about helping them make a decision they're going to make anyway, except now they get to make it with you and not make it in a year or with somebody else. Um, so I got my real estate license. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy that morning, and I was off to the races from there, and so I put the theater thing to the side, because I had to make money. I had to pay my rent to stay in the city, um, and I was at the bottom of the barrel there, and then I went to an open casting hall for Millionaire Listing New York, which was a TV show on Bravo, and I was cast on that, and that started in 2010. The show premiered in 2012, and I did it for 10 years. So yeah, so that show and that show was a shotgun for me into the real estate world, you kn…

AI assessment note: “The media took me seriously. It wasn't a, it was, it was a happy accident.”

Q Yeah. It's really impressive. And it's a shift that is happening really strongly in the venture world. Like in the last two years, a company that we had on recently was Opendoor. Yep. And so what they have done is they've built a cult following, sort of like the community that you're talking about. What do you think it takes to build one of these communities?

A Authenticity. First and foremost, vulnerability. People don't care about your wins. They want to connect with you on your losses. So I think we've been really, really clear by letting people know across all of our businesses and everything I do personally, my job is not to win. My job is to lose. And I do that all day, every day. I lose deals. I lose pitches. I lose this, that, the other, and the wins are then my bonus. And I think for salespeople, they align with us and there's A real culture that we've created, um, and following. And I think that's why cult is in culture. You know, I think that's why also my retention on customers is 99%. Like once you work with us, there would be nowhere else to go. And, you know, we, we lean on that heavily, heavily, heavily. Um, but I think people, you know, this, right? People read through bullshit. They don't like, they, they know when they're being sold to, and you see it in your feeds too. Like, you know, when something's being pushed to you and you know, when something's like an authentic moment, Whether it's produced or not, you're like, well, good job. I'll, I'll watch this. I'll give you, I'll give you a look. I would just say though, like, I've been doing this a long time. Um, and I just caution a lot of people on chasing virality because if it's not an engaged customer, you don't know who these people are. Like, it doesn't matter…

AI assessment note: “Authenticity. First and foremost, vulnerability. People don't care about your wins.”

Q speeds, get 20 times the standard FDIC coverage through their partner banks, and even high yield from day one. With same day and even same hour liquidity, access your funds anytime. Companies like Scale AI, DoorDash, Service Titan, HIMSS, Anthropic, Flexport, Robinhood, and Plaid trust and use bricks. Start today at brex.com slash sorcery. That's B-R-E-X dot com slash sorcery. What's the most expensive listing you've sold through social media?

A Through social? I mean, we sell through social every day. It's a huge part of what we do. We don't do deals in DMs. That's physically impossible. Um, but like, In January, I got a call from a banker who knows me through social, um, emailed first that turned into a call who then said, I have clients who want to buy something in Florida. Do you do Florida? And I said, yes, we do Florida and say, can I get them on the phone right now? And I said, sure. Um, told me who they are. And I was like, no way you're bringing these people on the phone. He brought them on. I recognize the voice. I said, Hello. Um, they said, we're going to buy something. We don't think we need a real estate agent. And I said, I think you're wrong. And I explained why they would need one. And they said, we're going to call you back in five minutes. And they did. And then we bought at the end of the day, that deal is three hundred and eight million dollars over the phone from, not from social, but the awareness was generated through the media engine that we have created that is in part On social media. Netflix is a huge help for me though.

AI assessment note: “that deal is three hundred and eight million dollars over the phone”

Q How has that changed the way you recruit?

A The average real estate agent in the United States is a 55 year old white woman. Like, at Compass, I think it's like 57. At, you know, all the other firms, it might be even a little bit older, our average agent is 28. Um, and they're all high production, because they all operate mobile first. Like, we are a mobile first company, we're digital first, and then we have some brick and mortar in markets where we, like, legally we have to. Like, in New York, I can't not have a spot. Um, and so, we recruit agents who are attracted to selling anything to anyone on any device, anywhere, anytime, and who believe in building Their business is empowered by our brand, our reach, um, and our tech stack in a way that they just can't do elsewhere. There's a lot of firms that use tech, but then the, the agent or the employer, the consumer still has to use it. Like it's only as good as the person who knows how to use the thing, right? Like my mom has a laptop. She still calls my CTO. Because it's her name on the door, too, to say words not doing the word thing. Like she's, you know, like so, um, but she has used simple, and it's wild. Because it just, and it, because it can multi-model 17 tasks at the same exact time, knowing exactly what to do as long as it's in your ecosystem.

AI assessment note: “we recruit agents who are attracted to selling anything to anyone on any device”

Q What was your process like for raising that capital and who did you raise from?

A I did it by myself like an idiot. Um, probably could have raised so much more. No, just kidding. I, um, I had no, you know, it's a classic example of, I had no intention of raising money. Like I bootstrapped. I have money. We're profitable. We're growing revenue, top line, 80% year over year. Like we just are, my issue is not growth. Or agent growth or consumer growth. My issue is supporting the growth. And so year four, like the supporting the growth thing was heavy in and by myself. So hiring employees who'd say, who are your backers? Like me, you know, is, is fine. Um, but it, it's, it's tough when you really want to get the absolute best of the best. And even if I wanted to take on debt, for example, which I don't, we have no debt, but, um, like I called JP Morgan one day. I was like, hey, so if I wanted to just, instead of spending 500,000 dollars to do X today, like what's a, what's a small business loan look like? And they were like, who are your backers? I'm like, me. You have all my bank accounts. You see everything. And they're like, well, yeah, without, without a valuation, without backers, you could only do X or Y. I'm like, but Get it. So, um, we've had interest, we've had investor interest since the day I launched in 2020, um, from PE and VC and family office, uh, I think because housing is recession resistant. When the market's up, people are trading. When the ma…

AI assessment note: “I just continued to take meetings as we got them. And I met Jeff Berman”

Q He said that you schedule your day very particularly, and you have a specific eating window. Can you walk us through your day?

A I don't know why you have to attack me right now. This has been such a nice podcast. I, um, I'm emotionally unavailable. Um, oh wait, what was your question? I am, uh, uh, listen, I am super scheduled Monday through Friday. Maybe one day I'll get to be in a world where I have white space on my calendar and I can just float through the office. I don't know. I, I just like, I just know how to operate the way I operate. And so I don't change it. So I have a thousand minutes every single day to be productive. So I have a thousand minute rule. Um, I wrote about that in book two and then Harvard business school did a review on it. So, which I thought they were going to write about content or media or tech or AI. And they were like, no, this thousand minute rule is so weird. We're going to have you come and teach a class and we're going to write. And it's in like the Harvard business review book. It's so crazy. Um, but I have a thousand minute rule. I eat six hours a day. Um, am I feeding window? Why he brings that up depends on the day today. It is 1245 to six 15. Um, tomorrow we'll see how the day goes, but it's when I can metabolize. This is so weird. I mean, this is such a weird conversation. It's when I can metabolize the fastest. And I think as you get older and you're 26, how old are you?

AI assessment note: “I have a thousand minute rule. I eat six hours a day.”