Open Book: Evie Alexander
Hear from Evie why she’s excited to lead Consumer Design at Opendoor
Open Book is a series of interviews where you get to meet our creative design team at Opendoor.
What do you do at Opendoor?
I am the Director of Design for Consumer Products. I help my team define the vision and strategy for our product, help grow and mentor individuals, develop our design process, and continue to grow our design culture.
Can you share a bit about your background and why you were excited to join Opendoor?
I was lucky to start my product design career off at places like Google and Sonos, but it was definitely my experience at Airbnb that shaped my current thinking on Product Design and what drove me to be excited about Opendoor.
I was a founding member of the team that led Airbnb Plus from a vague concept to full scale. The idea was to offer a premium guest experience, verified for quality and comfort. We weren’t just designing a slick wrapper for nice homes, we had to actually help our hosts deliver on that — which in turn meant creating a large operations product. We had the rare opportunity to build a digital product that radically affected what happened in the real world.
Helping Airbnb hosts create premium home experiences was really exciting. Then I started looking into buying a home of my own. Real Estate is not built for today’s world. It is so archaic that buyers and sellers literally have to pay someone to guide them through the process, because it’s so confusing. Naturally, I was very excited when I first learned about the role at Opendoor.
We have the opportunity to reinvent all of this. We design a digital product, but it’s focused on facilitating one of the most important and emotional experiences a person can have. So while we talk a lot about pixels, our work really starts and ends in the real world. How do we help people find the right home? How do we build trust during such an important experience? On the design team, we’re really empowered to make meaningful change in this industry.
There are many real-estate companies out there. Why Opendoor?
I was blown away by the appetite for radically new concepts for home buying and selling. Rather than focusing on how to optimize our current product, we really walk the “innovation” talk. Beyond that, I feel so excited by Opendoor’s opportunity to level the playing field when it comes to real estate — make it accessible to everyone.
What was it like starting a whole new job during the pandemic? How has that impacted the way you’re designing and managing today? What aspects do you think you’ll remember after pandemic times?
First of all — it’s hard! A role like this is so much about relationships with my team and other leaders. Building relationships with people you’ve never met in person is not always easy. What I’ve found, though, is that it’s made me work harder at building successful relationships, which will last longer and be stronger because we really had to work for them.
We’ve also had to make some novel changes to our design process. Our design crits happen right in Figma now which, it turns out, is more efficient, because no one has to copy down all the post-it notes. It used to be that team-building was organic with things like hallways conversations. Now we have to plan for it, which actually makes that time more meaningful since it’s focused.
These are all great practices that are going to stick, especially since at Opendoor, the future of work is remote-first. They’ve made me a better communicator, designer and collaborator.
Can you share a bit more about your product vision and what aspects you’re most excited about?
When it comes to helping people buy and sell homes, there are three things I’m really excited to continue developing:
Trust. Building and investing in trust with our customers. Buying and selling homes from an app is counterintuitive. We need to really be there for them by building relationships, proactively answering questions, allowing our expertise to shine, and finding the sweet spot between in-person and digital support.
Equity. Real estate has long been the domain of the wealthy, but we can build products that help level the playing field. Whether that’s different models of homebuying, supporting customers buying and selling so people aren’t tripped up by contingencies, helping buyers figure out that down payment, or even just making the process clearer and easier for those without real estate experience.
Magical. Homes are aspirational. People go on home tours just because they love looking at them. How did the home buying industry, the largest purchase a person will make, become so boring? How might we stop focusing on the drudgery of documents and numbers, and bring romance and magic to the experience? How can it feel as tailored and premium as it should be, considering the cost of the product?
You’re a strong female leader who has found success at places like Airbnb and Google. How has female mentorship played a role in your career and how has that related to the way you show up as a leader at Opendoor?
Unlike many women, I’ve been really lucky to have strong female leaders to look up to and learn from throughout my career. It can be really hard to see yourself at the top of a company, when you don’t look like most of the leaders and because you may not naturally embody the characteristics we’ve all been trained to assume make a leader, like being assertive and exuding confidence.
In addition to helping me see myself as leadership potential, they also showed me there are different ways to lead. Everyone knows you should invest in building people not just the product, and that leaders should surround themselves with other experts to help make smart decisions. I’ve found the female leaders in my life have put those ideals into practice the most.
This exposure and my own journey upwards have given me confidence to lead in my own way. I try to embody vulnerability. To demonstrate that, even if you don’t fit the archetype of a “leader”, even if you struggle with imposter syndrome yourself, that you can have a big impact through leading your own way. This means that I start with the belief that I have something to learn from everyone, no matter their level, and I do my best to listen before speaking.
To round all of that out, I feel lucky to have had leaders at Opendoor who support these core parts of who I am; and help amplify them to be even stronger.
So, outside of Opendoor and work, what are some things that bring you joy? How do you like to spend your free time?
My husband and I were lucky enough to have bought a home in beautiful Echo Park (Los Angeles 🌞) last year. We’ve taken on many rewarding construction projects, and I’ve enjoyed making some custom furniture for the space. Lately I’ve been working on a Korean tapestry technique called Bojagi for a tall wall in our living room.
My father taught me how to sew at a young age. He makes his own shoes, my brother makes his own suits, and my grandmothers quilted and made clothes for the whole family. I’ve continued this craft, designing and making modern quilts and, in tandem, creating my own linen wardrobe. So, on top of revolutionizing real-estate at Opendoor, maybe I’ll have my own textile company? Keep an eye out 😂💪🏼
Other entries in the series:
P.S. If you liked what you read and are interested in learning more, check out our jobs page! We’re always hiring.
