Technology in Real Estate Start-ups
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
I am currently enrolled in a class that is about the technological tools often used by Entrepreneurs. For a project in this class, we were asked to choose between researching tools that are often used by entrepreneurs in start-ups or finding an entrepreneur that could give further insight on the platforms their company currently utilizes. I have always been interested in the real estate industry so I knew that I wanted to learn more about the tools used by an industry professional within a real estate start-up. Kris Hans, the professor for this class, was kind enough to introduce me to Mike McAra who is the CEO and co-founder of RealOffice360. He is also an active mentor to many investors in the industry. I was able to conduct a phone interview with Mike to learn more about his start-up, the motivation behind it and some of the important technological tools that his team has utilized in the start-up process as well as day-to-day operations of the business.
RealOffice360 is an innovative cloud-based, customer relationship management (CRM) platform that enables real estate agents to improve the productivity of their advisory services and go beyond just the transaction itself. This software enables real estate agents to manage multiple clients and appointments, as well as track deals and sets future goals. Some of the features included in this centralized platform are client activity tracking, a calendar system, website management, and contact management, just to name a few. The platform provides users central access to their entire contact database of clients, prospects and leads and users are able to access their real estate CRM anytime through any device and add an unlimited number of clients.
Through the phone conversation with Mike, I was able to gain a better insight on when the final version of the product was launched and the motivation behind this start-up. The software was launched in 2016 as HomeHub360 and there were many factors that encouraged Mike and his team to pursue this idea. Mike realized that a large amount of wealth was invested in real estate and there was no real access to professional management for these investments. As a result, he wanted to create a system similar to one for wealth management but specifically for the real estate industry. In our conversation, Mike mentioned how they were aiming to use technology to help facilitate an on-going value-based relationship as opposed to trying to replace the human. His team realized that realtors are often only part of the transactional step and they observed a gap in the market that allowed for more than just that. These investments required management and professional insight in order for clients to get the most return from their investment into real estate.
The launch in 2016 was unfortunately not successful and the reason for this, Mike described, to be the timing in the market as well as the lack of customer discovery. During the time of the launch, this product was seen to act as more of a ‘vitamin’ rather than a ‘painkiller’ since real estate agents saw no real value in becoming active on an online platform for customer relationship management. They first built this software for their ten real estate agents in their own brokerage assuming that all other realtors would need the same product. They did not initiate any further market research to define their customer segment and to see if the demand was there for their platform at the time. With these issues, the launch did not scale as quickly and failed to produce the results they were aiming to see. Therefore, after adjustments and a better understanding of the demand in the market, they re-launched RealOffice360 two years later in 2018. This was now a time when agents were looking for ways to enhance their value proposition because now their deal flow was being compressed by technology and they were looking for ways to keep ahead of this trend. The CRM platform was now finally moving towards becoming a ‘painkiller’ rather than a ‘vitamin’ compared to when it was first launched. Their pricing strategy also shifted from only seeking revenue to now aiming for market penetration which required acquiring as many users to become active on the platform as possible.
After understanding the business and the steps Mike and his team went through to now be operating a successful online platform, I was able to ask him about the technological tools that helped him get started and push his software to the operational stage. He provided me with a well-thought-out list of tools. Some of the tools that I was most familiar with included: Google Analytics, Google Drive, Adobe Suite, Google Review, Facebook Business Manager, Mailchimp, and Office365. These tools have been very successful when considering effective data, team and business management. The remaining tools, as listed below, were ones that I had to conduct further research to gain a better understanding of their functionality and features.
- For building and publishing their website, Mike and his team utilized Squarespace which allowed them to use pre-built website templates and leverage the drag and drop elements to create a user-friendly webpage. By doing so, clients can now easily access and learn more about the service that their company provides and sign up for a demo to experience what the software offers before fully committing to the platform.
2. Hootsuite and Buffer were two software used to manage their social media networks. These tools have been very impactful to their business as Mike mentioned that most of their revenue comes from paid marketing channels such as Facebook and Instagram. The key to most online businesses is to be able to control and analyze the data through social media networks as most of their traffic and customer usage can be tracked and further leveraged for improvements and changes in the future.
3. Reamaze is a tool used by entrepreneurs that helps with managing customer chats, emails and social messages all from one place. It helps with converting incoming traffic into sales to help realize a greater growth of the business in the future. This also takes away from the time entrepreneurs are using to reply to clients through the various points of contact and further creates more meaningful conversations with the customers.
4. One of the most important tools that I thought would be considered very essential for collecting customer payments, was Chargify. RealOffice360 is a subscription paid service and real estate agents can decide to become a premium member of the platform. Prices start at $19/month billed annually or $29/month billed monthly which is considered to be quite reasonable in comparison to other CRM software. Chargify is a billing and revenue management solution for B2B Saas, which is a category that RealOffice360 also falls into. By using this tool, Mike and his team are able to manage the timing and the amount that users are charged for and make sure their revenue stream is closely monitored.
5. As previously mentioned, tools such as Google Drive, Microsoft 365 and MailChimp allow for the communication of employees across the company. Other platforms used by Mike’s team is Zoom and Slack. Zoom is a communication software that combines video conferencing, online meetings and chats all in one place. This creates an effective way for the different departments of the company to work together and communicate information across the company in a timely manner. Slack is considered to be a collaboration hub that brings together the right people, information and tools to complete tasks efficiently. By using this workspace, team members can send instant messages and share files which saves the time of having to construct an email and waiting hours or even days for a response. These platforms become most effective when the company is able to encourage all employees to actively use the software to streamline the communication process across every department.
6. Klipfolio is a cloud service that is used for creating dashboards, reports and performing visual analysis when aiming to provide visibility into the most important data and metrics. This platform also allows users to visualize analytics and customize how customers view data by displaying simple and easy-to-understand data graphics. RealOffice360 uses this software to organize and visualize information about customer interactions with the platform and track data such as the number of users, visits to the site and other relevant metrics to help with projecting user growth and their move to a premium paid membership. To follow up with optimal user experience, RealOffice360 also utilizes Appcues which helps the company implement a smooth, personalized user onboarding experience. The platform provides product tours, walkthroughs, and in-app messages to welcome customers which further results in a higher number of retained clients and users on the platform. The platforms address onboarding issues and provide services to streamline the process for start-up businesses similar to RealOffice360.
7. Being provided this list of the many software and platforms used by a start-up, I was able to appreciate the many technological tools that are out there for entrepreneurs to help with almost every step. These tools can be leveraged from the early stage of introducing their business to the market all the way to the operational stage of running a profitable business. To find the best platforms that address the needs of the business, start-ups must use other’s experience and see which software is the best for the process they are looking to improve. To do this, RealOffce360 leverages Capterra which includes ratings, reviews, and comparisons to help them find the best options for their business needs which ultimately maximizes the company’s ROI.
Throughout our conversation, I had expressed interest in the commercial real estate industry and I mentioned my experience in property management. Mike was kind enough to share his knowledge about Condo Bridge, which was co-founded by Min Woo Ro. The technology works in the interest of the condo/strata owner to provide full transparency and better communication. The platform keeps the building informed of any changes in property management regulations, provides advice on budgeting and condo fees as well as leverages technology to make board volunteer service simple. Along with many other industries, the real estate industry has to also be prepared for the introductions of technological advancements to allow for higher productivity in every role which in this example would be property management. The automation of property management is foreseen in the industry and if industry professionals do not acknowledge this change, they will experience many challenges when required to stay competitive with other companies offering similar services.
In-conclusion, conducting a phone interview with Mike allowed me to gain a greater insight into the tools used in the real estate industry and provided for a greater understanding on the technological advancements that could help in various roles. With tools like Chargify, Hootsuite and Klipfolio, Mike and his team are able to control and manage their revenue stream, social media platforms and data visualization as they are considered to be important segments of their business. The real estate industry, similar to many other industries, is moving towards automating many of their processes for cost and time saving purposes. If new start-ups are able to stay ahead of this trend and onboard talent that has the experience and the drive to innovate and work with such systems, then they would already be one step ahead of many other competitors.
References
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