philipdlang

Interesting thought about the e-mails. It seems like salesforce or zoho would also be perfectly adequate for scaling customer service. Have you tried those?

Would love anyone's thoughts on this post!

I somewhat agree here, but when a company is small it could be awkward to have a policy where you buy computers for some and not for others, right?

This is specifically for early-stage founders. If you haven't raised much yet, how do you deal with new employees coming in? Do you buy them new laptops? Buy refurbished macs?

You make an interesting point. One of the issues, however, is that all of the data is created within the industry. Because brokers create and control the data, companies must work within the system in order to access the data.

Spot on there. Selling to the broker franchises in a B2B play is much easier than selling to individual agents in a B2C play. You have to prove to brokers that they are going to make more commissions and it is extremely hard to prove that ROI.

The paid per commission model has been tried by very few companies. It would expose a company to a significant amount of market risk (housing drops like 2008 and your SAAS play is now dead), but could make sense. The issue there is tracking closed deals. There are so many complications during the close that are out of the hands of the software.

Interesting - at what price point do you think people would need to see it in person first? Certainly some sites have proven people will buy ever-more-expensive goods online, but real estate hasn't gotten there yet...

Suitey - New York City - Full time

Suitey is a software-powered real estate brokerage changing the way that people buy homes. We are growing our team significantly as we look to take on more of the New York City market. We are hiring for:

- Mobile Engineers - Backend Engineers - Frontend Engineers

You'd be an early part of a profitable company with the opportunity for competitive salary and meaningful equity.

About us: * Founded in 2011 * Great office in Chelsea * Fun team with frequent events * Small, bright engineering team * Solving one of the biggest problems in New York

Check out more at www.suitey.com or email jobs(at)suitey.com

It could be difficult for them to sustain revenue growth once they've sold to a critical mass of brokers...

https://ycharts.com/companies/Z/revenue_growth

I wonder if Zillow and Trulia would ever consider hiring brokers to grow their revenue...

Yes, that is an assumption I make in the article. A 20% downpayment is going to be the minimum that you would need for any bank to approve you for a mortgage. Many readers either have that cash in their bank account or the ability to get help from (extremely) generous parents.

That's a valid point and I'll follow up with a future post about the economics of buying, but to realize a return on a home you need a time horizon of 5 years. With the shift to more urban life, I don't think that 5 years is an unrealistic amount of time to live in one place. In major metropolitan areas, there are often plenty of alternative jobs available and people tend to be tied down due to family obligations.

Would love feedback from the HN community on this post!

I've never read such a bitter blog post from a company blog.

And what have people found is the best card to get for early-stage (pre-series A) startups?

Rowing as well

Market knowledge is gained by hitting the streets and knowing which buildings are decent deals. 50% of the time, the renter has a special situation - bad credit, international, needs a guarantor, etc and brokers have to know the buildings and which are flexible. When you go to a broker and tell them you are looking for a $3500 Convertible 2 bed in Murray Hill, they are going to rattle off 5 buildings that have availability. If everybody could do that, there wouldn't be a market for brokers (see lawyers, consultants and just about any other service industry for a comparable).

Most brokers don't make exorbitant six figure salaries, which is why the turnover in the industry is close to 80%. In fact, most make about $40k and leave the industry soon after they enter. Only the top 5% of brokers in NYC are making six figures. Brokers are certainly compensated for the low hit rate, just as bankers are as well. This may be a controversial comparison, but in both industries the professionals work on a success-based transaction fee with a very low probability of success.

I'm currently living in an apartment that never went on the market, because my roommate (a broker) knew the management company and he gave us a great deal. Brokers who frequent buildings get to know which apartments are coming on the market before they are listed because the supers tell them.

Brokers are compensated for their market knowledge, not just opening doors. The fast that he was "in" with the management company is hugely valuable, and you were able to take advantage of that. 15% is a lot of money, but brokers meet tens of clients each week that don't rent with them, so they are compensated for that low hit rate as well.

And yes, many apartments are exclusive so you have to pay a full 15% fee (split between the broker who has the listing and your broker).

You could have the greatest collection of listings in NYC and still not solve the "rental issue" because you'll always have landlords that only work with certain brokers, exclusives and apartments that are rented on the spot (with no real-time updates). It is nearly impossible to get a real-time feed of data. I've been in the business a year now and I've seen apartments get rented as I was showing my [interested] client the gym. I've showed up to apartments with clients and, embarrassingly, found out that they've been rented between the time I called to make the appointment and the time I showed up.

The entire system is outdated, and the real fix is one that incorporates brokers to make it easiest for clients to rent.

Really interesting, but a correction should be noted: CC is for courtesy copy, not carbon copy

My company, Suitey, is a concierge service to help people find apartments in the city, but sublets are a particular difficult market because most leases don't allow people to sublet, so it's an underground market. Craigslist is unfortunately the best game in town unless you go for a super-expensive short-term rental.

Exactly - what are the odds the battery doesn't actually last 3 hours? And how functional is it to project a movie on your phone, but then have a dead phone that you can't use the rest of the day.

Its too bad that nobody has figured out how to move onto a better version of Craigslist. Their real estate listings in particular are a major source of pain for New Yorkers, and they even charge for postings there. Craigslist's lack of any customer support opens a black hole for any account issues you may be having.

You're definitely right about #2, but if you're starting your own VC firm, good ideas are definitely bought ;)

I think that having a family history in a certain business (like hotels) would make that firm more valuable for hotel-related startups.

This was a great article covering a well-observed trend in startups - many heirs to "old money" families are getting into the tech space. Do you think it will last, or is it just a way to have fun for a few years before taking over the family business?

Check out all the microsoft ones at the bottom...

Seems like the equivalent of a payday loan for startups?

Would Zappos count?