With two rounds of funding totaling more than $200 million and a $2.5 billion valuation, Side Real Estate’s founder and CEO Guy Gal says they will enter some 15 markets in the next eight months.
Today’s RealTrending features an interview with Guy Gal, founder of Side Real Estate. Guy envisioned a white-label brand for top teams and agents that puts the branding squarely with the agent. Coming from the tech world, the backend platform was vital for their success.
Here is a small preview of today’s interview with Gal. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:
Tracey Velt: For those who don’t understand or know Side Real Estate’s business model — because you have a unique one — why don’t you tell the audience just a little bit about why you founded Side, your business model and how you go about with your strategy?
Guy Gal: Side is a different type of brokerage because we’re not a brand, we’re a platform. That means we’re invisible, we’re white label, so consumers, buyers, sellers never actually interact with the Side Real Estate brand itself. We want agents to stand apart as opposed to all resemble each other, because that’s what allows them to actually service clients in the best way and win clients in the most efficient way.
When we started Side Real Estate, which was about four and a half years ago now, we recognized that there was a segment of agents who were underserved by existing brokerages — top producing teams. It was an emerging segment that corresponded with the rise of the internet. The brokerages, of course, are designed to support into an agent that’s maybe doing three to seven deals a year, which is like your average agent. That’s a very different set of needs than an agent who’s doing 30, 40, 50 plus transactions a year. That’s why we created Side.
REAL Trending features the brightest minds in real estate. Twice a month, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Elissa Branch.
