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Despite COVID-19 shutting down the entire housing market in early 2020, it came back a few months later with feverish demand; American homes sold faster and at higher prices than ever that year. Our next episode of Leadership Lessons features one of the most recognizable names in the real estate industry who disrupted the traditional brokerage firm: Glenn Kelman, CEO of Seattle-based technology-powered real estate company Redfin (NASDAQ: RDFN).
Kelman’s hybrid business model using both innovative technology and human expertise—he oversees more than 5,000 brokers nationwide and a team of data scientists and economists—has saved clients more than $1 billion in commissions since its launch in 2006. the company’s shares increased fivefold during the pandemic, generating $1.7 billion in revenue in 2021, an increase of 2.6x from 2015. It serves more than 100 markets in the US and Canada and has 53 million average monthly users on the website and app.
Series host Jason Nazar will speak to Kelman about his experience leading the company five years after its IPO, as well as some of the toughest leadership lessons he’s learned during his more than 25-year career. Topics of discussion include:
- Disrupting a traditional industry
- Building a multi-billion dollar company
- Trends in the real estate market
- Bringing a company to the stock exchange
- How to be “The Great Exhilarator”
- The Most Valuable Trait of a CEO
- Identify and overcome your weaknesses
About the speaker:
Glenn Kelman has been Redfin’s CEO since 2005. Prior to joining Redfin, he co-founded Plumtree Software, a Sequoia-backed, publicly traded company that created the enterprise portal software market. In his seven years at Plumtree, he led engineering, marketing, product management and business development at various times; he was also responsible for financing and general operations in the early days of Plumtree. Before starting Plumtree, he was one of the first employees at Stanford Technology Group, a Sequoia-backed start-up that was acquired by IBM. Glenn grew up in Seattle and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jason Nazar is co-founder/CEO of Comparably, a leading workplace culture employee assessment site. A serial businesskinda.com, investor and advisor, he was previously co-founder/CEO of Docstoc (acquired by Intuit). Jason was named one of the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs and named the inaugural businesskinda.com in Residence for the City of Los Angeles in 2016. The Los Angeles native received his BA from UC Santa Barbara and his JD and MBA from Pepperdine University.
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.