Are you set up for success in 2016? Join 2,500 real estate industry leaders Aug. 4-7, 2015, at Inman Connect in San Francisco. Get Connected with the people and ideas that will inspire you and take your business to new heights. Register today and save $100 with code Readers.
We live in an unusually vibrant, dynamic and contentious time in real estate.
Tough, gnarly and controversial issues confront the industry because disruption is happening all around us. New companies are entering the business; new technologies are taking on roles that humans once played; the power struggle over data is heating up — and consumers are making portals like Zillow a habit as they dance between the online and offline world.
Unlike other industries, no one has been booted from the real estate value chain yet, but the sands are shifting, challenging the industry to keep up with the machines that are changing every other part of our lives. Data + algorithms = artificial intelligence.
At Inman Connect this week, we are going to confront those challenges, display the newest and latest technology innovations, introduce the world to a whole new generation of entrepreneurs, and set up discussions and debates on the hottest issues of the day.
To show off their ideas and business plans, 20 “New Kids on the Block” will present this year, and 47 companies will show off their new stuff in Startup Alley.
A raft of new business models will be introduced as a record number of new companies enter the real estate industry. Many are funded by the $400 million in venture capital that has been invested in realty tech ventures in the last year. A host of new hybrid broker models will be introduced at Connect, igniting a vigorous discussion about who wins, who loses and what the trend might do to commissions.
For four days, the best and brightest from around the world will gather to debate the topical issues of the day. What is the wisdom or folly of the Broker Public Portal and Upstream projects? Consultant and real estate scribe Rob Hahn will take on the articulate and tough-talking consultant Marilyn Wilson in a debate on one of these controversial initiatives.
Who will win the power struggle over listing data? Zillow, Move, agents, brokers, franchises or homeowners?
Other important data sources are joining the real estate controversy fray, including customer reviews, ratings and transaction data. Who will control it? How will it be used?
How should companies be organized: indie or franchise?
Four industry leaders will debate the choices: Dottie Herman of Douglas Elliman, Mauricio Umansky of The Agency, Alex Perriello of Realogy and Bob Moles of Intero Real Estate.
There will be a special presentation on the chemistry of human connection, a keynote address on the truth about telling the truth, and a discussion of how science may end death.
We promise to confront how you think about the world, the industry and its future.
This year, we have many more women, more young people and more rebels. Here is my rallying cry to open Inman Connect 2015:
“Welcome to the house of innovation, where we honor entrepreneurs, defend risk-takers and love outcasts, hackers and those who don’t fit in. We cheer those who want to change the world and applaud the agents who awake every morning without a job. We welcome the big firms, the little mom-and-pops and the fast-growing companies. In our house, you do not have to pussyfoot around with your opinions — and remember, the only bad question is the one you don’t ask.
“You will leave our house of innovation smarter and more connected than when you walked in the door. I promise.”
