SAN FRANCISCO — Bimbo’s 365 Club was packed on Thursday night for the inaugural Innovator Bash, honoring and recognizing the most innovative companies in real estate during the Inman Connect San Francisco conference.
Dozens of finalists in six categories were parsed and examined to select what Inman believes are the most innovative companies in real estate today. Two runners-up in each category were also named; Inman also selected an Innovator of the Year and, for the first time ever, presented the Nate Ellis Giving Back Award to the individual in real estate who gives more than he or she takes.
“These people companies are on the forefront of change in the industry,” said publisher Brad Inman. “By consistently asking what can be better about the industry and trying to make their dreams reality, they are pushing every one of us to view the industry using a different lens.”
Here are the winners.
Most Innovative Technology
Cloud MLX
Runners up: CoreLogic Trestle, Trulia’s Awareness API
Most Innovative Brokerage
@properties
Runners up: Pardee Properties, Hawaii Life
Most Innovative Agent
Ben Bacal
Runners up: Leigh Brown, Greg Fischer
Most Innovative Real Estate Company
CoreLogic
Runners up: AgentDesks, Nestigator
Most Innovative Marketing Campaign
Terry Waggoner’s open house videos
Runners up: Coldwell Banker’s X-Men mansion, realtor.com’s hidden house
Most Innovative MLS or Association
San Francisco Association of Realtors
Runners up: California Association of Realtors, REColorado
Innovator of the Year
Eric Wu, CEO at Opendoor
Nate Ellis Giving Back Award Winner
Jim Walberg