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Side on Monday announced a slew of changes, including a new profit-sharing program, a new private listing network and an undisclosed number of layoffs.
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In a statement to Inman, Side touted its profit-sharing program — called “PartnerUp Revenue Share” — first, saying that it is “built around mentorship, not downlines.” The program specifically gives agents a cut of Side’s profit after they refer another agent to the Side platform, then go on to mentor that agent. Side declined to describe how big the shared profits might be or specifically how they are determined, but said in an email to Inman that the company’s new “model nicely rewards participating partners with an uncapped healthy percentage of Side revenue.”
Guy Gal
Side CEO Guy Gal added that “other programs are structured like multi-level marketing schemes with downlines that incentivize quantity over quality, compromising the integrity of our industry.”
“Our focus at Side has always been on serving top-producing agents and teams, and PartnerUp Revenue Share reflects that,” Gal continued in the statement. “So many of our agent partners already mentor other agents, and this program formalizes and supports them in doing more of that.”
Asked about the mentoring agents are required to do to qualify for the program, Side said activities include providing guidance on recruiting, retention, setting up a profitable business and more. Agents and their teams must do at least $30 million a year in production in order to be referred to Side’s platform.
Side’s business model involves providing back office and technology support for brokers, allowing them to maintain their own public-facing brands without assuming all of the financial and logistical burdens of starting a company from scratch.
Profit-sharing programs have become a powerful tool for real estate companies in recent years, with relative upstarts such as eXp managing to grow their ranks quickly in part because agents collect extra money for recruiting, among other things. Keller Williams was an early pioneer in real estate profit sharing, and more recently has been engaged in a legal fight over attempts to narrow its program.
Though Side spent most of its statement touting the profit-sharing program, the company also noted that in order to “focus on PartnerUp, Side has restructured some teams” and laid off some employees. Inman asked how many workers would be leaving, but the company replied that it does “not disclose” outgoing or incoming headcount numbers.
Side previously conducted layoffs in 2022 as the market slowed and mortgage rates rose.
Aside from a new profit-sharing program and layoffs, Side also revealed in its statement Monday that it is now launching a new referral platform, a “marketplace of verified business tools and services,” and an off-market and coming soon network.
Asked how an off-market network might work in light of Clear Cooperation — a suddenly buzzy rule requiring agents to add their listings to their NAR-affiliated MLS within a day of marketing them — Side noted in an email that agents can still share listings internally within their brokerage. Though Side allows agents to maintain their own brands, it also functions as the brokerage for those different brands — meaning an internal listing network wouldn’t run afoul of the rule, which is currently under pressure from critics.
The listing network will be available to side agents within its app. Of all three new products, the company said in its statement that “these features are designed to help agents on the Side platform leverage their greatest resource — the community — to grow.”
