In our latest real estate tech interview, I’m talking to Jay Sherer, Founder of HelloAgent. Without further adieu, here’s a bit more from his own mouth…

What do you do?

It depends entirely on who you ask. If you ask my boss (our founder), I’m a growth hacker. If you ask my wife, I’m on my computer all day (and sometimes late into the night) using social media. If you ask my cat, I’m just someone she can wake up at 5am.

Really, though, I utilize specific marketing channels (social media, blogs, PR, etc.) in order to grow our user base. I also ensure that our users have a great experience, so I work with our developers to improve the user interface of our application and the overall user experience for real estate agents and homebuyers. Our application, Hello Agent (www.helloagent.com) allows realtors and homebuyers to organize the home search. It’s really important that I understand real estate agent needs as well as homebuyer needs and then merge the two into a great experience.

Why do You Do What you Do?

I joined Hello Agent earlier this year, and I came from the financial services firm–a credit union–where I had a staff of 9 (at one time) and a marketing budget somewhere in the vicinity of $1.5M. But, one thing I realized was that I felt compelled to be a part of starting something new. The credit union was a great place to work with great people, but it was big enough that things changed very slowly. I wanted to be a part of something that was just starting out. I wanted to be a part of a small, but powerful team. And, Hello Agent was perfect for that.

I feel very compelled to base our marketing efforts off customer needs, changing marketplace conditions, and also the competitive landscape. And I think that when you do that, you have a very strong base upon which to grow. And that gives me a lot of energy.

What are you most excited about right now?

Our new blog! We want to provide real estate agents with advice that is tangible. Our president, Gabe Filkey, is a top agent in San Diego, CA, and has great things to share about how real estate agents can grow their business. That’s fulfilling to me because I’m not just sitting at a laptop spamming people. That’s not worthwhile marketing. Instead, we’re looking for and developing really valuable content that realtors can apply to their business. We feel like agents who choose to use Hello Agent will sell more homes and will be able to streamline that process so that it takes less time. That’s exciting.

The other thing that’s exciting is just working alongside our team. Our CEO, Brandon Arbini, has an impressive resume. His first startup went through the exclusive Y Combinator program (which we’re also hoping to go through–fingers crossed) and sold for $30M. He knows what it takes to build a quality application. It’s exciting to work alongside people like that.

What’s next for you?

Growth! Promoting our blog. Getting people to try Hello Agent (it’s free!). And then listening to what they have to say. We’re in this to make a great application for realtors and homebuyers. In order to do that, we have to listen well. That’s really important to me. Being a good listener means making a better user experience, and I’m excited to do that. I’m trying to have weekly lunches with real estate agents to really nail things down.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

I’m passionate about seeing people healed. Whether that’s a person in a third world country who needs water, or whether that’s a person on my street who just lost a close friend or relative. We’re all in need of some sort of healing–even me. I think the best way to do that is two-fold: 1) Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, and 2) Become intimately involved in your community and world issues. Ultimately, it’s about being there for people. I’ll be the first to tell you that I could do that a whole lot better than I do it now, but I am passionate about it, and I hope to improve in that area. There are a lot of problems in the world today, and I think the only way they get solved is if we show up.

Thanks to Jay for sharing his motivations and current projects. If you’re interested in connecting with him further, you can find him on LinkedIn.

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