In our latest Meet the Real Estate Tech Entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with Michael Urbanski of Qazzoo. Michael has been one of our advertisers here at Geek Estate over the past year, so I’ve gotten to know him a bit over the course of some email exchanges and phone calls.

Here’s a bit more about Michael…

1) What do you do?

I own and operate Qazzoo.com the first social media search engine. We concentrate on the Real Estate industry by allowing potential homebuyers and sellers to upload their own profile and indicate where and when they want to move. The real estate consumer can indicate what price range they are looking to purchase in and they can add any other details that they feel are important to them. The Real Estate professional can then perform a search anywhere in the country or in their own backyard and receive the search results for their area of interest as well as other details that the consumer has added to their profile.

2) Why do you do what you do?

We launched the first geo-targeted online advertising platform back in the late 90’s and after years of being copied by others we determined to create the next “new thing”. After studying where the internet was we found some problems that we think we have solved. The main problem with all types of advertising is waste. We focused on reducing the waste by allowing the Real Estate professional to select the right type of consumer instead of the consumer unknowingly contacting the wrong Real Estate professional and frustrating both parties. Qazzoo allows the free flow of information by using elements of both traditional search engines and social media. Sometimes it is hard to communicate the next “new thing” so we like to tell people that Qazzoo is simply Google in reverse. Instead of getting search results that are competing merchants. On Qazzoo the search results are actual homebuyers who have taken the time to create their own profile and who want to be contacted by a professional that can assist them.

3) What are you most excited about right now?

I am always excited when we introduce something that has never been done. The excitement is part anxiety but it is mostly the promise to change the status quo and shake things up. The anxiety keeps me up at night and the promise gets me up early. I am also really excited about the Real Estate market and the fast pace of technology both synced up for the first time in years. Consumers are generally the first adopters so we have a faster pace of growth with consumers than Real Estate professionals but we have plans to narrow the gap within the next 12 months.

4) What’s next for you?

We plan on getting a strong foothold in Real Estate and then expanding the platform into some additional verticals. Which is the biggest challenge that we face. That goes back to “What are you most excited about?” but it fits here too.

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

I have been very active in the Wounded Warrior Project as I am a veteran and spent my time in service in England where I was able to go to college and not war. Our Veterans are very important to me as I know that they allow me to enjoy the fruits of their sacrifice. I am constantly humbled by their strength and courage especially when I complain about my email being slow or some other inconsequential inconvenience. Without the military I would never have gone to college and there would be no Qazzoo.

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

We’ll be featuring other real estate tech entrepreneurs in the coming weeks. If you are an entrepreneur in the real estate vertical (past or present), and want to be profiled, please sign up for an OHW account and add “real estate tech entrepreneurs” as an interest on your profile — then shoot me an email (drew at ohheyworld).