by G. Sax, Director of Growth Management, RESO
Welcome to “Three Questions,” an interview series that introduces you to real estate industry professionals, their businesses and how they interact with real estate standards. The goal of the series is to humanize the tech side of the industry, fun included.
This week, we got back together with Bill Fowler, President and Cofounder of SourceRE, who has had at least three new titles since we last spoke at the very beginning of this series. We talked about those job changes, judging others and teaching others. Enjoy!
Q1: The last time we spoke, you were at Compass. Since then, you branched out on your own for a minute before getting scooped up by Modern.tech as their VP of Strategy before heading up their subsidiary, SourceRE. What skills are necessary to make the leap from working on products to telling other people how to work on products?
Bill: The real estate technology landscape is a network of isolated business silos, connected on a backbone of MLS data. Brokerages, national portals and software providers each experience the MLS from a vastly different perspective.
I’ve been fortunate enough to occupy leadership roles at each of these positions in the last 25 years, so now as the founder of a tech company, I’m able to draw on these experiences to do something meaningful.
I’d say the skills necessary to make this possible are being open to reinventing yourself, taking calculated risks and having the vision to see well beyond your own silo.
Q2: Speaking of mentoring, you have served as a judge on stage for a pitch battle of new companies. What is that experience like and would you do it again?
Bill: I would absolutely do it again. It’s an incredibly brave thing to start a company – even more so to stand on a brightly lit stage, bare your soul as a founder and try to win over a room of strangers.
The people willing to do that are inspiring to veteran cynics like me. It’s so fun to experience that excitement and optimism and to maybe provide a little encouragement and guidance as well.
Q3: Speaking of speaking, you’ve taken an interest in spreading the MLS message to new audiences across the sea at the International MLS Forum. Why do you feel compelled to help RESO and the industry at large with understanding how to organize and standardize the process of real estate sales in other markets?
Bill: The International MLS Forum was born out of an apparent movement among some of our overseas neighbors to establish an MLS-like structure. The meeting in Paris last year showed all of us that clearly there’s something here – not just another round of one-off meetings.
Accepting an invitation to stump speech on this topic again this year in Milan is an absolute no-brainer. As an unapologetic fanboy of RESO, I’m happy to carry our message of unity under a set of data standards whenever and wherever the opportunity arises.
The relationships are absolutely being built, and it is encouraging to see our own concepts of transparency and collaboration taking shape.
It’s an exciting time, and I’m happy to be involved.
