RPR pivots

I’ve been on a bunch of airplanes since NAR Midyear, have I missed anything? ; )

Oh yeah, NAR Board of Directors approved RPR’s new initiative, “RPR Upstream/AMP”. And the world went batshit crazy.

I found the video above and I think it does an excellent job of outlining what RPR is trying to accomplish, so lets start with that. So here’s a few comments and advice.

1. It’s all about the listing input module. Everyone I talk to says this is extremely difficult. You need to nail it. Seems like this type of tech (like most) benefits from years of iteration. Consider looking at existing solutions.

2. Find a way to partner with MLS providers. RPR got a rough start out of the gate because they didn’t want to do any revenue share with MLS providers. That caused some bad blood and brought in a new entrant (Corelogic) to the mix. (I’m not talking about sharing revenue here per se, just the perception of not coming up with any sort of compromise.) Don’t make the same mistake again. Your goal is to aggregate property data from brokers, they’ve (MLS Providers) been doing that successfully for decades already. This is not about “reaching out” to them, your job should be to get them onboard and excited about this new effort. Easy? No. Necessary? Yes. Like it or not, you need their support and expertise.

3. Cut something. What you trying to accomplish is hugely ambitious on its own. Consider either cutting an existing product line or feature set. You are going to need all the bandwidth you can get.

4. Be humble.