Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

“Active” users

I recently read a great post by Ev Wiliams, one of the co-founders of Twitter. Ev’s post is titled, “A mile side, an inch deep”. He makes some solid points about his frustration with user metrics. The post stems from a recent report that Instagram has surpassed Twiiter in total number of users. To which Ev responded… “I frankly don’t give a shit if Instagram has more people looking at pretty pictures”. Hubris? Not really.

“Ask any junior high student which rectangle is bigger, one that is three inches wide or one that is two-and-a-half inches wide, and they’ll tell you it’s a nonsensical question unless they have more information — specifically, the height.

And yet, we literally say one company or service is “bigger” based on a single number — specifically, number of people who have “used” it in the last 30 days. Even without even getting into how “use” is defined, this is dumb.”

This got me thinking about the debate of usage and “adoption” rate of third party software programs in MLS markets. Questions like, what metric should products be measured upon? Is it one metric? Is it several?

To make matters worse some vendors call an “active user” someone who logs in to the service one every 90 days, some say 60 days or 30 days. It varies, so its always hard to compare different services apples to apples.

This discrepancy also shows up when vendors report how many customers they have. Some vendors report that anyone under a site license (which are technically paying customers) are active customers. Even though many of those MLS members have never used their software.

When my company (W&R Studios) launched Cloud CMA we wanted to “open the kimono” on usage rates. We think this a key best practice for any Enterprise SAAS vendor. So in every MLS market we launch Cloud CMA we include a real time MLS Dashboard. The MLS Dashboard contains a ton of information including:

Have many users signed up/created an account?:

today
yesterday
this week
last week
this month
last month

How many reports were created?:
today
yesterday
past week
past month

What types of reports were created?:
CMAs
Buyer Tours
Property Reports
Flyers

Some MLS providers have also asked us to include:

Unique visitors in the last 30 days

I tend to focus on how many reports are being created. But, we also track all kinds of other metrics too. One of my favorites is the number of seconds it take a new customer to create their first report after signing up, our fastest is just over 2 minutes (156 seconds). Which we think is a good measure of how intuitive the software might be.

The point I’m trying to make, and Ev does a much better job, is that there is no “God Metric”.

“Numbers are important. Number of users is important. So are lots of other things. Different services create value in different ways.”

Good food for thought.

As a side note I’m going to be a panelist at Inman Connect NYC later this month. The topic is:

“Does Building Business Around Big Data Make us Stupid?”
Thursday, January 29 2:35pm to 3:00pm

The panel will be moderated by David Charron. My other panelists will include John Heithaus from RealEstate Business Intelligence, LLC (RBI) and Matt Shadbolt from the New York Times.

It should be fun so please join us!

Cloud Streams now available free to all CRMLS members

Cloud Streams LogoWhen we (W&R Studios) launched Cloud Streams earlier this year we were basing it on the same precepts that made Cloud CMA successful. Find something that has heavy usage on an MLS system but could be done much better. MLS systems are amazing pieces of software but they can’t do everything right.

We immediately saw an opportunity with listing alerts and “client portals”. It was a new product category for us, but still kinda of the same, “…making agents look awesome in front of their clients”.

That’s why I’m so proud to announce that CRMLS is now offering Cloud Streams as part of their basic MLS service. Launching any new product can be scary but based on the response, our instincts were right.

So many thanks to Art Carter and his team as CRMLS for their confidence and support. What a great way to end and start a New Year!

P.S. We’ve got a few more of these deals in the pipeline, and would love to talk to any of you who are looking to give your MLS members (Site license or otherwise) a great alternative to what your existing MLS system provides. Give me call at 714-240-3895 or via email at greg [at] wr-studios [dot] com

P.S.S. Inman News also did a story on the deal. I really should remember that I’m talking to a reporter when I’m opening my mouth. : )

MLS listing alert tool aims to give agents an edge over top portals
-Nation’s largest MLS is first to offer Cloud Streams as free member benefit

Full Press Release Below:

CALIFORNIA REGIONAL MLS SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH W&R STUDIOS
CRMLS to Offer Cloud Streams to Association Members

SAN DIMAS, Calif. (December 30, 2014) – California Regional MLS (CRMLS) has reached a partnership agreement with W&R Studios, in which California Regional MLS will offer W&R Studio’s product: Cloud Streams. Cloud Streams is an innovative listing alert and collaboration tool that allows agents and brokers to set up and provide branded MLS listing alerts to their clients.

Cloud Streams allows clients to receive listing alerts by email and/or text in real-time via desktop, tablet or iPhone app. Listing alerts link directly back to the client’s personalized communication stream. Brokers and agents benefit from the branded, photo-rich content delivered through Cloud Streams.

“We are partnering with W&R Studios because we wanted to align ourselves with a proven provider that can deliver a product that will strengthen collaboration between real estate professionals and their clients.” said Art Carter, Chief Executive Officer of CRMLS.

“We think agents and their clients will enjoy using Cloud Streams. We wanted to create somehing that gave agents an edge over the listing portals. Cloud Streams is fun to use, provides the best property information there is while keeping them engaged with their clients. said Greg Robertson, Co-Founder of W&R Studios.

“We are confident this partnership with W&R Studios will help deliver more creative products for real estate professionals”. said Mr. Carter. “As the industry leader, will continue to add to our suite of products those that assist in making agents and brokers relevant to today’s consumer”.

Founded in 2008, W&R Studios is a privately held web software company located in Huntington Beach, California. W&R Studios focuses on creating the next generation of software solutions for the real estate industry.

For more information on California Regional MLS membership, products and services, visit www.crmls.org.
About California Regional MLS

CRMLS
California Regional MLS is the nation’s largest and most recognized subscriber-based MLS, dedicated to servicing over 73,000+ real estate professionals from 34 Associations, 3 Boards of REALTORS® and 1 MLS. CRMLS is the industry powerhouse and thrives on providing the most relevant products and services to its subscribers.

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Cloud CMA on the red carpet?

audie and leslie

Well kinda. Real estate marketing guru, Audie Chamberlain, and Leslie Appleton-Young (C.A.R.’s Chief Economist) hit the red carpet at a recent Partners Trust event. Audie, always the trend setter, sported a ivory white Cloud CMA baseball cap. Leslie wore Gucci (I think).

Zillow shuts down Agentfolio

Agentfolio End of Life

“Thus, we’ve decided to phase out the Agentfolio service and transition the Agentfolio team to work on other strategic initiatives at Zillow. Until we fully discontinue the service (see our schedule below), Agentfolio will be free for those continuing to use it. However, no new agents will be able to sign up.”

If there are any Agentfolio users that would like to try something else, I would humbly suggest this great new tool. : )

Three-peat

INC 5000

Recently we (W&R Studios) made Inc. Magazine’s list of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. Dan and I first made the list with our software company IRIS, LLC. We, along with our partners Edward Ureno and Maggie Etheridge, were listed #193. The year was 2000 and we had just sold our company to HomeSeekers.com (but that’s another story). It was also special because Inc. Magazine featured us in the actual Inc. 500 issue. They wrote an article about our story, and sent out a photographer to take pictures of us. it was very cool. They apparently were fascinated that we were all equal partners and didn’t have a CEO.

After we left HomeSeekers.com, Dan and I joined Stu Siegel, Dave and Jerry Meyer, at eNeighborhoods. eNeighborhoods had a great team they were re-building after selling, and then later getting back, the company they had sold to HomeStore (but that’s another story). We also brought a lot of our crew over from IRIS. At the time they provided neighborhood reports for agents to hand to their customers. We had the simple idea of adding MLS data and expanding the reports to include CMAs and such. We figured in doing so we could raise the price as well. Stu was the first to really understand the power of subscription based software sales. eNeighborhoods was doing this pre-internet. Instead of updates via the net they would mail CDs with new data each month. Long story short, we executed and sales just took off. eNeighborhoods made the list at #84. Along the way Dan and I learned a lot from Stu, Dave and Jerry.

eNeighborhoods was sold to Dominion Enterprises, who also had bought, Advanced Access, and Homes.com in 2007. Great timing it turned out (but that’s another story). Dan and I started another company, W&R Studios, our first product was called Dwellicious. Dan wanted to scratch his own itch. He thought that social bookmarking and real estate was a perfect match. We got a lot of publicity on the major sites like Mashable and TechCrunch and were on our way. But the agents didn’t understand what social book marketing was and a clear revenue model wasn’t apparent. We later sold Dwellicious to a company in Chicago called, VHT, Inc. I thought some of the features from Dwellicious would be a great fit for an online CMA. Dan agreed and we began working on what we would later call Cloud CMA. I started blogging about our experience building Cloud CMA and in late 2009 Lauren Hansen from IRES, LLC, an MLS provider in Boulder Colorado, said she was interested in a site license of Cloud CMA (and we still hadn’t launched it yet). I never forget when Lauren asked if it was okay to pre-pay for the first year of the site license. As a young self-funded start up is was music to my ears.

In February of 2010 we launched Cloud CMA. Now we have over 110,000 active customers who have created over 2 million reports.

Earlier this month Inc. Magazine notified us that we were #644 on their Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. Although we didn’t break the 500 mark (damn!) we are still very honored.

Dan Woolley and I first started to work together in 1992. We are both very lucky to love what we do. From our first real estate software product, Lightning (which were sold on 5 1/4 floppy diskettes) to our latest, Cloud Streams. And we know that none of our success could ever happen without the support and friendship of hundreds of people, many of which reads this blog.


Thanks for making this happen.

I love my job.

Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 11.48.50 AM

Just couldn’t help myself.

Thanks to everyone who made this happen!

We reached an important milestone at W&R Studios last month, over 100,000 subscribers to Cloud CMA.

I wanted to personally thank all of you have helped make this happen for Dan and I. Our marketing team put together this great video in celebration. If you are an MLS provider please feel free to share this with your membership. Thank you again!

ZipRealty agents now powered with Cloud CMA

ZipRealty sure are smart people…

: )

Full Press Release below:

——————————————————————————————-

W&R Studios expands Cloud CMA Broker Edition footprint with nationwide ZipRealty agreement


ZipRealty now provides a customized version of Cloud CMA to all their real estate agents.

Huntington Beach, CA (July 9th, 2014) – W&R Studios, a software company, announced today the implementation of a nationwide agreement to provide all its real estate agents a customized version of Cloud CMA.

Cloud CMA is an online report generator for real estate professionals. Real estate agents using Cloud CMA have the ability to create custom comparative market analysis (CMA) reports, buyer tours, property reports and flyers.

“We have been working with ZipRealty for several months, implementing a customized version of Cloud CMA for all their agents, and the response has been great. We are very proud to work with a such a talented team of professionals,” stated Greg Robertson, co-founder of W&R Studios.

“Cloud CMA is the best CMA and Buyer Tour software out there. That’s why we provide it to all ZipRealty agents. The presentations are powerful, mobile-friendly, fully customizable, and ready in minutes. Cloud CMA has been a real difference-maker to help our agents convert more leads into clients and closed transactions!” added Van Davis, Broker Operation, Zip Realty, Inc.

“Zip Realty’s customized edition of Cloud CMA is one of the best we have ever implemented. And we look forward to working with them in the future to help their agents find more success,” concluded Mr. Robertson.

Dan Woolley and Greg Robertson are co-founders of W&R Studios and will be attending and speaking at the Inman Real Estate Conference in San Francisco July 16th to 18th. They will be featured on the session of “How to Create, Build and Launch Things People Want”.

For more information on the Cloud CMA Broker Edition please visit http://CloudCMA.com/real-estate-brokers.

About W&R Studios:
Founded in 2008, W&R Studios (http://wrstudios.com) is a privately held software company co-founded by Dan Woolley and Greg Robertson. W&R Studios focuses on creating simple yet focused web applications for the real estate industry. By providing a “less is more” approach to software design, elegant user interfaces, and using the latest in agile programming, W&R Studiosʼ software applications are at the same time powerful, yet accessible to everyone. W&R Studiosʼ products include Cloud CMA (http://CloudCMA.com) and Nudge (http://getnudgeapp.com), an easy way to share real estate knowledge and stand out.

For more information please contact:
Greg Robertson

greg at wrstudios dot com

(855) 977-8834 ext. 702

W&R Studios gets a facelift

You may have read about a project I’ve been working on to add signage to our offices in Huntington Beach. The signage was installed last week and came out beautiful! One of those rare projects that came out better than I imagined. Thought I would share some of the photos I took of the building. You can click on each photo for a larger image.

Signage - Up View

Signage from the West

Signage from the East

Cloud Streams

Cloud Streams GW&R takes the field with Cloud Streams

Brian Boero, 1000watt

“This is why last week’s launch of Cloud Streams, the new listing alert and collaboration app from W&R Studios, the makers of Cloud CMA, is significant. They have taken something important and improved upon it. A lot. As a result, agents that set up clients with alerts and “Streams” (what W&R calls the collaboration space) look like heroes, not knuckleheads.

Agents can set up clients to receive email alerts, but also SMS alerts. The emails are responsive, so they look great on a mobile device. The design is clean and attractive. Calls to action are strong.”

We recently launched Cloud Streams locally with CRMLS. So far feedback has been fantastic. If any MLS Execs would like a demo while out at NAR Midyear or GoTo Meeting please reach out to Katie or I.

greg at wrstudios dot com
katie at wrstudios dot com

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