Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman on what he learned about business from a ‘sex-crazed short-order cook’

Glenn Kelman

We’ve not heard much lately from Glenn Kelman, the ever-quotable CEO of Seattle online real estate company Redfin. But now Kelman — who once called real estate the most screwed up industry in America and recently explained why he was unprepared for the Redfin job — is back in form. In a post on LinkedIn,… Read More…

Redfin sets up new title and escrow subsidiary, continuing quest to upend real estate

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Redfin has certainly made it clear that it wants to transform the real estate business — initially focusing on the way people buy and sell homes. Now, the Seattle company is branching off in a new direction. Redfin recently established a new subsidiary called Title Forward that plans to offer both title and escrow services… Read More…

Vinod Khosla, Rich Barton lead Vittana’s new ‘League of Extraordinary Tech Superheroes’

Rich Barton

Venture capital Vinod Khosla and Zillow co-founder Rich Barton have joined forces to bankroll Vittana, the Seattle non-profit that’s attempting to wipe out youth poverty through education-oriented microloans. The contributions of Khosla and Barton mark the largest in Vittana’s history, and set the organization on a path to become self sustainable. The exact amount of… Read More…

Comments of the week: Will this phone really take off?

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The best comments, quotes, and random zingers we heard this week… “Do you have to turn off *this* phone during takeoff and landing?” –GeekWire reader Lawrence Lam commenting on news that aerospace giant Boeing plans to develop a new phone based on the Android operating system. “I hope the phone takes off. Pun intended.”–GeekWire reader… Read More…

Redfin rumbles in to Rocky’s hometown of Philadelphia

Can Philly reposition to become the champ of startups? Photo via Wikipedia

Redfin is expanding its real estate brokerage service into the Philadelphia area, marking the 19th major market for the Seattle company and the first new city in more than a year. Philadelphia is a big market for Redfin, but also a challenging one since the average home sells for just $182,000. That compares to San… Read More…

Networking is a good thing to do, but not good enough

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In a GeekWire guest post last week, Bob Crimmins said I was “flat wrong” when I advised a group of would-be entrepreneurs to focus on their product and their customers, not conferences, parties, lunches, coffees or other networking events. Bob offered a delightful guide on how to network but still I question whether networking is more… Read More…

Microsoft Windows as a ‘beautiful metaphor’ and other comments of the week

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The best insights, observations, comments, tweets and random zingers we heard this week. “Windows really is a beautiful metaphor for computing and with the new logo we wanted to celebrate the idea of a window, in perspective.” –Microsoft’s Sam Moreau in a blog post describing the concepts behind the company’s new Windows logo. “Whenever you answer something,… Read More…

Why Glenn Kelman is wrong: A defense of networking

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First, a big thanks to Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman for stepping up and delivering a thoughtful and illuminating presentation at the recent Startup Conference in Seattle.  I was enlightened, inspired and entertained… and I’m sure the audience of nascent entrepreneurs was as well. For the record, I don’t know Glenn personally but I’ve bumped into… Read More…

Here comes Redfin 3.0 … and more price increases

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Redfin today announced a “massive upgrade” of its real estate service, one which CEO Glenn Kelman notes in a blog post will ensure that customers will have a “one-on-one relationship” with an individual agent throughout the entire home buying process. As part of the changes, Redfin has added more than 50 new agents and reduced the… Read More…

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman: Why you should do a startup right now (and not one in a ‘stinky, little niche’)

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Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman is known for his colorful, erudite and oftentimes controversial remarks when it comes to startups, business and entrepreneurship. And so it was with some anticipation that I attended Kelman’s talk Monday night at the Get a Real Job Fair in Seattle. Kelman joked that he had a really juicy keynote in store until… Read More…