Advice from Glenn Kelman: Entrepreneurs need to be tough, but must also show lots of love

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Glenn Kelman is a smart guy. He graduated summa cum laude from Berkeley, helped found Plumtree Software back in the 90s and is now running one of Seattle’s most successful startups. But over the years, the Redfin CEO began to realize that in the startup world, it’s not all about how quickly you can analyze a problem… Read More…

Commencement speech showdown: Advice to recent grads from Redfin’s Kelman and Zillow’s Rascoff

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It’s that time of year when commencement speeches ring out across the nation, with everyone from President Barack Obama to philanthropist Melinda Gates to comedian Jimmy Kimmel offering words of wisdom to recent grads. Now, LinkedIn is taking a very special approach to the commencement speech tradition, asking several of its so-called “influencers” to write “Commencement… Read More…

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’

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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…

This real estate vet is sick and tired of Trulia and Zillow, and he’s not gonna take it anymore

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The battle over online real estate listings is starting to heat up again. Jim Abbott, president of the Abbott Realty Group and a 20-year real estate veteran in San Diego, recently announced plans to pull listings from Trulia, Realtor.com, Zillow and other online real estate sites. In a YouTube video announcing the plan (posted below),… Read More…

Redfin’s ‘hunky’ IT department exposed in charity calendar

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This is pretty funny — and slightly disturbing. Redfin, the Seattle-based online real estate company, has produced a very tongue-in-cheek “Men of Redfin I.T. Calendar”, featuring its internal tech specialists in various costumes and, in one case, nothing but a New Year’s sash. It’s a charity calendar, and the company is offering it up to the… Read More…

Redfin CTO Michael Young departs

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Redfin’s top technologist is saying goodbye to the online real estate brokerage after five years on the job. Chief Technology Officer Michael Young recently announced his resignation, handing over the CTO duties to vice president of engineering Sasha Aickin. At the time of Young’s hiring in December 2006, Kelman called the fellow University of California,… Read More…

Swashbuckling Glenn Kelman says he was ‘unprepared’ for the Redfin job

Glenn Kelman (Randy Stewart photo)

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman has never been afraid to speak his mind. But sometimes his statements get him in hot water, as was the case a few years ago when he famously declared on 60 Minutes the real estate is the “most screwed up industry in America.” More recently, Kelman noted in a chat on… Read More…

Bill Gates on the price of burgers; and other quotes of the week

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The best insights, observations, comments, tweets and random zingers we heard this week. “I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger. Dick’s has not raised their prices enough…. Read More…

Redfin’s Kelman considers new products, acquisitions: ‘It’s always good to have cash’

Glenn Kelman (Randy Stewart photo)

At the time of Redfin’s last venture capital round, CEO Glenn Kelman indicated that it would be the company’s last. But, as we all know in the world of startups, things change. And today, the Seattle online real estate company announced an additional $14.8 million from Globespan Capital Partners, Paul Allen’s Vulcan, Madrona and others. Now,… Read More…

Online real estate brokerage Redfin scores $14 million

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We heard rumblings last week that Redfin — the Seattle online real estate broker — was out looking for new financing. Well, it’s official. The company announced today that Globespan Capital Partners has led a $14.8 million investment, with existing investors Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Greylock Partners also participating. Total funding… Read More…

Pittsburgh looks to attract entrepreneurial dreamers (over the age of 45)

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Last week, I moderated a panel discussion at the TechNW event in which panelists Andy Sack of TechStars, Glenn Kelman of Redfin and Kathy Savitt of Lockerz suggested that Seattle needs to do more to attract and retain young entrepreneurs. I agreed, citing the story of Box.net as a warning sign for the region and noting… Read More…