Ian Morris, the former CEO of real estate technology company Market Leader, has joined the board of directors of Porch, the fast-growing home improvement data startup headquartered in Seattle.
Morris brings a “tremendous amount of expertise” in areas including ramping up a sales team and selling to small businesses, said Porch CEO Matt Ehrlichman via phone yesterday, confirming the addition of Morris to the board following a recent regulatory filing listing Morris as a director.
The move adds more real-estate and technology experience to Porch’s board. Morris joins existing board members including Joe Hanauer, the chairman of Move Inc., which operates the Realtor.com portal; Frank Anton, the vice chairman and former CEO of design and construction media company Hanley Wood; and Javier Olivan, the vice president of growth and analytics at Facebook.
Morris did not join the board as part of an additional equity investment, Ehrlichman said. Based on past public announcements, Porch has raised at least $14 million from a wide variety of investors.
Porch has amassed large amounts of data about home improvement projects across the country, — including project costs —allowing homeowners to see details about projects in their neighborhoods, and connect with experienced remodelers and contractors. Porch offers its service for free to homeowners, charging pros for market insights and promotional exposure in specific geographies.
The company, based in Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood, has been growing rapidly thanks in part to a partnership with Lowe’s home improvement stores.
Morris, who worked for many years at Microsoft, was the longtime CEO of Market Leader, which was acquired for $355 million by Trulia last year. He then became president of Trulia’s Market Leader division. Trulia announced in June that Morris and other top former Market Leader execs would be leaving the company this year. Trulia in July reached a deal with Zillow to be acquired for $3.5 billion.
