[fny]

Is AirBnB a tech company? I'd argue their core business has nothing to do with tech, but they've managed to become the biggest broker for temporary rentals in the US. They did need a good amount of tech to scale and be successful which is why everyone thinks of them as a tech company.

In my view, Compass is in the same boat. They want to become the middleman between buyers and agents in real estate. It's a platform play just like AirBnB. Not sure if they'll succeed, but I disagree with the premise that this is just some magic pixie dust. They need tech to scale (and there already seems to be enough to rival AirBnB).

[anonu]

First thought: AirBnB didnt really innovate. There was VRBO before it. They somehow got traction through a slightly better platform and more marketing/word-of-mouth. They built a better mousetrap.

Second thought: AirBnB is a marketplace. You have sellers and buyers meeting in a tech-enabled environment with rail guards in place to protect the customer experience (reviews + payment middleman + etc..)

As a recent home purchaser, I totally agree the process needs a revamp. But how does that happen when you're still boasting 10s of 1000s of brokers on your platform. The middleman is still there.

[boh]

AirBnB is a website/app/platform, Compass is a real estate broker. AirBnB can leverage the low-cost economics of software, Compass is a real estate broker (and a pretty conventional one at that). Compass is not a middleman, they are the agents.