A critical inefficiency has long plagued the real estate industry: salespeople spend most of their time on administrative work rather than actual selling. While agents should ideally focus 80% of their effort on client interactions and sales activities, the reality is often the reverse, with mundane paperwork and administrative tasks consuming most of their workday. S.MPLE is an innovative platform that combines AI-powered SaaS automation with human expertise to create what they call the first-ever Large Action Model in real estate. Unlike other solutions that add more screens and complexity to agents’ workflows, S.MPLE takes the opposite approach by streamlining and reducing the technology burden on salespeople. Through its unique approach of empowering support staff rather than adding more tools for agents to learn, S.MPLE aims to fundamentally transform how real estate professionals work, allowing them to focus on what they do best – selling. This revolutionary platform represents a significant shift in how technology is applied to real estate sales, moving away from customer-facing AI solutions to instead optimizing the backend processes that traditionally bog down agents covering everything from marketing, analytics, CRM, strategy, referrals, and deal workflows.
AlleyWatch caught up with S.MPLE Founder and CEO Ryan Serhant (Million Dollar Listing, one of the world’s top-ranked realtors) to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, recent round of funding, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
$45M equity funding led by Camber Creek with participation from Left Lane Capital.
Tell us about the product or service that S.MPLE offers.
S.MPLE combines SaaS automation with human expertise to build the first-ever Large Action Model in real estate, designed for sales people and teams.
What inspired the start of S.MPLE?
I began my career renting apartments in Koreatown in the fall of 2008. As a salesperson myself, I’ve seen what all of our competitors do with tech, and no one has yet to use it to solve one of the biggest pain points, which is that there is so much admin work involved in the sales process. There’s a big problem to solve but also a huge opportunity there, and I wanted to create a service that allows salespeople to spend 80% of their time doing their highest and best work, which is selling, and 20% admin – which is the opposite of what it is now.
How is S.MPLE different?
Everyone is using AI to empower the customer, but we are using AI to empower support. Instead of giving salespeople another chatbot or another screen to figure out, in the dawn of overwhelming screens and apps, we are removing them and in effect becoming nearly screenless, other than S.MPLE. We are empowering the support to make salespeople stronger. I’ve watched what everyone else has done with AI in our competitive space, and taken the opposite approach. Technological innovation should allow people to do less, and become ‘work optional’ – not create the need to learn more tech on top of everything else you’re already doing.
What market does S.MPLE target and how big is it?
In its current iteration S.MPLE targets real estate agents in the United States with plans to support all full-time salespeople.
What’s your business model?
SERHANT. has a unique flywheel approach that sits at the nexus of real estate, media, and technology. What grew from the #1 ranked sales team in New York City has now become a full-service brokerage (SERHANT.), edtech platform (SellIt), creative film studio that develops content for social, sharing and streaming (SERHANT. Studios), and proprietary AI platform that revolutionizes sales workflows (S.MPLE).
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
I got into the real estate industry in 2008 the day Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. I started my company during the height of COVID while everyone was leaving New York City. Market slow downs end up finding me just fine. I’ve found that opportunity doesn’t disappear in an economic slowdown, it just looks different. We’re continuing to operate the same way we always have, with strategic growth as the overall goal but continuing to focus on ensuring our agents and teams have the resources they need to do their jobs at the highest levels.
What was the funding process like?
We were not seeking funding, and built a strong profitable business from the start, but as we’ve seen the excitement in our brand really balloon on a national and international level, we decided it was time to take advantage of the market opportunity in front of us and align ourselves with strategic partners who understand what we are trying to build – which is the best of proptech and real estate with Camber Creek and the best of consumer technology with Left Lane.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Since we weren’t actively seeking funding, we didn’t face the typical challenge of initial rejections. Instead, as a founder, the biggest challenge has been learning and adapting as we build, which has been an incredibly exciting experience.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
From our lead investor directly:
Camber Creek invested in SERHANT. Technologies because it redefines what a real estate platform can be, combining brokerage, innovation, and massive reach in a way that can drive exponential growth. Ryan Serhant’s visionary leadership, paired with the company’s AI platform, S.MPLE, showcases how technology can transform sales workflows and solve industry pain points. And this is just the start.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We are looking forward to continuing along our meteoric rise and we’re excited for the future.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Focus on what’s generating revenue, and double down on that. Get creative with your marketing – being bold and innovative and unlike everyone else is what will get you noticed. Above all, maintain your vision and continue building each day.
Where do you see the company going in the near term?
Continuing to scale and offer the best resources to our agents who are building their own brands and businesses.
What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?
Currently, it’s The Corner Store in Soho.
