In many industries, top performers make other people far more money than they get to keep themselves. Think about professional athletes—millionaires playing for franchises owned by billionaires.

In other fields, the value a top salesperson drives for a brand is often only a fraction of what they earn in commissions. That’s because building and running the infrastructure of a company pulls them away from what they do best.

But what if that weren’t the case? What if someone offered all that infrastructure as a service, so you could become the brand, the owner, and your own boss?

That’s what Guy Gal, Co-Founder and CEO of Side, is building for real estate agents across the country. Side handles back-office operations and partners with agents on marketing with the explicit goal of empowering agents to build and own their own brands.

It may be the largest brokerage you’ve never heard of.

Guy discussed all of this with Camber Creek General Partner Jeffrey Berman and Head of Platform Lionel Foster.

1:53 A “$24 billion invisible brokerage”

3:05 Most productive agents already run businesses but do not own them, because brokerage infrastructure distracts from client service.

5:02 How Side collaborates with agents

8:07 Side’s unusually high gross margins

11:30 Why Side’s churn is so low

15:10 Guy says most brokerage-built marketing stacks serve the brokerage’s interests, not the agent’s.

18:15 Reducing agent workload and brokerage costs per transaction

23:40 Delivering same-day commissions

25:30 Guy shares stories of agents completing offers and amendments entirely from their phones while traveling.

26:05 Up next: voice-driven contract amendments and hands-free transaction management

29:05 Why agents working with Side are notoriously difficult for competitors to recruit

31:20 The two main reasons partners leave Side

36:27 Guy explains why Side should be valued as a technology company rather than a traditional brokerage

44:10 Managing customer acquisition costs in a highly fragmented real estate industry

48:00 Why Side chose sustainable growth during market contraction despite pressure to accelerate.

50:35 Jeffrey asks Guy to forecast the future of real estate brokerage over the next decade.

51:25 Guy argues the industry is structurally biased toward part-time agents and explains why that model is breaking down.

52:45 Guy outlines a future with fewer, more professional agents handling more transactions through apprenticeship-style pathways.

54:10 Guy explains how recent rule changes governing commissions may accelerate consolidation toward experienced professionals.