Ed, Harvey and Simon get together for an overdue rundown of the latest news in portals and proptech.0:00 Intros0:39 CoStar board member renewals and activist investors.15:00 CoStar Investment in Wikicasa18:27 Square Yards Fundraise27:10 Zillow + Google Gemini, and the Consideration Phase

Shawn Mullahy, newly appointed CEO at Zumper, joins Harvey for a conversation about taking over from Founder, Anthemos Georgiades, and moving towards a new business and revenue model that fills houses faster.

00:00 Intros and Zumper changes

04:35 Zumper's strategic shift under new leadership

10:08 AI Integration and Future Business Model

17:02 Challenges in Lead Attribution and Customer Engagement

22:01 Investor Perspectives on AI Innovation

30:13 Transition from CRO to CEO and Team Dynamics

36:00 Future Trends in Rental Markets and Closing Thoughts

Toby Chapman from OC&C Strategy returns to the PPW Pod for a follow-up on last year's debate around AI and real estate marketplaces. A year on from his "AI truck" prediction, Ed, Simon and Toby unpack why share prices are down 30-50%, whether portals are undervalued or were overvalued, and where the real existential risks actually lie.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:03 Has the AI truck hit? Investor markets vs operating performance

04:49 Undervalued today, or overvalued in the past?

07:54 OC&C research: where does the industry think the risk is coming from?

12:12 Integrate with the AI labs (Chat GPT etc.) or stay out like CoStar & Airbnb?

17:18 Why aren't portals shaping the AI narrative themselves?

21:01 Simon's pushback: are we having the wrong conversation entirely?

25:18 Will OpenAI build a vertical property portal? (Spoiler: probably not)

29:00 The whole property buying journey — portals' real battleground

31:01 Lead attribution, the trust dilemma & whose side is the portal on?

38:00 The generational shift — are portals built for the wrong audience?

42:29 Toby's counter: leaders double down, opportunity beyond search & discovery

44:15 Wrap-up — reconvene this time next year

Guest: Toby Chapman, Partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants — https://www.linkedin.com/in/toby-chapman-8a559a15/

Presented by:

- Edmund Keith — https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmund-keith/

- Simon Baker — https://www.linkedin.com/in/stbaker/