015: This 30-year old CEO went from $0 to $285 MILLION in Commercial Real Estate. How Jilliene Helman built RealtyMogul…

Jillene Helman - RealtyMogul.com Interview

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Background on Jilliene Helman:

Jilliene Hellman is CEO and Co-Founder of RealtyMogul. She's responsible for the company’s strategic direction and operations. Jilliene, who sits on RealtyMogul.com’s board, has underwritten over $5 billion of real estate and was previously a Vice President at Union Bank, where she spent time in Wealth Management, Finance and Risk Management. Jilliene is a Certified Wealth Strategist, holds Series 7, Series 63, and Series 24 licenses and has a degree in Business from Georgetown University.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • [0:50] Jilliene is the CEO of RealtyMogul, an online market place for Commercial Real Estate Investing that connects investors through cutting-edge technology.
  • [4:01] RealtyMogul has over 80 employees, done almost $300 million in transactions and about 130,000 registered investors in their platform.
  • [4:27] Jilliene talks about how Realty Mogul was started.  She started the company in 2013 with his co-founder, Justin Hughes. They wanted to leverage the internet and technology to make real estate investing more accessible.
    • [4:48]  She was in the wealth management business.  The wealthiest clients where she worked were all investors in commercial real estate.
    • [4:58] 💡 She thought – there must be a better way to give access to commercial real estate to other investors.
  • [5:30]Starting any business and entrepreneurship in general is all about – HUSTLE.”
  • [7:56] A Seed Round is typically the 1st round of capital for a company to grow.
  • [9:37] Their biggest investor invested $100,000 when they started.
  • [9:49] “When you’re raising money, you’re getting into bed with these investors.”
  • [10:24]The first 10 hires of a startup, you want them all to be Swiss Army knives.
  • [11:37] She personally emailed and called the first couple of 1,000 people that signed-up to the website.
  • [17:20] They returned over $65 million back to investors.
  • [19:58] “Success should be synonymous with happiness.”
  • [20:45] Your host asks, “What do you do for fun?”
    • [20:55] She loves to travel & mentions she was most recently in Morocco.
    • [21:24] Your host try's to be funny by asking, “Were you looking for commercial real estate properties over there?” Failed joke by Austin.
  • [22:05] Discusses different type of REITs
  • [22:15] Talks about volatility & liquidity premium with difference in type of REITs (Publicly Traded vs Private)
  • [23:40] Talks about cost & capital to start a company like RealtyMogul.
  • [24:31] The company’s largest expenses is human capital.
  • [28:30] Jilliene thinks that Commercial Real Estate is a lot more complicated than Residential Real Estate.
  • [31:08]Knowing what stage you’re at as a company and hiring the right people for the right stage is really critical.”
  • [33:00] They’ve always been well capitalized as a company.
  • [32:08] When they first started, she was “an execution machine”
    • [32:09] Your host try's to be funny by saying, “I don't believe you.” Another failed joke by Austin.
  • [33:15] Talks about what she is most proud of… a few of her team members for example.  She gets excited about seeing personal growth within the company.
  • [33:51] Reading & learning have been fundamental to Jilliene's growth.
  • [34:01] Listening to podcasts (like this amazing one) helps people grow as a person & employee.
  • [39:22] “To be a great leader, you have to be healthy.”

Fabulous 4 Questions:

  1. 📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone
  2. 🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Vitamins
  3. 🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Amazing People
  4. 💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Time

Key Point from the Interview:

  • “Knowing what stage you’re at as a company and hiring the right people for the right stage is really critical.”

Resources Mentioned:

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