Fast-growing real estate startup Homeshake has added a key hire to its executive ranks as the company looks to significantly expand its reach into a new territory in 2023.
Homeshake, which offers homebuyers and sellers a real estate agent-free marketplace, has tapped former Uber marketer and Cincinnati transplant Kyle Naughtrip as its chief marketing officer, effective Dec. 7.
In the role, Naughtrip is responsible for the company’s marketing, branding and advertising initiatives. He joins as the company readies to grow outside the immediate confines of Greater Cincinnati.
It’s also the first C-suite-level hire co-founders Nick Rabin and Jonathan Bennie have announced since launching Homeshake in 2020. The company is in the midst of a more than $1 million seed-stage fundraise on the popular crowdfunding platform Wefunder, which is set for a Jan. 13 close.
The funds will allow Homeshake to essentially double its team, adding around 10 new positions, including a chief technology officer as well.
“This is a big step for us,” Rabin told me. “With Kyle at the helm of our marketing efforts, we’ll reach and acquire more customers. He’s a perfect fit for Homeshake.”
Naughtrip has more than 15 years of experience in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing.
As an early employee at Uber — he joined the ride-hailing startup in 2013 — he worked to add both riders and drivers to the platform in the New York City market.
Naughtrip relocated to the Cincinnati region before the Covid-19 pandemic, a temporary move that’s since stuck. He said he’s been keeping close tabs on the region’s startup ecosystem and sees a lot of similarities between Uber and Homeshake.
“This is a company similarly disrupting an outdated industry. There’s a better way of doing things,” Naughtrip said. “I also want to help build something here (versus working remotely for a startup in another city), so we can put the next billion-dollar company on the map in Cincinnati.”
Rabin, a former senior vice president at North American Properties, and Jonathan Bennie, a real estate attorney, founded Homeshake to disrupt the home buying and selling process — much like Robinhood, Root, Carvana and Airbnb have done in industries like investing, insurance, auto sales and travel, respectively.
Homeshake takes the traditional model of agents and 6% commissions and replaces it with an online peer-to-peer platform.
Through the app, buyers and sellers can direct message, schedule home tours or make an offer using a dashboard. Homeshake organizes, automates and simplifies the process from initial contact to final closing, which differentiates it from "for-sale-by-owner" or other discount broker services.
And, instead of 6%, Homeshake takes 1%. For a $500,000 home, that’s a difference of $25,000. To date, Rabin said Homeshake customers have saved more than $1 million in commissions.
Currently, Homeshake is available in Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont counties.
Starting in January, it will officially expand into Northern Kentucky.
Rabin has hinted in the past that crossing the Ohio River would be the company’s next step. It’s a key inflection point that allows Homeshake to further its reach in both states while continue building out its model before taking the concept national.
“There’s been a lot of interest from Northern Kentucky,” Rabin said. “We’re thrilled to be adding a new market.”
