UC 1819 Innovation Hub serves as the blueprint for local real estate startup

Launched in 2020 by local visionaries Nick Rabin and Jonathan Bennie, Homeshake is a startup that sought to disrupt traditional real estate models.  The duo found their launchpad at the 1819 Innovation Hub, a dynamic ecosystem fueled by UC and supported by community partners like Cintrifuse.

Nestled within the hub, Rabin and Bennie tapped into a robust network comprising Cincytech, industry experts and the intellectual capital of UC's faculty and students. The expertise of this collaborative effort converged to shape Homeshake's innovative concept.

The Homeshake cofounders embraced the supportive environment of the 1819 Innovation Hub's entrepreneurial ecosystem that surrounded them, allowing for free-thinking, problem-solving and disruptive innovation.

In the words of Rabin, "What better place than the 1819 Innovation Hub?  We wanted a place to spread our wings to think, solve and innovate. It was a perfect landing spot for us."

In their quest to revolutionize the real estate landscape, Rabin and Bennie sought diverse perspectives and found a key ally in UC adjunct professor in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business, Alex Burkhart. Tasked with assembling top tech talent, Burkhart reached out to UC mechanical engineering grad Chris Ridenour, who helped develop the peer-to-peer platform for Homeshake.

Bennie highlighted that Homeshake wanted to solve a need for people.

“A common gripe among home sellers is that they were dissatisfied with agent commissions, a sentiment echoed in recent lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and traditional brokerages,” Bennie said.

A recent CNN story shed light on the lawsuits against the NAR, which found a conspiracy to uphold elevated agent commissions and fees.

Homeshake set out to address this challenge, with Bennie highlighting the pivotal role of Burkhart's guidance in assembling the optimal team for the platform's development.

Described as a mini-SWAT team, Burkhart said, “The Homeshake team transformed the concept into a startup and began diligently working to bring disruptive innovation to the real estate market.”

Rabin envisioned an alternative real estate model where a secure platform could facilitate direct connections between sellers and buyers. The goal is to eliminate hefty agent commissions, allowing sellers to retain more equity by paying only a 1% fee compared to the standard 6%.

Bennie reflected on Homeshake's entrepreneurial journey, emphasizing the diverse support received within the pivotal environment of the 1819 Innovation Hub.

“This collaborative setting played a crucial role in launching the startup,” Bennie said.

Drawing on his entrepreneurial successes in founding various businesses, including Zooky, an innovation and marketing consultancy, Burkhart stressed the importance of budding a culture of innovation for evolving startups. He brought in additional resources to strategize marketing, branding and value propositions, emphasizing the need for startups to grasp fundamental concepts and avoid being overly ambitious in their initial stages.

• Are you genuinely defining the problem and for whom are you trying to solve it?
• Can you come up with value propositions that help conceptually get the idea across?

According to Burkhart, these questions are essential to define before moving forward in the process of launching a startup.

"My goal with Homeshake was to help them work through the kind of startup methodology approach taught here at UC by several different components of the entrepreneurial department to help them launch," Burkhart said.

Burkhart credited one of the founding fathers of the entrepreneurship program at UC, Charles Matthews, for this process.

“Instilling this methodology and the importance of it before you move on to the next phase is important for new companies,” Burkhart said.

Featured image at top: Jonathan Bennie, left, and Nick Rabin, cofounders of Homeshake. Photo/provided