COMPANY

Name: PadScouts

Location: Chicago, IL

Founded: 2017

Founder(s): Eric Tseng, Stuart Casarotto, and Ken Clay

Website: https://www.padscouts.com/

Social Media: 191 likes on Facebook, 53 followers on LinkedIn, 61 followers on Twitter, and 799 followers on Instagram as on 30th April 2019.

INDUSTRY – Real Estate Software

Size:  $7.7Bn worldwide in 2015

Projection: Expected to grow beyond $9Bn by 2022

Major Competitors: Open Home Pro, Premier Agent, and Dotloop

Introduction

PadScouts is “a set of industry tools for the Smarter [Real Estate] Agent.” These tools help agents by providing them with “insights, intelligence and predictive capabilities to help improve their brand, digital footprint and lead generation strategies”. Started with the intention of helping agents and buyers connect in a meaningful way, PadScouts taps into an agent’s “sphere of influence” using AI to identify potential buyers and service their needs more intelligently. Their USP lies in using an agent’s existing network to identify buyers.

Product

PadScouts uses AI and data to identify potential buyers from an agent’s sphere of influence. Although it started with the idea of matching buyers and agents, the company soon realized that most buyers deferred to their social network to reach out to an agent when trying to buy a home. The company developed Sophie, an AI tool, that helps agents “view, in real-time, who within your sphere of influence is likely to buy/sell their home before they even begin looking for an agent.”

Apart from Sophie, PadScouts also provides support to agents with a Marketing Assistant tool and a Website Builder tool. The Marketing Assistant helps agents understand their digital marketing ROI using analytics while the Website Builder helps agents design their own websites in about 10 minutes.

PadScouts also has a sales channel team, PadScouts Homes, where potential buyers can view listings in their city that meet their requirements.

Origin and Founding Team

PadScouts was started by Eric Tseng in 2017 along with co-founders Stuart Casarotto and Ken Clay. Eric, who studied at the University of Illinois, had bought a house in 2015. During his endeavor, he was helped by an agent who his friends had recommended. Eric saw the potential of a platform to connect buyers with agents and leverage the power of data in helping make purchase decisions.

Within four months of launching in January, 2017, Eric and his team realized that people still rely on their network to find agents. PadScouts pivoted from its initial model to agent-side detailing. They started tapping into agents’ networks to identify potential buyers and help connect the two parties. After a few months, they developed and launched Sophie.

Performance and Trends

We could not find any publicly available information about their revenue and performance. Their website got 158 monthly visitors in March, a 74% month-on-month decline. Their home sales team has 4,000+ homes listed in Chicago and 1000+ homes listed in Naperville apart from other cities.