12 years ago, Dan Corkill met someone who bought leads from Zillow and had a tough time getting his team to convert them into sales. Along with his cofounder, Tom Markov, Corkill took this problem and ran with it by creating Follow Up Boss (FUB). It grew to become one of the top CRM tools used by North American real estate teams today. With 100,000 users on the platform, it’s a centralized spot for agents, teams and brokerages to organize information, move through the sales cycle, close deals and grow their businesses.
On November 1, it was announced that Zillow Group agreed to acquire FUB for $400 million (plus up to $100 million in a potential cash earnout).
Zillow is the most visited portal for buyers and sellers, and they operate on an agent-centric approach by creating their own tools and acquiring others that enhance the agent experience.
Why the acquisition
FUB sold to Zillow Group because it stands to gain more leverage – something that all businesses need in general. The acquisition will allow FUB to invest in improved product offerings that help its clients deliver the best customer experience possible and achieve their business goals.
“This acquisition means more resources to invest in making our software and service better for you. And we’ll be able to do it much faster than we could have on our own,” says Corkill in a post on FollowUpBoss.com.
What’s next
FUB’s mission of “serving top-performing real estate teams and agents by providing industry-leading technology to power their businesses” won’t change, Corkill mentions in a Zillow Group press release.
The company’s future looks bright, as the FUB team will stay an independent, standalone product but with additional support and resources for its users. “Together, we’ll continue investing to make the industry and every business within it stronger,” says Corkill.
FUB will still support its third-party integration partners which will allow users to use the systems they like without interruption. And, Zillow will continue to support third-party CRM integrations via its Premier Agent app, meaning those partners can choose the CRM they’d like to work with.
What about customer data?
FUB promises that all customer data entered into the platform is the user’s. It remains in FUB, always protected and never for sale.
“Zillow Group is acquiring Follow Up Boss to improve it for you. As part of this process, we’ll be working with a third-party validator so they can verify that customer data is staying safe and protected,” Corkill reiterates in his post.
