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Robert Reffkin: Compass

  • Podcast episode
  • Jul 26, 2021
  • #Business
Guy Raz
@guyraz
(Host)
Robert Reffkin
@robreffkin
(Guest)
open.spotify.com
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78 min
1 Recommender
1 Mention
Robert Reffkin had a hard time fitting in when he was growing up: raised by a single mom in Berkeley California, he was both bi-racial and Jewish, and had to learn to "feel comforta... Show More

Robert Reffkin had a hard time fitting in when he was growing up: raised by a single mom in Berkeley California, he was both bi-racial and Jewish, and had to learn to "feel comfortable with being uncomfortable." Even though he was a self-described C student, he was admitted to Columbia and landed a series of prestigious investment banking jobs, but often felt like he was failing. Then in 2012, Robert was tasked with writing a business plan as part of a job interview, but the plan was so intriguing that he was encouraged to launch it as an actual business. So with a partner, Robert launched Compass, a real estate company that focused on building technology to make agents' jobs easier. Less than ten years after launch, Compass is a publicly traded real estate brokerage with about 20,000 agents, valued at around $6 billion.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom
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  • From sahilbloom.substack.com
This was a fantastic interview, though not necessarily for the actual “how I built this” story. Reffkin had a winding path to achieve his success - he comes from a mixed race background, his father was a drug addict, and through his early adulthood he really didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. His success through struggle was inspiring. He mentions a very prescient piece of advice received from a mentor: Stop trying to make your weaknesses into strengths. I love this idea. Focus on playing games where your strengths are amplified and your weaknesses are muted. Always endeavor to play the right games.
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