Crystal Roof

Why creating another Rightmove/Zoopla is a bad startup idea? It’s almost a running joke now: new expats arrive in a foreign country and immediately set out to revolutionise the real estate market. Naturally, finding a place to live is the first priority when relocating, which lays bare all the flaws in the existing system, especially to fresh eyes. At Crystal Roof, we’ve talked to countless founders determined to build a better property platform. Many even used our API. Success stories? None. Why? Here’s my take on the consumer side: No one has offered anything truly groundbreaking to end-users. Slicker UI and nice features like WhatsApp chat are all well and good. But they pale in comparison to sheer volume of listings. There have been attempts: Property portal + Pinterest (Boomin) Property portal + Property transition CRM (OneDome) Property portal + Market analytics (Homesearch) Property Portal + AI search (numerous apps) The marketing costs are astronomical. Making everyone aware of your existence is expensive. Rewiring people’s memories to replace portals with years of first-mover advantage? Even more so. Acquired users don’t return for several years, making their acquisition unsustainable. This means marketing campaigns need to be relentless. Staying top of mind in an organic way for years is pretty challenging. In short, creating another challenger platform is a steep climb.