![]() ![]() Did you have a crystal ball telling you remote work was the future? Russ: You decided to transition your company to an all-remote workforce well before COVID hit. Today our system is used in almost 40% of all the residential real estate transactions in the U.S., and we’re expanding to new markets. We created a machine learning algorithm that functions as a workflow compression tool. It’s a consequence of inefficiencies in the core tool set that people use to do their work, and it’s particularly acute for complex process managers - real estate agents, architects, event planners, divorce attorneys - who have to coordinate relatively complicated processes with a lot of stakeholders all working at different companies. I quickly realized this wasn’t just a real estate problem it’s a modern work problem that most of us have. Jonathan: When my wife and I were buying our home, I observed that our agent - who we loved - spent a significant portion of his time on tedious, administrative project management tasks. Russ: What was the origin of Amitree and your core product, Folio? My parents were both psychologists, and the first program I wrote was like a virtual psychologist that would ask you questions about how you’re feeling and spit back random answers. I’ve always loved the process of understanding problems people have and figuring out how to solve them - and delight them in some way. Jonathan: I’ve been a technology entrepreneur pretty much my whole life. Russ: How did you first get interested in tech? ![]() He learned a lot about what works - and doesn’t - when building remote teams and shared some of those lessons with us. Aizen manages a team of a dozen people across nine countries from his home near Tel Aviv. That day also marked a crucial turning point for his fledgling company, which is now cash-flow positive. “That was easily my hardest day as a founder,” said Aizen, who’s started three companies and steered one through the Great Recession. He’d shutter the expensive office and restructure the team (those who left did so with generous terms) and hire a new, global staff. In October of last year, months before the global pandemic got underway, Aizen gathered his 25-person team at their San Francisco headquarters to announce the company was going all-in on remote work. Though in his case, the pandemic had nothing to do with either decision. Like many Silicon Valley founders, Amitree CEO Jonathan Aizen spent much of the past year navigating both a shift to remote work and a painful reorganization. Amitree founder and CEO Jonathan Aizen shares lessons from going all-in on remote work ![]()
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