{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Slice of Real Estate","title":"#33 - Why the platform — not the agent — wins the next decade of real estate | Mike Chambers (Founder & CEO, Ridley)","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1614,"description":"Mike Chambers is the Founder & CEO of Ridley, an AI-native, consumer-first real estate platform challenging the 6% commission model that has gone effectively untouched for 40+ years. Before Ridley, Mike co-founded two international education organizations — including Summits, which grew to 42 schools serving 10,000 students with 350 employees across Haiti — led expeditions in the Himalaya and South America (including two Mount Everest summits), created and sold the Outside Network adventure series Beat Monday, and co-founded the audio discovery company Moonbeam with Kayak co-founder Paul English, which exited during the post-pandemic podcast boom. Ridley is building toward a future where the platform — not the agent — sits at the center of every real estate transaction, with agents shifting into high-stakes advisory roles. The company is backed by Fifth Wall (early investors in Opendoor, Procore, and Built), partners with Opendoor and Orchard, and is currently averaging $42,000 in seller savings per transaction while outperforming traditional listings on both days on market and list-to-sold price ratio in Colorado. We discuss:The Boulder origin story — a $140K commission quote, a Colorado minimum service law, and a 9:30pm kitchen video that went viral overnightWhy the graveyard of disruptors (Trelora, Homie, Homelister) failed — they were brokerages in software clothing, and the technology wasn't there yetThe two buckets of agent work — procedural coordination vs. strategic and emotional judgment — and which one AI can fully take over right nowThe Fifth Wall thesis — why the platform, not the agent, becomes the center of the transaction within the next 5–8 yearsWhy Ridley doesn't need the industry to love it — only consumers do — and how that clarity shaped the brand from day oneHow $42K in average seller savings (and a $140K high-water mark) is quietly changing how wealth is built in AmericaWhat's coming next — the buyer-side marketplace, the agent platform, and...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/Hjv8VqjxiwZO5W72JgtsNsLNzfgjff0YrG89wn-gELg/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9jZmRi/ZGVmMDYxMTVjNzRj/NzE1NTZjMDFmMDUx/MTIwMC5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}