My guest this week is one of the founding fathers of Australian Proptech, Simon Baker, chairman of the Proptech group.

Now Simon was brought in by News Corp 20 years ago back in the day when real estate.com.au was just two weeks away from bankruptcy. Can it be true? Yes. This is a recent history. His analysis of the opportunity for news led them to inject $2 million in cash into REA, plus provide an additional $8 million in marketing support. And he took up the role of CEO turning the business around and leading it to its IPO.

Now, given that the company now has a market cap of 15.35 billion, it's fair to say that none of this would've been possible without Simon's vision for the business back in the early 2000s. So in this interview, Simon and I discuss how he turned the business around, how Proptech has changed and stayed the same over the past 20 years and how he's applying that vision to the Proptech Group, where he is chairman. And believe me, his advice is timeless.

02:05 - Simon’s ‘Elevator pitch’ and how he got started in proptech

07:51 - Simon’s turn around story

11:57 - Proptech has changed a lot, but how has it stayed the same?

15:30 - Advice on adopting

21:16 - The trends in Proptech that Simon is noticing

33:10 - What does Simon see in the future of the portals?

41:05 - What business models are exciting?

47:56 - What does the next 5 years look like?