Why Raise Capital: Profitability Versus Scaling Needs

Ryan recounts bootstrapping, reasons to take VC money, and how capital supports hiring and scaling infrastructure.

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Ryan Serhant is one of the most successful and well-known real estate entrepreneurs in the world, with over $20 billion in lifetime sales. After leading one of New York City’s top-ranked brokerage teams to more than $4 billion in transactions, he founded SERHANT., a next-generation real estate company built at the intersection of media, technology, education, & sales.

In this episode, Ryan joins Molly O’Shea to share the full SERHANT.

The Future of NYC
Media as the Business Model (Brokerage 3.0)
S.MPLE’s $45M Seed Round & AI-Driven Sales
Authenticity, Community, & Brand Building
The Netflix Flywheel: Media → Distribution → Sales

Ryan breaks down the strategy behind S.MPLE, his proprietary AI platform backed by a $45 million seed round led by Camber Creek, with participation from Left Lane Capital. S.MPLE acts as an “AI chief of staff” for agents automating workflows, orchestrating tasks, and saving more than 15,000 hours of work this year alone.

From the success of his Netflix series Owning Manhattan to his philosophy that “authenticity beats virality,” Ryan reveals the systems, mindset, and scale strategy behind his $20 billion sales empire.. and why he believes the future of real estate will belong to founders who treat media and AI as infrastructure, not accessories.

Ryan Serhant: https://x.com/RyanSerhant

Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠

Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc

𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒

⁠Brex⁠—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. ⁠https://brex.com/sourcery⁠

⁠Turing⁠—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. ⁠https://turing.com/sourcery⁠

⁠Carta⁠—Carta connects founders, investors, and limited partners through software purpose-built for private capital. Trusted by 65,000+ companies in 160+ countries, Carta’s platform of software & services lays the groundwork so you can build, invest, and scale with confidence. ⁠https://carta.com/sourcery⁠

⁠Kalshi⁠—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: ⁠https://kalshi.com/sourcery⁠

Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!

⁠https://www.sourcery.vc/

𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒

(00:00) The Full Ryan Serhant

(01:32) NYC politics and real-estate resilience

(07:00) Running a city like a CEO

(08:14) Building the SERHANT. platform

(09:14) From Bravo to media entrepreneur

(12:29) Reframing: a media + tech company that sells real estate

(15:00) Authenticity vs virality in building community

(17:00) $308M deal born from brand awareness

(19:45) Owning Manhattan and the Netflix effect