How I Built This with Guy Raz

Expedia & Zillow: Rich Barton

Jun 14, 2021

Rich Barton, co-founder of Expedia and Zillow, revolutionized travel and real estate by empowering consumers with technology. He shares how his early days at Microsoft led to the creation of Expedia, transforming booking experiences amidst industry skepticism. Rich discusses the launch of Zillow, which faced a crash due to overwhelming traffic, and how it sparked a new era of transparency in real estate. Reflecting on the balance of passion and luck, he highlights Zillow's evolution through challenges, including the 2008 financial crisis, showcasing the impact of digital innovation.

01:03:04

Episode guests

Rich Barton

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Spark Zillow

03:01

Ending up at Microsoft and working there ‘we knew magic’

02:09

Build Markets with Rich Data

00:49

Presenting Expedia in product review

02:27

Intro

2min

Transforming Travel and Real Estate: The Journey of Innovation

5min

Pioneering Travel Innovation

17min

Transforming Real Estate Shopping Experiences

2min

Navigating Challenges in Travel and Real Estate Innovation

4min

The Birth of Zillow: Challenges and Innovation

15min

The Launch Crisis: Turning Challenges into Opportunities

4min

The Digital Disruption of Real Estate

5min

Navigating the Storm: Zillow's Transformation

12min

10.

The Interplay of Passion, Luck, and Success in Transforming an Industry

4min

In the early 90s, Rich Barton arrived to work at Microsoft just as the world wide web was taking off. He wound up pitching Bill Gates on an idea that was transformative at the time: to let everyday travelers book their own flights and hotels by giving them online access to previously hidden reservation systems. Expedia launched from inside Microsoft but was so successful at transforming the travel industry that it was spun out into a public company with Rich as CEO. Then in 2005, Rich moved on to a new idea with some Expedia colleagues, co-founding Zillow as a way to "turn on all the lights" in another sprawling industry: real estate. When the site launched in 2006, so many people tried to look up their home-value "Zestimates" that the site crashed within hours. By 2020, pandemic-era interest in housing saw Zillow accessed almost 10 billion times. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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