Keith Rabois on Opendoor ($OPEN) Activist Turnaround

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Sep 15, 2025

Keith Rabois, co-founder of Opendoor and a key player in the PayPal Mafia, dives into the major overhaul he's leading at Opendoor. He discusses the dramatic workforce cuts necessary for efficiency and long-term viability, and the critical decision to install Kaz Nejatian as CEO. Rabois also emphasizes the transformative power of AI in real estate, aiming to reshape the $289 trillion market. With insights drawn from his experiences at PayPal and Square, he shares crucial lessons on innovation and leadership in volatile market conditions.

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INSIGHT

CEO Choice Trumps Everything

The CEO determines almost everything that matters for a company's fate.
With the right CEO, impossible outcomes become probable; with the wrong one, little else matters.

ADVICE

Shrink G&A To Survive Cycles

Cut general & administrative (G&A) to align with cyclic revenue in real estate.
Aim for a G&A structure similar to Shopify's reduction from 14% to 4% to survive downturns.

ANECDOTE

Secret Plan Launched During Meme-Stock Run

Rabois and Eric Wu started a private plan in mid-July to fix Opendoor before telling others.
They considered buying the company outright when meme-stock attention temporarily inflated the share price.

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Keith Rabois, Opendoor ($OPEN) co-founder & newly appointed Board Chair, Managing Director at Khosla Ventures, and a core member of the PayPal Mafia, joins Sourcery to discuss the activist turnaround being led at Opendoor.

Opendoor just named former Shopify executive Kaz Nejatian as CEO, with Rabois returning to reshape the company’s cost structure and culture. In his words to CNBC: “There’s 1,400 employees at Opendoor. I don’t know what most of them do. We don’t need more than 200 of them.” He says the business must slash its workforce by as much as 85% to achieve long-term viability.

The announcement sent Opendoor stock soaring 78% in a single day before retreating 13% the next — still up nearly 500% year-to-date, fueled by retail investors and hedge fund manager Eric Jackson’s campaign.

In this conversation, Rabois breaks down:

- Why he returned to Opendoor as Chairman & what went wrong.

- The decision to appoint Kaz Nejatian as CEO & why the right CEO changes everything.

- How AI will be the biggest unlock in making housing transactions faster, cheaper, & more affordable.

- The long-term mission to transform a $289 trillion real estate market.

- Lessons from PayPal, Square, and decades of building & backing companies at scale.

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Chapters:

(00:00) Keith Rabois

(01:49) Why Keith returned to Opendoor as Chairman

(03:28) Appointing Kaz Nejatian as CEO & why leadership is everything

(07:57) Activist turnaround playbook: talent, cost cuts, innovation

(09:41) What went wrong — interest rates, cost structure, & cycles

(13:09) AI as the biggest unlock for housing transactions

(15:08) The “Buy It Now” button for homes

(17:06) Why selling a home is broken — how Opendoor fixes it

(22:09) Why DC is becoming a hub for tech founders