The Story of Radius Agent: Building the Operating System for Real Estate Professionals

The Story of Radius Agent: Building the Operating System for Real Estate Professionals

Most PropTech success stories follow a familiar script: raise massive capital, spend heavily on customer acquisition, and race toward market dominance. But in a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Radius Agent CEO Biju Ashokan revealed a different path – one that started with building a community rather than chasing rapid growth.

From Social Network to Operating System

Radius Agent’s journey began not as a brokerage, but as a social network for real estate agents. “When we started off as a social network for real estate agents, I’ve always had this one vision of having agents and a lot of agents on my platform and giving them the option to pick and choose whichever tools and services that they need,” Biju explains.

This wasn’t his first venture into PropTech. As Biju notes, “This is my second Prop tech firm… my first startup was called Metroplots. We ran it for about six years, got an exit.” This experience shaped his approach to building Radius, leading to a focus on sustainable growth over rapid expansion.

Building in a Down Market

The timing of Radius’s expansion might seem counterintuitive. As Biju observes, “It is a down market this year, end of this year and possibly next year… There’s not going to be a lot of transactions.” However, he sees this as an opportunity: “This is a great opportunity for a lot of tech firms to make meaningful tech for real estate… Things that can really optimize all the workflows that real estate agents can do and consumers can do, mortgage lenders can do.”

The Power of Patient Growth

While other companies were raising capital at “150X revenue multiples,” Radius took a more measured approach. “We’ve been very conventional with our valuations and fundraise,” Biju shares. “We’ve raised three rounds of funding. We’ve always been at the conservative side of things.” This disciplined approach to growth has paid off – they’re now “approaching close to 500 agents this year” and have “probably grew like five X this year when most other companies in real estate are not showing growth at all.”

Building a Different Kind of Brokerage

What sets Radius apart is their approach to technology. Unlike traditional brokerages that simply add a layer of tech to their existing operations, Radius built their platform from the ground up with technology at its core. “Even the tech brokerages today, they call themselves tech… they don’t build a lot of tech. They’re still brick and mortar, office based, traditional, conventional real estate companies with a little bit of tech, possibly a CRM or a website,” Biju explains.

Instead, Radius views real estate agents as entrepreneurs: “The way I look at it, real estate agents are exactly like founders… They don’t get a salary. Everyone thinks they make easy money, they work really hard to be where they are and have taken a lot of risk to be there.” This perspective shapes their entire approach to product development and support.

The Vision for the Future

Looking ahead, Radius has ambitious plans for expansion. Currently operating in “California, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Oregon, Georgia and Washington,” they’ve also launched their mortgage company. But their vision extends beyond national borders. As Biju reveals, “We have a user base growing in UK, Middle East, Australia, Canada, South America. So we obviously have big goals of promoting radius in all these other countries and powering agents everywhere.”

The immediate goal is reaching “about 10,000 agents with the brokerage” while continuing to grow their community. This target might seem modest compared to industry giants – “Remax is the largest… they have about 120,000 or 70,000 agents” – but it reflects Radius’s focus on sustainable growth and quality over pure scale.

For B2B tech founders, Radius’s story offers a compelling alternative to the typical startup playbook. Their success demonstrates that even in traditional industries, there’s room for innovation through patient community building, thoughtful product development, and a deep understanding of user needs. As the real estate industry continues to evolve, Radius’s approach of building an operating system for agents, rather than just another brokerage platform, positions them uniquely for the future of real estate.