Guy Gal built a $24 billion "invisible" real estate company that everyone said was impossible. In this conversation, he reveals why traditional brokerages are designed to keep 1.5 million agents poor, the critical insight that constraints come from capacity not opportunity, and how one conversation with Michael Ramos changed everything. Now powering nearly 1,000 boutique brokerages through Side, he shares why most agents are selling time instead of building equity, the "frequency case" principle that kills most prop tech startups, and the brutal truth about why brokerages would rather have 1,000 bad agents than 100 great ones.

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We cover:
00:00 Intro

01:21 Why I Built a $24 Billion "Invisible" Company

06:49 The Fatal Mistake Most Entrepreneurs Make

10:08 Michael Ramos Changed Everything With One Sentence

11:06 Why "Make It Cheaper" Always Fails

13:01 What Actually Constrains Good Agents

15:39 Michelle Kim's Shocking P&L Discovery

16:29 How 25% Commissions Made Her More Money

18:09 Why Building Companies Is Anthropology First

19:26 Everyone Thought We Were Breaking the Law

21:42 Why Brokerages Want 1000 Bad Agents

22:29 The "Frequency Case" Secret

24:38 Why Home Buyer Tech Always Dies

27:53 Technology vs. People: When to Use What

32:14 The Logo Wars on Real Estate Signs

37:15 Why Agent Shareholders Never Win

39:39 Why Agents Can't Get Loans (Plumbers Can)

41:59 The Alexander Laurie Partnership Strategy

43:31 Ads

44:43 When Being an Artist Limits Growth

48:40 Why We Never Do Mergers Despite $24B

49:55 Houses of Hay vs. Homes of Brick

51:47 Paid Leads Are Mortgaging Your Future

53:49 Community Building Beats Lead Generation

59:20 Spurs vs. Mavericks Business Philosophy

1:02:10 "Say Yes to Everything" Is Terrible Advice

1:04:49 Die From Indigestion, Not Starvation

1:06:57 What the Drunk Guy Taught Me

1:11:44 1.5 Million Agents, 4 Million Deals

1:13:57 The Future Is Boutique

1:18:59 Ads

1:23:48 AI Replaces Its Own Creators First

1:25:48 Why Departments Won't License AI

1:27:20 $25K Safari vs. Expedia Booking

1:30:49 Too Many Agents: The Math

1:34:47 What Makes World-Class Leaders

Resources:

Guy Gal links:
Website: https://www.side.com/team/guy-gal/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/side_realestate/

My Links:
📧 Newsletter: www.breakingandbuildingleaders.com/
🎙 Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
🎥 YouTube: / @breakingandbuildingleaders
🐣 Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewBayon
📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/andrew_bayon/
🕺 TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@andrewbayon

If you're new to our channel, I'm the founder & CEO of Knwn Local (formerly A Impact Media and ella), where we help ambitious real estate professionals own their market with strategic hyper-local media.

A little about us:
- 10 years ago I made thousands of sales calls
- I was unfulfilled on the rollercoast of referral based sales
- I was overweight
- 7 years ago I spoke on stage at Curaytor about marketing
- I was the marketer for 5 top teams in the US spending several million on paid ads
- We were posting content on social but a little aimlessly
- Now we've generated well over $10 million in GCI directly from YouTube for agents
- Run many of the top YouTube channels from 0 to 50k in real estate
- Scaled the only hyper local newsletters across 50+ markets
- We grew our team at Knwn Local to 45 people
- We believe building a media brand is the new way to grow your business and own your market now. Instead of renting your business with expensive leads, you can own it with an audience. Brand is one of the highest leverage things in business that scales your impact beyond you.
- Big visions often don't make sense to small-minded people.
- If you want to have a greater impact, you'll have to make greater sacrifices.

My message: Don’t be well known, be Knwn well.
I'm pumped to help you grow & scale your business with this content.

DISCLAIMER:
Information shared here is for educational purposes only. Individuals and business owners should evaluate their own business strategies, and identify any potentials risks. The information shared here is not a guarantee of success. Your results may vary. Copyright © Knwn Local 2025
We make these videos to help build the leaders of tomorrow, but also there are a lot of “coaches” and “claims” on social media and hard to cut through the clutter. I post these to build trust with real estate professionals through value and real experience. And if they’re awesome and see the value and need help - we work together.