Entrepreneur in the Spotlight: Compound CEO Janine Yorio
How an Industry Veteran is Lowering the Barriers to Residential Real Estate Ownership in Major Cities
Compound has developed a technology platform and proprietary financial product that lowers the barriers to residential real estate ownership in major cities by reducing the initial capital requirement. Compound uses a unique, SEC-qualified structure to securitize residential condominiums, specifically in fast-growing cities around the world. Users can leverage Compound’s mobile app to build a personal real estate collection and to buy and sell shares in individual properties.
As fast-growing cities have become increasingly expensive places to live, it has become difficult for the people who work and live in those cities to buy homes there. They are typically blocked by significant capital requirements and a real fear of making a bad investment decision.
Compound is led by Janine Yorio, a Yale graduate and a real estate investment/private equity industry veteran with decades of experience, including having led real estate development for Standard Hotels. She was recently recognized as a Top Woman of Influence by GlobeSt.com. The company was also recognized by Inc. as one of 50 World-Changing Startups to Watch in 2019.
Compound plans to launch widely in early 2020, but has a limited number of condo co-investment opportunities in Miami, New York CIty, Austin, and Nashville open to accredited investors today, with investment minimums starting at $2,500. Click here to learn more.
We connected with Yorio for a quick Q&A about her business, important entrepreneurial lessons, and what she reads for inspiration.
What’s your connection to our venture capital fund?
I’m a Yale College graduate and the Co-Founder and CEO of Compound, a portfolio company of Blue Ivy Ventures (for Yale alumni) and Strawberry Creek Ventures (for UC Berkeley alumni).
Describe your company in a nutshell.
Compound lets you buy and sell equity shares of beautiful apartments in beautiful cities.
How does your company change the status quo in your industry?
We are enabling a generation of people who cannot afford to buy homes in the world’s most expensive cities to get on the ownership ladder in a very simple way.
What sparked your entrepreneurial drive? How do you sustain it?
Everything about my childhood and professional life has been building and preparing me for this work. I have been starting companies since I was a little girl. I always have new ideas, ways to improve the world, and I have a knack for knowing how to get started. My father was an early employee at Intel, and my mother opened her own architectural firm, so I’ve been around entrepreneurial and techy people my entire life. I do honestly believe I was born to build a technology company for the built environment. I wake up every morning excited to reimagine the real estate industry – an industry which desperately needs more women and outsiders to shake it up.
What are the three most important lessons you’ve learned on your entrepreneurial journey?
Be direct.
Keep going even when it’s hard.
It’s all about the team; you have to manage the team to keep the ship headed in the right direction.
Which resources or sources of inspiration (podcasts, books, blogs, mentors, etc.) are most useful to you on a regular basis?
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz (Andreessen Horowitz) is my bible. I also read a lot of Medium blogs.