A History of Success
With more than $850 million in exits, tried-and-true leadership team launches new startup
Chicago, IL, March 17, 2016 (Newswire.com) - Scott Hammack, Paul Lazarre, and Gregory Hila, have built and sold startups in healthcare technology and information security for a combined total of more than $850 million and are now officially launching Truepad, their next Chicago based venture focusing on residential real estate.
Truepad is the “next generation” search engine for real estate, featuring in-depth, unbiased home reviews by top agents. Truepad uses crowd-sourced wisdom of agents to identify the highest rated homes in each neighborhood while also giving consumers insights into how agents view homes, highlighting all aspects of a home, good or bad. By using Truepad, consumers quickly cut through the clutter to find their dream home.
“Many of today’s IPO’s get billed as overnight success stories, but the truth is they probably have been at it for more than a decade. Usually it takes many years of hard won and sometimes painful experiences to learn about a market, develop relationships, and ultimately build a team that can win,” said Lazarre. “At Truepad, we have that hard won experience and we’ve assembled an incredible team.”
“After doing this four times, it gets easier assembling a team, identifying an addressable market, and then creating great products to service that market,” said Hammack.
Agents on Truepad earn points based on frequency of publishing home reviews, identifying homes that will sell fast and estimating accurate home sale prices. Agents with the highest point totals are presented prominently throughout the site, along with their home reviews, gaining valuable exposure to consumers.
“We started the company with 6 people in a rented 2,500 square-foot South Florida house. Once we had assembled the basic building blocks, we relocated the company to Chicago to take advantage of all the resources a big city provides” Hila said. “With 15 full-time employees, we now have the experience and skill sets needed to succeed.”
Truepad has already reached out and embraced local resources. The company is a member at Chicago’s 1871, one of the best environments for technology startups in the United States. Truepad also has received a substantial grant from Microsoft, specifically targeted for fast growing startups.
Truepad’s leadership team reaches back to Masterchart in 1994. A healthcare information technology company that was sold to Allscripts in 2000. Following successes include Cyberguard which was sold to Secure Computing in 2005, eDMZ which was sold to Quest Software in 2011, and Prolexic which was sold to Akamai in 2014.
Truepad is officially launching its website, Truepad.com, and its Truepad Agent iOS application to coincide with the Chicago spring buying season. Their launch party will be held from 5-8 p.m., Thursday, March 31, at the Emil Bach House, a historic home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is located at 7415 N. Sheridan Road on Chicago’s north side. The media and public are invited to attend.
