Old values, new technology

Sunday, December 23, 2007

By MARIAN ACCARDI

Times Business Writer marian.accardi@htimes.com

Solid Earth Inc. develops Internet MLS systems

Solid Earth Inc. - a Huntsville company that develops Internet-based MLS systems for Realtor associations - made the first-ever Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies this year.

The 9-year-old firm was also recognized in the annual Inc. 500 ranking of the fastest-growing companies - in 2004 and 2005.

But don't expect to find Solid Earth in a fancy office building with a big staff. It's still housed on North Jefferson Street in downtown Huntsville - though it has taken in some office space next door to its original location. There are only 13 employees, three of those hired in the last nine months.

So how does such a lean operation build to 60,000 subscribers in 23 markets for its LIST-IT MLS (multiple listing service) product?

"Realtors ask us that question a lot," said Matt Fowler, Solid Earth's 43-year-old president and co-founder. "We've grown very rapidly because we've won progressively larger cities. "Four times in our history we've won accounts twice the size of our largest account at the time."

Fowler likens the conservative, deliberate approach to the company's growth to the way a custom home builder operates; build a home for one customer, using the same skilled crew and when that home's finished, move on to the next one. "The secret is building (accounts) consecutively instead of concurrently," Fowler said.

"If you don't lose contracts and keep winning big ones, you can grow real fast."

In nine years, only two customers have decided not to renew a contract, he said.

The company reached an agreement earlier this year with its largest customer - the Monmouth Association of Realtors in Tinton Falls, N.J. - to extend its initial contract. That association serves more than 12,000 real estate sales agents, brokers, appraisers and staff.

Buying local

Solid Earth - founded by Fowler, Bob Moore and Kai Chan in 1998 - was actually launched on the strength of a contract they won to produce a custom MLS system, a database with property available for sale, for the Huntsville Board of Realtors, now the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors Inc.

The association has 2,000 members and its listings - and listings of five other North Alabama associations with another 1,000 Realtor members - are posted at ValleyMLS.com, the site that's available to the public. Consumers can search by property type, price, number of bedrooms and baths and location.

"What Matt has done and what his company has done is get a really good grip on how Realtors think and how they share information," said Doris Nurenberg, the association executive with the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors and North Alabama MLS. She's been an executive with three different Realtor associations for the last 16 years, and has been on the job in Huntsville for about 50 days.

"I thought the association I ran in Michigan (Flint Area Association) before I came here had the best software on the market," Nurenberg said. "But this (Solid Earth) program is better. I've never seen a more intuitive program."

She described Fowler as "brilliant, just brilliant, and he's recruited amazing people on his staff."

Seeing the field

One of Fowler's great strengths is his ability to recognize a market opportunity, said Dick Reeves, president and chief executive officer of the business incubator BizTech. Reeves first met Fowler when he was still at Banton Research LLC, which he left to start Solid Earth. "Matt has been able to bring to the real estate industry the creative use of IT to make the industry more efficient and timely."

As for the company's next step on the operations side, "we really let our customers direct us," Fowler said.

Solid Earth held its first annual LIST-IT User Group meeting in Huntsville in September to help build a simple strategic plan for the next year.

"From this last meeting, we developed a list of 22 system features that our 60,000 brokers, agents and appraisers feel they need to be competitive," he said. "Since September, we have published four of the top five things on that list and our task until next August is to finish the list, propagate them all out into the 23 systems, while still managing the daily change requests that flow in from users."

The company continues to respond to requests for proposals from cities getting near the end of their contracts with other MLS vendors.

"Right now, we are involved in about a dozen competitions in the U.S. and two in Canada, any of which we could win," said Fowler. "That means that we'll most likely add another two or three new markets to the network in 2008, basically the same thing we've been doing for nine years.

"Depending on the size of the markets we actually win, we could hit that Inc. magazine list again."



Old values, new technology Sunday, December 23, 2007 By MARIAN ACCARDI Times Business Writer marian.accardi@htimes.com Solid Earth Inc. develops Internet MLS systems Solid Earth Inc. - a Huntsville company that develops Internet-based MLS systems for Realtor associations - made the first-ever Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies this year. The 9-year-old firm was also recognized in the annual Inc. 500 ranking of the fastest-growing companies - in 2004 and 2005. But don't expect to find Solid Earth in a fancy office building with a big staff. It's still housed on North Jefferson Street in downtown Huntsville - though it has taken in some office space next door to its original location. There are only 13 employees, three of those hired in the last nine months. So how does such a lean operation build to 60,000 subscribers in 23 markets for its LIST-IT MLS (multiple listing service) product? "Realtors ask us that question a lot," said Matt Fowler, Solid Earth's 43-year-old president and co-founder. "We've grown very rapidly because we've won progressively larger cities. "Four times in our history we've won accounts twice the size of our largest account at the time." Fowler likens the conservative, deliberate approach to the company's growth to the way a custom home builder operates; build a home for one customer, using the same skilled crew and when that home's finished, move on to the next one. "The secret is building (accounts) consecutively instead of concurrently," Fowler said. "If you don't lose contracts and keep winning big ones, you can grow real fast." In nine years, only two customers have decided not to renew a contract, he said. The company reached an agreement earlier this year with its largest customer - the Monmouth Association of Realtors in Tinton Falls, N.J. - to extend its initial contract. That association serves more than 12,000 real estate sales agents, brokers, appraisers and staff. Buying local Solid Earth - founded by Fowler, Bob Moore and Kai Chan in 1998 - was actually launched on the strength of a contract they won to produce a custom MLS system, a database with property available for sale, for the Huntsville Board of Realtors, now the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors Inc. The association has 2,000 members and its listings - and listings of five other North Alabama associations with another 1,000 Realtor members - are posted at ValleyMLS.com, the site that's available to the public. Consumers can search by property type, price, number of bedrooms and baths and location. "What Matt has done and what his company has done is get a really good grip on how Realtors think and how they share information," said Doris Nurenberg, the association executive with the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors and North Alabama MLS. She's been an executive with three different Realtor associations for the last 16 years, and has been on the job in Huntsville for about 50 days. "I thought the association I ran in Michigan (Flint Area Association) before I came here had the best software on the market," Nurenberg said. "But this (Solid Earth) program is better. I've never seen a more intuitive program." She described Fowler as "brilliant, just brilliant, and he's recruited amazing people on his staff." Seeing the field One of Fowler's great strengths is his ability to recognize a market opportunity, said Dick Reeves, president and chief executive officer of the business incubator BizTech. Reeves first met Fowler when he was still at Banton Research LLC, which he left to start Solid Earth. "Matt has been able to bring to the real estate industry the creative use of IT to make the industry more efficient and timely." As for the company's next step on the operations side, "we really let our customers direct us," Fowler said. Solid Earth held its first annual LIST-IT User Group meeting in Huntsville in September to help build a simple strategic plan for the next year. "From this last meeting, we developed a list of 22 system features that our 60,000 brokers, agents and appraisers feel they need to be competitive," he said. "Since September, we have published four of the top five things on that list and our task until next August is to finish the list, propagate them all out into the 23 systems, while still managing the daily change requests that flow in from users." The company continues to respond to requests for proposals from cities getting near the end of their contracts with other MLS vendors. "Right now, we are involved in about a dozen competitions in the U.S. and two in Canada, any of which we could win," said Fowler. "That means that we'll most likely add another two or three new markets to the network in 2008, basically the same thing we've been doing for nine years. "Depending on the size of the markets we actually win, we could hit that Inc. magazine list again." © 2007 The Huntsville Times © 2007 al.com All Rights Reserved.