#202: Making Holiday Home Ownership Accessible With Unicorn Startup Pacaso

<p>Imagine owning only one-eighth of a house. You get many of the benefits of a regular holiday home, except you share the ownership with seven other parties. Would that interest you? This week I catch up with Austin Allison. Austin co-founded a platform called Pacaso which enables second-home ownership through a fractional ownership model. Through this model of home ownership, Pacaso is able to increase the utilisation of a second home from 10-15% to roughly 90%. Within six months of launching, the business scored a $1 billion valuation which skyrocketed the startup to unicorn status. In this episode, Austin and I discuss the fractional home ownership model, how Pacaso acquires properties, the spectrum of buyers, and the purchasing process. We also dig deeper into his entrepreneurial journey and how he's built such an impressive company in just two years.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Discussion points</strong></p> <p>03:10 What is Pacaso</p> <p>06:45 Timeshare vs Fractional Ownership</p> <p>08:20 How scheduling works</p> <p>14:00 Adoption of the fractional ownership model</p> <p>17:51 Ways of acquiring properties</p> <p>19:40 The spectrum of buyers</p> <p>21:16 Austin’s entrepreneurial journey</p> <p>25:17 Challenges Austin’s faced</p> <p>29:00 Raising money for a startup</p> <p>32:00 Working with investors</p> <p>34:25 Austin’s expectations</p> <p>36:00 Family support</p> <p>38:20 The mechanics of a company like Pacaso</p> <p>40:00 Benefits of co-ownership</p> <p>43:07 How Pacaso makes money</p> <p>45:00 How the homes are sold</p> <p>46:37 How real estate brokers react to Pacaso</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Show Sponsors:</strong></p> <p>Smartkas: Providing food security as a service <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/smartkastech/?hl=en">[https://www.instagram.com/smartkastech/?hl=en]</a></p> <p> </p> <p>Najahi Events: The UAE’s leading event promotor <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/najahievents/?hl=en">[https://www.instagram.com/najahievents/?hl=en]</a></p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Soc