Ryan Serhant founded two apps that didn't take off but raised $45 million to help fund his third. Here's what he did differently.

• Ryan Serhant's firm raised $45 million from capital firms Camber Creek and Left Lane Capital.
• Much of the money will go toward growing the firm's AI platform S.MPLE.
• S.MPLE isn't Serhant's first app. He tells BI how he turned past failures into success.

Despite Ryan Serhant's stand-out 2024, he hasn't escaped failure. In fact, after attempting to create two apps that ultimately faltered, he's onto his third — raising millions to help catapult it to success.

In December 2024, the real estate mogul announced his brokerage firm, SERHANT, raised $45 million in its first equity funding round from capital firms Camber Creek and Left Lane Capital.

That's on top of his firm, which he founded in 2020, increasing its year-over-year sales volume by over $1 billion, the company's annual letter said. In addition, Serhant, who starred on Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing New York," debuted his own Netflix show, "Owning Manhattan," in June, which was greenlit for a second season.

Traditional brokerage firms aren't typically venture-backed. Much of the VC funding SERHANT raised is going toward growing the firm's AI-powered app, S.MPLE, Serhant told Business Insider.

As its name implies, S.MPLE is designed to simplify brokers' busy administrative work as independent contractors, allowing more time for selling real estate.

Since S.MPLE launched in January, SERHANT's nearly 1,000 agents have been using the app, which has saved the firm more than the equivalent of 625 working days in admin time, CNBC reported.

S.MPLE, currently only available to SERHANT agents, allows agents to manage contracts, marketing materials, sales follow-ups, CRM (customer relationship management) metrics, and more from their phones. It also streamlines those processes, taking over much of the administrative side of the work.

"It's Instacart for salespeople. It's the least sexy part of what we do," Serhant told Business Insider.

Contrary to the app's name, the road to launching it was far from simple. Previous app ventures UNIVERS, a real-estate brokerage in the metaverse, and SPACES, a video-editing tool, failed to take off as Serhant hoped. He wasn't deterred, though.

Serhant broke down his missteps for BI and explained how he learned from his mistakes.

Listen to what people are asking for, not what you imagine they need

In 2022, Serhant launched UNIVERS, a headquarters for his namesake brokerage in the metaverse that allowed teams anywhere in the world to meet instantly.

Its futuristic virtual office tower was populated with robots, agent avatars, and elevators that moved like spaceships.

It might've been eye-catching, but Serhant said agents didn't find it as useful as he had envisioned. Features like choosing their avatars' hair color or wardrobe weren't helping agents close deals in the real world.

"It didn't actually solve any immediate problems for them," he said.

Serhant realized the same was true for SPACES, a video-editing app he created in 2022 to help sellers' agents design virtual tours and marketing materials.

Serhant saw the potential, but the agents did not. They were more likely to use existing apps and tools they were comfortable with.

"The biggest lesson was don't just give customers what you think they need," Serhant said. "A lot of times, it's just about really asking and listening to direct feedback."

He added that the roadblocks that UNIVERS and SPACES faced helped him learn about the app development world.

Now, Serhant said he's comfortable interviewing engineers and developers and discussing how they develop models or what machine-learning technologies they use.

"I didn't know what to ask before. I didn't know what I didn't know," Serhant said.

He persevered because he believes making useful tech for real estate agents is good business. He compared his app development journey to a lawnmower that doesn't start immediately.

"You have to figure out how to get it going," Serhant said.