BREAKING: Ryan Serhant on the Future of NYC
Over $20B+ in sales. $45M raised for S.MPLE + media empire
The Full SERHANT.
Ryan Serhant is one of the most successful and well-known real estate entrepreneurs in the world, with over $20 billion in sales. After leading one of New York City’s top-ranked brokerage teams to more than $4 billion in transactions, he founded SERHANT., a next-generation real estate company built at the intersection of media, technology, education, & sales.
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Ryan joins Sourcery to share the full SERHANT.
The Future of NYC
Media as the Business Model (Brokerage 3.0)
S.MPLE’s $45M Seed Round & AI-Driven Sales
Authenticity, Community, & Brand Building
The Netflix Flywheel: Media → Distribution → Sales
Ryan breaks down the strategy behind S.MPLE, his proprietary AI platform backed by a $45 million seed round led by Camber Creek, with participation from Left Lane Capital. S.MPLE acts as an “AI chief of staff” for agents automating workflows, orchestrating tasks, and saving more than 15,000 hours of work this year alone.
From the success of his Netflix series Owning Manhattan to his philosophy that “authenticity beats virality,” Ryan reveals the systems, mindset, and scale strategy behind his $20 billion sales empire.. and why he believes the future of real estate will belong to founders who treat media and AI as infrastructure, not accessories.
Big thank you to Nichole Wischoff for the intro!!!
Timestamps
(00:00) The Full Ryan Serhant
(00:40) Running a city like a CEO
(01:12) Building the SERHANT. platform
(01:58) From Bravo to media entrepreneur
(05:40) SERHANT.: a media + tech company that sells real estate
(08:10) Authenticity vs virality in building community
(11:30) $308M deal born from brand awareness
(13:22) Owning Manhattan and the Netflix effect
(15:45) Casting talent & shaping culture
(19:00) Season 2 preview & evolution of real-estate TV
(25:45) Inside S.MPLE — AI as agent co-pilot
(30:00) How AI transformed every department
(35:30) Recruiting the next-gen, mobile-first agent
(37:00) Raising $45M and scaling SERHANT nationally
(46:04) Daily Routines & Productivity Hacks
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The Creation Machine
Ryan Serhant’s story really captures what it means to build at every level. From media and tech to culture and city-making. He’s turned SERHANT. into this full-stack platform: a brokerage powered by media through SERHANT. Studios, education through Sell It (now 40,000+ users), and AI through S.MPLE, which automates 12,000+ tasks and has already saved 15,000 hours for agents.
Everything he builds ladders up to the same idea: that creation is the only real growth strategy. (And he is very good at it.)
SERHANT.’s Growth in Sales
Early on, in SERHANT.’s first six months, the firm claimed it “averaged $100 million in sales volume every month” across its initial (roughly 30-agent) base.
In 2023, SERHANT. recorded $580.18 million in sales volume across 207 deals.
In 2025, within the first 35 days, SERHANT. reached $1 billion in closed/in-contract sales
The Future of NYC
After describing Ryan as the most popular person in NYC (which he is), he surprisingly pivoted to the state of politics here (timely, I know).. providing a pragmatic and deeply informed perspective on New York’s trajectory. He describes the city as remarkably resilient, having weathered economic downturns, political cycles, and environmental crises, yet at risk of stagnation if leadership prioritizes restriction over innovation.
In his view, cities function best when they embrace creation rather than control: expanding economic opportunity, incentivizing development, and attracting talent. He argues that New York’s next chapter will depend less on political rhetoric and more on its capacity to foster growth, entrepreneurship, and long-term value creation. For Ryan, the enduring strength of the city lies in its ability to continually reinvent itself through the builders who choose to stay and invest in its future.
His point is clear, progress doesn’t come from taking or restricting. It comes from building, empowering, and giving people the tools to make something new.
Media as the Core Business Model
Ryan Serhant built SERHANT. on a simple but radical premise — that every modern company is a media company. Rather than positioning his brokerage as a traditional firm that uses media and technology, he reframed it as a media and technology company that sells real estate.
That mindset shaped everything from hiring to brand to revenue strategy. With in-house production through SERHANT. Studios and the global success of Netflix’s Owning Manhattan, Ryan has proven that storytelling is the ultimate distribution channel. One that drives trust, awareness, and sales at scale.
AI Empowerment & the Creation of S.MPLE
At the core of SERHANT.’s technology strategy is S.MPLE, an AI “chief of staff” designed to make every agent exponentially more productive. Built on fancy AI tech like MCP and LangChain, S.MPLE automates over 12,000 tasks and has saved more than 15,000 hours of work this year.
The platform anticipates what an agent needs next, from scheduling to marketing, it turns the salesperson into a powerhouse. Backed by a $45 million seed fundraise led by Camber Creek, with participation from Left Lane Capital, S.MPLE represents Ryan’s broader thesis: the future of sales isn’t tech-enabled; it’s AI-empowered.
Authenticity, Community, & Brand Building
Throughout the conversation, Ryan emphasizes that authenticity beats virality. “People don’t care about your wins; they connect with your losses,” he says. That honesty has become the foundation of the SERHANT. brand and culture, transforming audience attention into a loyal community.
Ryan cautions against chasing trends for views.. instead, he believes sustainable growth comes from consistent storytelling, vulnerability, and delivering value that aligns with a real mission.
The Netflix Flywheel: Media → Distribution → Sales
When Owning Manhattan launched on Netflix, it sparked a 2,400% increase in website traffic, drew hundreds of new agent applications per minute, and expanded SERHANT.’s reach to a global audience.
The series turned real estate into a cultural product and positioned Ryan’s firm as synonymous with New York luxury. By controlling his media IP and turning content into a top-of-funnel engine, Ryan built a self-sustaining flywheel: media drives distribution, distribution drives community, and community drives sales.
The Future of Work and AI-Driven Sales
Ryan believes we’re entering a “work-optional, screen-optional” era of sales, where AI handles the manual tasks and humans focus on creativity, relationships, and strategy. SERHANT.’s agents, with an average age of just 28 (a rare & fresh youthful aura for RE), are a reflection of that shift: mobile-first, tech-native, and globally connected.
As he puts it, the next decade of real estate will be led by builders who design systems around attention, automation, and authenticity rather than legacy processes or traditional hierarchies.
Systems, Energy, & the “Thousand-Minute Rule”
Ryan takes a highly structured, data-driven approach to his day, guided by what he calls the “Thousand-Minute Rule” — assuming roughly 1,000 usable minutes per day to allocate with intent. Every 15 minute block is planned.
He tracks his energy levels across these windows to optimize performance rather than just time, describing it as operational efficiency for humans. He keeps a defined eating window to reduce decision fatigue and sustain focus, treating his routine like an operating system that compounds output over time.
This impressive discipline allows him to manage a 600+ person organization, run multiple product lines, and sustain the pace of a $20B+ sales engine with clarity and consistency.. and somehow make it onto podcasts like Sourcery!? So grateful.
Brand. Expand. Sell.
Brokerage 3.0: Full-Stack
SERHANT. has grown to hundreds of agents (reported at around 600+ agents) supported by a unique platform that combines brokerage, media, content production, & technology. The company’s in-house film studio & digital marketing arm drive property exposure and agent branding at scale, while its “Brokerage 3.0” model positions it as both a sales organization and a media-driven platform.
Empowering their agents, clients, partners, & staff with novel media, technology, & educational tools.. they’ve built out a platform that expands:
SERHANT. S.MPLE A revolutionary disruption in sales technology and workflow.
Raised $45 million December 2024 led by Camber Creek, with participation from Left Lane Capital, to help brokers navigate their sales.
SERHANT. Studios Award-winning film-quality content and media production.
SERHANT. ID Lab World class branding and marketing services.
SERHANT. New Dev The record-setting new construction division that developers love.
SERHANT. ADX Unparalleled listing exposure and tech-powered solutions for all.
SELL IT Agent resources, trainings, and 1-1 Coaching that inspires, connects, and informs.
Ryan’s Books
Sell It Like Serhant: How to Sell More, Earn More, & Become the Ultimate Sales Machine
Big Money Energy: How to Rule at Work, Dominate at Life, & Make Millions
Brand It Like Serhant: Stand Out From the Crowd, Build Your Following, & Earn More Money
