SERHANT Says Growth Is Not a Business Plan

Ryan Serhant, founder and CEO of the brokerage SERHANT, says his company’s rapid growth came not from chasing scale but from building something the market hadn’t seen before. “Growth was not a business plan,” he said on the Playmakers podcast. “Providing an experience that did not exist in the marketplace was our business plan — and that is why we’ve grown.”

The celebrity broker, known for Million Dollar Listing and Owning Manhattan, launched SERHANT in 2020 after interviewing at other firms left him “uninspired.” He said he was focused on how real estate would be bought and sold in 2030 and how to bring the next generation of agents and consumers into that future. “I just couldn’t do it at another company,” he told the podcast.

Six years in, the New York City–based firm has expanded into Texas and California and landed at No. 26 on the T3 Sixty Real Estate Almanac’s Mega 1000, with over $7 billion in sales volume in 2025.

Serhant described his approach as “person-first.” Everything his firm built — including an AI-native platform — is designed for the agent and the client. “Controlling that underlying transaction layer, I think, has been a major miss for firms,” he said. “And that’s where SERHANT comes into play.”

He said the brokerage’s growth was a side effect of focusing on the experience, not the other way around. For someone who started his career with no training and no team, that distinction matters. Serhant entered the business alone, and he doesn’t recommend it.

On the topic of private listings and pre-marketing, Serhant said he wants “market transparency” and “honesty.” He said sellers should be able to sell quietly if they want, but he doesn’t like gatekeeping where the information owner controls access. “I think that provides problems,” he said, adding that while the strategy may benefit a business, “I don’t think it’s good for the consumer.”

This puts him at odds with Compass, which he recently predicted will be the only other real estate firm “of note” by 2030. Compass’ mission, he explained, is to control inventory and prioritize customer choice. “I don’t think that’s a terrible mission,” Serhant said. “I think the problem with that though is the human species, as an incentivized body, really needing market transparency.”

For agents and buyers caught in that tension, the practical effect is simple: a firm that builds its platform around the person rather than the transaction may offer more control and clearer information. That difference is likely to matter more as the industry shifts toward data-driven tools and off-market deals.

Serhant urges newcomers to avoid his own early mistake of going it alone. Instead, they should “find a great team and figure out how to get on that team and learn.” He acknowledged that lack of experience can be a selling point if handled honestly. Recalling his first pitch, he said: “No, I don’t have the experience. But as long as we price appropriately, I will die to sell this because I need to pay rent on the first.”

He also told agents they need more than just a real estate license to stand out. “You need to be real estate and — pick one thing,” he said. “Maybe you’re real estate and you’re a mom. Maybe it’s real estate and you’re dad. Maybe it’s real estate and you’re a competitive sailboat racer, or cooking. Pick one, lean into it, make content about it, talk about it.” Associating with people who share that “and,” he said, is “very, very helpful.”