The Challenged Ahead
In 2023, HouseSigma was already the market leader in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), but its revenue heavily depended on a single geographic market. This lack of diversification posed significant risk—if the GTA real estate market declined, revenue and profitability would be severely impacted. To mitigate this, the company needed to expand its real estate platform into other Canadian provinces. However, the available data sources, regulatory compliance requirements, and integration complexity varied significantly across regions.
Specifically:
- Kelowna, BC: The local real estate board did not provide sold data, requiring an alternative source.
- Edmonton, AB: The Realtor Association of Edmonton (RAE) had stricter data-sharing rules than other Alberta boards, making it challenging to deliver a seamless user experience while staying compliant.
How I Helped
Acting as Product Lead, I developed and executed market expansion strategy and data integration targeting British Columbia and Alberta, the only provinces with significant publicly accessible real estate data.
Key initiatives included:
- Data Source Innovation (Kelowna): Instead of relying on the local real estate board, I identified and secured access to BC Assessment as an alternative data source. I navigated its distinct API structure, regulatory constraints, and terms of use.
- Compliance-Driven Design (Edmonton): I worked directly with Realtors Association of Edmonton to interpret compliance rules and translated them into technical and business requirements. To maintain user experience parity with Calgary’s interface, I designed product workarounds that respected RAE’s stricter terms.
- Cross-Functional Execution: I liaised with external stakeholders, designed the interface, collaborated closely with engineering teams on integration and testing, and iterated to resolve compliance gaps before launch.
- Go-To-Market Strategy: I designed and executed the go-to-market strategy (e.g. PR, Reddit hack, Media Release, Operations and Sales expansion etc.) to make sure the locals are aware of HouseSigma expanding to their areas, and then subsequently convert them into registered users and paying customers
Business Impact
The geographic expansion was successfully executed with the following business impacts:
- Kelowna Integration: By leveraging BC Assessment data, the platform now covers the 3rd largest population center in British Columbia and is positioned to expand from only Greater Vancouver (55% provincial coverage) to the entire BC province (100% provincial coverage)
- Edmonton Integration: Alberta became the only province with a growing real estate market in 2023 due to its affordability. Entering Edmonton allowed the company to capture this upward trend, giving it a competitive edge where few competitors had coverage
- Strategic Impact: The expansion significantly reduced revenue risk tied to the GTA market by diversifying traffic and transaction opportunities across multiple provinces.