Discussing business ideas at the dinner table was not out of the ordinary for a young Jilliene Helman while growing up. Her father had been an entrepreneur for over 40 years, while her mother worked in luxury real estate. As a teenager, she was already consulting for her father's business, and knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur. Though her passion for business and innovation were inherent, determination also played a key role in her success.
At the end of the day, business is about execution, and I want to see more women get involved, more women put up a fight
Helman attended Georgetown University to major in International Business and Management. Understanding the importance of a global perspective, she would go on to spend her junior and senior year on a backpacking journey to Beijing and a semester in Barcelona before returning home. After an internship with Rolling Stone magazine, Helman made her way back to the West Coast and joined a training program at Union Bank. There she spent time with brokers, real estate lenders, and trust officers. It gave her a 360 degree view of wealth management. Realizing the lack of accessibility and ease in real estate investing, Helman established RealtyMogul.com through the Los Angeles Founder Institute.
Real estate is kind of the last industry to change typically - it’s very archaic.
Realty Mogul simplifies real estate investment by connecting real estate entrepreneurs and investors through cutting-edge technology. In early 2013, the company quickly picked up steam. It was accepted into TechStars Seattle, secured a $500,000 seed round, and won the Founder Showcase Pitch Competition (see their winning pitch below).The company continued its torrid pace into 2014, when it raised a $9M Series-A round, and then followed it up in 2015 with a $35 million Series-B.
My co-founder Justin Hughes and I started with a $110,000 real estate loan in Los Angeles. I never intended to be a revolutionary in this industry, the company just kept growing and we poured a lot of hard work to get it where it is today.
Today, Realty Mogul is the leading online real estate capital marketplace – one that offers commercial equity and commercial debt products nationwide, educates investors, and changes the way real estate investing and financing is viewed. In just a few short years, they secured over $2B in real estate on the platform, and returned over $85M to investors. In congruence to Helman's go getter attitude, Realty Mogul plans to expand further with a goal of global reach.
Graduates of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over $1.85BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.
See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/journey.
