#69 Jason Pellegrino - Domain Group

Dexter Cousins is joined by Jason Pellegrino, CEO of Domain Group on the FinTech Australia Podcast.

You might be asking why a Real Estate listings platform is featuring on a Fintech podcast?

Tune in and find out why in this super interesting show as Jason shares the Domain Group strategy and their move into Fintech!

Jason spent 10 years with Google as Managing Director of Australia and New Zealand. As a member of the Asia-Pacific Regional Leadership Team, Jason held leadership positions across Sales, Operations and Strategy.

He shares his views on the role Big Tech is playing in the future of payments and financial services.

About Jason:

Prior to Google, Jason worked in several roles over 15 years spanning Corporate Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions and Finance at Dakota Capital Partners, LEK Consulting, PepsiCo International and KPMG.

Jason holds a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce and an MBA (Distinction) from The London Business School.

Jason is a member of the Innovation Taskforce of the Business Council of Australia, a member of ASIC's External Advisory Panel and a Board member of Plan International.

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Transcript

Dexter Cousins 

Hello and welcome to the FinTech Australia podcast presented by Tier One People, leaders in FinTech executive search. I'm Dexter Cousins. And in today's show, we're joined by Jason Pellegrino, CEO of domain group. A big shout out to our awesome partners Fintech Australia, a member driven organisation, building an ecosystem of Australian fintechs advancing the global economy. We share their mission to build a strong community, foster connections and support innovation. If you're not a member yet, go to https://www.fintechaustralia.org.au/

Welcome to the show, Jason.

Jason Pellegrino

Hi, Dexter, it's great to be here. Thank you for having me.

Dexter Cousins  

I know a lot of our listeners are going to be asking the question, why do we have the CEO of a real estate platform on a fintech podcast? So I wonder if you could tell us a little bit more about Domain Group?

Jason Pellegrino  

First and foremost, we were a team of people that are united, by purpose to inspire confidence in all of life's property decisions. And that's a much broader aim than just serving property ads, or listings classifieds business. 

When you think about achieving that mission, the importance of FinTech and particularly payments platforms, is seamlessly allowing people to seek out and acquire solutions becomes really clear. 

The FinTech industry, and particularly, innovations around payment platforms have become such an important part of how we aim to actually live up to that mission.

Dexter Cousins   

Fantastic. Now, can you tell us about your background, it’s really interesting. You were previously MD for Google here in Australia? How has the Domain Group evolved over the years since you came on board?

Jason Pellegrino  

I think that domain was launched, like many real estate portals around the world, off the back of a disruption to traditional classifieds businesses. 

So, as the rivers of gold that sat in the pre-classifieds started to dry up, because users moved into different means of accessing information, moving on to the internet. You saw the growth of an online classifieds model online, particularly property, jobs, cars, a range of classifieds verticals, 

What I call property portal 1.0 was essentially digitalisation of that print classifieds, listing of properties and ads based model. Domain really benefited from a heritage tied to Fairfax. The distribution that Fairfax had, particularly across Sydney, Melbourne and New South Wales, as well, really focus on product development that provided a consumer experience online in property search that really helps people find properties to buy and rent. 

What's happened more recently, though, particularly in the last two years, that I since I've joined, is really reimagining what we can possibly do. And understanding that whilst buying and selling property or looking to rent or lease property is an extraordinarily important part of anyone's property life journey, it's not the only part. 

You know, the average property, for example transacts, every 10 years, up to 12 years now. And typically, that buy/sell cycle is only six months. 

So we're re-looking at our mission, we're looking broader than just that narrow six month listings, property transaction window into how we can help Australians and inspire confidence in all of life's decisions across that entire decade. 

What you're seeing is a use of the new capabilities that the internet brings, whether that's data, whether that's an extended touch point, to provide a pivot away from a classifieds business to what we call a marketplace business. A set of solutions that is there for consumers to help with any challenge that they might find throughout their property life journey.

Dexter Cousins  

So we've talked about FinTech here, Jason, as if it's kind of just a thing or an industry. But we've seen all these other offshoots, like PropTech, RegTech and many others. What's your view on the role of FinTech and do you think it's narrow? Do you think it's way broader than just being focused on financial services?

Jason Pellegrino 

I've had the privilege of watching the internet evolve in the last 10 to 15 years. My role at Domain, my role at Google for the better part of a decade. And prior to that, I was involved in private equity and investments going right back to the first.com bubble. I think the journey of FinTech is pretty similar to the journey that I've seen in property classifieds into marketplaces. 

If I go back five plus years, you know FinTech was seen as a sector or an industry primarily focused on disrupting traditional financial services players. 

I think what you're seeing more recently is the understanding that FinTech actually has a role to play across every industry, across every attempt to either disrupt industries or every attempt to improve or fundamentally transform customer experiences in whatever solution an innovator and entrepreneur, an organisation looking to disrupt his wanting to do. 

So, for example, I saw the importance of FinTech increase dramatically during my time at Google, both in understanding how it powers App Store ecosystems, how important Google Wallet or Google Pay, or Apple Pay was, not only allowing an alternative to traditional payment mechanisms, but also to fundamentally streamline and make a range of different services, whether that's micro payments, subscriptions, a lot easier than they ever were before.

Dexter Cousins   

So you've made some kind of significant steps to delivering on this premise. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about some of the JV’s and partnerships that you're putting in place?

Jason Pellegrino   

Yeah. So, again, why is payments important to the property industry? And you would step back and say, well, there doesn't seem to be a lot of alignment. But fundamentally, there is such alignment between anything that has to do with property, and the need to seamlessly be able to pay or fund solution.

It starts right from the top in terms of the biggest segment into the, the adjacency and links between the mortgage industry and properties. And so for example, we have launched a few years ago, a joint venture with Lendi to create Domain Home Loans, and to provide a seamless financing experience for people who are in that property journey. 

What we're doing is not just a cookie-cutter, replicable approach to other mortgage market networks we have focused on and we have innovated with Lendi to digitise that process and really focus on an end to end online mortgage experience for consumers. 

And it's paying off. So a good example is our Product Reviews, Mortgage Broker of the Year in 2020. With feedback scores of I think 4.8 out of five, which is unheard of, you know, I think the big four banks on product review, have customer feedback scores somewhere in the one and a halves. Yeah. And that's just an example of the importance of FinTech to solving for most people, the most challenging aspect of their property journey is how to actually finance that property. 

More recently, we entered into a joint venture with a startup called Limepay. Limepay is a buy now pay later innovator who is scaling quickly in Australia and around the world, but their innovative solution or their approach to that marketplace is to provide a white label solution that allows brands to provide the technology and the solution have by now highlighted their customers, but to retain their brand presence and to retain their relationship much more directly with their consumer sets. 

We looked at a key challenge that was facing that property lifecycle, particularly when it came to vendors who are looking to sell their property in their ability to access this, the funds that they needed to pay for the appropriate marketing of their property. 

And so what ends up happening typically is a cash flow challenge, in that we have a significant asset that will sell and you know, particularly in the current market, will sell well, but the funds for that asset won't be received for 90 plus days and so a lot of vendors are actually restricted in their ability to invest in marketing. And we know that good marketing and appropriate investment and marketing delivers a better outcome for the sale of that property. 

And so we looked at many different alternatives, but the buy now pay later approach to solving that seemed to be the most seamless and customer-focused approach to solving that, Limepay step forward and we're able to provide a solution that innovated on the core buy now pay later model that was optimised and focused on what was needed in the real estate space. 

We've gone to market with a buy now pay later solution that allows any vendor across the country to immediately finance whatever marketing investment that they need to do. 

And with a better ability to time the repayment or the payment of that market as marketing funds closer to the actual settlement of the property they're looking to sell. So it is an extraordinary example of a FinTech solution, solving a real world challenge that any vendor in the country would face.

Dexter Cousins    

What would you say Jason are the benefits of a platform like Domain partnering with FinTech startups? Why not partner with a bank or an established financial institution.

Jason Pellegrino 

The Limepay journey was was really interesting. We obviously spoke to a range of banks and financial institutions, we spoke to a range of what I now call the traditional buy now pay later providers. 

The reason we chose Limepay is we needed a partner who shared our vision, we needed a partner who was willing to customise the solution and think through, not just the FinTech solution that was was going to be delivered, but what is the customer experience in this journey?

In the real estate listing process, that process is fundamentally different than walking into a retail store to buy clothing, for example, yeah, it is a single check that can be $5,000, $10,000 $15,000, it's a one off, usually a bundled cost for a range of services. 

If you think about the timing of those payments, it typically isn't a great consumer experience to actually split that settlement over a number of repayments, what you want to do is get it as close as possible to the settlement of the overall property itself and the exchange with you know, buying and selling and mortgages. 

And so that is a fundamentally different consumer experience to applying buy now pay later for clothing purchases, for example. We needed a partner that was willing to work with us on customising the solution for that basis. 

One of the other areas that was really simple, is agents don't want to be credit checkers. I don't want to be the loan broker in that process. We needed a solution that was deeply simple that was part of the agents workflow, was a solution that the agents can provide immediately to their vendors. 

But it didn't require enormous form, filling and credit checks and process or even time, They wanted to walk out of that living room with an authority signed to sell that property, they wanted to start working for that vendor straightaway. They wanted the actual funding of the marketing to be approved immediately. 

So when you put all that together, and then it's that customer experience with both the vendor and the agents, we had to find a partner that was willing to work with us and customise that. And, and that's really where Limepay shone out.

Dexter Cousins  

Great. Now, I'm actually going through the process of looking for a new house at the minute, and I'm using Domain a lot. 

And I gotta say I'm just overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that I need to do, from moving, to changing schools to all the other stuff. Where do you see the opportunities for Domain to further grow as you follow people through this whole cycle of their life and moving homes and buying homes and selling homes?

Jason Pellegrino  

Yeah, and Dexter, I think you've hit it on the head. I think for the vast majority of Australians, that process of buying or selling a property is one of the scariest things that we will ever do. 

And it's scary for a number of reasons. It's scary, because typically, we haven't done it before. Or maybe we haven't done it for the last decade. So the number of, for example, property investors they do it frequently, are quite a small proportion of overall transactions in the market. 

Most people you know, owner-occupiers on average, have never done the process before. They're either new home buyers, or first-time sellers, or they haven't done it for over a decade. 

So you're coming to this completely new. The second thing that drives it is typically the most important asset that you will ever own, the most valuable. The asset that's probably going to have the biggest bearing or impact on your life both now and into your future. So you add that together, it is scary. 

And so that fear really provides Domain with a deeply privileged opportunity to step in and provide a range of solutions that can help people like you through every step of the property journey. 

That is a great example of stepping away from a classifieds model to a marketplace model. We need to be stepping in and the opportunities to step in and prepare you for the process of buying rather than just waiting for you to get to a point of now I'm ready to search. Once you've actually searched, we can help you understand, you know, what's the best pathway to finding the right property?

 What's the best pathway to financing that property? How do you protect it? You know, how, what should you do at an auction? 

How do you engage with agents, a whole range of different processes, and then even post acquisition, when you turn move from an acquirer into an owner? How do we help you get the most out of that property journey. 

Whether that's protecting that asset, improving the value of that asset, understanding, you know, the whole range of opportunities that might be laid out in front of you. And so really, that's a great example of the property marketplace is a way of providing a range of solutions to consumers. 

But I come back to, we’re an industry and a set of problems where we have a deeply privileged position where we are helping consumers with one of the most important and one of the scariest processes that they'll ever go through in their life.

Dexter Cousins  

A bit off tangent, this one this question, Jason, but really interested to get your take. CDR is on the horizon, we're pushing with open banking right now. What kind of role do you see that playing in you being able to really give a seamless service and really help people like myself have a much better experience when they're going through that process of overhaul a new house.

Jason Pellegrino  

So I see that as belonging to a broader category of, you know, the next phase of evolution of what the internet can provide, you know, whether it's open data and banking, whether it's GDPR, intense privacy, regulations, a whole range of different things, essentially, the common goal is to provide individuals with much more control over the data that they actually have, and understand the value of the data they have as individuals. 

I think organisations that understand that their data is really just a collection of consumers data, that consumers have consented to provide them with for a period of time. So long as there is a value exchange in terms of ‘I will provide what is rightfully mine, in return for you to provide, you know, whether it's services, solution, suggestions, discounts’, whatever the value exchange is. Open data in banking is a great example in the FinTech space, in it provides an opportunity for so many buyers. FinTech will be at the spine of this provides so many opportunities for players to actually improve the services and the solutions that can provide to consumers. 

I think the organisations that look at open data have a way of improving what they can provide, rather than an opportunity to win market share by replicating what someone else can provide. Are their organisation's, are the solutions, are the startups, or incumbent businesses that will actually thrive through what I think is the next phase of evolution of the internet, which is the empowerment of individuals in their understanding and control of their own data.

Dexter Cousins 

And what we're going to take a short break now, Jason, but when we come back, our would love to have a chat with you about your views on leadership culture, particularly around scaling tech businesses. So here's a big plug for my business. If you prescribe to the belief that every tech business is a FinTech, and maybe this is the opportunity you've been looking for. We're looking for employee number one on the p&l for a fin tech platform, joint venture. As a general manager, you get to work with fellow entrepreneurs from some of the world's most successful tech companies. Get the thrill of a startup without worrying about the two biggest challenges facing a startup capital and distribution. If you're an entrepreneur with experience in e-commerce, buy now pay later, or payments, check out my LinkedIn page for further details. 

Dexter Cousins 

As I mentioned in the intro, you spent a fair time at Google, you’ve got a great background in scaling tech businesses, we have a lot of founders who listened to the show. And I was really keen to get you know, your experiences and insights on how you go about building the right culture and creating the right culture for scaling tech business.

Jason Pellegrino  

I'm still in the early phases of my learning journey, in that process, but it's a learning journey that I'm just deeply passionate about. I love learning about scaling businesses, in unlocking technology and the benefits that technology has for organisations. It's a deep passion of mine, it's why I get out of bed and why I get into work, because I just find it personally so satisfying.  It is insane, what my work or my learnings can actually unlock for an organisation. 

I’ve definitely had a wonderful time at Domain over the last two and a half years. Because, really, if I was to strip it all back, I think that I have challenged the organisation at Domain to be very clear about what it is. Is it a business that is a media business focused on classifieds and the selling of ads? Or is it a business that is at its core, using technology in a range of platforms to help Australians and inspire confidence all of life's property decisions? 

I had a clear vision that it was definitely the latter. But in this day and age, directive, top-down, type A leadership just doesn't get organisations to line up at pace, and at the scale that you need to do it, to actually accept that process and line up behind a leader.

I've learned at my time at Google, I've learned every day at my time at Domain about the importance of vision about the importance of people about the importance of empowerment, and accountability. I think all those aspects is so critical to not just actually defining a strategy because anyone can do that. But getting an organisation a broad set of people, a broad church to actually line up behind a vision and all be contributing positively. 

I think that and I've said this, you know, internally at Domain, I've actually said it externally is. It's not that three years ago, we didn't have incredibly talented people who were, let me use the phrase, we're on the bike pedalling hard. But we had a lot of amazing people on a lot of amazing bikes, all pedalling very hard, but all in different directions. And I use the analogy of talking to people about there is a fundamental difference between speed and velocity. It runs pedalling very quickly, and is optimising for speed. And the difference between speed and velocity is, velocity is pedalling really quickly, but in the right direction. 

So how do we line up all of those bikes? How do we make sure that people are on the bikes yes they are pedalling hard, they're pedalling hard for a common good in the right direction. And that can't be done through directive control, that can't be done through PowerPoint presentations, that can't be done through, even a sort of a military-style, issuing a set of directions. 

What needs to be done is first and foremost is making sure that you have the right people on the bus, you've got people who are lined up and the capabilities and have the right set of values to deliver against that. And then you've got to empower people to spread the word across the organisation and live to those values. And be willing to actually sort of step forward and want to 

follow you as a leader. So that's been my journey over the last 10 to 15 years.

Dexter Cousins  

You know, what I love about what you've said there is that you know, the identity of the business I think is critical if you want to lead some form of transformation or evolution. So many businesses and people within the business identify with the operating model, rather than why the customer comes to the business and uses the service and product. And I think when you kind of identify yourself with why the customer comes to you, the transformation becomes a lot easier, because then people, as you say, kind of built the division, rather than what the operating model is, and the identity that you have that. You were a classified business, you know, we're not in the home loan, you know, or in the business of helping people move.

Jason Pellegrino 

The way I reflect that texture in just slightly different words is, yeah, as a classifieds business, you look at the way that you want your customers to interact with you. So I am less worried about what my customers are doing, what buyers and sellers are doing, what agents are doing, I'm more worried about how do I actually make you as a buyer, come to my site and watch a property at all, I make you as an agent, or a vendor, or at least your property with me. And that enabled me to sell at? 

I think that's a fundamentally different reason from where we are, which is, let's focus on inspiring, pro inspiring confidence in all of us property decisions, which means, what are the solutions? What are the pain points that we're trying to solve? And that's why we've seen sort of a birth of you know, FinTech through the main difference in terms of, well, actually, a number of the pain points have nothing to do with property ads or property listings, they actually have to do with financing property or transacting property or the cash flow, the differences in actually moving through a property transaction. 

That's why you start redefining our purposes, we don't need to see things through the lens of property listings ad of classifieds model only, we need to say three through the lens of we are a solution provider, the customers who and consumers whether they be buyers, sellers, renters, landlords, agents, anyone in that journey, who's actually having a property journey with a challenge that they're facing, and it provides us with a much broader range of opportunities to actually help them through that journey. And to be fair, I'll be really honest, it's a lot more fun than selling ads.

Dexter Cousins  

Yeah, absolutely. What kind of people have you found have been successful with you on this journey?

Jason Pellegrino   

It's a really interesting question, Dexter. And it's a question I asked myself often. And the reason I ask myself that often is, it is really difficult to answer. Because it is not a category of experience, it is not a category of, you know, age, or race or background or industries that you've worked in. And so I think one of the most interesting learning experiences that I've had in my career has definitely been the lie that Google has worked on recruiting. And I'll give you an example. You know, Google started off being an incredibly metric driven business in the recruiting space, and everything had to be schooled. And that's great. And there's a downside to that, in that you are directed in areas really quickly, that may or may not make sense. But there's an upside, because you can use the data to actually improve the process. Google has published a lot of this.

Dexter Cousins 

So it's actually been a big influence on, you know, some of the elements that we use in our process as well.

Jason Pellegrino 

So you know, one of my biggest learnings of that process of, of the five attributes that Google use, is to actually recruit people. One of them is role related knowledge. And it's essentially: have you done the role before, the data shows that that is the least important of all the five attributes on success subsequently, in a row at Google. And that lives with me to this day, the people who are the most successful in working with me, and the people that I've seen most successful, and not the people who've done the job before. 

I look for the black sheep, to be honest, I look for the people who are or who have shown or managed to do something extraordinary in their life. And that may not be in their same age that you don't have to come from a real estate background or technology background and having done something extraordinary and that's it, you know, it helps, it's great. 

You know, some of the people have done extraordinary things in sports, you know Olympians or science. Some of the people have done extraordinary things in community service. It is also one of my favourite interview questions, tell me something that you've done in the last two to three years that you're most proud of. I think that that really calibrates right up front, what the definition of the bars of proud are. 

I'm much more open to getting into what makes a person tick rather than have they done this role before, have they got the experience set  because if we get the right people whose values line up the way they look at things, line up the way we look at things, that they're able to, you know, live to Domains values. So let grow/repeat, for example is one of our values. And that is really about having the ambition to take a leap, knowing that if we land that leap will celebrate. If we fall, we'll pick ourselves up, we'll learn, but we're ready to leap again. 

And so how do I find people through a recruiting process who will live and breathe that value through the organisation because they are the people that will overwhelmingly contribute to the achievement of our mission, you champion your goals, and they are the people that will overwhelmingly inspire others through the organisation to achieve great things.

Dexter Cousins  

What's your secret to not only kind of helping people evolve in the business, but retaining great talent? What are some of the things that domain does?

Jason Pellegrino

It's very, very interesting. So we have a number of different backgrounds, technical backgrounds, we have obviously, a significant product and technology team,  we have fantastic finance teams, human resources, sales, business development, all of these, I think that there's a couple of things that ultimately it comes down to, firstly, people want to work with people. And so focusing on an organisation where the values of how people operate are more important than the outcomes. 

So we've really brought into performance management, the way we think about the business and the way we promote people, the way we hire people, the way we reward and recognise people that the ‘How’ is as important as the ‘What’. You know, I think if you're, in a sport parlance, you would say sports teams around the world, some successful ones would phrase it in a, pardon the French, but ‘no dickheads policy’, but you know, in a business, having a group of people who do the right thing and achieve great things, but in a way that is great, is critically important. 

The second thing is it's about an organisation where there is clear empowerment, but also clear accountability. I see empowerment and accountability as both sides of the same coin. Empowerment by itself without accountability is not a positive outcome for business. Accountability without empowerment in the same way. 

If you actually empower people, but hold them accountable for the delivery against the decisions made, during that empowerment, then that creates a fantastic opportunity for people to really scale and deliver, and really bring them their talents to work and see them through. 

The final thing I would say is I think that, again, I've had the privilege, and particularly at Domain, of seeing how a broad set of ideas work. So, you know, words like inclusion and diversity, and all these sort of elements can be slides in an ESG pack that goes to an investor committee, or it can be sort of a mantra about people work through. 

t if you actually really do focus on those within an organisation, you get to a place where you live and breathe diversity and inclusion, you get to this wonderful situation where ideas not only come from anyway, but ideas can be accepted and can be celebrated from anywhere and that is a fantastic thing. And I think that's the thing that actually attracts people to an organisation and actually provides great retention capabilities because they want to stay there working in that environment.

Dexter Cousins 

That piece on accountability really resonates with me. And the reason being is that when we've done research on FinTech, those moving from corporate environments, into a startup, nine out of 10 have failed. And the key reason for that has been accountability or lack of. It's amazing that you've pointed that out. And I’ve never ever contemplated the other piece of empowerment, and how that an accountability or kind of symbiotic with each other.

Jason Pellegrino   

Same so  I see the same side of the same coin, but I completely agree with you. I see that and, you know, every time I see large organisations on peoples CV’s is one of the things that I talk through, you know, in an interview process, really to explore that accountability factor. 

But I would go back to the other area, which is an area that your business is deeply involved in is one of the biggest barriers for a fantastic founder in their ability to scale a business is to understand the other side of that coin, which is ‘how do I move on from being the heart of this organisation, the decision-maker of this organisation that holds all of the strings and has brought this business from a thought bubble into something that is exciting, and is scaling quickly. 

Often what you find is the inability for those founders to step to the next phase of the journey into the scale-up phase of the journey. Because the skill sets are different, What's made you successful in the past is not what is not what's going to make you successful going forward, your ability to actually empower others to make decisions, to actually focus on making sure that they're accountable. 

That's where I think a lot of organisations, a lot of founders really get into a challenging transition from being the person on the bike that's pedalling the hardest and making amazing things happening, to being a person who says, look, it doesn't matter how hard I pedal on that bike, I need to figure out the ways that I can be successful in attracting other people to come and join me on the bike to attract to align them up so that they're pointing in the right direction, that they're pedalling hard, because they are excited by the vision and that they're actually making decisions themselves and creating a system that is going to be successful, rather than just an individual, it's going to be successful.

Dexter Cousins  

Yeah, absolutely. And it's, I think it's where we see, you know, so many startups when they hit scale up, as they get stuck in this sticky mess. And, you know, they never come out of it, because of the planning that needed to happen prior to the scaling part. And so many times we've seen the right person hired, but just at the wrong time for the business. So complex, it really is, there's almost like this kind of urban myth of hiring, and people should be simple. And it's possibly the most complex part of growing a business.

Jason Pellegrino  

It is the single biggest point of leverage that you will ever have. As a founder, as a manager, as a leader, is the arbitrage on talent is taking someone who has done x, bringing them into an organisation empowering them and holding them accountable. And then they can deliver 10 x. And that arbitrage is the single biggest driver of success in any organisation that I've worked with.

Dexter Cousins  

Please listen to this advice and guidance. Jason, we're kind of coming into to wrap up. But before we close up, I've got to ask this question, because it's one that's been asked within the industry for about the last three, four years. And I couldn't think of anybody better qualified, who's been on the show to answer it. Big tech, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, all day going to basically decimate banks.

Jason Pellegrino  

It's a very interesting question and I have a scenario where the answer is yes. And I have a scenario where the answer is no, actually, I don't think the difference between these scenarios is the intentions, the strategies, the execution of the big tech, I think the fundamental difference between those scenarios is the intentions, the strategy and the execution of existing finance players. I don't see the disruption of the finance industry is playing out any different than any other industry that's been disrupted. 

The heritage of Domain and even our major shareholder, and we come from the media industry, where disruption has been a factor of life for the better part of the decades, you know, we talked about intimate disruption, but, you know, largely the transition from radio to TV, the impact on film, you know, and then from print to digital has been extraordinary. 

don't think the traditional financial services players are somehow immune from the challenges of disruption way that disruption is driven by a single-minded focus on delivering a better solution and a better set of experiences for consumers. And so, if traditional finance organisations are not willing to challenge their operating model, challenge every part that has built up their success over the last decades, and really look at what needs to be done to provide magical experiences to their consumers in whatever process they're going through, then absolutely someone else will step in and provide that solution.

I think that's an amazing thing for consumers. So I'm not against that as to whether that's big tech or whether that's, you know, the rise of fintechs. I don't know. But I actually think that the difference between that pathway and that pathway is largely how traditional financial services organisations, the larger ones that sit there and play out the next five to 10 years. And I think the future is in their hands. The future is not in the hands of big tech, or the range of other providers, but they will be providing the alternate pathway. 

If a lot of traditional financial services organisations are not willing and willing to step up, face the facts, look at the data and transform the way that they deal with their customers and solve their solutions.

Dexter Cousins  

Fascinating. I've really enjoyed this chap, Jason. But before we say bye, what is the future hold for Domain.

Jason Pellegrino   

So we were on an ongoing journey in this evolution to a marketplace, that means that we will be looking at all forms of solutions that can provide people with a better experience through their property journey throughout their life. And that might be Yes, buying and selling a property or renting and leasing property. 

But that could also be through the ownership journey that could be through the rental journey. That could be through the investment journey. And so what you'll see from Domain is an evolution of different services. 

A tight focus on our customers, our users, whether they are buyers and sellers, but you know, typically the broadest segment of Australians that are out there, or whether that's in the database sector, with agents or banks or mortgage brokers. 

So what you'll see is, you know, the pace and a desire and an ambition to provide magical experiences that solve problems for anyone who's in that property journey.

Dexter Cousins   

Well, complex to see all of us, I guess I haven't in front of us. And it that's the amazing thing that's happening right now is

Jason Pellegrino   

that it is and I think we're I'm incredibly grateful to be in such a privileged position to be able to actually help and provide solutions in an area that is just so important to Australia.

Dexter Cousins    

Absolutely. Well, it's been great having you on the show. Jason, thanks so much for joining me. Where can people find out more about Domain?

Jason Pellegrino

Thanks, teachers. It's been great to chat. Actually, it's sort of I really enjoy doing this because it actually triggers thoughts and views in my mind. So I'll sort of walk away from this. And actually, just, I've got a to-do list of things that I have to make sure that I can actually live up to some of the things that I've actually said. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I can be contacted through LinkedIn, on Twitter, that was a double l ers, you'll be able to also reach me through someone that you know that domain or through the tech and product community as well.

Dexter Cousins  

And you can find me Dexter cousins on LinkedIn, or follow the Tier One People, Team pay. Thanks for listening. And if you liked today's show, please subscribe to the podcast. And don't forget to leave us a review because it really helps me bring on great guests like Jays. This show is produced by Tier One People, Team Peters and FinTech executive. So we'll help you launch scale and innovate by delivering world-class talent. And you can reach us at info at Tier One People, Team calm. Until the next episode. Stay safe.