How Did I Get Here?

Spencer Rascoff

Chief executive officer and board member, Zillow Group
  • Education
  • Harvard-Westlake School, Studio City, Calif., class of 1993
  • Harvard College, class of 1997
  • Work Experience
  • 1997–99
    Investment banker, Goldman Sachs Group
  • 1999–2000
    Private equity investor, Texas Pacific Group
  • 1999–2003
    Co-founder, Hotwire.com
  • 2003–05
    Vice president for lodging, Expedia
  • 2005–10
    Chief marketing officer, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, Zillow Group
  • 2010–Present
    CEO, board member, Zillow Group
  • 2015
    Co-author, Grand Central Publishing
  • Life Lessons
  • “Surround yourself with people smarter and better than you.”
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  • “When assessing whether you’re in the right company, look at the compensation, work-life balance, and job description of people 10 years senior.”
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  • “Have someone close enough to tell you things that you’re too close to see. Mine is my wife.”
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  • In New York at age 5, 1980
  • “My dad was a business manager and tour producer for rock groups: the Rolling Stones, U2, David Bowie, Pink Floyd.”
  • “The conveyor belt from the Ivy Leagues to Wall Street is frictionless, and the siren song of Wall Street is strong.”
  • “9/11 set us back financially and emotionally: We had tens of thousands of customers stranded around the country, and we’d sold tickets to the hijackers. It cast a sense of guilt and trepidation over the company.”
  • Almost a dozen Expedia executives came over to Zillow
  • “We were surprised by how little innovation there was in real estate. It was hard to find listings online, and data was wrapped up in courthouses.”
  • Rascoff interviewing President Obama in 2014
  • “Overachiever. Editor of high school newspaper. Student body president. Nerd and athlete.”
  • “TPG controlled a few U.S. airlines and Ryanair in Europe.”
  • “Hotwire recovered, and we sold to Expedia for $680 million, which was then the largest all-cash purchase of an Internet company.”
  • “The plan all along was that when the company got on a path toward self-sustainability and an IPO, I’d be the CEO. I’ve been groomed.”
  • “I co-wrote Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate. Most axioms are not supported by data, like that you should buy the worst house on the best street—that’s a terrible idea.”
  • Early Zillow, Seattle, 2005