Eazi.com co-founder plans to relocate to US following Pam Golding deal [Updated]

Cape Town entrepreneur Shaun Minnie won’t say how much he sold his property marketplace Eazi.com to Pam Golding for, but has revealed that he will relocate to the US.

Minnie (pictured above) told Ventureburn from the US in an email today that his move was for business reasons — to take advantage of what he called “really interesting things” happening in US real estate.

“I think they are on the cusp of a wave of change, so I just wanted to get here and see who I could have conversations with, and if I get to connect the dots, and have some luck, hopefully identify opportunity,” he added.

The deal will see Eazi.com continue to be managed and branded separately from Pam Golding Properties

In an email yesterday (16 August) he said he would remain “actively involved” with Eazi.com for six months and then on a consultancy basis for a further six months.

It comes after the Pam Golding Property Group earlier this week revealed it had acquired the property platform, which Minnie started in 2016 with Grant Leigh.

Minnie, who said the deal was concluded last month, added that Leigh and 12 other employees of the startup will be staying on.

He said while he and Leigh had considered “a few funding options” before signing the deal with Pam Golding, they went with the property company as it “felt right”.

“I have known Andrew (Golding – head of Pam Golding) and have worked with the Pam Golding Group for some time. I have long been impressed by his vision for the future.

“Over some initial discussions we started seeing unique opportunities that working together could create. Ultimately this deal offered the business much more than funding, and felt right,” commented Minnie.

Eazi.com enables consumers to buy and sell residential property for a fixed fee of R29 500 plus VAT which is only payable on sale of the property. Minnie said development of the platform started in early 2016.

“In January 2017 we started testing three models before confirming product market fit about eight months later. We launched the current model in September last year,” he explained.

‘Broaden access to markets’

In a statement on its website on Tuesday (16 August) Pam Golding’s group’s chief executive Andrew Golding said the deal would broaden the group’s access to the SA and African residential property sector — by enabling the agency to take an interest in the high-volume segment of the market.

Eazi.com is currently focused on the Cape Town Metropole and Golding said it will continue to be managed and branded separately from Pam Golding Properties.

However, he said, given the international trends in real estate Pam Golding is confident that the two models will co-exist successfully and enable the property company to expand to offer the full Pam Golding Property group locally, nationally and globally.

Featured image: Shaun Minnie via Facebook

Editor’s note (17 August 2018): This article was subsequently updated with Eazi.com co-founder Shaun Minnie’s comment to explain that his move to the US was motivated by business reasons.