Industry dynamos, Ralph McLaughlin and Dong Xiang, join proptech startup as company grows user base
MENLO PARK, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kukun, the leading proptech platform and originator of property data, home valuations, and homeowner investment solutions, announced today the addition of two housing industry veterans to its leadership team. Ralph McLaughlin has been named Chief Economist and Dong Xiang has been named Vice President of Data Science at Kukun. These two powerhouse real estate industry innovators will set Kukun apart in the industry. Known for their ability to analyze data, create innovative metrics, and communicate the latest trends in residential real estate, the pair will offer unique and applicable insight for Kukun users.
McLaughlin comes with a long history of leadership positions at Trulia, which was later acquired by Zillow, and also at CoreLogic and Haus. At each of these companies, he served as a public-facing economist responsible for research and thought leadership. Frequently quoted by the news media, McLaughlin is a respected voice in the real estate industry with hundreds of thousands of followers across multiple social media channels. At Kukun, McLaughlin is responsible for research and development of economic tools to improve the investing experience for platform users.
“I am excited to leverage the vast amount of data available at Kukun,” McLaughlin said. “The data assets Kukun brings to the real estate market is unrivaled, and offers the ability to generate accurate estimates of property condition at scale. This allows homebuyers, sellers, appraisers, and other industry players to more rapidly and efficiently evaluate the idiosyncrasies of every home in the U.S., regardless of when it was last sold or appraised. With this, Kukun has the tools to transform the real estate transaction process and to democratize these solutions for the industry.”
Xiang worked previously at Amazon, where he served as Tech Lead for Machine Learning. There, he created a groundbreaking personalized curriculum system for employees, using an algorithm that accounts for learning history and existing skill sets to create a personalized course of instruction. Prior to that, Xiang was Principal Data Scientist at Zillow, where he was responsible for creating the first three generations of the Zestimates algorithm. At Kukun, Xiang has oversight of its proprietary property data and is charged with leading data science operations to improve data quality, strategy and real estate insights to enhance the company’s deep knowledge of individual property characteristics.
“The real estate market is evolving and data is the most essential differentiator, more important now than ever before,” Xiang said. “At Kukun, we have unique data to provide valuable insight and can unlock investment opportunities in a competitive real estate market.”
By bringing on experts like McLaughlin and Xiang, Kukun is taking active steps to revolutionize real estate analytics by producing advanced solutions for long-standing industry bottlenecks at scale. With Kukun, homeowners, investors, buyers, financiers, and appraisers are able to make the most informed decisions for the best possible outcomes.
About Kukun:
Kukun is a proptech company featuring the most accurate residential property database of current condition, enabling Kukun to create superior real estate investment guidance and more accurate home valuations. Kukun’s analytics power products for both the largest institutional real estate investors, as well as consumers, which are available direct and via white labeling. Today, Kukun is the leading real estate-focused consumer web products provider for large enterprises, with customers like Keller Williams, Chase, USBank, SoFi, PNC Bank, and Discover. The consumer product suite features a) the industry-leading renovation cost estimator including renovation ROI, b) a complete home management and investment optimization product called iHomeManager, c) a homebuyers report called the iHomeReport, and d) a contractor sourcing product with proprietary unbiased reliability rankings. Visit www.mykukun.com to learn more.
Contacts
Alyson Austin
[email protected]
(949) 403-0484
