It’s rare when a business in a tech-laggard industry like real estate creates its own custom software for internal use.

And then spins it out to create a new software company that sells this solution to their peer competitors.

And then grows up to $50 million in revenue with steady growth and a big market opportunity.

But it happens. Apparently. Like York Baur, CEO of MoxiWorks, describes on this week’s Practical Founders podcast episode.

York wasn’t the founder and creator MoxiWorks. He’s an experienced tech business leader who was hired on as CEO in 2012 when Windermere Real Estate spun out Moxiworks as an independent company.

Their new combination of tech business savvy and lots of real estate industry knowledge helped them overcome the big challenges that stalled their competitors.

Ten years later, MoxiWorks is a leading platform system for large residential real estate brokerages, serving over 800 brokerages and 400,000 agents with $50 million in revenue and 300 employees.

And they aren’t slowing down.

About half of all the 6000 software companies I track on my Gregslist website are industry-focused.

Most of these companies were started by industry veterans who built new software companies with solutions tailored just for their industries.

Spinouts of internal software solutions aren’t common or easy. But they are totally possible.

York shares the inside story of the improbable and practical MoxiWorks journey on the Practical Founders podcast this week.

Check it the interview with York Bauer on the Practical Founders Podcast.

#practicalfounders