Ten Questions with Healy Hynes: CEO & Founder of Beagel

Last week we asked ten questions of Matt Cahill and Nick Sertis of Signifi Media, the company behind the digital media problem-solving product Loopaautomate. This week we are asking ten questions to get to know another innovative proptech company: Ireland based Beagel, which uses technology to power property transactions.

What is the problem that Beagel solves?

The process of buying and selling property is the most stressful experience of most peoples’ lives. Beagel brings trust through transparency to this experience by powering digital real estate sales. Thousands of homebuyers trust Beagel’s software to make offers, examine legal documents and complete sales any time, from any device.

What is Beagel’s USP?

Beagel is the engine behind digital real estate sales. Beagel is not an estate agent. We support agents by giving them the tools and information they need, when they need them, to sell property faster.

What is Beagel’s biggest challenge?

Real estate is a highly competitive sector. As it deals in low volume, high-cost transactions, stakeholders are defensive and risk-averse. The biggest challenge is reassuring stakeholders that we are here to assist not replace them. The adoption of digital transactions in the property sector is akin to the adoption of the tractor to farming. Some stakeholders think they’re the horse when they’re actually the farmer.
 

How many employees does Beagel have?

We have five employees based here in Ireland.

How has Covid-19 changed the landscape for Beagel?

Covid has been of immense benefit to Beagel. Survey after survey now shows that stakeholders are more open to adopting technology,  They have realised that tools exist to make their lives better. It has also accelerated the development of our product.

What is one thing our readers might not know about but would probably find interesting about your field?

Estate agents are the ‘canary in the coal mine’ of the national economy. For example, when the banking crisis hit in 2008, agents knew it was coming 12 months earlier. If you want to know what’s going to happen, ask an estate agent.

How long has Beagel been involved with Property Portal Watch and why did you decide to get involved?

I got involved with PPW in 2019. The Startup Pitch competition was the incentive. The experience there was nothing short of transformational.

What is Beagel currently working on?

We are currently working on expanding our Enterprise client base.

What is your most common request from clients?

We’re commonly asked by clients to add features to our product. “Wouldn’t it be great if…”. We’ve been asked more than once, for example, to set up a portal. We regularly say no to these requests. We firmly believe that Beagel forms part of a greater ecosystem that is the entire customer journey. From identifying a house to getting keys. We believe that the best customer experience can be delivered by working with ‘best in class’ companies all along this process.  No one provider can master the transaction for every agent, everywhere, from one end to another. However, by working well with others we can ensure that our clients can have the right mix for them. 

How do you see the market evolving and what will you be doing to be ahead of the curve?

The market is increasingly going online. There is now no doubt that digital transactions are no longer the future, they’re the present. What nobody knows however is what a future experience looks like; not even us. Will it be mobile, smart assistant, or some great leap nobody has yet thought of? The Beagel seed was sown in my mind 20 years ago, the fruit of that seed is designed to operate in the market yet to come.