Austin, Texas is a city that’s known for live music, tech innovation, and a culture that celebrates individuality, creativity, and community. People who work in Austin thrive on creative energy, and the idea that remarkable things happen when people come together– and it’s that collaborative spirit that shows up every day inside Realtor.com’s Austin headquarters.
More than a core company value posted on the wall, RealCollaboration happens everywhere in our Austin office – over lunch, during quick brainstorms in the hall, or at cross-functional strategy sessions. It’s woven into how teams connect, innovate, and move the business forward.
We recently spoke with two team members in the Austin office about what RealCollaboration looks like in action.
Living RealCollaboration Day-to-Day
In Austin, RealCollaboration helps teams move faster. While every team owns their separate deliverables and responsibilities, they depend on each other to bring products to market.
For Harlee Schneider, Voice Intelligence Manager, RealCollaboration is intentional. “RealCollaboration has become a new state of mind for me since it was first introduced,” she said. “Now, one of the first questions I ask myself when partnering with a stakeholder is, ‘What does good collaboration look like here?’”
According to Harlee, intentional alignment is a prerequisite for high-speed execution. “Since everyone has a different style, it can be really helpful to start off a new relationship by establishing goals and talking through communication styles,” she said.
A recent partnership with a colleague on the Go-To-Market team is a great example. Tasked with developing a new approach to enhance Gemini utilization within the organization, the two aligned quickly.
“Within the first few minutes of our meeting, we had aligned on several clear goals, and from there, we trusted one another to take ownership of areas we were each suited to own,” Harlee said. “By the end of that first meeting, we had a full project roadmap with detailed deliverables, which each of us was able to execute in less than a week.”
For Kuber Singh, Senior Staff Software Engineer, RealCollaboration enhances the quality of the work his team produces. “RealCollaboration with other engineering and product partners allowed us to swiftly launch a validated, high-quality integration in partnership with OpenAI,” he said. “This wouldn’t have been possible without the immense collaboration virtually and in-person at our Austin office.”
Bringing the RealCollaboration Energy
Many people in the Austin office radiate positive, collaborative energy – and it’s contagious. Harlee calls them “energizers.”
“We are all passionate, driven individuals looking for ways to elevate what we bring to the business,” she said. “Energizers take this a step further by sharing ideas, looking for creative ways to collaborate, and asking where they can help ‘clear the path.”
Harlee recently experienced this firsthand during an informal conversation. “Within about five minutes, I had obtained incredibly clear, constructive feedback that helped me see an opportunity I didn’t previously understand,” she said. “Now, my team and I are collaborating with Sales leadership to redesign a program in a way that better supports the Performance Measures of teams handling renewals.”
Others bring energy to the office with approachable personalities – and connections with them become the foundation for better teamwork. “My director holds monthly team lunches to support cross-organization inclusion and better collaboration,” Kuber said. “All the conversations that happen in the office every day not only energize me but make the workplace more enjoyable.”
RealCollaboration Across Locations
While the energy of the Austin office is a primary driver, our collaborative spirit bridges distances as well, aligning local expertise with teammates across the country. “As much as we love connecting in person, we’re no strangers to looking up time zones!” Harlee said.
Staying connected means being intentional about how and when teams come together, ensuring the right level of connectivity based on the task and scope. That often means holding regular events to connect in person alongside consistent virtual meetings.
Kuber noted that while digital tools keep the business moving, the in-person environment in Austin provides a unique “fast-track” for deeper alignment. Meeting in shared spaces for team lunches and all-hands events allow people to mix across organizational boundaries and build the relationships that sustain work across distances.
“These sessions help us see the bigger picture – where we’re headed as a growing business and how various people and teams, regardless of where they’re located, are contributing to get us there,” he said.
Working Smarter, Winning Together
Strong relationships make it easier to navigate challenges. Building deep interpersonal connections has helped Harlee iterate with leadership across CX and Sales more efficiently.
“Knowing how one another operates and communicates makes meetings more enjoyable, reduces friction, and allows us to iterate much more quickly,” Harlee said.
Kuber added that less time is spent clarifying misunderstandings. “We have more time to ensure changes don’t disrupt the teams working upstream or downstream,” he said.
“The more time that I spend with a stakeholder, the more I’m able to anticipate what they’re thinking or how they may respond to a recommendation,” Harlee added. “When both parties can understand and communicate with one another at this level, everybody wins.”
Ultimately, we aren’t just collaborating for efficiency – we’re working together to solve the thorny challenges of the housing market and fulfill our purposeful vision of helping more Americans find their way home. Interested in living our value of RealCollaboration in Austin? Join us and build a way home for everyone.
