New Startup MIPARO Takes on Property Portals Around the World with Unusual Management System

MIPARO, a residential real estate home listing portal for emerging markets is challenging listing platforms around the world with an unorthodox management structure, one few employ. The entire senior management team resides on four different continents, and works remotely via Skype and Google. Many have never met each other in-person, yet the working dynamics of the group has helped MIPARO rapidly grow. In just 6-months, they have a presence in 74 countries. They are the largest listing portal in Bangladesh, and the second largest in the Philippines.

It’s not just the global nature of MIPARO’s business that was the catalyst behind its unique management structure. Many multi-national companies adhere traditional organizational structures. It was Mikael Westoo, a Swedish entrepreneur, founder and CEO of MIPARO who believed he could build a better management team by tapping the growing legions of professionals who work remotely and connect with employers globally via collaborative freelance work platforms such as the San Francisco-based Upwork.

According to Westoo, “Not only could I find experienced and highly skilled management talent on Upwork, it provided me with the flexibility to quickly adapt the company’s size as  we roll out in multiple countries across the world. Upwork also reduced MIPARO’s overhead costs because wage is lower in many countries as compared to those in Europe and the U.S.” He concluded, “…and I don’t have to pay rent for brick and mortar offices because my entire team works remotely.”  

Senior Executives Are Scattered Across the Globe

MIPARO’s senior executives are scattered across the global; Westoo lives in Sweden, the COO is in Thailand, the CTO operates from India, the head of digital marketing lives in Brazil and the person who heads up global PR lives just outside New York City.

“We sometimes have meetings where one person has just finish dinner while another is just about to sit down to breakfast’ said Peter Diurson, the company’s COO who is a Swedish national living and working in Thailand. “As crazy as that sounds, it works really well. We get more done, in few hours than most companies do in days. And we don’t have a lot of time wasting meetings either. The only thing we are missing is a water cooler to hang around and share company gossip.”

The Growth of the Remote Workplace

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, workers doing their jobs remotely – telecommuting, working somewhere other than in an office – has increased by 115% since 2005. Almost 3% of the U.S. workforce, or 3.7 million workers, currently work full-time remotely. According to The Atlantic, a news and literary magazine, 34 million Americans work from home occasionally. That’s over three-times the population of Sweden who work remotely.

About Miparo

Founded in 2016 in Sweden, MIPARO provides real estate agents and brokers in developing markets with a global platform to showcase their client’s homes, providing unparalleled international exposure. Home buyers can easily find properties in the respective markets because MIPARO consolidates many of them on a single platform.

As done in Europe, MIPARO charges agents a small fee to post their properties on their platform. North American listing portals don’t charge agents to post their listings; instead they charge individual agents to advertise their services.

Listings are then easily uploaded to MIPARO’s website for millions of international and local home buyers to see. All listings are translated into the target audience’s own language for no extra charge.

MIPARO will mediate conversations between buyers and sellers if they don’t speak the same language. Importantly, MIPARO requires a rigorous two-step verification process to make sure listings are real so buyers don’t fall victim to thieves and scam artists who populate many home search platforms abroad.