TheMReport

TH E M R EP O RT | 21 FEATURE EXECUTIVE PROFILE: JEREMY SICKLICK AN ANALYST AT HEART T wo themes drive what Jeremy Sicklick is trying to accomplish with HouseCanary: data is central to consistently making bet- ter decisions, and you can make better decisions more quickly. Making data-driven decisions specifically in the real estate industry was something that Sicklick saw first-hand while growing up, when his parents worked as single- family landlords. "I grew up around real estate, buying, and selling, and renting out homes," Sicklick said. "My father started with one rental home, and bought another, bought another, ended up with ten or more in Southern California, and built a nice side business off of it. As part of that, I sort of just watched him over time, how he managed that as a business, and managed that as a way to create wealth." An affinity for data and analytics drove Sicklick to earn a BS in Accounting (with the highest honors) from the University of Southern California. After working as a CPA with Arthur Andersen, he went back to college, earning an MBA from the Wharton School. From there, Sicklick began working in New York in Finance, and then moved on to become a partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group. There, Sicklick worked in strategic advi- sory across a number of industries, including insurance, industrials and consumer. It took the housing market crash of 2008 for Sicklick to get involved in the real estate business. "For a long time, I had been a consumer products and retail person, and I got into real estate after the Lehman bust. A lot of investors were looking at buying real estate, and trying to make decisions on all of the inventory that was out there. So we started working for a number of the private equity firms and home builders to go around and buy real estate," he said. Sicklick realized that real estate was one of the largest industries in the United States, it had just crashed, and that limited data was available to investors that would encourage sound decision making. Over time, he would come to lead real estate at Boston Consulting Group and eventually form HouseCanary. Acording to the CEO, HouseCanary is all about giving the inves- tors a leg up on the competition. "When you can make these better, faster decisions, they drive competitive advantage, and that's really what we're trying to do," Sicklick said.

• Cover