2016 Women in Real Estate: Caren Maio

Name: Caren Maio Title: CEO & Co-Founder Company Name: Nestio Email: [email protected] Years in real estate: 5.5 years Telephone: 908-675-3716 How did you get your start in real estate? I was always enamored with the industry and my co-founder and I started building products in the vertical nearly 5.5 years ago. What real estate associations or organizations are you a member of? I am a mentor for Metaprop (a RE technology accelerator), and my company belongs to various MLS associations (e.g. The Real Estate Board of NY, Chicago MLS, Boson MLS) and we recently joined the Chicagoland Apartment Association. What recent project or transaction are you most proud of? We pivoted the business over 2.5 years ago, which was a near death experience, and with our revised direction, have managed to transform the way billions of dollars of real estate are managed and communicated each day. Today, we employ over 40 people, have raised nearly $12 million in venture capital, and our software is being utilized by multifamily landlords and brokers throughout the country. While we still have a lot more to do, I am so proud of what we’ve built at Nestio to date and I’m beyond excited for what’s to come. What time management strategies do you find to be the most effective for you? Thanks to a couple of my mentors, I’ve learned not be so hard on myself and understand that focus often means saying no to many things, and yes to very few. Effective prioritizing is a huge part of my job these days. It’s impossible to do it all and when you’re spread too thin, it can often feel as if you’re spinning your wheels. The hardest, but most valuable, strategy for me was to accept that in order to be effective I would have to focus. This also means letting other items go, even just temporarily. By working through a couple of items at a time and seeing those through to completion, it enabled me to actually get more done, work faster, and ultimately become more effective. What was a significant milestone or achievement for your company? Our value system as a company is rooted in self-empowerment, education, and self-awareness. I believe an individual is at their best when they continue to grow and learn, and it’s important to me that we deploy these principles in the day-to-day. A company is only as successful as the people in it, so as the CEO, I decided to award every employee a dedicated amount of money each year, an educational stipend to spend on whatever class, or activity, they choose – to learn something new and hopefully surprise themselves. I’m grateful and thrilled that we are in a business to launch programs like this that allow us to invest in others and help them better themselves.