Michael Kiel 🛥🌎

After 6 years at Shopify, I’m joining @Opendoor as CEO. Here is why: It is incredibly important that we use all of our energy and every modern tool at our disposal to build products that make home ownership easier. We must make the process of buying and selling a home less frictionful so more people do it. Home ownership isn’t just about a house. It’s about families and communities. The West has been built on the idea that ordinary people can stake a claim in their society, put down roots, and build a future. Renters move. Owners stay. That matters. Studies show homeowners vote more, volunteer more, and are more likely to invest in their communities. It’s not sentiment—it’s data. Homeowners report higher life satisfaction and health outcomes. They have higher trust in our institutions and stronger families. Ownership builds generational stability. Societies with broad-based property ownership are stronger. Alexis de Tocqueville saw it in America 200 years ago. Nothing has changed. Communities full of home owners are better communities. When people own, they maintain. Crime rates fall when ownership rises. Why? Because people guard what’s theirs. They police and take care of their neighborhoods, not out of fear, but pride. Ownership ties individuals to the fate of the community. Home ownership is about putting down roots. And these roots tie us together and make our world better. That is why the work to be done at Opendoor is so incredibly important. And that is why I believe we can build not just a successful company, but a generational company—one that empowers the promise of the West to be unlocked in the ways it was always intended. Today, Opendoor is the largest digital platform for residential real estate transactions, making it possible to buy, sell, and move at the tap of a button. We are 1% done along this journey! My experience at Shopify showed me what happens when you build a platform that unleashes innovation at scale. Shopify gave millions of entrepreneurs the tools to change their lives, their families, and their communities. That platform mindset is what I hope to bring to Opendoor—to build a platform for homeownership, one that unlocks opportunity for millions of families and strengthens the fabric of society. And that is why I am so incredibly proud that I get to support this team in our mission to use every tool at our disposal to make selling, buying, and owning a home easier. AI gives us the chance to accelerate this work in ways never before thought possible. From simplifying the process of buying and selling, to unlocking personalized pathways to ownership, AI can help millions of families access homes more efficiently, more affordably, and more transparently than ever before. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redefine what’s possible in real estate.

From @zoom_earth #Milton satellite imagery & #radar as he moves into the picture see the heavy RAIN & severe weather far in advance of the core of the hurricane. Be Safe.