Seth Siegler

An executive or analyst at eXp Realty detailing the company's citizen developer strategy and its impact.

Claims

As speaker

Mentioned in

Key positions and views

Empowering non-technical subject matter experts to build their own software results in solutions that are superior to generic SaaS products for their specific needs.

No-code/low-code platforms have fundamentally inverted the 'build versus buy' calculation, making it more strategic and cost-effective to build most internal tools rather than purchase them.

A successful citizen developer program can yield massive, quantifiable returns, including millions in cost savings and dramatic improvements in key metrics like Net Promoter Score.

The quality of code generated by advanced no-code platforms can be on par with, or even exceed, the quality of code produced by professional in-house developers.

Direct, hands-on involvement from senior leadership, including the CEO, is a critical catalyst for driving the adoption of a company-wide citizen development culture.

Podcast consensus on Siegler

Points of consensus

▶Seth Siegler consistently argues that empowering non-technical employees to build software with platforms like Lovable leads to superior, more customized solutions than off-the-shelf SaaS products.Apr 2026

▶Multiple claims emphasize that this citizen developer approach has yielded significant, measurable business results for eXp Realty, including millions in SaaS savings and a dramatic increase in international Net Promoter Scores (NPS).

▶Siegler highlights that strong, top-down leadership, exemplified by CEO Glenn Sanford personally discovering the platform and building applications, was crucial for the program's successful adoption and cultural shift.Apr 2026

▶The narrative repeatedly points to a fundamental shift in strategy, where the 'build versus buy' calculation has been inverted, with eXp Realty now defaulting to building internal tools rather than purchasing external SaaS solutions.Apr 2026

Points of debate

▶Siegler presents a potential tension by stating eXp Realty employs a 200-person engineering group while simultaneously claiming that code generated by the Lovable platform for non-technical users often exceeds the quality of their in-house developers' code.Apr 2026

▶There is an implicit contrast between the company's past state, where low NPS scores were frequently attributed to poor agent-facing software, and the current state, where internally-built software is credited with raising NPS from the 20s to the 80s.Apr 2026

▶Siegler describes a system where non-technical builders are responsible for the full lifecycle of their applications, which contrasts with traditional software development models that separate development from maintenance and operations.Apr 2026

▶The profile highlights both a highly structured incentive and review process (including code reviews and GitHub integration) and a culture of rapid, almost emergency-level development, such as rebuilding a country's entire website overnight.Apr 2026

Key themes

▶Citizen Development as a Core Business StrategyApr 2026

Siegler details how eXp Realty has institutionalized software development by non-technical employees, moving it from a niche activity to a central part of its operations. This is supported by a formal team of 'vibe coders' recruited from frontline roles, incentive programs rewarding problem-solving, and hundreds of staff actively building applications.

This strategy suggests a move to decentralize IT functions, potentially reducing reliance on traditional engineering teams for business-specific applications and increasing the speed of innovation at the departmental level.

▶Inverting the 'Build vs. Buy' ParadigmApr 2026

According to Siegler, the availability of powerful no-code platforms has completely upended eXp Realty's software procurement strategy. The company has saved millions on SaaS subscriptions and now expects to buy very little third-party software, preferring to build customized internal solutions for everything from communication platforms to financial forecasting tools.

Investors should note this as a significant operational efficiency and a potential long-term competitive advantage, reducing vendor dependency and creating highly tailored workflows that are difficult for competitors to replicate.

▶Leadership-Driven Technological TransformationApr 2026

Siegler emphasizes the critical role of eXp Realty's CEO, Glenn Sanford, in this transformation. Sanford not only discovered the Lovable platform but also personally used it to build the initial 70% of a major internal application, signaling a deep, top-down commitment to the citizen developer model.

This level of executive involvement is a key indicator of a successful digital transformation initiative, as it overcomes cultural inertia and demonstrates the strategic importance of the new technology to the entire organization.

▶Quantifiable Impact on Business MetricsApr 2026

The narrative is grounded in specific, dramatic business outcomes. Siegler cites the increase of non-North American NPS from the 20s to the 80s after deploying custom software and the emergency overnight rebuild of the Peru launch website as proof of the model's effectiveness and agility.

For analysts, these metrics provide tangible evidence that the no-code/low-code strategy is not just a cost-saving measure but a driver of customer/agent satisfaction and operational resilience.

Source episodes

Timeline

Initial State

eXp Realty experiences low Net Promoter Scores (NPS), which are frequently attributed to the quality of the software provided to its agents.

Discovery Phase

CEO Glenn Sanford, seeking more user-friendly tools for non-technical staff, discovers the Lovable platform.

Early Adoption

Employees who were early adopters of custom GPTs become the first to embrace building full-stack software on the new platform.

Crisis & Proof Point

After a vendor fails to deliver, the marketing team uses Lovable to rebuild the entire website for the company's Peru launch overnight, proving the platform's speed and capability.

Scaling & Institutionalization

Following the Peru success, eXp replaces all country websites, launches an incentive program, and sees hundreds of non-technical staff begin building software, leading to a dramatic increase in international NPS.

Strategic Shift

eXp Realty fully inverts its 'build vs. buy' approach, planning to decommission Slack and expand its use of Lovable for high-stakes applications in accounting and finance, expecting to buy very little SaaS in the future.

Suggested prompts

How does eXp Realty manage the long-term maintenance, security, and technical debt of applications built by a distributed, non-technical workforce? &nearr;What are the second-order effects of inverting the 'build vs. buy' decision on the roles, responsibilities, and morale of eXp's traditional 200-person engineering department? &nearr;To what extent is the success of eXp's citizen developer program attributable to the Lovable platform itself versus the company's unique culture and direct CEO involvement? &nearr;What specific governance and review processes were implemented to ensure the quality, compliance, and reliability of high-stakes applications built for functions like accounting and financial forecasting? &nearr;

Key concepts

Lovable Platform 1 ep eXp Realty 1 ep Citizen Development 1 ep SaaS Replacement 1 ep Net Promoter Score (NPS) 1 ep Build vs. Buy 1 ep Internal Tools 1 ep Glenn Sanford 1 ep No-Code/Low-Code 1 ep

Notable quotes

“the build versus buy conversation is completely upside down from where it was for us. There's very very little SAS that you know that we'll be buying”

Seth Siegler · Fireside Chat with Lovable

“the international our non-North America operations... That NPS went through the roof that was in the 20s and it went into the 80s because we're able to build such customized software for them.”

Seth Siegler · Fireside Chat with Lovable

“he you know built the first 70 percent himself this is the ceo”

Seth Siegler · Fireside Chat with Lovable

“We've saved in the millions of dollars in SaaS because of things that we've ended up building.”

Seth Siegler · Fireside Chat with Lovable

Report last updated: Apr 21, 2026

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