Three years ago, even after Zillow acquired Trulia and cemented its hold on the industry, the doubters and haters dug in, second-guessing the portal’s business model, blowing smoke about it not making money and persistently questioning the true intentions of the company. The peak of this Zillow arc was an amateur “Stop Zillow” movement (and a dubious crowdfunding campaign launched earlier this year). Today, their rants seem empty. Zillow has a market cap of $7.5 billion, the company makes its premier agents millions of dollars a year in commission income, and it has become the door through which most home shoppers enter. Critics of Compass, the NYC-based brokerage, are suddenly sounding shallow as well. Last week, the company raised a staggering $450 million from Softbank, one of the brightest, well-capitalized tech investors in the world. My question to the naysayers: Do you really not get that this is a legitimate and distinctively unique business? With a tried-and-tes…
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