About MIKE

Mike S. Shapiro is an entrepreneur, investor, corporate coach, speaker ForbesBook author, and Forbes Podcast host whose risk-inclined and results-oriented methods help individuals and organizations leverage insights for stellar results, including building his multi-billion-dollar business. He is also a co-founder and managing director with Plunk,  a Seattle-based  fintech/proptech startup. 

Mike’s system is based on skills he developed as a market maker and trader with the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. There, he learned the value of paying attention to what’s in front of us – “reading the tape” – and how to use information to predict behaviors, leverage opportunities and achieve game-changing results and lifelong satisfaction. 

It’s the same method he used when he purchased a nearly bankrupt real estate firm in coastal Orange County, California during the 2008 “Great Recession” and that he sold 10 years later to create the world’s second-largest Sotheby’s International Realty brokerage, with  1,200 agents and annual sales exceeding $7 billion. He’s also used this system to coach 1,000+ real estate agents to greater success, including many who now rank among the “Top 20” agents in the U.S.

Mike – who describes himself as “cold and calculating as a trader and as empathetic as a golden retriever, which is why I have a 50% approval rating” – approaches life and work with a commitment to joy: the joy he finds in helping others and the joy they experience when they realize that success is achievable.

He’s a frequent speaker at conferences and universities, a featured guest on television news shows and podcasts, and a sought-after expert on real estate and investing for local and national business publications. His perspectives on real estate and equity markets are available via his weekly blog (mikesshapiro.com) and soon, his podcast will launch on ForbesRadio.