How Galleon Built a World-Class Remote Team Without the Premium Price Tag
Sagan
INTRODUCTION
Amanda Orson is building Galleon, a real estate platform designed to blow up the traditional commission model. Instead of homeowners paying $25,000+ to sell their house, Galleon's Navigator software lets them do it themselves for $899.
It's a classic disruptive play: take advantage of lower transaction costs that incumbents won't pass along to consumers, build a more efficient operating model, and scale fast.
But to pull that off, Galleon needed to move quickly. They needed AI engineers to build their multi-agent platform. Operations specialists to optimize workflows. Technical talent who could execute without the overhead of traditional Silicon Valley salaries.
Traditional hiring methods were too slow and too expensive. Recruiting agencies wanted $8,000 per hire. Local tech talent in major markets commanded six-figure salaries. The math didn't work for a lean startup trying to disrupt a 112-year-old industry.
That's when Amanda found Sagan.
THE PROBLEM
FAST GROWTH, EXPENSIVE TALENT
Galleon had product-market fit. They had a clear vision. What they didn't have was time to waste on slow hiring cycles or budget to burn on inflated salaries.
The challenges were straightforward:
Speed: Hiring high-quality talent quickly to match product development timelines
Cost: Keeping operations lean while competing against well-funded incumbents
Quality: Finding technical and operational talent who could execute in a remote-first environment
"We knew we could build a world-class real estate platform," Amanda said. "But to do that, we needed a high-performance team without the excessive costs of traditional hiring."
Traditional recruiters were expensive and slow. Posting jobs and hoping for the right candidate felt like gambling. And paying Silicon Valley salaries for remote workers who lived in lower-cost markets made zero sense.
Galleon needed a hiring partner who understood their urgency and could deliver quality talent at a price that didn't kill their runway.
The Solution
SAGAN'S VETTED GLOBAL TALENT NETWORK
Through Sagan Passport, Galleon built a fully operational remote team in weeks, not months.
Here's what that looked like:
Pre-Vetted Global Talent Instead of sorting through hundreds of resumes and conducting first-round screens, Galleon got access to pre-vetted candidates with the technical, operational, and strategic expertise they needed. Sagan's network cut weeks off the sourcing and screening process.
Reduced Hiring Costs Galleon filled critical roles with top-tier global professionals at 60% lower cost than traditional US hiring. No inflated recruiting fees. No overpaying for talent based on zip code.
Accelerated Time to Hire Sagan's process meant Galleon could onboard new team members in days instead of months. When you're building a product that's racing against competitors and market timing, speed matters.
Focus on Product, Not Hiring Logistics By offloading the hiring process to Sagan, Amanda and her team could focus on what actually moved the business forward: building their AI-powered platform, refining their product, and growing their user base.
"Sagan helped us find the right people, fast," Amanda said. "Instead of wasting months on hiring, we were able to build a top-tier team and focus on revolutionizing real estate."
THE RESULTS
LEAN TEAM, FAST EXECUTION
Since partnering with Sagan, Galleon has scaled rapidly while maintaining a capital-efficient operation.
The Impact:
Built a Fully Operational Remote Team Galleon hired and onboarded multiple high-performing team members across operations, engineering, and product in record time. No long hiring cycles. No wasted months searching for the right fit.
Saved 60%+ on Hiring Costs Compared to traditional US salaries and recruiting fees, Galleon cut their hiring costs by more than half. That capital went back into product development and growth initiatives instead of inflated overhead.
Accelerated Product Development With the right people in place, Galleon shipped their Navigator platform faster. Their multi-agent AI system got built. Their transaction workflows got optimized. The team could focus on innovation instead of firefighting staffing gaps.
Enhanced Operational Efficiency New hires didn't just fill seats. They improved processes, automated workflows, and elevated the customer experience. Galleon went from scrappy startup to a professional operation without losing speed.
WHY SAGAN WORKED FOR GALLEON
For startups like Galleon, traditional hiring is a trap. It's slow, expensive, and filled with inefficiencies that kill momentum.
Sagan gave Galleon three things they couldn't get anywhere else:
Speed Faster hiring cycles meant Galleon stayed ahead of competitors. When you're disrupting an industry, timing matters. Sagan cut months off their hiring timeline.
Quality Pre-vetted professionals with the right skills and mindset. No gambling on resumes. No wasting time on candidates who looked good on paper but couldn't execute.
Cost Efficiency 50-70% savings compared to traditional hiring. That's not just margin improvement. That's the difference between running out of runway and having the capital to scale.
Scalability A global talent pipeline for future growth. As Galleon expands, they don't have to rebuild their hiring process from scratch. They have a partner who understands their needs and can deliver.
THE LESSON
YOUR OPEX IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY
Amanda talks about a concept she calls "your OPEX is my opportunity." It's the AI-era version of Bezos's "your margin is my opportunity."
Incumbents in real estate are bloated with overhead. They have massive teams. Expensive office leases. Legacy systems that require armies of people to maintain.
Galleon doesn't have that baggage. They built a lean, remote-first operation from day one. They used global talent to keep costs down without sacrificing quality.
And that's their competitive edge.
"If you come from the recruitment industry, you are implicitly disincentivized from seeing global talent as an opportunity," Amanda said. "But if you're an outsider and you just look at basic economics and basic human capabilities, it would be very ignorant to not acknowledge this is an opportunity."
That same principle applies to startups across every industry. The companies that figure out how to operate more efficiently, whether through AI, global talent, or better processes, are the ones that win.
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