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The Root of a Lead: Seth Goldstein and Lew Ranieri have teamed up to create a marketplace where leads can be traded efficiently.

Article Excerpt
For many mortgage originators, the purchasing of leads is a cornerstone of their business. These lists feed their direct marketing machines with names by the hundreds. Yet if a mere handful of names converts to an application, the buyer considers it a successful purchase. But there have been issues surrounding lead purchases for years. This includes the accuracy of the data and the cost per lead.

Seth Goldstein saw an opportunity in the lack of efficiency in the lead marketplace. So, together with Lewis Ranieri, the person credited with the invention of the mortgage-backed security, he has created Root Markets, a financial exchange for the selling and buying of Internet-generated leads.

In a statement issued when the creation of Root was first announced late last year, Mr. Ranieri said, "Root Markets is the first exchange to marry Wall Street and Madison Avenue.

"By creating a more efficient Internet lead generation marketplace with transparent pricing and explicit consumer permission, Root Markets has an opportunity similar to that which I saw on Wall Street more than 20 years ago in the mortgage market prior to securitization."

Mr. Goldstein has been an entrepreneur on several fronts, including creating one of the first Internet advertising firms.

"As I looked back at Internet advertising and where it was, I said, 'Wow, this is broken.' Cost per click and search is great but there is more and more consumer data being generated on the Internet and people and companies need to learn how to live with it.

"We all have responsibility to create new kinds of trust...