The Propcast: Recent Episodes

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In the final episode of season 12 of The Propcast, Louisa is joined by Jeffrey Berman, General Partner at Camber Creek, where they discuss how to set yourself on a path for the potential to create venture return, Camber Creek’s investment thesis, portfolio, their approach to investment and JB’s predictions for 2024.

Jeffrey dives into the importance of a ‘less is more approach’ when it comes to investment, and how Camber Creek’s investment strategy is based around a ‘need to have’, rather than a ‘nice to have’ method, providing examples like Flex and Built whose products provide solutions to the challenges that tenants and landlords are facing in the US.

Tune in to this episode to hear more about what 2024 has in store for the real estate technology space, as well as what JB’s ‘walking out’ song would be if he were to headline Coachella…

Companies mentioned

Flex

Notarize

Bilt

Measurabl

Placemakr

Pet Screening

VTS

Curbio

Arcadia

Jones

Bowery

Shoutouts

Michael Beckerman

Casey Berman

Shragie Lichtenstein

YeTong Shao

Matt Ellis

Episode Highlights

We invest in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building companies that are changing how we interact with the built world – Jeffrey

The way we always thought about fund size was we looked backwards. Not forwards. – Jeffrey

We have this massive group of strategic limited partners, over 300 around the globe, whose reading points become the foundation layer of ‘these are the types of companies we need to look at’ – Jeffrey

Key Takeaways

How Camber Creek has created its investment theses from an initial investment hypothesis, and how they continue to utilise that to invest in the best companies within the real estate technology sphere.

The two main questions that sparked Camber Creek’s investment thesis idea

Camber Creek’s different funds, including its opportunity fund

Jeffrey shares with us a bit more about some of their fastest growing companies, like Flex and the mission behind it

The massive opportunity set for climate tech and carbon tech

About our guests

Jeffrey Berman

Jeffrey Berman is a General Partner at Camber Creek. Jeffrey participates in all aspects of Camber Creek’s operations and portfolio management and serves on the boards of numerous Camber Creek portfolio companies. He has more than two decades of executive management experience and deeply rooted relationships in the startup, real estate, and venture capital ecosystems. Prior to Camber Creek, he was a Principal at one of the Washington, DC area’s largest privately held real estate development and management companies. Jeffrey has also been an active early-stage investor, backing more than three dozen startups, including Jackpocket, Kindbody, and Rappi.

Camber Creek

Camber Creek is a venture capital firm providing strategic value and capital to operating technology companies focused on the real estate market. Camber Creek contributes in a direct and significant way to the success of its portfolio companies by leveraging the real estate expertise, operating experience and portfolio of assets of its partners, investors, and advisors. Our investment team has investing, operating, and technology experience and expertise across a range of real estate businesses, including construction, property management, development, and leasing. Our investors own, operate and manage billions of square feet of real estate in the U.S., giving us a unique competitive advantage as an investor and value-added partner in the real estate technology space. The firm has ~$1bln AUM.

About Our Host 

Louisa Dickins 

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA. 

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation. 

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In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by John Rogers, Chief Innovation Officer for CoreLogic and Kirby Brendsel, Flagstar Bank’s VP, Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Director, where they discuss all things climate and housing affordability, and the solutions that are out there to help solve the issues!

John and Kirby explained the importance of providing data and analytics around climate risk to allow companies to measure the financial impact of climate change up to the year 2050, thus helping companies, cities, and governments to put in place mitigation plans.  

Tune into this episode to hear more about how climate solutions can help with mitigation, housing affordability and insurance, and how our guest’s collaboration create a rising tide that lifts all ships.

Companies mentioned

New York Communities Corp Inc

IBM

Deloitte

LMRE’S 2023 Salary Report

IPCC

Episode Highlights

My big advice for anyone would be that if you're passionate; follow your passion, go for the things that you want to do, or things that you can make a difference on, even on a small scale related to sustainability. – Kirby

We provided something called ‘climate risk analytics’ which is an insight that allows companies to measure model and mitigate the financial impact of climate change – John

It’s all about using data, improving your data, and capturing your data to make sound strategic decisions that helps you drive things forward – Kirby

The chef scientist of NASA said to us that he’d never expected to get to this level of granularity in his lifetime – John

Key Takeaways

How Flagstar and CoreLogic are working together to help address the issue of climate change and housing affordability

John explains the ‘average annual loss’ which CoreLogic provides that is a ratio of a building’s risk in terms of reconstruction costs, allowing companies to understand their financial risk

Kirby explains how important the use of data is in making strategic decisions around climate and sustainability

The opportunity in cities that have a high climate risk to use CoreLogic’s analytics platform

The guests discuss the importance of educating people on the long term impact of climate change

John discusses how the needs of CoreLogic’s customers change and how they accommodate for this

About our guests

John Rogers 

John Rogers holds the role of Chief Innovation Officer for CoreLogic and is responsible for the R&D. From driving new solutions that understand the impacts to the real estate economy due to climate change, to ground-breaking models that identify suitable land for affordable housing development, the R&D group tackles major housing issues and works with many clients across the housing industry to drive growth and mitigate risk on their book of business.   

Prior to joining CoreLogic, John was a Partner with IBM Global Business Services where he focused on the delivery of large multi-million transformational programs for the financial sector both in the United Kingdom and Australia. Prior to this, John worked as a consultant for Itim Consulting, a boutique management firm based in London. John’s primary role was as a program manager on a number of assignments delivering global solutions within retail, pharmaceuticals, logistics and information services industries. 

John earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Glasgow, United Kingdom in Aerospace Engineering. 

Company Summary: CoreLogic 

CoreLogic is a leading provider of property insights and innovative solutions, working to transform the property industry by putting people first. Using its network, scale, connectivity and technology, CoreLogic delivers faster, smarter, more human-centered experiences, that build better relationships, strengthen businesses, and create a more resilient societ y. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com. 

Kirby Brendsel 

Kirby Brendsel is Flagstar Bank’s VP, Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Director, where he leads Flagstar's strategic sustainability and initiatives and the company's goal to be a recognized global sustainability leader.  He is coming from Welltower Inc.’s (a real estate investment trust) where he headed their award-winning strategic sustainability and ESG initiatives.  Prior to joining Welltower in 2019, Mr. Brendsel worked at Nuveen as a Director of Responsible Investing.  Before Nuveen, he served as Associate Director of Sustainability for Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide, where he supported the strategy, integration and management of Starwood’s sustainability program and worked collaboratively with the community programs/Starwood Foundation team on CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategy and reporting.  Previously, Mr. Brendsel consulted for Deloitte where he assisted in the creation of Deloitte’s Federal Sustainability practice and Diversity & Inclusion program.  Mr. Brendsel’s other past roles include active-duty service as a Military Intelligence Corps Major in the U.S. Army.  

Mr. Brendsel graduated with distinction and honors from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. in Business and the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University with an M.B.A. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED Green Associate (GA), and Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt.  Mr. Brendsel was recently recognized as an Honoree for 2020 by Environment + Energy Leader’s annual "best of" list of environment and energy professionals - the E+E 100.    

Mr. Brendsel is active in his local community, where he has served on the Board of Directors of the Aspetuck Land Trust and Lachat Town Farm Commission as well as on the Town of Weston’s Sustainability Committee, Historical Society, and Conservation and Parks & Recreation Commissions.   

Company Summary: Flagstar 

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Flagstar Bank, N.A., one of the largest regional banks in the country. The Company is headquartered in Hicksville, New York with regional headquarters in Troy, Michigan. At June 30, 2023, the Company had $118.8 billion of assets, $84.9 billion of loans, deposits of $88.5 billion, and total stockholders' equity of $11.1 billion.  

Flagstar Bank, N.A. operates 436 branches, including strong footholds in the Northeast and Midwest and exposure to high growth markets in the Southeast and West Coast. Flagstar Mortgage operates nationally through a wholesale network of approximately 3,000 third-party mortgage originators. In addition, the Bank has 132 private banking teams located in over 10 cities in the metropolitan New York City region and on the West Coast, which serve the needs of high-net worth individuals and their businesses. 

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. has market-leading positions in several national businesses, including multi-family lending, mortgage origination and servicing, and warehouse lending. The Company is the 2nd largest multi-family portfolio lender in the country and the leading multi-family portfolio lender in the New York City market area, where it specializes in rent-regulated, non-luxury apartment buildings. Flagstar Mortgage is the 8th largest bank originator of residential mortgages for the 12-months ending June 30, 2023, while we are the industry's 5th largest sub-servicer of mortgage loans nationwide, servicing 1.6 million accounts with $426 billion in unpaid principal balances. Additionally, the Company is the 2nd largest mortgage warehouse lender nationally based on total commitments.

About Our Host  

Louisa Dickins  

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.    

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.  

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In this week’s episode of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Emanuel Heisenberg, CEO and Founder of EcoWorks, and Mauricio Weiss, GP and Founding Partner of Zacua Ventures where they discuss all things renovation, regulation and innovation.

With 40% of emissions being used on buildings and 20% on materials, the guests delve into the short- and long-term costs of going carbon neutral and whether it is a realistic goal with today’s current economic climate. The guests discuss how an increase in sustainability pressure, paired with geopolitical instability and labour scarcity are a handful of the challenges that accompany reaching net zero targets.

Emanuel shares how the EcoWork’s product can help tackle key issues around scarcity of labour and materials from factories, whilst Mauricio discusses the trends he has seen with his portfolio companies in terms of increasing their sales.

Companies mentioned

MIPIM

JLL Spark

Shoutouts

Vivin Hegde

Arnaud Bouzinac

Robert Habeck

Josh Levy, Document Crunch

Previous episodes mentioned

The evolution of global construction technologies

Episode Highlights

Regulation is actually pushing for a lot of technology adoption in terms of higher requirements, and these requirements just make the processes much more complex, right? - Mauricio

So they really tackle the 80 percent renewable energy goal for 2030 and they really decarbonize the heating system with good and aggressive regulations. - Emanuel

The construction sector invests 1 percent in R&D and the housing sector 0.1%. So, they will not bring any transformation towards affordability and decarbonization. - Emanuel

You do need regulators – to start pointing the marketing to the right direction, but you also want to keep competitiveness and ensure a free environment and a secure environment to make investments and to see the return of these investments. - Mauricio

Investors and a lot of stakeholders are questioning whether this is the right moment to be investing in technologies or an economic turn that will potentially slow down the piece of adoption for technology - Mauricio

Previous episodes mentioned

The Evolution Of Global Construction Technologies

Key Takeaways

• The use of circular building materials in helping companies reach net zero targets
• The need for common standards across Europe, as well as the challenges that this would bring due to difference in buildings and needs for each country
• The need for regulators to be very close to investors in sharing short term and long-term goals of decarbonisation and technology adoption
• How to position certain aspects of ESG to pitch to create sustainable competitive advantage for that company without changing the core of your business
• Emmanuel shares some advice about the German market for founders looking to expand
• The lack of construction companies in Germany

About our guests

Emanuel Heisenberg

Emanuel Heisenberg studied history and economics in Munich and Cambridge. He has over 15 years of experience in setting up and developing companies for renewable energies and ESCO and has contributed to more than 50 energy projects. His international network includes numerous funds, utility companies, IPPs, entrepreneurs, and research institutions. After founding a contracting and geothermal energy company, he established ecoworks in 2019, introducing the concept of serial renovation to Germany. An initial pilot project in Hameln proved challenging but was also a significant success. The renovated buildings there have demonstrably achieved NetZero levels. In addition to his role as CEO and founder, he is also active as a speaker and expert in energy and climate policy, advising the German federal government, companies, and private equity funds in the fields of heating and energy efficiency. In 2020, together with journalist Georg Diez, he co-wrote a book on the significance of technology in reinventing democracy (Power To The People: How We Reinvent Democracy with Technology).

Ecoworks

ecoworks develops end-to-end software and prefabricated elements to turn apartment buildings with significant renovation backlog into attractive and climate-neutral living spaces in just a few weeks. In this way, the company is making a significant contribution to rapidly reducing emissions in the building sector and the dependence on fossil fuels. ecoworks is an innovation leader in a market that will unleash enormous investment volumes in the wake of national and European legislative initiatives and rising energy and CO2 prices. Around 45 million residential units in Europe are located in buildings with the worst energy ratings. In addition to regulation, these will be particularly burdened by high CO2 prices, which will become mandatory for the building sector soon. Comparable regulations are already planned or in effect in parts of the US and Asia.

The Berlin-based company developed the technology in Germany and is currently bringing it to the mass market with several projects. The company is considered one of the most innovative providers of Climate Tech in the building sector worldwide.

Mauricio Weiss

Mauricio is GP and Founding Partner of Zacua Ventures, a global Venture Capital fund focused in the construction industry. Mauricio works closely with entrepreneurs in the industry to support the adoption of new technologies and improve productivity and sustainability on construction projects. His background working in a large construction company first and at the CVC of Cemex later taught him what is needed for a successful implementation of technology and the right approach for startups engaging large corporates.

Zacua Ventures

Zacua Ventures is an early stage fund focused on the Built Environment. With three GPs based in San Francisco, Madrid and Singapore, the fund has a global focus and each of the founders come with a proven track record, having led 30+ investments in the corporate funds in Cemex Ventures and HILTI.

The fund has raise over $55m USD, to invest in Pre-Seed to Series A startups that focus on 3 main areas in the construction industry: Sustainability, Enhanced Productivity & Safety and Urbanization Solutions.

About Our Host  

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.  

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.  

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In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Arie Barendrecht, Founder & CEO at WiredScore, Bayron Lopez Pineda, Director of Operational Technology at Kilroy Realty Corporation and Richard Paine, Head of Development in Singapore at Lendlease.

The guests help unravel the macro and micro trends, as well as the challenges that the industry is seeing in selecting and implementing technology. This episode provides a global view of PropTech from various perspectives, providing valuable insight into the opportunities as well as challenges that the industry currently faces.

Arie discusses some of the successes as well as mistakes he made whilst expanding across 30 countries, Bayron explores the impact the pandemic had on the use of technology within buildings, and Richard dives into his role at Lendlease and what he has seen on the development side of the industry.

Episode Highlights

• The importance of getting employees back to the office and how this can be done effectively
• The differences in markets based on geography
• The reasons why Europe is ahead of other regions in its adoption of technology

• The challenges in innovation and adoption of technology in the US versus the Asia-Pacific region

• Cybersecurity and the financial implications of data breaches

Key Takeaways

Our purpose is to be able to lease space out and do that effectively by providing our tenantes the best quality of technology we have available, but also the best experience - Bayron

We’re looking to the future to make sure that we’re relevant, not just today, but 10 years from now. And that’s in our DNA – Arie

The pandemic put us in a space where a lot of people went back and looked at the technology to try and figure out what is really needed – Bayron

You have to think a lot in the future, and you have to predict where you think the future is going with technology - Richard

About our guests

Arie Barendrecht

Arie is the founder and CEO of WiredScore, the pioneer behind the international WiredScore certification system that evaluates and distinguishes best-in-class Internet connectivity in commercial buildings. Prior to founding WiredScore, Arie worked as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in New York City where he focused on the technology and media industries. Arie holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA and BS in Business and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

WiredScore

At WiredScore, our mission is to make the world's buildings smarter and better connected. We believe everyone should be empowered by technology, wherever they are.

At WiredScore, our mission is to make the world's buildings smarter and better connected. A champion of cutting-edge technology in real estate, WiredScore defines and certifies digital connectivity and smart technology in homes and offices on a global scale, ensuring that buildings provide the best-in-class infrastructure that businesses and individuals require to thrive.

Bayron Pineda

Bayron Lopez Pineda is the Director of Operational Technology at Kilroy Realty responsible for managing and innovating smart buildings systems. He helps determine policies and processes from security, maintenance, and growth to increase building efficiency and tenant experience. He has over a decade in the Commercial Real Estate sector and is a Founding Fellow of the Control Systems Cyber Security Association International. He is also a Graduate Student at Georgetown University, School of Continuing Studies pursuing a Masters in Technology Management.

Kilroy Realty Corporation

With over 14 million square feet in our portfolio spanning five distinct regions, we have built deep experience within vibrant commercial real estate markets.

We put our experience to service a range of dynamic industries over an ever-evolving business landscape. Our primary goal is to provide premium, adaptable, and productive work environments for a wide range of industries, including technology, media, life science, entertainment, and professional services.

We create dynamic work environments that support our clients’ businesses, with standards that include indoor and outdoor common spaces, flexible floor plates and adaptable office plans, and of course, state-of-the-art infrastructure and amenities. Our approach is centered around our clients’ successes, and we focus on the features that increase productivity and employee retention.

Richard Paine

Richard has worked in the property industry for over 36 years and across multiple property sectors, geographies and in multiple functional roles. Richard has had leadership positions in Construction, Property Development and in Property Operation and Funds management.

Richard currently leads the Lendlease development business in Singapore overseeing $5bn worth of property developments. He is passionate about creating globally significant assets and specifically about sustainability, placemaking, health & wellbeing, digitisation and moving the industry forward.

Lendlease

Lendlease is a globally integrated real estate group with operations in Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States.

Lendlease is renowned for world class developments and creating places where communities thrive.

Lendlease is a developer, an investment manager, and a builder. The combination of these three segments provides it with a sustainable competitive advantage in delivering innovative integrated solutions for our customers.

About Our Host  

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.  

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.  

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In this bonus episode of the Propcast, Tabitha is at Blueprint in Las Vegas, where she is joined by Julieta Moradei, Managing Partner and Founder at Overlay Capital, where they explore why the construction space has been slow to adopt technology, the startups that are leading the way in digitalisation, and Julieta dives into the Women in Construction Tech community.

Women in Construction Tech is dedicated to empowering female founders, investors, and adopters to help create opportunities, and develop relationships for women driving innovation in the construction industry. Julieta explains some of the DEI trends she predicts to take full flow in the next 18 months and how she hopes to see more and more women coming into the construction space.

Companies mentioned

• Y Combinator
• McKinsey
• Autodesk
• BuiltWorlds
• Blueprint

Shoutouts

Antonia Soler

Episode Highlights

• Julieta talks us through her journey into the construction space

• They discuss why the construction industry is so under-digitalised compared to that of other sectors.

• The lack of adoption of technology past Series B

• Julieta’s experience in the VC space
• The ‘missing middle’ that is the biggest barrier to technology adoption in construction
• The Women in ConTech platform and their mission

Key Takeaways

• That's when I realized that in order for you to actually be able to adopt technology in the space, you need to have a catalytic pilot project – Julieta
• It's one of the largest markets in the world in terms of its value, yet least digitized. – Julieta
• But I think what's going to be even more interesting is solutions that are integrating together and bringing a lot of these point solutions together – Julieta

About our guest

Julieta Moradei

Julieta is the Managing Partner of the recently launched Overlay Capital Build. Overlay Build is part of the asset manager, Overlay Capital. Overlay Build is a consultancy working to accelerate adoption of critical digital transformation technologies in the built environment by connecting innovative technologies with adopters. We specialize in advising technology adopters with significant real estate holdings like multinational corporates, contractors and real estate developers in need of innovative digital technology solutions. We can help you identify solutions that can address their project needs, develop adoption and implementation strategies at an organizational and project level, and track financial and impact ROI of technologies.

Julieta is a structural engineer and architect, turned social entrepreneur, and venture capitalist investing in early-stage startups mitigating the biggest barriers in the built environment. Her unique path from technical design to VC, has led her to hyperfocus on innovation in the construction industry, and empowering entrepreneurs through catalytic partnerships for the past decade.

Her career path ranges from technical engineering to venture capital: from structural engineering at Disney and Arup, to creating an R&D team to mitigate the biggest barriers in the housing crisis, to then launching and managing a venture capital firm investing in construction technology. As a founding member and former Partner of Hometeam Ventures, Julieta launched, fundraised, and managed operations of the venture fund investing in early-stage start-ups bringing breakthrough technology to the world's largest - but least innovative - industries: construction and housing. This was a spin-off from New Story Homes (YCombinator) where she kickstarted and led as Head of R&D. New Story Homes built over 3,000 homes across Latin America, and in 2018, invested in ICON and built the world's first 3D printed housing technology; in 2022, ICON raised its Series B with a $2B valuation and has partnerships with NASA, HUD, etc.

Her passion is to pursue impact-driven projects through innovation and entrepreneurship to digitize the built environment. She has an M.S. in structural engineering from UC Berkeley, a bachelor’s in structural engineering and architecture, and a research assistant in Boston, Berkeley, and Switzerland. Her academic and industry research in AEC is focused on circular economy, virtual reality, automated drone inspection, resiliency, and sustainability. Julieta is passionate about bridging the gap between architecture, engineering, and construction through collaborative design to maximize innovation for social impact and climate change. If you would like to learn more, feel free to send me a message or email me at julieta@overlaycapital.com.

Overlay Capital

Overlay Capital is an US-based asset manager investing in venture and private equity across the sustainable technology spectrum from innovation to infrastructure, with a focus on overlooked and hard-to-access opportunities. We seek to capture the opportunity driving the mega-trend toward sustainable technologies that will reshape industries and propel our economy for decades to come, with a commitment to superior risk-adjusted returns. For more information, please visit us at www.overlaycapital.com.

About our host

Tabitha Francis

Tabitha spearheads all multifamily and residential related recruitment across North America at LMRE which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy. Tabitha has worked with clients from pre-seed to Post IPO, on searches from entry level to C Suite. Since she started 2.5 years ago, the North American Client base has gone from 25 to 100+ and they now have a successful series of 'Built Environment Bulletins' showcasing growing businesses and innovative products and platforms in the space

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A recent Deloitte report cited the Middle East real estate market is projected to expand by up to 111% in the next five years.

In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa was joined by Anas Bataw and Prakash Senghani, Co-Founder and CEO at Navatech Group. They discuss the vast opportunities for innovation and growth through technology in the Middle East, the geographical advantage that has put the MENA region at the forefront of smart technology adoption and urban development, and the huge appetite for digitalisation that the guests have seen in the last few years.

Tune in to hear about examples of some of the technologies being used in the Middle East that are leading the way in revolutionising MENA real estate, as well as some of the challenges that come alongside this diversification. If you are interested in learning more about how construction technology and PropTech is revolutionising MENA real estate, this episode is not one to miss!

Companies Mentioned

• Deloitte

• Watheeq PropTech Venture

• Fifth Wall

• NEOM
• Red Sea Project
• Mace

• Amar

• MIRA

• ROSHN
• PwC
• Balfour Beatty

• WSP

• AECOM

• JLL
• Technology Innovation Institute (TII)
• WakeCap

• WorkPanda

• Procurified

• Modular
• Aldar

Episode Highlights

• The huge appetite for digitalisation in the middle east
• Prakash’s journey from the corporate world into building his own start-up
• Anas’ experience in the COP28 committee and the push to sustainability and reducing carbon emissions
• The growth areas that Prakash has seen within construction over the past five years and what we should be watching out for in the future

• Prakash talks us through some of the stand-out technologies being used in the Middle East

• The Middle East’s geographical advantage and its wide talent pool

• Anas explains how having a clear strategy is so important

Key Takeaways

• The pros are that you’re involved in large projects and that there’s a push towards technologies and innovations, and people really want to challenge the current status of what we have – Anas

• I wanted to use artificial intelligence and particularly chatbots to help do things in construction, and one of those things was safety – Prakash

• The complexion of the people working in the construction industry is going to change massively – Anas
• Changing something is always more difficult than planning for the way that you want it in the first place - Prakash

About Our Host 

Louisa Dickins 

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA. 

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation. 

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In this episode of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins explores the value of drones with Mike Winn, CEO and co-founder of DroneDeploy, and David Thirlwell, Director of Operational Excellence at Stiles Construction. They explore how drones have become widely accessible in recent years, providing a bird's eye view of job sites and delivering structured, detailed data to enhance safety and efficiency.

Mike shares how DroneDeploy has gained over 5,000 customers worldwide, revolutionising the way businesses operate in sectors like oil, gas, and construction. David emphasizes the importance of finding the right technology solution to maximize efficiency and productivity. Despite market challenges and budget cuts, this episode highlights how businesses who are embracing forward-thinking technology will thrive in the future.

Tune in to hear how drones are shaping the digital future of smart buildings and beyond.

Companies mentionned

• NASA
• Autodesk

• NEOM

• Google

Episode Highlights

• The benefits of using drones for aerial data capture
• The use of drones in various industries, including construction, oil, gas and solar energy
• The growth and success of DroneDeploy, with over 5,000 customers worldwide
• David’s experience using DroneDeploy's technology to improve construction processes and identify potential issues early on

• The importance of finding the right technology solutions and being open-minded to adopting new technologies in the construction industry

• The future of automation in the drone industry, and the future of DroneDeploy

Key Takeaways

• While technology investments may seem expensive at first, the value lies in the ability to catch and resolve problems early, saving time and money in the long run. - David
• Already we have a vision that every job site should be digitized. And if we can do that, we will enable all the workers to really understand what's going on and help them do their job more safely and more effectively. - Mike
• The use of technology, such as drones and 3D scanners, allows for accurate verification of construction elements like sleeves in concrete, reducing the risk of costly mistakes and schedule delays. - David
• The adoption of technology in the construction industry is receptive, with companies like Stiles Construction being open to exploring new tools and solutions to improve efficiency and mitigate risks. - Mike

• Stiles Construction values trust and reliability in technology providers, and they have found DroneDeploy to be a great partner in bringing new tools and solutions to the table. - David

• The future of drones in the construction industry is promising, with the expectation that every major job site will have a drone in the next five years. - Mike

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

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In this episode of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins discusses how to future proof your portfolio and nurture a robust company culture with Edi Demaj, co-founder of KODE Labs, and Ilene Goldfine, SVP and Chief Digital Strategy Officer of Hines. They explore how a change in people and culture can help address the pace of innovation and, ultimately, impact profitability, efficiency and sustainability.

Edi shares how a small building operating system can transform the way real estate is managed and experienced. Ilene dives deep into how two very different types of businesses can facilitate a healthy, inclusive, and innovative culture, as well as a strong partnership. The episode highlights the importance of collaboration, agility, and diversity in driving change and successfully navigating the evolving landscape of the real estate industry.

Tune in to hear innovative strategies for future-proofing real estate portfolios and cultivating a dynamic company culture.

Shout outs

• Naqash Tahir, Executive Director - Global CIO Office at PGIM Real Estate
• Imran Nasir, Head of Client Delivery for Europe, Asia Pacific & Latin America at PGIM Real Estate

Episode Highlights

• Edi and Ilene’s common mission of driving change and innovation in the real estate industry
• How KODE Labs and Hines have created a successful partnership

• A cloud-based smart building operating system, and the significance of data in driving efficiency and innovation

• How flexible and diverse cultures foster innovation and collaboration

• The importance of a listen-first mentality, cultural contribution and diversity of thought
• What the future holds for KODE Labs, Hines and the wider real estate industry

Key Takeaways

• The real estate space functions completely differently from anything else around us. Our view is that it needed to get on par with everybody else with all the other industries. - Edi
• One of the reasons that did away with the word ‘innovation’ is because the mindset of Hines is that we're constantly innovating. - Ilene
• We're big believers that if automotive companies can make autonomous moving vehicles, then standing buildings can be autonomous as well. - Edi
• We have an aging industry of people at buildings that are going to retire. You have to meet the people where they're at. You need to think to yourself, what am I doing differently in the real estate industry to attract some of these people? - Ilene
• What we've done over the last six years is that we're now in thousands of buildings, and what we'll do over the next six years, is that we’ll be hopefully in hundreds of thousands of buildings. – Edi

About Our Host - Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

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Did you know that office temperatures can affect cognitive performance? This episode of the Propcast explores the concept of creating smart and empathetic buildings, addressing crucial topics like gender bias, neurodiversity, and office space design.

Host Louisa Dickins speaks with two pioneers developing innovative solutions for workplace efficiency and employee satisfaction, Dr. Ken Dooley, Chief Product Officer at Haltian, and Dan Drogman, CEO of Smart Spaces, who share insights into their companies' growth and trends in the smart building space.

The conversation extended to the evolving preferences of the modern workforce, with Ken emphasizing the value of offering options like warmer zones or quiet spaces to create a more inclusive and productive environment, and Dan sharing how Smart Spaces uses data-driven design to address these challenges, giving people the flexibility they need while avoiding tokenism.

Tune in for an exciting discussion on smart buildings, inclusive workplaces, and the evolving needs of today's workforce.

Shoutouts

• Elizabeth Nelson, Author of The Healthy Office Revolution

Episode Highlights 

• Ken’s journey from consulting in energy and sustainability to working in the field of smart buildings
• The evolution of Smart Spaces from providing meeting room booking software to offering smart building solutions
• "Hotelification" of offices, where offices aim to provide amenities and experiences better than home to attract employees back to the office

• Why personalization in office environments is crucial to cater to different needs, preferences, and neurodiversity

• The evolving workforce, including the great resignation and changing employee expectations

• The growth of PropTech in the Nordic region
• The importance of educating end-users about energy consumption to achieve sustainability goals

Key Takeaways

• Our purpose at Smart Spaces is optimizing environments for the people and the planet. - Dan
• We allow the organization to create beautiful spaces, communicate that they exist, and measure if it's popular enough. - Ken
• It's about offering people personalization. You want to create the future workplace where everyone wants to work. - Dan
• Yes, there is a gender bias. There's a brilliant article called Battle for the Thermostat that really talks about how female employees in office buildings would prefer maybe two degrees warmer. – Ken

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

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Following yet another fantastic response for our ConTech-focused 11th season, we are thrilled to unveil what we have planned for the upcoming season!

As the demand for secure, energy-efficient developments continues to soar, the number of smart buildings worldwide is projected to climb from 45 million to 115 million by 2026. This is why for season 12 of the Propcast we are focusing on all things ‘smart’, where I will be joined by some of the leading Smart Building companies in the space, featuring the likes of Kode Labs, Haltian, Drone Deploy, Smart Spaces, and many, many more!

Make sure to subscribe to the Propcast and leave us a 5* rating for this season - you’ll not want to miss it!

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America, MENA and Asia-Pacific.

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In the tenth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Meirav Oren, CEO and Co-Founder of Versatile and James Barrett, Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Turner Construction Episode Highlights: • The founding story of Versatile and their vision • What Turner Construction are trying to achieve for the industry and the synergies they have with Versatile • Key challenges with innovation adoption within the sector • The work they are doing to empower people working in construction • Where Meirav has seen the biggest growth in their product • Pressing issues in construction that James wants to try and resolve • How robotics can be implemented into the industry • Making the industry appealing to the future workforce • How they work on making products that will make people’s jobs and change management easier • The different partnerships Turner Construction have and the reasons behind them • The Entrepreneur and Residence Program that Turner Construction have set up Resources: • LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy• LMRE YouTube Interviews• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022• Innovation Lab• Omers Ventures Key Takeaways: • We put the data that we believe is most critical in the hands of the people who build. - Meirav • Productivity is everything to us in construction. We're trying to get more work in place with fewer people and that's how you drive schedules, that's how you drive cost savings. That's how you improve. - James • Evaluating and deploying solutions is working at the pace of change that people are comfortable with. - James • We're facing a huge issue with a lack of skilled labour. We have an ageing workforce that’s retiring and it's not being replaced. - James • When Venture capitalists told me that the industry is laggard and antiquated and simply not a good investment, because it's not going to adapt fast enough, I said, it's the second largest industry in the world. It's right for innovation, it needs it. - Meirav • I think the worst thing you can have is incredibly bright, talented people wasting 2, 3, 4, 5 years of their life producing a solution that nobody wants. It's probably the greatest waste of human talent you can imagine. So that's why the whole program was born. - James About Our Host Louisa Dickins Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific. To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation. About LMRE LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management. From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting. At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. Sponsors Launch Your Own Podcast A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the ninth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Mateo Zimmermann, Investment Manager at CEMEX Ventures, Chris Bone, Co-Founder & CEO at Modulous and Tim Davies, CEO at HiiROC Ltd. Episode Highlights: • The work that each of the businesses do and how they collaborate • The work HiiROC are doing to try and make hydrogen more affordable • The main issues currently facing the construction industry and the work being undertaken to try and find solutions • How these issues can impair innovation and make the industry quite risk averse • The work Modulous are doing on ESG • The challenge with bringing new talent into the industry who can help drive innovation and technology adoption Why it can take longer to see the rollout of new technologies within the space The different speed of innovation adoption across the industry and the frustrations this can cause • The investments CEMEX are making in companies working on green construction • The issues with supply/ delivery of materials and the work CEMEX are doing to try and resolve this • The future they all see for construction Resources: • LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy• LMRE YouTube Interviews• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022• Leaplab | CEMEX Ventures• Construction Startup Competition • McKinsey• Modulous• Synhelion• PartRunner – Home Key Takeaways: • CEMEX have been amazing for us through this process because they're thought leaders in their space. They have great views on how the industry can be changed and that's something that we're very keen to help facilitate. Our vision is to help solve the housing crisis while protecting the planet. - Chris • We are rolling out the production of hydrogen, but we're working with partners like CEMEX to say how do we use it in the right setting? So how do you use it to produce cement? How do you use it to produce steel or for transport? - Tim • We can only tackle the challenges our industry are facing, and I want to emphasise on that, if we industry players collaborate to build a better future. - Mateo • We're continually looking at both the physical product and the carbon content of that product. And until you understand the carbon content, it's very difficult to drive change, to improve that, or to be able to track it and understand exactly what level of carbon is, in our instance being put in our buildings. - Chris • It’s a very tight margin business. Therefore, when you look at cement or steel and the like to suddenly introduce a much higher energy cost because you're using hydrogen, not natural gas or whatever else is nigh on impossible. So we as technology providers have to provide the solution that makes it affordable. - Tim • I think the paces are also a little bit different. There's obviously a lot of innovations in terms of materials that are happening, but not necessarily there is an adoption on the job site right on construction. - Mateo • It's very inefficient and obviously materials are a large part of the construction budget. So from 40 to 60% depending on the country and it's highly inefficient. It's actually one of the biggest reasons for delays in construction. - Mateo About Our Guests: Mateo Zimmermann Mateo Zimmermann is Investment Manager at CEMEX Ventures, responsible for the Corporate Venture Capital Investments in startups in the Construction technology space. Before joining CEMEX Ventures, Mateo worked at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) from 2013 to 2017 as a Management Consultant, where he promoted to Project Leader. He previously worked at StepOne as an Advisor for startups and corporates in their Digital Strategies. Before that he worked as an Investment Analyst in Private Equity and Corporate Debt at the Asset Management division of Arcano. He also worked for UBS and Electrolux Group. Mateo has a double degree in Engineering and Management. He graduated as MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management at Technische Universität Berlin (Germany) and obtained a Master in Management at ESCP Europe (Paris, France). He was born in Madrid (Spain) and has both the Spanish and German citizenship. CEMEX Ventures The global economy has endured a tough 2022. With decades-high inflation sapping post-lockdown spending and pushing central banks to hike borrowing costs at an unprecedented clip to bring it under control. Yet despite poor projections and an overall decline in VC funding, 2023 represents an optimistic year for startups in the ConTech sector. Predictions point to trailblazing new technologies and business models entering the industry to improve sustainability and reduce the global carbon footprint. That’s why CEMEX Ventures, the corporate venture capital and open innovation unit of CEMEX, goes beyond simply investing. Since 2017, CEMEX Ventures develops relationships between entrepreneurs, investors, CEMEX, and other corporations in order to revolutionize the construction industry as we know it today. Chris Bone Chris is CEO and co-founder of Modulous, the construction technology company that was formed to address the global housing crisis while reducing the climate impact of real estate development. Chris has 25 years’ experience in the construction industry, having managed businesses across consulting, manufacturing, and construction. At Modulous he is responsible for all aspects of the company’s growth and development in the UK, Europe, and the USA. Modulous Modulous was founded in 2018 by a team of construction, technology, and manufacturing specialists to create an asset-light model for the design and delivery of sustainable homes. Its integrated digital and physical product suite is designed to make the whole construction cycle - from feasibility right through to delivery on site - more efficient and effective. Its software platform generates optimised schemes based on a Kit of Parts, which is manufactured within the supply chain, removing the need for dedicated factories. The Kit of Parts is a standardised set of assemblies providing a high-performance net-zero modular housing system, delivered in half the time of traditional housebuilding, with 70% less waste and 60% lower embodied carbon. Modulous has offices in London and Seattle and is the first globally scalable technology solution to address both the worldwide housing crisis and escalating climate emergency. Tim Davies Tim has held Chief Executive & Board roles across a variety of sectors including green-tech, retail & service-providers working with both corporates and start-ups. He has a proven track record of identifying and delivering new business opportunities and considerable value creation including 20 years’ experience working for PE & VC-backed businesses. Now, as CEO of HiiROC, Tim and his team have developed a technology with a potentially transformational impact on Climate Change. HiiROC A transformational new technology for affordable, clean hydrogen production using world leading proprietary plasma technology. HiiROC's Thermal Plasma Electrolysis (TPE) uses renewable (or grid) electricity to split hydrocarbons (biomethane, flare gas, natural gas, propane, etc) into zero-emission Hydrogen and inert solid Carbon Black (i.e. without producing CO2). TPE works at a fraction of the cost of Water Electrolysis, without the CO2 emissions of Steam Methane Reforming and is scalable from micro onsite (saving transport & storage costs) to industrial scale. The highly versatile technology is being piloted globally in 2023 across the hydrogen sectors from industrial decarbonisation to transport to grid blending and power management whilst also being used for flare gas mitigation and CO2 reduction using biomethane. About Our Host Louisa Dickins Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific. To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation. About LMRE LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management. From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting. At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. Sponsors Launch Your Own Podcast A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the eighth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Maria Rioumine Davidson, CEO & Founder of Kojo and Dan Babcock, President at James Babcock Inc

Episode Highlights: • What was behind the creation of Kojo and the issues they believed they could resolve • What Kojo stands for • Common questions clients of Kojo want to have answered • The reasons why Dan’s company became customers of Kojo and the benefits they get from it • How Dan found introducing a new technology solution into the business that had been running since the 50’s • The impact the increase in the cost of materials is having on profitability • The different product changes that have occurred for Kojo and their future plans • What drives the development of different products and their roadmap • Other products Kojo integrates with • Trends Maria is seeing within the industry

Resources: • LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy• LMRE YouTube Interviews• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022• Procore• OpenSpace podcast

Key Takeaways: • When we started Kojo back in 2018, we weren't thinking about construction as much as we were thinking about building. The question that we were really obsessed with was how could we make the built environment faster, more efficient and less error prone to build? - Maria • In the last three years, with an extremely volatile supply chain and volatile material prices, the difference between being profitable and unprofitable can really come down to one project going well or going badly. - Maria • A big thing is pricing. We’ve seen huge savings. Because back in the day, my purchaser would've taken an order and called our favourite vendor and ordered the materials. Now we're sending it out if it's a smaller order, to three to four vendors and I can see on my dashboard the amount of savings between if we would've just gone with the one vendor. - Dan • So we take baby steps on anything we do, because people in construction are a little behind on, I'd say technology, but we don't want to be, not all of us. - Dan • We just had a customer who got an invoice for $12,000 that should have been $120 because the unit of measurement was off. And they said, that's the kind of thing that we could have just paid because we're getting thousands of invoices a month, and it's impossible for us to know that each one is being meticulously checked. - Maria

About Our Host

Louisa DickinsLouisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific. To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRELMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management. From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting. At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the seventh episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Chris Oldham Senior Policy and Programme Manager at City of London Corporation and Hannah Vickers, Chief of Staff at Mace

Episode Highlights:

• What the ‘Skills for Sustainable Skyline Taskforce’ is and the work they are doing • Why it is unusual to have a Chief of Staff role in the construction industry • The trends that Hannah has seen within the sector over the last few years • The workforce engagement campaign that Chris is helping to run to ensure they have the right people in key roles • Why we need a more joined up approach to engage schools when looking to bring the future workforce in • The misconceptions on what a career in the build environment is like • Creating a clearer path both into the industry and being able to retrain within the industry • The importance of addressing the skills gap • The current innovation trends within the sector

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy • LMRE YouTube Interviews • PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022 • Skills for Sustainable Skyline Taskforce • Construction Leadership Council • Women in Construction Tech • BIM Academy

Shout outs:

• Antonia Soler • Bola Abisogun

Key Takeaways:

• I began my career as a primary school teacher, which gave me a real interest in how we can best equip our young people for the careers of tomorrow. - Chris • We're encouraging the existing workforce for the full project lifecycle of sustainable buildings to upskill, to reskill with those green skills that we've identified in the research, and also to attract a large cohort of diverse new entrants from untapped pools of talent, particularly looking at women, more young people, people from ethnic minority backgrounds into the build environment. - Chris • One of the first trends that I came across was how much our productivity improved during covid. - Hannah • We are the second highest paying sector in the UK. So if you think about people having lifelong careers and retraining, you could potentially retrain and come into construction, but still be as well paid or better paid than you might be in another sector. - Hannah • I think how we tap into those pools of talent, we need to look at developing a more flexible approach to work as well, which in practice is probably offering hybrid work. - Chris • We're going to need people who can work to those requirements, who can understand what that means for the construction process. So if you like it's not a hard sell. It's a sort of requirement to be able to function as a business going forward. So that's why for us, it's so important. - Hannah

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the sixth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Geoffrey Lewis, VP Product Management and Tiffany LaBruno, Product Director who both work at Procore Technologies.

Episode Highlights:

• How Geoffrey got involved in the PropTech sector from investment banking and a failed startup
• How the construction industry beginning to utilise new technologies sparked Tiffany’s desire to work in the sector and further train people to continue this adoption
• The trends they have seen with the growth of innovation
• The challenges with the increased adoption of technology with the construction industry and how they are working to overcome them
• Why Procore merged with Honest Buildings and the impact it had on business
• The value Procore brings to its customers
• The main differences they have found between working with general contractors and property owners
• The partnerships they are forming with other software providers and what they are trying to achieve with this
• The investment Procore is making into the pre-construction space and how this ties in with ESG

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• Honest Buildings

Shout outs:

• Riggs Kubiak
• Vantage Data Centers
• UMT360

Key Takeaways:

• So we really have seen over the 20 - 30 years that I've been in this industry, an evolution to utilise technology within construction. - Tiffany
• If they get in there and it's too hard to use or too hard to configure, they're just gonna throw up their hands and go back to Excel. - Geoffrey
• There's so many things we're seeing and utilising at Procore in terms of AI and ML and really driving data insights to owners. They're starting to see the value of utilising it across the platform because then they can make decisions on future projects based on how the last project went. - Tiffany
• The one thing I would say for founders out there, you know companies are bought, not sold. Procore's got to really want to purchase Honest buildings. You can't just go to them and say, hey, we're for sale, that's not gonna be something that gets a deal done. - Geoffrey
• Historically the tools have been built for these general contractors who are doing all the work and very much need software. But the owners who are holding all the risk, I think haven't necessarily availed themselves with the right tools to be able to really effectively manage that risk. - Geoffrey
• What's interesting is a lot of our most used integrations are things that are used across every industry, not just construction. - Tiffany

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the fifth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Jeevan Kalanithi, CEO at OpenSpace and Parker Mundt, Vice President of Platform at Suffolk Technologies.

Episode Highlights:

• OpenSpace’s founding story
• How Jeevan and Parker initially met and started working together
• The concept behind Suffolk Technologies and the companies they invest into
• Open Space’s two products and the difference between them
• How OpenSpace overcame the challenges when scaling their products
• The broad challenges Parker sees startups facing with new products
• How product trends change based on geographical locations
• Parker’s investment predictions for 2023-24
• Current macro trends and what this will mean for those ready to innovate and be tech forward
• The firms involved in the Suffolk Boost Accelerator Program
• Companies that are creating innovative solutions for sustainability
• What steps Open Space are taking to reduce the ‘eight waste’ on construction sites

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• Sifteo
• 3D Robotics
• Autodesk
• Suffolk Boost Accelerator Program
• Qflow
• Carbon Titles
• Shepherd Insurance

Shout outs:

• Brittany Harris
• Jade Cohen

Key Takeaways:

• They started a company and sold it, and sure enough, they were working on a capture technology with these new 360 cameras. When I heard about it, I was like, you know, who could really use this? Building. - Jeevan Suffolk has trialled over 180 different tech solutions. We pride ourselves in being a very forward thinking general contractor who has a deep desire to innovate within the construction space. - Parker
• We’re building more and more stuff upon that. It all works because we have a simple capture product and I think we've captured something like 12 billion square feet, some big number. So it's a lot of data that allows us to make the system smarter and more useful for our customers. - Jeevan
• I think today we see a lot of companies that come in and maybe are naive or maybe just a bit out of touch with what some of the tech solutions in construction in particular would charge. And that can be a showstopper immediately, because the folks that you're selling to are still very focused on price and schedule, right? Those are the two main drivers in the construction industry. - Parker
• For us we're really focused on making sure that the founders feel comfortable at the valuation that they're at and not necessarily pumping it up just for the sake of having a larger valuation. - Parker
• We're at an innovate or die kind of portion of the life cycle right now where folks who are tech forward and are looking to see how they can do things better, faster, cheaper, safer, you know, those folks will emerge as the industry leaders, as a general contractor. - Parker
• We really prioritise reliability and speed and efficiency with our technology and we hope that allows our builder customers to do the same. - Jeevan

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the fourth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Antonia Soler, Director of Hilti Technology Office at Hilti and Vivin Hegde, GB and Founding Partner at Zacua Ventures, an early stage global VC specialised in investing in the Built Environment sector.

Episode Highlights:

• How Antonia and Vivin both met whilst working at Hilti
• The Women in Construction Tech Group that Antonia has co-founded
• The events and chapters WCT are running
• How Zacua Ventures started and where the idea came from
• Vivin’s advice to founders looking to scale towards an exit
• The evolution Vivin believes early startups need to go through in order to be successful
• The challenges around digitising construction and how Antonia suggests these are addressed
• The importance of understanding what it’s actually like to work in construction when trying to build a solution
• Where Antonia and Vivin expect to see investment being made in 2023
• The difference in investments between early stage and late stage
• The reasons why interest in Series B is quieter in terms of investment
• How construction technologies are helping with sustainability
• The technologies being developed to address prefabrication and modular construction

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• WCT
• McKinsey
• Fieldwire
• Dusty Robotics
• Built World
• Trimble
• Ecoworks
• Carbon Title
• Urban Machine
• Kit Switch

Shout outs:

• Gregg Wallace
• Mauricio Tessi Weiss
• Juan Nieto
• Julieta Moradei

Key Takeaways:

• And this is where the seeds of Zacua Ventures were sewn, right? We had built a network, we'd seen how hard corporate innovation is for a lot of corporates, and we are also invested in funds. - Vivin
• So a startup needs to be mindful of the exit options that they have. They shouldn't be driven by the exit itself. - Vivin
• I find that founders that spend a lot of time with customers in the field and in the office come up with the best solutions. Because they are observing workflows, testing solutions on the job site and otherwise learning how their solution can best serve their customers. - Antonia
• So women in construction tech, it's dedicated to creating opportunities and developing relationships for women driving innovation in the construction industry. We envision a construction industry where women are well networked, support each other, efforts to improve and advance in the space and otherwise. - Antonia
• We did a survey of 80 contact focused VCs and corporate VCs a couple of weeks back. Just a little bit of the industry, I would say, and it's positive. We do see more investment happening in this space. Pretty much 70% of the VCs we spoke to said they're going to increase their investment rather than decrease in this space. - Vivin
• I think everybody has a good view of how the market could look in the next 6, 12, 18 months. Even if it's not rosy, it's still more predictable than it was five months back. And therefore the deal flow should pick up slowly and the deal making should also pick up accordingly. - Vivin

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the third episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Gregg Wallace, Partner at Building Ventures, who invest in companies reshaping the way we design, build, operate and experience our built environment and Matt Wegworth, Vice President of Dawson Ventures at McKinstry, whose goal is to advance early-stage technologies and offerings and support innovative startups.

Episode Highlights:

• How Gregg as part of the Hilti Group invested in Building Ventures first funding round
• How they have now launched Fund 2 and the different strategic partners this will bring onboard
• The growth they have seen in the market and what it means for their organisation
• The synergies between Building Ventures and McKinstry and why they started working together as strategic partners
• The tagline that McKinstry work by and how that benefits their clients
• Why Dawson Ventures was created
• The stage and ticket size that both companies invest in and trends they follow
• The different areas of growth they are seeing, despite the economic situation
• The importance of having a go to market plan in the construction and proptech space
• Gregg and Matt’s ideas for generating more innovation and adoption within the industry
• Their view on the best ways to attract new talent into construction technologies
• The battle the industry has between efficiencies and innovation

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• ALICE Technologies
• ICON
• A/O PropTech Report
• Hilti Group
• Assemble System
• Autodesk
• Financial Times
• ENR 400
• TurboTax
• BuiltWorlds Conference

Shout outs:

• Mayra Soto
• Vivin Hegde

Key Takeaways:

• We appreciated as Hilti the ecosystem that Building Ventures brought, so we made an investment in mid 2018, alongside a whole number of strategic investors as part of Building Ventures first fund, which launched in 2018 as $53 million and placed 16 startup portfolio companies. - Gregg
• That's what we also represent as Building Ventures, looking at how do we create a fundamentally better built world? Not the transaction side of buying and selling and dividing buildings into crypto coins, but really creating a fundamentally better built world, connecting the historically disparate phases of the building lifecycle. - Gregg
• What that does for us here and certainly for our clients is it brings a suite of thinking and offering to drive that desire to how do we remove the waste and climate harm out of the environment through innovation, so that it has 60 years of operation. - Matt
• We believe by keeping really close to the industry, we can be very supportive. At the early seed stage, getting to know founders, making introductions, helping them think through strategically the problems. - Gregg
• This is not a one-time transaction. This is the start of a five to 10 year relationship through all of its ups and downs that we want to support our portfolio company. - Gregg
• So do we see a slowdown? Not at all. Are we continuing to invest in our own startups? Absolutely. - Matt

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the second episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by René Morkos, the Founder and CEO of ALICE Technologies, the world’s first construction optioneering platform and Shane Richardson, President of Lagrange, a management consulting firm providing project controls and program management services.

Episode Highlights:

• The founding story behind ALICE Technologies and the problems it was designed to solve
• The difference between the two products, ‘Alice Pre-Construction’ and ‘Alice Manage’ and their capabilities
• How Rene and Shane met and how they started working together
• How to use data to make better informed decisions
• The hesitancies the construction industry have around technology
• The issues they face and potential missed opportunities if they are brought in part way through a project, rather than the beginning
• Early innovators in the space and their impact on implementation and integration
• The biggest changes they have seen within the industry and what they predict over the next 20 years
• The importance of finding the right tool when trying to digitalise data to increase productivity
• Where they believe the skill gaps currently are in construction tech
• ALICE’s sustainability pledge

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• Bechtel
• Katerra
• Canadian Nuclear Labs
• Skanska
• Stanford University

Key Takeaways:

• What resources do you need to build to perform those tasks? That's the kind of information you give the system, and then the system generates 6 million different ways of building the project for you. - Rene
• I noticed that was one of the things that wasn't being leveraged; how can we use this data to make better informed decisions? -Shane
• A lot of times you're already 20 plus percent complete with a project, and there's a certain point where you can always minimise risk, minimise costs on a project, but as you progress on a project, the further you progress, you lose out on that opportunity. - Shane
• What's happening in construction today is what happened to manufacturing in the seventies and eighties. It's really becoming digitised. It's becoming integrated across the supply chain. - Rene
• I think that's one of the reasons why construction projects were plagued with delays, for decades and decades. It's because how do we fix that problem of being able to translate accurate data in its schedule, maintain it, and so ALICE takes care of that. - Shane
• The way that I perceive it is that one of the major skill gaps is that construction is getting converted into algorithmic terms. And so that's something that's relatively new. - Rene
• McKinsey article: over the last 20 years the industry as a whole has only only increased 1% in productivity. And the construction spending is about 13% of the world's GDP. And so you think about that, it's over 1.3 trillion in opportunity to try to leverage. - Shane

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the first episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Ibrahim Imam, and Sander Van de Rijdt, joint Co-Founders and Group CEO’s of PlanRadar.

PlanRadar is a digital platform for construction documentation, task management and communication. It is currently used in over 65 markets and has 120,000 construction professionals as users.

Ibrahim and Sander met at University and prior to PlanRadar founded other technology businesses together.

Episode Highlights:

• Why they launched PlanRadar and the industry issues they were trying to solve
• Why they believe the construction industry is so under digitalised
• What helped them to achieve such rapid growth
• The decision making process behind why they move into certain regions
• How word of mouth is one of their most powerful business drivers
• How customer feedback dictates the development of the product
• Misunderstandings that can arise from conventional paper and pen usage
• Overcoming people’s hesitations with new technology
• Their aim to make the construction industry more ESG compliant
• The need for diversification within the industry to continue to drive growth and innovation
• Their future aspirations for PlanRadar

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022

Shout Outs:

• Constantin Kock
• Domagoj Dolinsek
• Clemens Hammerl

Key Takeaways:

• We decided to get on that mission to try to improve the lives of all the people out there on the construction sites and in the real estate projects. - Sander
• We have around 20,000 customers, which is a lot. But when you realise that there are around 2.5 million potential customers just in Europe, then it's nothing. - Sander
• But what PlanRadar has figured out throughout the last few years is to make the customisation level that every organisation requires, to really meet their own processes. - Ibrahim
• We hired last quarter, I think 134 new people. We plan to hire this quarter, 82 new people. So we're still growing. - Sander
• PlanRadar is a tool that everybody can now download from the App store or the Play store and just instantly use it and start adding value to their corporations. - Ibrahim
• The main lesson is if you want to build a successful company, it's all about the people that you hire. Because a good team can deliver good results. Simple as that. - Ibrahim

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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We had an incredible response to the last season where we focused on ESG within Proptech. We wanted to follow up with something equally as exciting and we’re happy to announce a brand new focus for this season of the Propcast.

This season we’ll be taking a deep dive into the exciting vertical of ConTech. Our host Louisa Dickens will be speaking with some brilliant leaders in the ConTech space over the next 10 episodes, sharing their industry insights on the trends in the market and their predictions for the future of Construction Technology.

Make sure to subscribe to the Propcast and leave us a 5* rating for this season - you’ll not want to miss it!

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

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Summary: In the final episode of Season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Daniel Stephens, Senior Partner and Farzana Huysman, Junior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company.

Daniel and Farzana share what their roles at McKinsey & Company involve and the risks and strategies they’re spending most of their time on. The guests discuss the common themes and questions they get asked by clients - including finance, real estate and insurance.

In this episode you will hear about decarbonisation strategies McKinsey and Company have been focusing on and how their efforts compare to other organisations in the space.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022

Companies Mentioned:

• Measurabl
• British Land
• Hillbreak

Shout Outs:

• Jon Lovell
• Matt Ellis

Key Insights From This Episode:

• We’re shifting to a regime where insights into sustainability topics are shifting from voluntary to mandated - Daniel
• Hiring new talent is of course extremely important, but I believe that in a couple of years time everyone is going to need some level of proficiency on climate - Farzana
• The landscape is moving so fast and that's not something we’re used to in the real estate industry, therefore a different skill set is required to understand the technical solutions and how they can monetise - Daniel

About Our Guests:

Daniel Stephens:

Daniel Stephens is a Senior Partner in McKinsey & Company’s Washington, D.C., office. He is the Global Co-leader of McKinsey’s Climate and ESG Finance Practice and serves financial institutions in North America and around the world on topics relating to credit risk, regulatory compliance, disclosures, reputational risk, and business building with respect to climate and ESG topics.

Dan’s recent work includes standing up the climate risk program at a global trillionaire bank; conducting climate stress testing at a major North American bank; working with multiple banks on ESG and climate regulatory response; and building an ESG-led business model for a large global bank.

Outside of ESG and climate, Dan serves a broad range of clients across the commercial financial services space, as well as several public finance entities, including financial regulators, government lending programs, and government distribution programs.

Dan holds an A.B. in History from Princeton University and a J.D. with honours from Harvard Law School. He is a founding board member of Foster America, a not-for-profit that serves at-risk youth and child welfare agencies.

Farzana Huysman:

Farzana Huysman is a project manager in McKinsey & Company’s London office, where she focuses on serving financial institutions on sustainability, covering topics such as financing of decarbonisation and new green businesses, assessment and adaptation to physical climate risk, and de-risking the energy transition.

Farzana’s recent work includes scaling transition finance capabilities at an emerging markets bank; supporting growth and innovation of climate solutions for a global insurance broker; and assessing implications of physical climate risk for a European property insurer. Beyond financial institutions, Farzana has supported strategy and digital transformation efforts for clients in life sciences and shipping.

Farzana’s background is in engineering, with an MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, and previous work in building engineering. She co-leads the London office’s pro-bono support for a UK charity tackling global poverty.

About McKinsey & Company:

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm. They are the trusted advisor to the world's leading businesses, governments, and institutions.

They work with leading organisations across the private, public and social sectors. Their scale, scope, and knowledge allow them to address problems that no one else can. They have deep functional and industry expertise as well as breadth of geographical reach. They are passionate about taking on immense challenges that matter to their clients and, often, to the world.

They work with their clients as they do with their colleagues. They build their capabilities and leadership skills at every level and every opportunity. They do this to help build internal support, get to real issues, and reach practical recommendations. They bring out the capabilities of clients to fully participate in the process and lead the ongoing work.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[2:03] Daniel: Can you tell us more about what your role is?

• I run our climate sustainable finance practice and a huge part of that is real estate finance. We work with big real estate investors, insurance firms and asset managers helping them answer how sustainability is going to impact their financing business and what they can do about it.

[3:07] Farzana: Can you tell us what led you to McKinsey and what is your role?

• My background is in mechanical engineering but within McKinsey I work at the intersection of financial institutions and sustainability. So, essentially working with banks and insurers looking at how the sector can help to unlock the net zero transition.

[4:27] Daniel: Are risks always visible in a portfolio and how do you assess risk when it comes down to climate?

• I like to think about what the financial impacts are in properties today and how they may manifest.
• We’re interested in things like whether the expectation of future physical risk causes potential buyers to devalue this property now, therefore the need to anticipate future impacts.

[7:29] Farzana: What do you spend most of your time doing?

• Essentially, the bulk of the work I am focusing on is working with, for example banks, that have set net zero commitments and are trying to reduce their finance emissions.
• They can do this by either divesting any high emitting assets or lending that they’re doing or we can support them in investing in technologies that help to reduce the emissions of their existing assets.

[9:49] Daniel: What are the risks associated with transitioning to net-zero?

• A change in public policy is one of the largest risks and it is not always foreseeable as they rely on political processes.
• Public policy can cause certain goods or services to rise in price and therefore be consumed less.

[12:07] Farzana: Would you like to add anything to the risks associated with transitioning to net-zero?

• One of the big things to highlight is data, in order for a bank to work out their finance emissions they need to have a view of what the emissions linked to every asset are, and this requires a huge amount of data tracking.
• Another risk is choosing which technology they should invest in, this can vary from country to country and certain technologies are more advanced in certain markets.

[15:34] Daniel: What strategies are clients going for when trying to balance rising energy prices, maintaining a profit and pushing forward to net-zero?

• There are firms across industries who haven't made sustainability commitments yet as they are waiting for regulatory landscapes to be more clear.
• Some may seem to not be doing much on the surface but they’re collecting all the data, identifying opportunities and becoming much smarter behind the scenes.

[17:27] Daniel: What are the major trends and changes you’ve seen within ESG and real estate since working at McKinsey?

• The shift in the quality of data is a big trend that is happening.
• Another inflection point is that increasingly investors are looking to understand ESG more and in particular what part of ESG may have a financial impact on the business.
• We have been in an era that has been about the construction of new green buildings, we are now shifting to a phase where we’re dealing with much harder topics such as in aviation and transforming current real estate stock to make it more efficient.

[20:03] Farzana: What trends have you seen in ESG and the finance and insurance sectors?

• I see the leaders as those who can convene partnership across the entire value chain of these technologies.
• You see a number of these partnerships emerging and they will be able to meet targets in sustainability much quicker than smaller set-ups.

[24:35] Daniel: What are the key questions that clients in real estate should be asking?

• It is very early days, there is certainly a theme around energy efficiency and in some markets that’s going to be about regulations and others it's going to be because it improves the value of a property.
• The most interesting thing happening is the blocking and tackling in the engine room, a lot of firms don’t have the data to understand their portfolio in detail.

[27:33] Daniel: Do you think there is a skill gap at the moment that needs to change?

• The landscape is moving so fast and that's not something we’re used to in the real estate industry.
• A different skill set is required to understand the technical solutions and how they can monetise.

[29:21] Farzana: What are the two most important questions you can ask as a business owner when trying to make your business more sustainable?

• Number one is “What do I focus on?” There is so much out there in terms of climate solutions that you could tackle, and businesses need to make a decision on the breadth and the depth of these solutions to inform the capabilities and the resources they need to build up.
• Number two is “How do I get the skills in?” Hiring new talent is really important but I also believe that everyone is going to need some level of proficiency in climate.

Sponsors

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A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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Summary: In the ninth episode of Season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Eric Duchon, Global Head of ESG for Blackstone Real Estate and John Fitzpatrick, Chief Technology Officer of Alternative Asset Management Technology at Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager. John featured previously in Season 2 of The Propcast.

Eric and John share where Blackstone is on ESG and why they are seen as one of the leaders in this space. They talk about what Blackstone is focusing on as a business when it comes down to strategy, investment and innovation across their diverse and global portfolio.

In this episode you will hear how Blackstone ensures attractive returns for their investors whilst making a positive impact on the communities in which they invest.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• Sphera
• Schneider Electric
• EQ Office
• Willis Tower

Shout Outs:

• Don Anderson
• StuyTown
• Kenneth Caplan
• Kathleen McCarthy Baldwin
• Jonathan Gray

Key Insights From This Episode:

• We believe that ESG is a real source of value and a way to mitigate risk in our portfolio - Eric

• What drove me into this space is the use of passion to drive change, whilst driving value - Eric

• We do need the technologies that help us automate and optimise our buildings but this also requires the people that know what they’re doing - Eric
• Technology is important, but having a clear strategy is the starting place that people should have if they want to achieve their ESG targets - John

About Our Guests:

Eric Duchon:

Eric Duchon is Global Head of ESG for Blackstone Real Estate. As part of the Real Estate Asset Management team, he partners with the firm’s central ESG team and Portfolio Operations to initiate, manage, implement and report ESG initiatives across the global Real Estate portfolio.

Prior to joining Blackstone in November 2020, Mr. Duchon was at LaSalle Investment Management where he was a Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainability. Prior to LaSalle, Mr. Duchon spent over 9 years at Cushman & Wakefield as the Director of Sustainability Strategies.

Mr. Duchon received a BBA from Emory University – Goizueta Business School and a Masters in Real Estate Development Degree from New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate.

John Fitzpatrick:

John Fitzpatrick is Chief Technology Officer of Alternative Asset Management Technology at Blackstone. He handles all aspects of technology across Blackstone’s Real Estate and Private Equity businesses and assists our portfolio companies with managing their technology programs and strategy. He is also involved in the firm’s balance sheet investments in targeted, early stage, technology-related opportunities.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Fitzpatrick oversaw various initiatives across the entire Technology and Innovations group. Before joining Blackstone in 2011, Mr. Fitzpatrick worked at Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor’s, for seven years where he was most recently the Head of Product.

He received a BS in Finance from St. John’s University and currently serves on the Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s Leadership Council.

About Blackstone:

Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $941 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[2:06] Eric: What is your role at Blackstone?

• I lead ESG for Blackstone Real Estate globally, this means myself and my team work with all the departments at Blackstone to ensure we are implementing our ESG priorities as they are aligned with our fiduciary duty to add value to our portfolio and deliver great returns to our investors.
• We are finding ways to continue delivering value and ensuring that we are improving the environmental, social and governance performance of our companies and our assets.

[4:44] John: What are your responsibilities in your role at Blackstone and how have they changed?

• My responsibility is alternative asset management technology, this involves everything under our private equity and real estate umbrellas, it’s more than half of the AUM at Blackstone and really fits within ESG.

[5:35] Eric: What does ESG mean to Blackstone and how has it changed since you joined in 2020?

• There were great initiatives happening across Blackstone when I joined with regards to ESG however, the firm needed a more programmatic approach which is what we have done over the last 2 years.
• We’re focused on 3 main areas; diversity, decarbonisation and good governance. This guides everything that our ESG teams do and how we continue to integrate this more programmatic approach into our portfolio.

[7:40] John: How does your team assist with the ESG part of Blackstone?

• If you want to hit targets and goals then you need to be able to get the data and track it to see your progress over an extended period of time.
• It's our job to collect that data in the most streamlined fashion so we can process that content in real time to ensure we are driving towards those targets

[9:05] John: Are there any more climate focused ESG investments across your portfolio that you could share with us?

• The data and insights that we have got from Sphera have helped us improve and learn in this space and helped our ESG technical ecosystem.

[9:42] Eric: How do these investments assist with your portfolios?

• We worked to develop a framework which sets out Blackstone Real Estates ESG priorities across 6 pillars, these set the tone for how we engage with the portfolio companies in order for them to develop their 3 year strategic ESG roadmaps.

[13:31] John: How do you tackle the technology gaps in businesses across your portfolio?

• We use our data initiatives to help them implore technology and try to make the transition as seamless as possible. We can then analyse and track their data and help them achieve their targets.
• We tend to make investments in solutions that have a competitive advantage or a unique data set like Sphera.

[17:11] Eric: What are the main barriers when it comes down to reducing carbon across your portfolios?

• A couple of years ago the social aspect of ESG was focused around health, wellness and community engagement. Today, it is more focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
• When we look at PropTech solutions for ESG one of the main barriers is being able to identify what the strengths and weaknesses are. There are some really good processes in place but humans are still necessary to ensure the quality data flows through.
• We need to ensure that we have the right people that understand the technologies and can drive action from it.

[20:45] John: Is there anything you would like to mention that you have seen in terms of barriers?

• Technology is important but having a clear strategy is the starting place that people should have if they want to achieve their ESG targets.

[23:00] Eric: What is the balance between automation and optimisation, and reducing carbon footprint?

• We need the technologies that help us automate and optimise our buildings but this also requires the people that know what they’re doing.

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career within this space?

Eric: You need to stay nimble in everything that you do, different things come at you everyday and you need to be able to take them in your stride.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

John: Jonathan Gray, President at Blackstone, he is committed to ESG and doing it the right way.

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working in ESG?

Eric: Whether you're reducing carbon emissions, whether you're ensuring that folks from under-resourced communities are getting better opportunities working with our portfolio companies. That to me is what drove me into the space connecting the passion to drive change.

E - What are you excited about in the future of the ESG space?

John: The innovation that is coming down the pipe, some of the best and brightest minds are in this space that are really passionate about this topic so the landscape in a few years time is going to look vastly different.

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Summary: In the eighth episode of Season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Sonu Panda, the CEO of Prescriptive Data and Becca Rushin, the Director of ESG at Jamestown. Becca and Sonu discuss challenges in the industry including the impact of the current geopolitical climate and whether this will slow down the journey to net zero.

Becca and Sonu share their career journeys to ESG and technology. In this episode you’ll hear Sonu explain more about script data and how it improves sustainability in buildings. Becca talks about Jamestown’s sustainability and social responsibility initiatives and shares information on their green program and charitable foundation.

The key takeaway from this episode is that people want to work in healthy buildings and environments, however, achieving carbon neutrality through offsets is not enough. Instead, true science based approaches are what’s needed to tackle the bigger issue of climate change.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
• The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken
• The RHINO Principle, Paul Johnson

Companies Mentioned:

• Rudin Management
• Carbon Lighthouse
• Measurabl
• Deepki
• Boston Properties
• The James Beard Foundation

Shout Outs:

• John Gilbert, COO of Rudin Management
• Ben Myers, Vice President of Boston Properties

Key Insights From This Episode:

• So much of what we do is a function of the deep thoughts that our customers have and the feedback that we receive. - Sonu
• I think the holy grail for a tech company is to find some sort of portfolio deployment that works for every single asset, everyone wants that package deal. - Becca
• I see a more widespread recognition that climate change is real, that achieving carbon neutrality through offsets is not enough, and that true science based approaches are what’s called for - Sonu
• One thing that is really important about our portfolio is that it is very diverse, we don’t own glass office towers, we have a lot of special snowflakes. - Becca
• People want to work in healthy buildings and environments, these are the things that people are paying attention to, it's the new employee value proposition. - Louisa

About Our Guests:

Sonu Panda:

Sonu Panda is the CEO of Prescriptive Data, a privately-held SaaS company focused on the intersection of the Internet of Things, big data, and machine learning as applied to built environments of all types. Sonu develops and executes Prescriptive Data’s business and technology strategy, and oversees all functions within the company, including sales, business development, marketing, customer onboarding and success, engineering, talent management, finance and administrative operations. Prior to Prescriptive Data, Panda most recently served as the co-founder and COO of H.Bloom, a B2B marketplace company, where he developed the company’s operational model, established both product/technology development and process engineering efforts and managed day-to-day business operations.

Becca Rushin:

Becca Rushin the Director of ESG at Jamestown. She leads environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives through the Jamestown Green program and the Jamestown Charitable Foundation. Prior to joining Jamestown in 2012, Ms Rushin worked as a local government consultant for Clark Patterson Lee, where she served as Community Development Coordinator and Sustainability Commission Staff Liaison for the City of Dunwoody. She is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and holds a LEED AP O+M credential. Ms Rushin is an active volunteer with the Urban Land Institute, the US Green Building Council, and Community Farmers Markets. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Environmental Policy from Sewanee: the University of the South and a Master of Science in Sustainable Development: Environmental Policy and Management from Utrecht University.

About Jamestown:

Jamestown is a global, design-focused real estate investment and management firm with a 38-year track record and mission to create places that inspire. Since its founding in 1983, Jamestown has executed transactions in excess of $35 billion. As of June 30, 2022, Jamestown has assets under management of $13.1 billion and a portfolio spanning key markets throughout the U.S., Latin America, and Europe. Jamestown employs more than 400 people worldwide with headquarters in Atlanta and Cologne, and offices in Amsterdam, Bogotá, Boston, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. Current and previous projects include One Times Square and Chelsea Market in New York, Industry City in Brooklyn, Ponce City Market in Atlanta, Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, the Innovation and Design Building in Boston, and Groot Handelsgebouw in Rotterdam. For more information, visit www.jamestownLP.com.

About Prescriptive Data:

Prescriptive Data is the creator of Nantum OS, an award-winning platform optimising building’s operational performance while saving energy, reducing carbon emissions, and lowering costs without sacrificing occupant health or comfort. Combining historical data with predictive analysis and real-time occupancy, Nantum OS enables buildings to hit their ESG goals.

https://twitter.com/prescriptivedat
https://www.facebook.com/prescriptivedata

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[2:43] Becca: How did you get to become in the ESG space at Jamestown and how do you know Sonu?

• I learnt about sustainability whilst I was studying environmental policy, from there I decided to go to the Netherlands to study sustainable development.
• Over the last ten years I have focused on putting systems into place that have evolved from the benchmarking of monthly utility performance to more robust energy management platforms.
• I first heard about Prescriptive Data through a friend of mine that worked there. I then sat on a panel with Sonu and listened to John Gilbert from Rudin talk about the evolution of the Nantum platform.

[5:41] Sonu: How did you become CEO of Prescriptive Data and can you tell us more about the product?

• I have always been in the enterprise software business, when I had my son I started thinking about how I can work in a field that is fundamentally important to the world and what will have an impact, this led me to meeting Rudin Management.
• Prescriptive Data started as a project within the Rudin Management portfolio, we are now entirely independent. Our original premise was the idea that commercial offices exist to provide productive and comfortable workplaces, a big part of that is indoor air quality and thermal comfort.
• We used occupancy sensors so we could learn the rhythms of the building and correlate with the technology controlling the air quality in the buildings. This was the beginning of the Nantum OS.

[12:33] Becca: Can you talk us through Jamestown’s initiatives, what your strategy is and what you’re working on at the moment?

• The Jamestown Green program and the Jamestown Charitable Foundation are ultimately about our efforts to reduce Jamestown’s impact on the environment and support the communities where we own property and where we operate.
• The Charitable Foundation was established to help host community events that benefit nonprofits. We invest in metropolitan centres and then support the nonprofits that make those cities more desirable places to work.
• The Jamestown Green program is for sustainability efforts. We look to find management practices and initiatives that help increase our net operating income, drive financial performance at our assets and make our assets more valuable

[16:45] Becca: Are there any other companies that you are piloting on the portfolio that are helping to reduce emissions more specific to ESG?

• I’ve been focused on first just having a system in place, and over the last couple of years focusing more on the quality of the platform and matching specific tech solutions and providers with a specific type of asset.
• We have partnered with a company called Carbon Lighthouse, they identify energy saving products that the team then implements. They help back up those projections with their energy models and monitor the projects so they stay in place over the long term.

[19:22] Sonu: What is the main challenge you face in the industry?

• Everybody is worried about the geopolitical situation, however I try not to think about it, largely because there is so much momentum around sustainability.
• I see a more widespread recognition that climate change is real, that achieving carbon neutrality through offsets is not enough and that true science based approaches are what’s called for.

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Sonu - The RHINO principle, keep your eye on the prize, there is an impact to be made, we are doing really important work and we must stay focused on it.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Becca - I think that part of the reason that I’ve been successful is because I've been relentless about networking and finding partnerships.

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working in PropTech?

Sonu: The fact that we are working on something that is a shared concern and if we resolve it will be a shared benefit.

E - What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

Sonu answered earlier in the show: I’m excited about the transition towards net zero I’ve witnessed in the last six months. I think it’s a great opportunity because people have realised something needs to be done.

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Summary: In the seventh episode of Season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Peter Epping, Global Head of ESG and Kathryn Scheckel, Global Head of Innovation at Hines.

Peter and Kathryn will share how their careers led them to ESG and innovation. The guests discuss Hines’ target to reach net zero by 2040 and the strategy they are going to use to get there. They talk about their key focus to bring down the emissions of their current buildings.

In this episode you will hear about how Hines are going to reduce energy demand in their vast portfolio using both a customer centric approach and a variety of tools and technologies that can help create more positive outcomes for their communities and buildings. You’ll also hear how different countries around the world are leading the charge towards net zero by using innovation in building technology and renewable energy.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• McKinsey and Company
• Halo
• The Square

Shout Outs:

• Dr. Michael Crow, President at Arizona State University

Key Insights From This Episode:

• In our view, innovation and ESG cannot operate one without the other - Kathryn
• If you pick the best expertise from different places around the world you will arrive at a product that is better for everyone - Peter
• The world is changing quickly so having curiosity and staying open to knowing what you don't know is crucial - Kathryn
• We need to solve this collectively to change our systems, the spirit of having realised that and everyone being willing to collaborate is really, in the literal sense, energising - Peter
• Millennials applying for jobs are going to be much more conscious about the health of the building they’re going to be working in, and whether the business they’re going to be working for is making an impact - Louisa

About Our Guests:

Peter Epping:

Peter is Global Head of ESG, responsible for developing and implementing the firm’s ESG strategy in close coordination with the firm’s leadership, as well as its regional and key functional groups.

He previously served as Fund Manager in Hines’ European Investment Management Team.

He joined the firm in 2001 and until 2006 worked in various development roles with Hines Germany and the Hines European Development Fund. In 2006, he became a portfolio manager in the investment management team and starting 2013, he took on the role of fund manager of the Hines European Core Fund. From 2014 until 2021 he was also responsible for building three separate account portfolios investing across the risk spectrum and asset classes in major European cities.

Epping holds a degree of economics business administration from University of Mannheim as Diplom-Kaufmann and an MBA from Union College in Schenectady.

Kathryn Scheckel:

Kathryn leads the Strategic Project Office in delivering firm-wide strategies for complex, multi-stakeholder projects involving internal and external parties, reporting to the Office of the CEO. Additionally, she currently serves as the Interim Head, Office of Innovation, reporting to the Global CIO. In these capacities, Ms. Scheckel oversees the progress and implementation of cross-functional initiatives at Hines that help push the business forward.

Prior to joining Hines, Ms. Scheckel’s career includes strategic roles at McKinsey & Company in New York, focusing on organisational strategy & commercial real estate; and at Arizona State University serving in a variety of roles including as a senior director in the Office of the President, building & launching novel strategic partnerships, including the Starbucks College Achievement Plan.

Ms. Scheckel is inspired to connect and foster female talent in commercial real estate. Since joining Hines in 2019, Kathryn has initiated the global relaunch of OneHines Women’s Network, which strengthens and empowers diversity, equity, and inclusion amongst women at Hines.

Ms. Scheckel received her Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biosciences & Biotechnology, Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance, and Masters in Public Policy from Arizona State University. Aside from dividing her time between Houston Headquarters and her home in New York City, Kathryn takes joy in spending time with her family and travelling extensively.

About Hines:

Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 285 cities in 28 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management valued at approximately $90 billion. In addition, Hines provides third-party property-level services to 373 properties totalling 114.2 million square feet. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,530 properties, totalling over 511 million square feet. The firm currently has more than 198 developments underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a foundational commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organisations in the world.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[2:35] Kathryn: How did you become the leader of Hines’ innovation platform?

• Working at Arizona State University was the foundational underpinning that drove my interest for innovation, unique ecosystems and enterprises that drive different types of solutions.
• Following this, whilst working at McKinsey I was exposed to the global challenges the built environment faces.
• I joined Hines’ investment management platform in 2019, at the time they were working to tackle and solve these challenges. From there I started a team with the intention to help cross-functional initiatives within the firm and our overall governance. I am now named our innovation lead in driving forward a reimagined way of approaching innovation.

[4:25] Peter: How did your role in ESG come about?

• I joined Hines after university, working on development projects around Europe. When the first rules and regulations came up on energy performance in Europe we felt that there was a lot more we could do as a company.
• We started collecting significant amounts of data and measuring our performance. We wanted to achieve the highest level of efficiency and make our office and residential buildings as healthy as possible for their occupiers. This created a positive feedback loop with our investors that saw that our outcomes were significantly better.
• Subsequently, I saw a huge opportunity for Hines in ESG given that we were so technically integrated and we had such willingness to innovate.

[8:30] Kathryn: How closely do yours and Peter’s teams work together?

• We work extremely closely together, I think ESG and innovation will become even closer in the future.
• We also have a close collaboration with our operations and engineering personnel, who are the execution and implementation arm of so many of the different strategies and innovations.

[10:28] Peter: What is Hines’ plan for our planet?

• The target for us is for operational energy, everything we do around our existing buildings we are looking at setting a target for the embodied carbon, which as a developer is a huge exposure.
• The target we’re setting for operational emissions in 2040 is without offsets and will be aligned with the science based targets initiative. We’re investing in furthering energy efficiency in our buildings.
• The key focus for us is that we’re bringing down the actual emissions of our buildings.

[13:54] Kathryn: Are there any technologies that you are looking at investing in or are currently piloting?

• We’re taking a truly customer centric approach within the innovation platform to solve some of the challenges within ESG.
• All types of solutions, tools and technologies can help support carbon tracking, carbon mitigation and create more positive outcomes for our communities and buildings.
• Hines already has a tremendous playbook and history of innovation, but we are managing processes to think about more obstacles in innovation that may be on the horizon.

[17:53] Peter: What are the major trends you’ve observed across different geographies within innovation, digital transformation and ESG?

• In the Nordics we have seen great expertise in the area of heat pumps and renewable energy, they have decided much earlier than the rest of the world that they want to stop using fossil fuels. They have a very open mindset to innovation which is extremely refreshing.
• We have a new development in Manhattan where we are applying the same concepts that people use in Nordic countries and the result is an all electric building which not only will eventually be net-zero but is comfortable for the tenants.
• If you pick the best expertise from different places around the world you will arrive at a product that is better for everyone.

[21:23] Kathryn: What trends have refocused you to work on the innovation side at Hines?

• What we’re seeing across geographies is the concept of flexibility and what our tenants are really demanding, especially in the post COVID world. One particular venture that I can share with you is a software play called Halo. It supports broader flexibility options in the office domain as well as what the tenants are wanting.
• We also have a flexible workspace product called the Square which is a hardware that offers more flexible types of office spaces.
• Another trend we are seeing is the concept of data, the data coming out of our building systems can help solve other pain points for our clients.

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Kathryn: There is no single person in a team. The power and the force of networks and partnerships is crucial.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Peter - My colleagues who are running the European Core Fund at Hines are managing to implement what we want to do across the whole firm in such a consistent and coherent way. I also want to shout out to the leaders in this industry who are being very open and collaborative, this mindset is extremely refreshing.

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working in the innovation side of real estate?

Kathryn: The evermore converging of our product types, our industry and the built environment.

E - What are you excited about in the future of Proptech?

Peter: I'm excited about seeing how much opportunity there is and how this will work financially, as this will be the biggest catalyst for making this happen.

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Summary: In the sixth episode of Season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Zachary Denning and Jerremy Spillman, co-founders of Hank. JLL’s recently acquired AI-powered virtual engineering platform for buildings.

Zach and Jerremy share how Hank is helping the commercial real estate world reduce emissions and assist clients in their transition to net zero. The guests discuss the geographical differences surrounding the adoption and consensus of technology that they have noticed since Hank successfully expanded to Europe.

In this episode you’ll hear about the ever changing appetite for efficiency within commercial real estate, how technology can help real estate meet its sustainability goals and what the future holds for Hank.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Shout Outs:

• Rob Baker, Head of Product, Hank

Key Insights From This Episode:

• You could put a Ferrari engine into a building, but if you don't know how to drive it you're not going to get anything out of it - Jerremy
• If you’re not able to satisfy both the ownership and the investor level as well as the property level, you’re never going to have a successful product - Jerremy
• We’re driving a culture of execution, everybody on the team is on the same mission to drive revenue, if we’re not driving revenue then we’re stagnant - Zachary
• I figured out that smart buildings aren’t so smart, machine learning is the future of this industry - Zachary
• Why not be inside the largest, most progressive property management ownership firm in the world? There's no more strategic partnership than that - Zachary

About Our Guests:

Zachary Denning:

Zachary Denning earned his degree in mechanical engineering and has always had a strong aptitude for software development. In his +10 years in the smart buildings industry, he was able to identify and solve core building engineering challenges using applied machine-learning and AI – Eventually leading to the development of a new market, virtual engineering. Zach has grown the Hank virtual engineering team to over 50 members under JLL and together they’re pushing the boundaries of machine-learning in building operations to maximise client value.

Jerremy Spillman:

Over the last 12 years Jerremy has worked in the clean tech space ranging from utility DSM program management to battery powered electric vehicle charging stations. Most recently Jerremy co-founded Hank, an A.I. powered HVAC management tool for commercial office buildings. Hank was recently acquired by JLL Technologies as a key tool to meet their aggressive sustainability goals.

About Hank:

Recently acquired by JLL, Hank is a virtual engineering platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that autonomously optimises the management systems of commercial buildings to deliver increased comfort, air quality and energy savings.

Hank’s system applies machine learning and AI to solve many of the commercial real estate (CRE) industry’s largest operational challenges, including HVAC programming inconsistencies and energy and equipment performance inefficiencies. Its cloud-based platform optimises energy efficiency, air quality, maintenance costs and tenant comfort - ultimately delivering increased net operating income (NOI) to real estate investors.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[2:04] Zach: Can you tell us about your career journey to founding Hank and also how you know Jerremy?

• I started out as a mechanical engineer in the smart building industry. I learnt that the owners of buildings rarely know which control systems are in their buildings despite these softwares generating savings. I taught myself machine learning and realised that it has the ability to solve these problems in a long term capacity.
• I won a grant and spent time developing a software that proved that machine learning could drive substantial savings in buildings and we can generate huge economics for clients.
• I went out fundraising through several channels and that’s when I met Jerremy and pulled him in as co-founder and CRO, and this carried us to JLL.

[4:15] Zach: How long did it take you to develop the software?

• The first year I spent developing a solid foundation for the software so I had a product that I could test the market with. I received a grant in year 2 and by testing the market, proved that it had improved the comfort within buildings dramatically.
• By the end of year 3, we had viable proof of the product and concept and therefore the ability to go out and fundraise.

[6:02] Jerremy: What has it been like since your introduction to Zach?

• I started my career in sales so since meeting Zach it has been really exciting understanding the new market that there is for technology and quickly picking up the nuances in the industry.
• This completely new way of managing the largest energy consumer and cost driver in a building has made me really passionate about what we’re doing with Hank.

[7:47] Zach: Can you explain a little bit about what Hank is?

• The Hank product itself is a true machine learning virtual engineer, we don’t do any physical work in buildings or have an onsite team.
• Hank enables engineers in buildings to do their job more effectively and not have to worry about changing setpoints, tuning systems in or working with a variety of different stakeholders to solve their problems.
• We work alongside existing smart building systems that are already in place, we drive a saving on energy of at least 15% and sometimes as much as 50%.

[11:50] Jerremy: How does Hank help investors meet their sustainability goals?

• Hank is a Software-as-a-Service, so there is no replacing of controllers, we just drive what is already in place to its highest efficiency and that allows them to build their sustainability plan for the future.
• If you’re not able to satisfy both the ownership and the investor level as well as the property level, you’re never going to have a successful product.
• We have utilised the data and found that we can fix comfort without sacrificing energy and we can save energy without sacrificing comfort.

[16:06] Jerremy: How did your acquisition by JLL Technologies come about and what does it mean for your business?

• We align well with JLL because our number one priority for meeting sustainability is carbon reduction which JLL succeeds in with all of their vendors.
• Adding JLL’s property management team to our virtual team adds an additional level of expertise and differentiates us from other management services.
• Zachary: For us to be primed to grow, the most strategic partnership we can use is to be inside the largest and most progressive property management firm in the world.

[22:05] Zachary: What core values do you have in your business?

• We’re driving a culture of execution, everybody on the team is on the same mission to drive revenue, if we’re not driving revenue then we’re stagnant.
• We have a very transparent approach, we have a mentality that we’re building this together and all have an equal voice.
• When we bring people on board they can individually see the impact they’re making and that drives them towards our common goal of producing revenue and growing as a business.

[24:49] Jerremy: Now you have expanded to EMEA, what are the differences you have seen between the US and Europe?

• Europe is far more advanced and focused on emission reduction which has helped us fit in straight away. They have helped us learn what property teams and investors are doing to push sustainability efforts and what the US needs to do to progress.
• Buildings in Europe already have the infrastructure in place with other smart technologies that we can integrate into, to feed our machine learning models and produce more data.
• The market in EMEA is ready for a solution like Hank, whereas in North America we’re having to get the market ready.

[28:02] Zachary: What is next for Hank?

• We’re in the midst of a complete redesign of a new user interface, we want to give our customers a new evolution of what building automation can be without an additional cost.
• We want to push forward on evolving this product whilst proving everything to our customers comes under one subscription with no additional fees, we want them to know that this is just an inherent part of our service that we will continue to improve.

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Jerremy: As long as you have got hard work and dedication you are always going to push things forward.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Zachary: Rob Baker, he was an internal JLL employee that gravitated towards our team, he was a project manager and now he is involved in everything, he has been phenomenal to work with.

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working in PropTech?

Zachary: Watching this product come to fruition and having Jerremy’s team and our operations team execute it successfully.

E - What are you excited about in the future of Proptech?

Jerremy: I’m excited for Proptech and sustainability to become the norm in the real estate industry.

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Summary: In the fifth episode of season 10 of The Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Jonathan Flaherty, Global Head of Sustainability and Building Technology Innovation at Tishman Speyer and Philippe Le Fort, leader of Ambio, a smart buildings SaaS platform by PATRIZIA.

Jonathan and Philippe talk to Louisa about their journeys into ESG and elaborate on the technologies they believe will help real estate reach net zero. They discuss the differences in innovation adoption across geographies and the long term benefits and cost of innovation on the asset, the tenant and on our built environment.

Philippe talks about how he’s been leading PATRIZIA’s very own smart building SaaS platform, Ambio, and both guests share their thoughts on whether full digitalisation is actually possible.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• Ambio, PATRIZIA’s Smart Building Platform

Key Insights From This Episode:

• I don’t think one particular technology is going to drive us to low carbon buildings, it’s going to be a combination of everything working together to get that outcome. - Jonathan
• People will go back to offices in the future but people need to have a reason to do so, and the traditional office product is going to have to change.The buildings that don't make that change are going to become obsolete. - Jonathan
• Customer experience is really significant to the focus of companies such as Amazon and Apple. Real estate has not paid much attention to that up until now, however technology is now coming to change the way people operate and the way people use buildings every day. - Philippe
• I think we're living in one of those moments where all these mega trends are converging together and really accelerating how we have to adapt as an industry. - Philippe
• Is any of this digitalisation really possible within a brick and mortar business, which is so large, slow moving and slightly archaic? - Louis

About Our Guests:

Jonathan Flaherty:

Jonathan Flaherty is the Global Head- Sustainability and Building Technology Innovation at Tishman Speyer. Mr. Flaherty joined Tishman Speyer in 2007 as part of the Leadership Development Program and has held various roles with the company, including in asset management and portfolio management for New York. He transitioned to the Sustainability department in 2010, becoming the Director of Sustainability, and most recently the Global Head – Sustainability and Building Technology Innovation. In this role, he manages the firm's evolving sustainability strategy: property and fund sustainability certifications, communication with current and future investors, worldwide performance tracking, energy procurement strategy, building technology innovation, diligence in alternative green investments, and execution of the firm's commitment to Net Zero by 2050. Prior to joining the firm, he worked as a legislative aide for Senator Schumer in Washington, DC. Mr. Flaherty is the chair of the board of directors for the Building Energy Exchange, the co-chair of the REBNY Sustainability Committee and is on the board of the New York Energy Consumers Council. He holds a BA in political science from Kenyon College, and an MBA and MSUP from Columbia University.

Philippe Le Fort:

Philippe Le Fort leads Ambio, a smart buildings Saas platform by PATRIZIA. Philippe joined the company in 2020 and has been in charge of setting up a new business line from the ground up. Today he is leading its execution and responsible for deploying the technology at scale across the portfolio, advancing how buildings perform for businesses, people and the planet.

Previously, Philippe was an Investment Director at Tishman Speyer London and started a proptech venture to democratise access to institutional grade real estate using blockchain technology. He has also advised early-stage companies in the U.S.

Philippe has a MSc in architecture from EPFL and an MBA from London Business School. He lives in London.

About Tishman Speyer:

Tishman Speyer is a leading owner, developer, operator and investment manager of first-class real estate in 32 key markets across the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. We develop, build and manage premier office, residential and retail spaces for industry-leading tenants, as well as state-of-the-art life science centres through our Breakthrough Properties venture. With global vision, on-the-ground expertise and a personalised approach, we are unparalleled in our ability to foster innovation, quickly adapt to global and local trends and proactively anticipate our customers’ evolving needs. By focusing on health and wellness, enlightened placemaking and customer-focused initiatives such as our tenant amenities platform, ZO., and our flexible space and co-working brand, Studio, we tend not just to our physical buildings, but to the people who inhabit them on a daily basis. Since our inception in 1978, Tishman Speyer has acquired, developed, and operated 512 properties, totalling 217 million square feet, with a combined value of over $126 billion (U.S.). Our current portfolio includes such iconic assets as Rockefeller Center in New York City, The Springs in Shanghai, TaunusTurm in Frankfurt and the Mission Rock neighbourhood currently being realised in San Francisco.

About PATRIZIA:

With operations around the world, PATRIZIA has been offering investment opportunities in real estate and infrastructure assets for institutional, semi-professional and private investors for 38 years. PATRIZIA manages more than EUR 55 billion in assets and employs over 1,000 professionals at 28 locations worldwide. Through its PATRIZIA Foundation, PATRIZIA is committed to social responsibility. The Foundation has helped around 250,000 children in need worldwide gain access to education and thus, has given them the chance of a better life over the last 21 years. You can find further information at www.patrizia.ag

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[2:10] Jonathan: Talk us through your role and journey into ESG and how you and Philippe first met each other?

• I have been at Tishman Speyer for 15 years this week. I started as an intern in the designing construction compartment before ending up in the sustainability department.
• Philippe was based in our London office and we ended up on a whole bunch of projects together.
• At the time when I joined the department in 2011 it was a much different world and sustainability was a much smaller corner of the universe. However, I thought it would be an increasingly important force in the future.

[4:26] Philippe: Talk us through your role at PATRIZIA and how it has changed? Could you also give us an introduction to your SaaS solution product, Ambio?

• I joined PATRIZIA about 2 years ago in the tech innovation team with the mission to improve operations, reduce carbon footprint and improve experiences within buildings through technology. The topic has been accelerated over the last couple of years by the demand for ESG products and for better data throughout the industry
• We started from the fact that we needed to understand our buildings better, understand how good the tech infrastructure was and how good it needed to be. We soon realised that there was no such tool in the market that did that and we had to build one, that's how we started Ambio which we have just launched.
• Ambio involves doing health checks of buildings, identifying opportunities to add value by using technology to smarten things up and working with suppliers in the market to connect them to our investment managers so that we cover the entire spectrum of digital transformation and decarbonisation.

[6:30] Jonathan: What is the major factor for pursuing ESG at Tishman Speyer?

• The biggest driver for Tishman Speyer has been the long term equity of the business, investors would like to know that 10 years from now the building they’re buying today will retain its resale value and will still be leasable after future regulations have come into place.
• When buying buildings now you need to be thinking about the owner after you and that owner is going to have it when all of the regulations related to decarbonisation and low energy are going to hit across the world.

[11:20] Philippe: What’s the big focus of PATRIZIA in terms of pushing forward on smart buildings?

• On one hand you have more demanding capital, and on the other hand the increasing expectations from tenants which is moving the needle of what people want in terms of space.
• Customer experience is really significant to the focus of companies such as Amazon and Apple. Real estate has not paid much attention to that up until now, however technology is now coming to change the way people operate and the way people use buildings every day.
• All these mega trends are converging together and really accelerating how we have to adapt as an industry. Covid has been a very big booster and we’re still trying to figure out the implications of that, because there is a lot of elasticity in the market.

[14:02] Jonathan: Can you explain what you mean by a haircut on exit and how this can be avoided?

• A building should be worth a particular number upon exit based on the rents that you're getting in that building, if the market is valuing your product below that then it is below the logical value that the market is assigning to other buildings.
• You need to predict what the market is going to look like in the future, most leases last for 10 years, so buying a building now you need to be thinking about the market and the regulations in 2032.

[18:30] Philippe: Can you tell us more about the technologies PATRIZIA are utilising to help maximise an asset value?

• Heating and cooling a building is one of the biggest energy buckets in commercial buildings, so a technology that tracks the weather is really important.
• Another technology we are looking at is predictive maintenance in lifts, predicting when a lift is going to break saves money on lift management contracts.
• Since the pandemic, people are much more conscious of the air quality in buildings. Also, to help people that are coming back into offices be healthy and productive, we need to ensure the air quality is good with regards to the CO2 concentration affecting brain productivity.

[22:11] Jonathan: Is there anything you would like to add in terms of which technologies Tishman Speyers are using?

• Indoor air quality has been a big focus and will continue to be, but if anything that's more monitoring than a technology and has been around for a while.
• I don't think one particular technology is going to drive us to low carbon buildings, it’s going to be a combination of everything working together to get that outcome.

[23:59] Jonathan: what can we do to get these brick and mortar businesses on board with technology adoption and ESG?

• Our primary focus is office buildings, we don’t see the end of an office but that the office product needs to transform into something that is much more focused on digital, hospitality and low carbon. The changes in offices are very large and are coming at a rapid rate.
• People will go to offices in the future but people need to have a reason to do so and the traditional office product is going to have to change, the buildings that don't make that change are going to become obsolete.

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Jonathan - You never know where your career is going to go, you have to be ready for twists and turns. There are so many opportunities out there so allow yourself to be flexible.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Philippe - I’d like to mention Ambio and the team who have worked really hard to launch the product.

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working in PropTech?

Jonathan - It is enormously rewarding working in PropTech and sustainability, it is full of fascinating people doing really interesting work around the world.

E - What are you excited about in the future of sustainability and smart building?

Philippe - I like it when things are not so straightforward, PropTech and ESG are creating dislocation and value add opportunities in our industry which is really exciting.

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A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the fourth episode of season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Sally Jones, Head of Strategy, Digital and Technology at British Land and Matt Webster, Head of Environmental Sustainability at British Land. They share British Land’s strategy for sustainable developments and how they are going to achieve net zero by 2030.

Sally shares how her role at British Land has changed since 2010 and shifted her focus towards strategy and technology. Matt talks about how their most recent sustainable projects, 100 Liverpool Street and Canada Water, have been designed to reduce both operational and embodied carbon in both the development and the running of the buildings.

Sally and Matt discuss the advancement of technologies and successful utilisation of data and what this means for the future of sustainable real estate.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• 100 Liverpool Street
• Canada Water

Companies Mentioned:

• Equiem
• Facilio
• Cadbury
• Arup

Shout Outs:

• Gabrielle McMillan

Key Insights From This Episode:

• I think the next few years will be challenging, but the more business that successfully deliver their strategies, the closer we will be to net zero - Louisa
• Technology is changing the shape of the property industry - Sally
• I’m confident as a sector that we’ve got the technologies, skill sets and the ambition to play our part in this, to come together and deliver - Matt
• The digitalisation of real estate will have a significant part to play in the decarbonisation of the built environment - Matt
• We have to figure out a cheaper way of delivering digital transformation, especially with the rising energy costs - Sally

About Our Guests:

Sally Jones, Head of Strategy, Digital and Technology:

Sally joined British Land in February 2010 as Head of Investor Relations and took responsibility for Strategy alongside Investor Relations in January 2015. In May 2016, she was appointed Head of Strategy and Investments. Subsequently, she has expanded her role to include data and insights and the Group’s Smart technology initiatives. She joined the Executive Committee in 2015.

Sally is also a Non-executive Director of Equiem, the leading tenant experience digital platform provider.

Previous Experience:

Before joining British Land Sally worked at Cadbury Schweppes where she held a variety of roles over ten years including Director of Investor Relations, Director of Communications and Finance Director Group Sales and Marketing. Prior to that she worked in the City.

Matt Webster, Head of Environmental Sustainability

As Head of Environmental Sustainability, Matt leads the environmental performance of British Land's standing portfolio and development pipeline, responsible for implementing our pathway to net zero carbon by 2030 and wider environmental sustainability agenda. Matt works across the business to ensure our assets are designed, built and operated to the highest environmental standards. Matt led British Land to a 55% reduction in its operational energy intensity achieved in 2019. He has held various roles across the business, including establishing our approach to wellbeing and most recently developing and implementing our approach to smart buildings and digital placemaking. Recent development projects include the delivery of British Land's first net zero development at 100 Liverpool Street and leading sustainability at Canada Water - a 53 acre mixed use regeneration project.

Prior to joining British Land, Matt held various sustainability consulting and banking roles. Matt has a Master's degree from Forum for the Future.

About British Land:Our portfolio of high quality UK commercial property is focused on London Campuses and Retail & Fulfilment assets throughout the UK. We own or manage a portfolio valued at £14.3bn (British Land share: £10.5bn) as at 31 March 2022 making us one of Europe’s largest listed real estate investment companies.

We create Places People Prefer, delivering the best, most sustainable places for our customers and communities. Our strategy is to leverage our best in class platform and proven expertise in development, repositioning and active management, investing behind two key themes: Campuses and Retail & Fulfilment.

Our three Campuses at Broadgate, Paddington Central and Regent’s Place are dynamic neighbourhoods, attracting growth customers and sectors, and offering some of the best connected, highest quality and most sustainable space in London. We are delivering our fourth Campus at Canada Water, where we have planning consent to deliver 5m sq ft of residential, commercial, retail and community space over 53 acres. Our Campuses account for 67% of our portfolio.

Retail & Fulfilment accounts for 33% of the portfolio and is focused on retail parks which are aligned to the growth of convenience, online and last mile fulfilment. We are complementing this with urban logistics primarily in London, focused on development-led opportunities.

Sustainability is embedded throughout our business. In 2020, we set out our sustainability strategy which focuses on two time-critical areas where British Land can create the most benefit: making our whole portfolio net zero carbon by 2030, and partnering to grow social value and wellbeing in the communities where we operate.

Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[2:10] Sally: How did you get into your strategy, technology and digital role?

• It has been so fascinating to be able to combine strategy with all things digital and technology and I am now in charge of building tech, insights and the whole technology stack.
• My interest in technology started when I realised how technology was changing the shape of the property industry.

[3:50] Matt: Could you tell us what your role at British Land entails?

• I have been at British Land for a number of years now and worked in different sections around the business, but always with an angle on sustainability.
• I was retained to deliver the 55% energy target and we were very proud to be able to deliver that over a 10 year period from 2009 to 2019.
• We were early adopters of the idea that it was our responsibility to collaborate with customers to work towards understanding our carbon footprint and start utilising data and technologies.

[5:35] Sally: Could you elaborate on your digital strategy?

• We started working on it in 2015 and created a smart team after realising that digitalising buildings was going to become a big thing.
• We wanted to create a strategy with a very focused approach on improving people's experience of our real estate, building greater understanding through data and driving greater efficiency.

[6:58] Matt: How does the sustainability strategy fit into the digital strategy?

• Our latest strategy runs from 2019 to 2030 and is balanced between environmental and social issues.
• Our target is to reach net zero carbon by 2030, as an operator and developer of space our two big sources of carbon are embodied from the development of our assets and operational which is related to the energy from running our assets.
• We are aiming for a 50% reduction in our embodied carbon and a 75% reduction in our operational carbon. The digital plan will help us deliver these ambitious targets.

[8:45] Matt: Tell us about your current development projects and how they’re helping socially and environmentally?

• 100 Liverpool Street is our first net zero development, it has benefited from significant reuse of the previous structure of the building and we worked really hard to design without carbon throughout the process. A lot of thought has gone into how it is going to operate once it’s a live building. It’s our first building to deliver some of the things in our digital strategy as well.
• Canada Water is a really exciting project that we are embedding sustainability principles into. The building is implementing our smart building design guide which will help the building run more efficiently by retrieving useful data out of it during the design stage.

[12:35] Sally: What technologies are working for British Land and how are you utilising them?

• Smart enabling a building makes it digitally capable, the key for that is to allow us to get data out of the building in such a way that we can surface it through a single platform.
• The data allows us to see what is working and manage the building more efficiently over time. Machine learning and AI helps us control the building to drive more efficiencies.
• We’re working with a company called Facilio, they have built this entire data platform for us which things like AI can sit on. The Equiem platform works alongside Facilio to see how and when rooms in buildings are being used.

[16:08] Matt: Is there anything you would like to add to the data side of smart buildings?

• We have learnt a lot in the development and delivery of 100 Liverpool Street. Installing smart metre systems lets us know exactly where and when energy is consumed in a building. The system will also communicate the data to a wider platform, allowing us to take a software approach to the building.
• With this data we can apply it at a portfolio level rather than replicating it within each building.

[19:29] Sally: What do we need to tackle in the future?

• We are now turning our attention to our old developments, ultimately we’re all going to have to think about retrofitting our old buildings.
• We have to figure out a way of delivering this digital transformation much more cheaply, especially with the rising energy costs.

[22:15] Matt: What lies ahead in terms of environmental sustainability?

• People are finally listening to this issue and it is really important to make sure we’ve got the resources and skill sets to respond to it.
• We have been tackling operational carbon for a long time, we need more understanding and data surrounding embodied carbon so we have a more rapid process to help reduce it in the next few years.

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Sally: What stands out for me at companies that I have worked for is the culture value and leadership. British Land and Cadbury are the two places where I have enjoyed and achieved the most.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Matt: Our own internal digital placemaking team, they have been working really hard working on the vision and delivering 100 Liverpool Street.

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working within the digitalisation space?

Sally: Working with this small team at British Land, they’ve been brilliant at navigating their way through a very complex landscape in a cost effective way with an incredible set of products.

E - What are you excited about in the future of environmental sustainability?

Matt: I’m excited about the recognition that ESG is now gaining and the seriousness that people are starting to approach the subject with. Also, the digitalisation of real estate because that will have a significant part to play in the decarbonisation of the built environment.

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A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch jason@apodcastcompany.com

View Details

In the fourth episode of season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Sally Jones, Head of Strategy, Digital and Technology at British Land and Matt Webster, Head of Environmental Sustainability at British Land. They share British Land’s strategy for sustainable developments and how they are going to achieve net zero by 2030.

Sally shares how her role at British Land has changed since 2010 and shifted her focus towards strategy and technology. Matt talks about how their most recent sustainable projects, 100 Liverpool Street and Canada Water, have been designed to reduce both operational and embodied carbon in both the development and the running of the buildings.

Sally and Matt discuss the advancement of technologies and successful utilisation of data and what this means for the future of sustainable real estate.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• 100 Liverpool Street
• Canada Water

Companies Mentioned:

• Equiem
• Facilio
• Cadbury
• Arup

Shout Outs:

• Gabrielle McMillan

Key Insights From This Episode:

• I think the next few years will be challenging, but the more business that successfully deliver their strategies, the closer we will be to net zero - Louisa
• Technology is changing the shape of the property industry - Sally
• I’m confident as a sector that we’ve got the technologies, skill sets and the ambition to play our part in this, to come together and deliver - Matt
• The digitalisation of real estate will have a significant part to play in the decarbonisation of the built environment - Matt
• We have to figure out a cheaper way of delivering digital transformation, especially with the rising energy costs - Sally

About Our Guests:

Sally Jones, Head of Strategy, Digital and Technology:

Sally joined British Land in February 2010 as Head of Investor Relations and took responsibility for Strategy alongside Investor Relations in January 2015. In May 2016, she was appointed Head of Strategy and Investments. Subsequently, she has expanded her role to include data and insights and the Group’s Smart technology initiatives. She joined the Executive Committee in 2015.

Sally is also a Non-executive Director of Equiem, the leading tenant experience digital platform provider.

Previous Experience:

Before joining British Land Sally worked at Cadbury Schweppes where she held a variety of roles over ten years including Director of Investor Relations, Director of Communications and Finance Director Group Sales and Marketing. Prior to that she worked in the City.

Matt Webster, Head of Environmental Sustainability

As Head of Environmental Sustainability, Matt leads the environmental performance of British Land's standing portfolio and development pipeline, responsible for implementing our pathway to net zero carbon by 2030 and wider environmental sustainability agenda. Matt works across the business to ensure our assets are designed, built and operated to the highest environmental standards. Matt led British Land to a 55% reduction in its operational energy intensity achieved in 2019. He has held various roles across the business, including establishing our approach to wellbeing and most recently developing and implementing our approach to smart buildings and digital placemaking. Recent development projects include the delivery of British Land's first net zero development at 100 Liverpool Street and leading sustainability at Canada Water - a 53 acre mixed use regeneration project.

Prior to joining British Land, Matt held various sustainability consulting and banking roles. Matt has a Master's degree from Forum for the Future.

About British Land:Our portfolio of high quality UK commercial property is focused on London Campuses and Retail & Fulfilment assets throughout the UK. We own or manage a portfolio valued at £14.3bn (British Land share: £10.5bn) as at 31 March 2022 making us one of Europe’s largest listed real estate investment companies.

We create Places People Prefer, delivering the best, most sustainable places for our customers and communities. Our strategy is to leverage our best in class platform and proven expertise in development, repositioning and active management, investing behind two key themes: Campuses and Retail & Fulfilment.

Our three Campuses at Broadgate, Paddington Central and Regent’s Place are dynamic neighbourhoods, attracting growth customers and sectors, and offering some of the best connected, highest quality and most sustainable space in London. We are delivering our fourth Campus at Canada Water, where we have planning consent to deliver 5m sq ft of residential, commercial, retail and community space over 53 acres. Our Campuses account for 67% of our portfolio.

Retail & Fulfilment accounts for 33% of the portfolio and is focused on retail parks which are aligned to the growth of convenience, online and last mile fulfilment. We are complementing this with urban logistics primarily in London, focused on development-led opportunities.

Sustainability is embedded throughout our business. In 2020, we set out our sustainability strategy which focuses on two time-critical areas where British Land can create the most benefit: making our whole portfolio net zero carbon by 2030, and partnering to grow social value and wellbeing in the communities where we operate.

Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[2:10] Sally: How did you get into your strategy, technology and digital role?

• It has been so fascinating to be able to combine strategy with all things digital and technology and I am now in charge of building tech, insights and the whole technology stack.
• My interest in technology started when I realised how technology was changing the shape of the property industry.

[3:50] Matt: Could you tell us what your role at British Land entails?

• I have been at British Land for a number of years now and worked in different sections around the business, but always with an angle on sustainability.
• I was retained to deliver the 55% energy target and we were very proud to be able to deliver that over a 10 year period from 2009 to 2019.
• We were early adopters of the idea that it was our responsibility to collaborate with customers to work towards understanding our carbon footprint and start utilising data and technologies.

[5:35] Sally: Could you elaborate on your digital strategy?

• We started working on it in 2015 and created a smart team after realising that digitalising buildings was going to become a big thing.
• We wanted to create a strategy with a very focused approach on improving people's experience of our real estate, building greater understanding through data and driving greater efficiency.

[6:58] Matt: How does the sustainability strategy fit into the digital strategy?

• Our latest strategy runs from 2019 to 2030 and is balanced between environmental and social issues.
• Our target is to reach net zero carbon by 2030, as an operator and developer of space our two big sources of carbon are embodied from the development of our assets and operational which is related to the energy from running our assets.
• We are aiming for a 50% reduction in our embodied carbon and a 75% reduction in our operational carbon. The digital plan will help us deliver these ambitious targets.

[8:45] Matt: Tell us about your current development projects and how they’re helping socially and environmentally?

• 100 Liverpool Street is our first net zero development, it has benefited from significant reuse of the previous structure of the building and we worked really hard to design without carbon throughout the process. A lot of thought has gone into how it is going to operate once it’s a live building. It’s our first building to deliver some of the things in our digital strategy as well.
• Canada Water is a really exciting project that we are embedding sustainability principles into. The building is implementing our smart building design guide which will help the building run more efficiently by retrieving useful data out of it during the design stage.

[12:35] Sally: What technologies are working for British Land and how are you utilising them?

• Smart enabling a building makes it digitally capable, the key for that is to allow us to get data out of the building in such a way that we can surface it through a single platform.
• The data allows us to see what is working and manage the building more efficiently over time. Machine learning and AI helps us control the building to drive more efficiencies.
• We’re working with a company called Facilio, they have built this entire data platform for us which things like AI can sit on. The Equiem platform works alongside Facilio to see how and when rooms in buildings are being used.

[16:08] Matt: Is there anything you would like to add to the data side of smart buildings?

• We have learnt a lot in the development and delivery of 100 Liverpool Street. Installing smart metre systems lets us know exactly where and when energy is consumed in a building. The system will also communicate the data to a wider platform, allowing us to take a software approach to the building.
• With this data we can apply it at a portfolio level rather than replicating it within each building.

[19:29] Sally: What do we need to tackle in the future?

• We are now turning our attention to our old developments, ultimately we’re all going to have to think about retrofitting our old buildings.
• We have to figure out a way of delivering this digital transformation much more cheaply, especially with the rising energy costs.

[22:15] Matt: What lies ahead in terms of environmental sustainability?

• People are finally listening to this issue and it is really important to make sure we’ve got the resources and skill sets to respond to it.
• We have been tackling operational carbon for a long time, we need more understanding and data surrounding embodied carbon so we have a more rapid process to help reduce it in the next few years.

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Sally: What stands out for me at companies that I have worked for is the culture value and leadership. British Land and Cadbury are the two places where I have enjoyed and achieved the most.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Matt: Our own internal digital placemaking team, they have been working really hard working on the vision and delivering 100 Liverpool Street.

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working within the digitalisation space?

Sally: Working with this small team at British Land, they’ve been brilliant at navigating their way through a very complex landscape in a cost effective way with an incredible set of products.

E - What are you excited about in the future of environmental sustainability?

Matt: I’m excited about the recognition that ESG is now gaining and the seriousness that people are starting to approach the subject with. Also, the digitalisation of real estate because that will have a significant part to play in the decarbonisation of the built environment.

Sponsors

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In the third episode of season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Aleksandra (Sasha) Njagulj, Managing Director and Global Head of Real Estate ESG at DWS Group and Simon Wallace, Global Head of Research and Strategy at DWS Group.

They discuss the key data points in ESG in real estate and how and why Aleksandra and Simon have risen to the top of the DWS Group and are focusing their careers within ESG. They share the products that DWS Group has found useful in their workplace and the regulation changes they have seen in the market. Lastly, they discuss how the current market may disadvantage or benefit investment in ESG.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• CRREM

Key Insights From This Episode:

• ESG influences a lot of my work nowadays, it’s always been a factor but now ESG touches pretty much every part of the research and strategy that we do. - Simon
• Whether you believe in climate change or not, if the energy prices continue to rise, tenants are going to want more energy efficient buildings. - Aleksandra
• I think we are in a market environment in general where we will see less investment in real estate, we got the real capital analytics data for the second quarter for Europe today and year on year investments are down by about 20%. - Simon
• The current market is accelerating the focus on ESG in real estate, energy prices will favour buildings that are energy efficient. - Aleksandra
• You can do it because you want to look after the environment, but now you can do it because there is a financial incentive as well. - Louisa

About Our Guests:

Aleksandra Njagulj, Managing Director and Global Head of ESG, Real Estate at DWS Group:

Aleksandra (Sasha) Njagulj is the Managing Director, Global Head of ESG (environmental, social, and governance), Real Estate at DWS group. She is responsible for ESG integration across global real estate portfolios. Sasha is an accomplished ESG expert with over 20 years of practical experience in architectural design, design management and the sustainable built environment. In her previous role with CBRE Global Investors, she was Global Head of ESG with overall responsibility for developing and communicating global sustainability priorities and strategies across all business lines. Prior to this, Sasha was head of the Sustainability, R&D and Innovation department at Bouygues U.K.

Throughout her career, Sasha has built a reputation both professionally and personally for championing the cause of responsible real estate investment. She received the UK-based edie 2020 Sustainability Leaders Award for Investor of the Year for an ESG programme she designed and delivered for CBRE. In addition, Sasha was awarded the global 2020 GRESB/BREEAM Individual Leadership Award, recognising strong leadership and commitment in the field of sustainable development. In 2021, she won the global Future Proof Real Estate Woman award as a leader in applying digitalisation, technology, open innovation and sustainability to create a better built environment.

A qualified architect, Sasha holds a Master's degree in Architectural Design from the University of Belgrade; a Master's degree in Sustainability Leadership from the University of Cambridge. She is a BRE Academy fellow, sits on the INREV ESG Committee and ULI ESG Council, leads the IIGCC Real Estate Workstream and chairs the GRESB Foundation Real Estate Standards Committee.

Simon Wallace, Head of Research, Real Estate at DWS Group.

Simon joined the Company in 2011. Prior to his current role, Simon served as Head of Europe Research and Strategy for Alternatives. Prior to joining, he served as an economist for real estate research at Hammerson. Previously, Simon worked as an economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research

BSc in Politics and Economics and MSc in Economics from University of Bristol; Investment Management Certificate (IMC)

About DWS Group:

DWS Group (DWS) is one of the world's leading asset managers with EUR 902bn of assets under management (as of 31 March 2022). Building on more than 60 years of experience, it has a reputation for excellence in Germany, Europe, the Americas and Asia. DWS is recognized by clients globally as a trusted source for integrated investment solutions, stability and innovation across a full spectrum of investment disciplines.

We offer individuals and institutions access to our strong investment capabilities across all major liquid and illiquid asset classes as well as solutions aligned to growth trends. Our diverse expertise in Active, Passive and Alternatives asset management – as well as our deep environmental, social and governance focus – complement each other when creating targeted solutions for our clients. Our expertise and on-the-ground knowledge of our economists, research analysts and investment professionals are brought together in one consistent global CIO View, giving strategic guidance to our investment approach.

DWS wants to innovate and shape the future of investing. We understand that, both as a corporate as well as a trusted advisor to our clients, we have a crucial role in helping navigate the transition to a more sustainable future. With approximately 3,600 employees in offices all over the world, we are local while being one global team. We are committed to acting on behalf of our clients and investing with their best interests at heart so that they can reach their financial goals, no matter what the future holds. With our entrepreneurial, collaborative spirit, we work every day to deliver outstanding investment results, in both good and challenging times to build the best foundation for our clients’ financial future.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[1:44] Aleksandra: What initially sparked your interest in sustainability within real estate?

• Originally I was an architect so my primary expertise is in real estate, I know how it is designed, constructed and managed.
• I discovered the issue of sustainability when I was working as a design manager for the Building Schools for the Future Program. One of the requirements of the funding was that it had to achieve a sustainability certification to a certain level. I feel sustainability is a primary issue so if I can contribute to it using my primary expertise then I will.

[3:54] Simon: How did you get into this role in ESG?

• I started off my career as an economist working for a very small economics consultancy in London and then moved to DWS Group 11 years ago.
• ESG influences a lot of my work nowadays, it’s always been a factor but now ESG touches pretty much every part of the research and strategy that we do.

[7:47] Simon: Are there any key data points and trends you can show us from your research?

• We still struggle for data in this area and there is a lot of noise around it so it is important that the more data points we get, the better the analysis.
• I think we will be moving from a world of green premium to a world of brown discount. I think the industry will in time all have high levels of environmental credential sustainability and the buildings that don’t will be at a discount rather than the market average.

[9:26] Aleksandra: How do you tie the live data into your strategy?

• The critical point is your due diligence when you’re making the acquisition decision and getting the actual performance data from the building. It is still not practised in the market to provide full information of how the asset performs to the potential buyer.
• Historically we used energy performance certificates which are not reflective of reality, they are a theoretical model which only looks at regulated energy.
• The live data for both the asset management and acquisition management process is incredibly important. The issue is that a huge number of assets have old meters, therefore smart solutions are really important to help digitise the data on those buildings.

[13:10] Simon: Do you think the rising interest rates, inflation and geopolitical uncertainty will affect the investment and adoption of ESG?

• I think we are in a market environment in general where we will see less investment in real estate, we got the real capital analytics data for the second quarter for Europe today and year on year investments are down by about 20%.
• ESG strategies will not be fully immune to what is going on but the trend towards ESG based strategies will continue to grow and accelerate.
• I think there are some positives to be taken from the price correction going on. The buildings today that are of poor quality and low environmental standards are likely to reprice at more than the market average, allowing opportunities for repositioning and impact.

[15:45] Aleksandra: In terms of rising interest rates, inflation and geopolitical uncertainty, what is affecting your strategy and investment decisions?

• Some of these aspects are actually accelerating the focus on energy usage. Energy prices rising will definitely favour buildings that are energy efficient and give tenants a financial incentive.
• These measures are payback to sustainable buildings either in low utility costs or higher tenant demand. Whether you believe in climate change or not, if the energy prices continue to rise, tenants are going to want more energy efficient buildings.

[18:58] Simon: Have you got any data points about how much money people could save if they used a certain technology?

• Given the rise in gas, carbon and energy prices, those buildings with low energy ratings are susceptible to rental declines and rental underperformance.
• Looking at it from a risk perspective, if you come into conflict with regulation and you’re no longer able to lease that building because it is not meeting the standards then you have an obsolete building.

[20:28] Aleksandra: What changes in regulations have you seen in your career and how do you collect data on it?

• We are assessing the risks accordingly, we use a tool called CRREM which is based on real life data to help assess stranding risks of these assets. That then directly has an impact on our investment and asset management decisions.
• Regulations will have to deal with existing building stock if we are to achieve net zero carbon goals. Therefore, some of the regulations that come in will need to regulate private house owners, not just commercial landlords.

[25:25] Simon: What do you have to say about regulations?

• I think we should see regulations as a part of life not as a negative or a risk from an investor perspective.When regulations are well specified and known in advance then we can respond accordingly.
• In terms of collecting data on regulations, it is important to have people on the ground engaging with local bodies and the government, in order to understand how that regulation will impact upon your investment.

[27:20] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Aleksandra: Flexibility and being open for opportunities, if you want to be successful in your career then being flexible and open-minded is the best advice.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Aleksandra: IOT solutions and the geniuses that are coming up with them around the world are resolving real problems and issues within real estate.

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working within the ESG space?

Simon: Being a part of the solution on the quality of affordable housing, through ESG we can certainly make a positive difference.

E - What are you excited about in the future of ESG?

Aleksandra: ESG and sustainability as a whole is seen as added value, as something that should be embedded throughout the business to make it better.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

View Details

In the third episode of season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Aleksandra (Sasha) Njagulj, Managing Director and Global Head of Real Estate ESG at DWS Group and Simon Wallace, Global Head of Research and Strategy at DWS Group.

They discuss the key data points in ESG in real estate and how and why Aleksandra and Simon have risen to the top of the DWS Group and are focusing their careers within ESG. They share the products that DWS Group has found useful in their workplace and the regulation changes they have seen in the market. Lastly, they discuss how the current market may disadvantage or benefit investment in ESG.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• CRREM

Key Insights From This Episode:

• ESG influences a lot of my work nowadays, it’s always been a factor but now ESG touches pretty much every part of the research and strategy that we do. - Simon
• Whether you believe in climate change or not, if the energy prices continue to rise, tenants are going to want more energy efficient buildings. - Aleksandra
• I think we are in a market environment in general where we will see less investment in real estate, we got the real capital analytics data for the second quarter for Europe today and year on year investments are down by about 20%. - Simon
• The current market is accelerating the focus on ESG in real estate, energy prices will favour buildings that are energy efficient. - Aleksandra
• You can do it because you want to look after the environment, but now you can do it because there is a financial incentive as well. - Louisa

About Our Guests:

Aleksandra Njagulj, Managing Director and Global Head of ESG, Real Estate at DWS Group:

Aleksandra (Sasha) Njagulj is the Managing Director, Global Head of ESG (environmental, social, and governance), Real Estate at DWS group. She is responsible for ESG integration across global real estate portfolios. Sasha is an accomplished ESG expert with over 20 years of practical experience in architectural design, design management and the sustainable built environment. In her previous role with CBRE Global Investors, she was Global Head of ESG with overall responsibility for developing and communicating global sustainability priorities and strategies across all business lines. Prior to this, Sasha was head of the Sustainability, R&D and Innovation department at Bouygues U.K.

Throughout her career, Sasha has built a reputation both professionally and personally for championing the cause of responsible real estate investment. She received the UK-based edie 2020 Sustainability Leaders Award for Investor of the Year for an ESG programme she designed and delivered for CBRE. In addition, Sasha was awarded the global 2020 GRESB/BREEAM Individual Leadership Award, recognising strong leadership and commitment in the field of sustainable development. In 2021, she won the global Future Proof Real Estate Woman award as a leader in applying digitalisation, technology, open innovation and sustainability to create a better built environment.

A qualified architect, Sasha holds a Master's degree in Architectural Design from the University of Belgrade; a Master's degree in Sustainability Leadership from the University of Cambridge. She is a BRE Academy fellow, sits on the INREV ESG Committee and ULI ESG Council, leads the IIGCC Real Estate Workstream and chairs the GRESB Foundation Real Estate Standards Committee.

Simon Wallace, Head of Research, Real Estate at DWS Group.

Simon joined the Company in 2011. Prior to his current role, Simon served as Head of Europe Research and Strategy for Alternatives. Prior to joining, he served as an economist for real estate research at Hammerson. Previously, Simon worked as an economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research

BSc in Politics and Economics and MSc in Economics from University of Bristol; Investment Management Certificate (IMC)

About DWS Group:

DWS Group (DWS) is one of the world's leading asset managers with EUR 902bn of assets under management (as of 31 March 2022). Building on more than 60 years of experience, it has a reputation for excellence in Germany, Europe, the Americas and Asia. DWS is recognized by clients globally as a trusted source for integrated investment solutions, stability and innovation across a full spectrum of investment disciplines.

We offer individuals and institutions access to our strong investment capabilities across all major liquid and illiquid asset classes as well as solutions aligned to growth trends. Our diverse expertise in Active, Passive and Alternatives asset management – as well as our deep environmental, social and governance focus – complement each other when creating targeted solutions for our clients. Our expertise and on-the-ground knowledge of our economists, research analysts and investment professionals are brought together in one consistent global CIO View, giving strategic guidance to our investment approach.

DWS wants to innovate and shape the future of investing. We understand that, both as a corporate as well as a trusted advisor to our clients, we have a crucial role in helping navigate the transition to a more sustainable future. With approximately 3,600 employees in offices all over the world, we are local while being one global team. We are committed to acting on behalf of our clients and investing with their best interests at heart so that they can reach their financial goals, no matter what the future holds. With our entrepreneurial, collaborative spirit, we work every day to deliver outstanding investment results, in both good and challenging times to build the best foundation for our clients’ financial future.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[1:44] Aleksandra: What initially sparked your interest in sustainability within real estate?

• Originally I was an architect so my primary expertise is in real estate, I know how it is designed, constructed and managed.
• I discovered the issue of sustainability when I was working as a design manager for the Building Schools for the Future Program. One of the requirements of the funding was that it had to achieve a sustainability certification to a certain level. I feel sustainability is a primary issue so if I can contribute to it using my primary expertise then I will.

[3:54] Simon: How did you get into this role in ESG?

• I started off my career as an economist working for a very small economics consultancy in London and then moved to DWS Group 11 years ago.
• ESG influences a lot of my work nowadays, it’s always been a factor but now ESG touches pretty much every part of the research and strategy that we do.

[7:47] Simon: Are there any key data points and trends you can show us from your research?

• We still struggle for data in this area and there is a lot of noise around it so it is important that the more data points we get, the better the analysis.
• I think we will be moving from a world of green premium to a world of brown discount. I think the industry will in time all have high levels of environmental credential sustainability and the buildings that don’t will be at a discount rather than the market average.

[9:26] Aleksandra: How do you tie the live data into your strategy?

• The critical point is your due diligence when you’re making the acquisition decision and getting the actual performance data from the building. It is still not practised in the market to provide full information of how the asset performs to the potential buyer.
• Historically we used energy performance certificates which are not reflective of reality, they are a theoretical model which only looks at regulated energy.
• The live data for both the asset management and acquisition management process is incredibly important. The issue is that a huge number of assets have old meters, therefore smart solutions are really important to help digitise the data on those buildings.

[13:10] Simon: Do you think the rising interest rates, inflation and geopolitical uncertainty will affect the investment and adoption of ESG?

• I think we are in a market environment in general where we will see less investment in real estate, we got the real capital analytics data for the second quarter for Europe today and year on year investments are down by about 20%.
• ESG strategies will not be fully immune to what is going on but the trend towards ESG based strategies will continue to grow and accelerate.
• I think there are some positives to be taken from the price correction going on. The buildings today that are of poor quality and low environmental standards are likely to reprice at more than the market average, allowing opportunities for repositioning and impact.

[15:45] Aleksandra: In terms of rising interest rates, inflation and geopolitical uncertainty, what is affecting your strategy and investment decisions?

• Some of these aspects are actually accelerating the focus on energy usage. Energy prices rising will definitely favour buildings that are energy efficient and give tenants a financial incentive.
• These measures are payback to sustainable buildings either in low utility costs or higher tenant demand. Whether you believe in climate change or not, if the energy prices continue to rise, tenants are going to want more energy efficient buildings.

[18:58] Simon: Have you got any data points about how much money people could save if they used a certain technology?

• Given the rise in gas, carbon and energy prices, those buildings with low energy ratings are susceptible to rental declines and rental underperformance.
• Looking at it from a risk perspective, if you come into conflict with regulation and you’re no longer able to lease that building because it is not meeting the standards then you have an obsolete building.

[20:28] Aleksandra: What changes in regulations have you seen in your career and how do you collect data on it?

• We are assessing the risks accordingly, we use a tool called CRREM which is based on real life data to help assess stranding risks of these assets. That then directly has an impact on our investment and asset management decisions.
• Regulations will have to deal with existing building stock if we are to achieve net zero carbon goals. Therefore, some of the regulations that come in will need to regulate private house owners, not just commercial landlords.

[25:25] Simon: What do you have to say about regulations?

• I think we should see regulations as a part of life not as a negative or a risk from an investor perspective.When regulations are well specified and known in advance then we can respond accordingly.
• In terms of collecting data on regulations, it is important to have people on the ground engaging with local bodies and the government, in order to understand how that regulation will impact upon your investment.

[27:20] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Aleksandra: Flexibility and being open for opportunities, if you want to be successful in your career then being flexible and open-minded is the best advice.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Aleksandra: IOT solutions and the geniuses that are coming up with them around the world are resolving real problems and issues within real estate.

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working within the ESG space?

Simon: Being a part of the solution on the quality of affordable housing, through ESG we can certainly make a positive difference.

E - What are you excited about in the future of ESG?

Aleksandra: ESG and sustainability as a whole is seen as added value, as something that should be embedded throughout the business to make it better.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

View Details

Summary: On the 2nd episode of Season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Taylor Wescoatt, General Partner at Concrete VC and Guy Grainger, Global Head of Sustainability Services and ESG at JLL.

They discuss why global real estate leaders are refocusing their investment strategy and turning to venture capital to help reach net zero. Taylor Wescoatt shares Concrete VC’s big plans with the sustainable fund and how they managed to get some huge real estate names to invest. Guy talks about JLL’s strategy around net zero and their involvement in the fund. Taylor and Guy share with Louisa how technology, both internally and externally, will help businesses reach their sustainability goals.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• Measurabl
• Hank
• Hillbreak

Companies Mentioned:

• JLL Spark
• JLL Technologies
• SEGRO
• Ardent
• Starwood Capital
• Catella
• Timeout
• AOL

Shout Outs:

• Arnaud Van Der Wyck, Managing Partner at Concrete VC

Key Insights From This Episode:

• We're out recruiting and looking at how we can grow our capabilities in multiple countries to give clients the silver bullet of seamless integration of strategies across multiple geographies, which is really hard to do. - Guy
• There is a direct link between transitioning a building to net-zero, and creating economic value and we need to prove that much more clearly. - Guy
• We've created an investment platform that helps large real estate organisations see more clearly into the early stage tech space so they understand what will be creating and driving change in their industry. - Taylor
• As we see more consistent data coming out of the sector, new artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities will evolve. - Taylor
• According to a JLL report, the value of green certifications on buildings results in a rent premium of 6% and a sales premium of 8% - Louisa
• If we wait for the government to set the regulation it will be too late. - Guy

About Our Guests:

Taylor Wescoatt:

Taylor’s career in technology product management spans 20 years of startups and larger pioneers like eBay and AOL. He started Concrete in 2016 with Starwood and JLL as founding partners out of a recognition that the coming wave of change in Real Estate would be primarily driven by technology. Concrete’s mission remains to help leading players in the Real Estate sector see better into the future by engaging with the most compelling and visionary founders in the technology sector to drive revenue, operational efficiency, and net-zero environmental goals.

Guy Grainger:

Guy Grainger is Global Head of Sustainability Services and ESG at NYSE-listed real estate services company JLL. He has overall responsibility for sustainability services, products and strategy, and for JLL's corporate sustainability program.

Previously, Guy led the EMEA region since June 2016, also serving as a member of JLL’s Global Executive Board. Prior to that, he was CEO of the UK business between 2013 and 2016, having originally joined as a senior leader of the Churston Heard business acquired by JLL in 2008.

Outside of JLL, Guy is Chair of the Circular Economy Taskforce at responsible business organisation Business in the Community and Vice President at the British Property Federation.

An alumnus of the London Business School Senior Executive Programme, he is also an established media commentator on sustainability, the built and natural environment, and amateur triathlete in his spare time.

About Concrete Ventures:

Concrete Ventures is a venture capital investor working closely with leading global real estate partners to understand their key challenges and identify and invest in the technology startup founders delivering real impact.

About JLL:

We’re here to create rewarding opportunities and amazing spaces around the globe where people can achieve their ambitions. In doing so, we are building a better tomorrow for our clients, our people and our communities.

We’re a world leader in real estate services, powered by an entrepreneurial spirit. We want the most ambitious clients to work with us, and the most ambitious people to work for us. It’s as simple as that.

We buy, build, occupy and invest in a variety of assets including industrial, commercial, retail, residential and hotel real estate. From tech startups to global firms, our clients span industries including banking, energy, healthcare, law, life sciences, manufacturing and technology.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

View Details

Summary: On the 2nd episode of Season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Taylor Wescoatt, General Partner at Concrete VC and Guy Grainger, Global Head of Sustainability Services and ESG at JLL.

They discuss why global real estate leaders are refocusing their investment strategy and turning to venture capital to help reach net zero. Taylor Wescoatt shares Concrete VC’s big plans with the sustainable fund and how they managed to get some huge real estate names to invest. Guy talks about JLL’s strategy around net zero and their involvement in the fund. Taylor and Guy share with Louisa how technology, both internally and externally, will help businesses reach their sustainability goals.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• Measurabl
• Hank
• Hillbreak

Companies Mentioned:

• JLL Spark
• JLL Technologies
• SEGRO
• Ardent
• Starwood Capital
• Catella
• Timeout
• AOL

Shout Outs:

• Arnaud Van Der Wyck, Managing Partner at Concrete VC

Key Insights From This Episode:

• We're out recruiting and looking at how we can grow our capabilities in multiple countries to give clients the silver bullet of seamless integration of strategies across multiple geographies, which is really hard to do. - Guy
• There is a direct link between transitioning a building to net-zero, and creating economic value and we need to prove that much more clearly. - Guy
• We've created an investment platform that helps large real estate organisations see more clearly into the early stage tech space so they understand what will be creating and driving change in their industry. - Taylor
• As we see more consistent data coming out of the sector, new artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities will evolve. - Taylor
• According to a JLL report, the value of green certifications on buildings results in a rent premium of 6% and a sales premium of 8% - Louisa
• If we wait for the government to set the regulation it will be too late. - Guy

About Our Guests:

Taylor Wescoatt:

Taylor’s career in technology product management spans 20 years of startups and larger pioneers like eBay and AOL. He started Concrete in 2016 with Starwood and JLL as founding partners out of a recognition that the coming wave of change in Real Estate would be primarily driven by technology. Concrete’s mission remains to help leading players in the Real Estate sector see better into the future by engaging with the most compelling and visionary founders in the technology sector to drive revenue, operational efficiency, and net-zero environmental goals.

Guy Grainger:

Guy Grainger is Global Head of Sustainability Services and ESG at NYSE-listed real estate services company JLL. He has overall responsibility for sustainability services, products and strategy, and for JLL's corporate sustainability program.

Previously, Guy led the EMEA region since June 2016, also serving as a member of JLL’s Global Executive Board. Prior to that, he was CEO of the UK business between 2013 and 2016, having originally joined as a senior leader of the Churston Heard business acquired by JLL in 2008.

Outside of JLL, Guy is Chair of the Circular Economy Taskforce at responsible business organisation Business in the Community and Vice President at the British Property Federation.

An alumnus of the London Business School Senior Executive Programme, he is also an established media commentator on sustainability, the built and natural environment, and amateur triathlete in his spare time.

About Concrete Ventures:

Concrete Ventures is a venture capital investor working closely with leading global real estate partners to understand their key challenges and identify and invest in the technology startup founders delivering real impact.

About JLL:

We’re here to create rewarding opportunities and amazing spaces around the globe where people can achieve their ambitions. In doing so, we are building a better tomorrow for our clients, our people and our communities.

We’re a world leader in real estate services, powered by an entrepreneurial spirit. We want the most ambitious clients to work with us, and the most ambitious people to work for us. It’s as simple as that.

We buy, build, occupy and invest in a variety of assets including industrial, commercial, retail, residential and hotel real estate. From tech startups to global firms, our clients span industries including banking, energy, healthcare, law, life sciences, manufacturing and technology.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the first episode of Season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Vincent Bryant, Co-Founder and CEO of Deepki and Grigor Hadjiev, Head of Product and Development for West Europe at Allianz Real Estate.

Louisa and Vincent discuss the founding of Deepki in 2014 and how their SaaS solution data intelligence platform is helping to guide top real estate players in their net zero transition. Grigor is one of Deepki’s clients and in this episode you'll hear how they’re utilising the SaaS solution to leverage the data from their ESG performance against their goals into the wider business environmental strategy.

Grigor also talks about the obstacles in getting businesses to adopt and transform through digitisation and how to overcome this.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• Fabriq
• La Solive

Shout Outs:

• Emmanuel Blanchet, Co-Founder of Deepki

Key Insights From This Episode:

• I think it's so important when you're hiring and growing a business to have that clear mission and vision - especially for millennials and Gen Zs, that's what they look for, because it’s so important to culture. - Louisa
• We want to harness data so we can give our customers the resources they need to create and implement a comprehensive view of their ESG strategy and to help them to transition towards net zero. - Vincent
• Practically speaking, our SaaS solution data intelligence platform helps all stakeholders make sure that everybody is aligned to reduce the CO2 impact of the assets. - Vincent
• We need to work together to make sure that the solutions are viable and useful for us to reduce the environmental footprint, whilst being profitable for the PropTech companies. - Grigor
• With multiple pressures coming from regulations, expectations from investors and expectations from the people, this is enough to accelerate and to move faster. - Grigor

About Our Guests:

Vincent Bryant:

Vincent Bryant, co-founder and CEO of Deepki. His passion for energy goes all the way back to his early professional days. Vincent began his career with an energy consulting firm, before spending eight years at ENGIE as Energy Efficiency Director. In 2014 he created Deepki with Emmanuel Blanchet, driven by their shared vision: using data to make real estate more sustainable.

Grigor Hadjiev:

Grigor Hadjiev is Allianz Real Estate’s Head of Product & Development for West Europe responsible for the design and execution of large capex programs and topics including ESG and ‘smart‘. He also leads the Innovation & Digitalization activities, bringing data asset management into the firm’s existing expertise. Prior to joining Allianz Real Estate in 2018, he was Director for French-speaking Switzerland at Drees & Sommer. He started his career as an architect and general planner before joining a strategy & finance advisory firm. An alumnus of ETH Zurich, HEC Paris and ENSAPLV, Grigor holds a master's degree in Architecture and Management. In 2017, he became a qualified member of RICS.

About Deepki:

Founded in 2014, Deepki has developed a SaaS solution that uses data intelligence to guide real estate players in their net-zero transition. The solution leverages customer data to improve assets’ ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) performance and maximise asset value. Deepki operates in 39 countries, with 180 team members across offices in Paris, London, Berlin, Milan and Madrid. The company serves clients including AEW, Primonial REIM, Generali Real Estate, SwissLife Asset Managers and the French government, helping to make their real estate assets more sustainable at scale. In March 2022 Deepki raised €150 million in a Series C round of funding which was jointly led by Highland Europe and One Peak Partners. Other investors include Bpifrance, through their Large Venture fund, and Revaia.

About Allianz:

Allianz Real Estate is a PIMCO Company, comprising Allianz Real Estate GmbH and Allianz Real Estate of America and their subsidiaries and affiliates. It is one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers, developing and executing tailored portfolio and investment strategies globally on behalf of a range of global liability driven investors, creating long-term value for clients through direct as well as indirect investments and real estate financing. The operational management of investments and assets is performed out of 17 offices in key gateway cities across 4 regions (West Europe, North & Central Europe, USA and Asia Pacific). For more information, please visit: www.allianz-realestate.com.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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In the first episode of Season 10 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Vincent Bryant, Co-Founder and CEO of Deepki and Grigor Hadjiev, Head of Product and Development for West Europe at Allianz Real Estate.

Louisa and Vincent discuss the founding of Deepki in 2014 and how their SaaS solution data intelligence platform is helping to guide top real estate players in their net zero transition. Grigor is one of Deepki’s clients and in this episode you'll hear how they’re utilising the SaaS solution to leverage the data from their ESG performance against their goals into the wider business environmental strategy.

Grigor also talks about the obstacles in getting businesses to adopt and transform through digitisation and how to overcome this.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• Fabriq
• La Solive

Shout Outs:

• Emmanuel Blanchet, Co-Founder of Deepki

Key Insights From This Episode:

• I think it's so important when you're hiring and growing a business to have that clear mission and vision - especially for millennials and Gen Zs, that's what they look for, because it’s so important to culture. - Louisa
• We want to harness data so we can give our customers the resources they need to create and implement a comprehensive view of their ESG strategy and to help them to transition towards net zero. - Vincent
• Practically speaking, our SaaS solution data intelligence platform helps all stakeholders make sure that everybody is aligned to reduce the CO2 impact of the assets. - Vincent
• We need to work together to make sure that the solutions are viable and useful for us to reduce the environmental footprint, whilst being profitable for the PropTech companies. - Grigor
• With multiple pressures coming from regulations, expectations from investors and expectations from the people, this is enough to accelerate and to move faster. - Grigor

About Our Guests:

Vincent Bryant:

Vincent Bryant, co-founder and CEO of Deepki. His passion for energy goes all the way back to his early professional days. Vincent began his career with an energy consulting firm, before spending eight years at ENGIE as Energy Efficiency Director. In 2014 he created Deepki with Emmanuel Blanchet, driven by their shared vision: using data to make real estate more sustainable.

Grigor Hadjiev:

Grigor Hadjiev is Allianz Real Estate’s Head of Product & Development for West Europe responsible for the design and execution of large capex programs and topics including ESG and ‘smart‘. He also leads the Innovation & Digitalization activities, bringing data asset management into the firm’s existing expertise. Prior to joining Allianz Real Estate in 2018, he was Director for French-speaking Switzerland at Drees & Sommer. He started his career as an architect and general planner before joining a strategy & finance advisory firm. An alumnus of ETH Zurich, HEC Paris and ENSAPLV, Grigor holds a master's degree in Architecture and Management. In 2017, he became a qualified member of RICS.

About Deepki:

Founded in 2014, Deepki has developed a SaaS solution that uses data intelligence to guide real estate players in their net-zero transition. The solution leverages customer data to improve assets’ ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) performance and maximise asset value. Deepki operates in 39 countries, with 180 team members across offices in Paris, London, Berlin, Milan and Madrid. The company serves clients including AEW, Primonial REIM, Generali Real Estate, SwissLife Asset Managers and the French government, helping to make their real estate assets more sustainable at scale. In March 2022 Deepki raised €150 million in a Series C round of funding which was jointly led by Highland Europe and One Peak Partners. Other investors include Bpifrance, through their Large Venture fund, and Revaia.

About Allianz:

Allianz Real Estate is a PIMCO Company, comprising Allianz Real Estate GmbH and Allianz Real Estate of America and their subsidiaries and affiliates. It is one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers, developing and executing tailored portfolio and investment strategies globally on behalf of a range of global liability driven investors, creating long-term value for clients through direct as well as indirect investments and real estate financing. The operational management of investments and assets is performed out of 17 offices in key gateway cities across 4 regions (West Europe, North & Central Europe, USA and Asia Pacific). For more information, please visit: www.allianz-realestate.com.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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Propcast Season 10 is here! We are focusing on ESG within the built environment, and we are thrilled to be joined by some of the leading companies in the industry to speak about what their business ESG strategy is - and what they're doing to reduce their carbon footprint.

Our guests share not only professional but personal experiences and the valuable lessons they have learnt for our listeners to find out more about the evolution of the built environment.

Subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode & drop a 5 Star rating on Apple or Spotify. We're thankful for everyone who has been on this journey with us this far, and everyone who will join that number this season. Your support is the reason this show exists. Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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Propcast Season 10 is here! We are focusing on ESG within the built environment, and we are thrilled to be joined by some of the leading companies in the industry to speak about what their business ESG strategy is - and what they're doing to reduce their carbon footprint.

Our guests share not only professional but personal experiences and the valuable lessons they have learnt for our listeners to find out more about the evolution of the built environment.

Subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode & drop a 5 Star rating on Apple or Spotify. We're thankful for everyone who has been on this journey with us this far, and everyone who will join that number this season. Your support is the reason this show exists. Sponsors

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

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Summary: In the final episode of The Propcast Season 9, Louisa is joined by Kevin Danehy, Vice Chair, North America and Global Head of Corporate Development and Allison Lloyds, Global Head of Investor Relations and Capital Development at Willow.

They discuss why digital twins are getting the attention of investors, what a digital twin is, how they both got into the digital twin space, and how Willow’s clients use their product. While there is an inherent reluctance to embrace change, digitisation is here and it’s time for people in the real estate industry to realise that tech, a digital twin, or data can make their portfolios stronger and more sustainable.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• CBRE
• Brookfield Properties

Shout Outs:

• Joshua Ridley, CEO and Co-Founder of Willow
• Nick Moore, Executive Director at Gresham

Key Insights From This Episode:

• Working with potential investors and customers, I encourage them to look at things differently. To be more flexible and say, “How can tech, a digital twin, or data make my portfolio stronger or more sustainable?” - Allison
• We're leveraging the computing power of the cloud to digitise real world assets. - Allison
• There's no secret that the confluence of inflation, rising rates, and geopolitical unrest have had an acutely negative impact on the public market. - Allison
• Change is here, we're not going back - digitisation is here. - Allison
• There is an inherent reluctance to embrace change. - Kevin
• With a digital twin, preventive maintenance is accelerated and the utilisation of the rail increases from 85% to the very high 90%. - Kevin
• Over the last 15 years, the co-location of high rise office buildings along with high rise multi-family apartment buildings integrated with retail and hospitality or hotels, offer the opportunity for an increasingly dynamic live, work, play ecosystem that attracts people 24 hours a day, seven days a week. - Kevin
• In 1950, 28% of the world's population were living in urban areas, in 2007 it became 50/50. By 2050, despite the pandemic and migration, the UN and other research indicate that two-thirds of the world's population will be in global gateway cities. - Kevin

About Our Guests:

Kevin Danehy:

Kevin Danehy is Vice Chair, North America and Global Head of Corporate Development at Willow. As Vice Chair of North America, Kevin leads the strategic direction, growth, and management of regional operations. Throughout his career, Kevin has cultivated, established, and led relationships with clients, as well as actively participated in transactional, leadership, and change management activities.

Prior to joining Willow, Kevin served as Executive Vice President & Global Head of Corporate Development at Brookfield Properties for 9 years. In this role, he worked to accelerate revenue and asset value growth across a global portfolio and played a pivotal role in the identification, introduction, and deployment of new technology platforms. From 2019, Danehy was instrumental in the deployment of WillowTwinTM on Brookfield's premier development, One Manhattan West, a project that has since led to him joining Willow.

Allison Lloyds:

Allison Lloyds is Global Head of Investor Relations and Capital Development. In this role, Allison leads Willow's external capital activities and is the company’s primary point of contact for both internal and external investors.

Allison was an integral part of Willow’s most recent capital raise. She began her career in real estate at CBRE, where she specialised in strategic planning and operational performance improvement for multinational corporate clients.

About Willow:

Willow is the “digital twin” for the built world. Through their software and professional services, Willow creates a digital replica of a built asset, that collects and aggregates data into a “twin”. Through this approach, Willow enables the owners and operators of major portfolios and infrastructure to make smarter, more proactive, and data-led decisions. By providing data-driven insights, Willow empowers users to manage with greater efficiency, drive operational improvements at scale and provide their occupants with an enhanced and more connected experience. Willow is a global technology company with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Seattle, Dallas, Toronto, London, Amersfoort and Manila.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[02:45] Kevin: How did you get into real estate and how did you move into your position?

• I have been in the real estate business for over 35 years, I spent the first half of my career at CBRE as an advisor and for about a decade, I was with Brookfield.
• Part of my responsibility at Brookfield was to search for the new emerging business practices and approaches that would have a positive impact on the real estate industry and Willow was one of the most interesting.
• After a significant amount of time with Willow and the corresponding endorsement from the Brookfield team, I joined Willow to help the adoption of digitisation of physical assets.

[06:20] Allison: How did you go about transitioning to Willow and why did you make the transition?

• I worked at CBRE in New York and London in the global corporate services division and after a decade I pivoted to organisational psychology and went back and got my PhD.
• As my kids got older and the pandemic came, things shifted and I found myself wanting to re-enter the real estate space.
• I reconnected with Kevin and I was always interested in tech and curious about that space.

[10:15] Kevin: Can you give us an example of when Willow’s product has been used? You were involved in the Super Bowl, can you talk us through how that would have worked and what value would have added there?

• SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles where the Super Bowl is held is a beneficiary of having a full digital twin. The digital twin integrates all the different technology systems that exist.
• A digital twin is an integration hub for technology.
• The benefit is it allows for the end user to have more data available as well as analytics using science and using artificial intelligence to be able to make predictions.
• Some of our projects in the US are Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and One Manhattan West. In London, one of our buildings is 22 Bishopsgate.

[14:45] Allison: Can you talk us through Willow’s fundraising narrative to date and then what you have planned for the future?

• We have been really thoughtful about how we have raised capital to date, we don't have a traditional story.
• We use capital raised to invest in the business. We have a big focus on attracting and retaining top talent.
• There's no secret that the confluence of inflation, rising rates, and geopolitical unrest have had an acutely negative impact on public market and because of this we see VCs scrutinising perspective companies like Willow to a greater degree.

[22:35] Kevin: What is next for Willow?

• We're in the process of digitising Brookfield's office building portfolio in New York City.
• Across our categories, rail both in terms of railroad systems, computers, systems, and mining companies there is a large area for growth.
• The big opportunity for us right now is to increase our deployment across portfolios.

[28:30] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Kevin: It's incredibly valuable to have a mentor. The harder I've worked, the luckier I've been.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Allison: Kevin Danehy and Josh Ridley

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working in PropTech?

Kevin : The physical part of real estate has always been what has thrilled me and gives me a great sense of fulfilment.

E - What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

Allison: PropTech is a space in which we just see so much potential and it's about how we can make the future better for generations that come after us.

Sponsors

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A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch jason@apodcastcompany.com

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Summary: In the penultimate episode of season 9 of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Nobu Iguchi, Managing Partner at Agya Ventures, and Fatima Dicko, Founder & CEO at Sugar.

In this episode, they discuss their journeys into the real estate innovation space and how, over the years, they’ve come to realise how important the concept of “community” has become.

We hear from Fatima about the mission, product and value of Sugar in the real estate industry, while Nobu explains how Agya Ventures helps businesses expand into Japan. The key takeaway from this episode is that innovation happens as a result of people taking risks.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• Sidewalk Labs

Shout Outs:

• Kunal Lunawat, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Agya Ventures
• Aaron Farr, Analyst at Agya Ventures
• Elian Haddock, Analyst at Agya Ventures

Key Insights From This Episode:

• The largest expense for building managers and owners is apartment turnover. - Fatima
• Gen Z will represent over 40% of the workforce by 2024. Most of them will be renters versus home buyers. - Fatima
• Community is a universal need. - Nobu
• If we continue building a product that customers love, continue listening to the product feedback, and continue solving this large and growing problem then we can build a company that is not only relevant right now, but sustainable over the long run. - Fatima
• Real estate has both a local component to it and a global component to it. - Nobu
• Innovation happens as a result of people taking risks. - Fatima
• Real estate is the largest global asset class with a 1% technology utilisation rate. - Fatima

About Our Guests:

Nobu Iguchi, Managing Partners at Agya Ventures

Nobu Iguchi is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Agya Ventures. Before Agya Ventures, Nobu worked at Bridgewater Associates, as a senior investment professional on the micro equities team. Nobu started his career at McKinsey & Company, where he was based out of the Tokyo office, and worked on projects across the United States, Thailand and Germany. Nobu holds a BS in Chemistry from Yale College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Agya VenturesAgya Ventures is a technology-focused real estate fund investing in exceptional entrepreneurs and early-stage companies.

Fatima Dicko, Founder & CEO at Sugar

Fatima Dicko is the Founder & CEO of Sugar, a resident experience platform that helps property managers build stronger communities. Before Sugar, Fatima spent 5 years at P&G as a senior engineer on a product innovation team. While at P&G, she received several patents and was 1 of 127 nominated technologists awarded the annual 'Most Transformative Product Innovation' award.

Fatima came to the U.S. from Mali at a young age and grew up in New York City, receiving her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University and MBA from Stanford Business School. She was named as '18 Inspiring Women to Watch' by Inc Magazine, listed on the 2021 Forbes 'Next 1000' list and has been featured in major publications such as TechCrunch, Business Insider, Crunchbase, Black Enterprise and CNBC.

Sugar

Sugar is a modern resident engagement platform that turns apartment buildings into vibrant communities. Sugar allows residents to pay rent, unlock doors and earn rewards for engaging with their community. By elevating the residential experience at their properties, Sugar helps managers attract new residents, increase lease renewal rates and introduce additional revenue streams. Sugar's vision is to turn strangers into neighbours and neighbours into friends.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[02:20] Fatima: Can you share your journey to this space?

• My background is in chemical engineering.
• I started thinking about communities when I was at Stanford Business School, how do they form, what strengthens communities and what keeps communities alive?
• When I moved to LA, I lived in an apartment building with hundreds of people and I started an experiment where we put a QR code in the elevator, from there we started looking at traditional property management platforms and found residents weren’t very happy with them.
• The name Sugar came from the cup of sugar from your neighbour.

[04:20] Nobu: Can you tell us about your journey to the VC space?

• My co-founder and I were at college together but we went on very different paths.
• In 2019, I had an idea about raising capital from real estate developers and other entities with an interest in real estate and investing the capital in promising real estate technology startups.
• We left our previous jobs and started Agya Ventures. Our LPs are real estate developers, construction companies and other entities that are interested in real estate and construction innovation.

[05:40] Nobu: What do you call “early stage” and how much capital do you look to put in?

• Seed is our sweet spot but we invest pre-seed.
• $500,000 to $1 million.

[07:40] Fatima: Can you talk a bit more about how you can strengthen community resident spaces and how did you go about your raise with Nobu?

• Building Community in Residential Spaces:
• • The largest expense for building managers and owners is apartment turnover.
  • Gen Z, who will represent over 40% of the workforce by 2024, most of them will be renters versus home buyers.
  • Community is not a nice to have or luxury, it's a necessity.
• Raising with Nobu:
• • Nobu understood the vision and the importance of community from the early days.
  • When we dove into the nuances of the actual opportunity and what things are going to look like moving forward, they continued to resonate.

[09:30] Fatima: Where is Sugar based?

• We are alive in properties in different regions across the country, our largest presence is in LA but we live in properties in Florida, North Carolina and New York.
• What makes an ideal Sugar property and profile - 30 or more units and we have seen a lot of engagement in senior living properties so our ideas about demographics are changing.
• Community resonates with people of different ages and geographic regions.

[12:40] Nobu: What change have you seen pre and post-COVID? Have you been investing at the same rate? How many more investments are you looking to secure by the end of this year?

• What changes have you seen pre- and post-COVID?
• • The need for community has been direr and has been more pronounced with COVID.
  • Some people were working remotely before COVID and now hybrid work is an integral part of how employers are thinking about their workforce.
  • Our fund started investing post-COVID and one of the things that emerged with COVID were a lot of amazing startup ideas.
• Have you been investing at the same rate?
• • 2021 was a booming year for VC and many startups emerged.
  • There has been a change since then because of inflations.
  • Some of the best companies come out of these uncertain times.

[16:20] Nobu: Do you think valuations will go slightly down or be more slightly realistic?

• We are already seeing late-stage correction that's in response to a public market correction and we're seeing mid-stage valuation correction in response to the late-stage correction.

[16:50] Fatima: How have the last nine months been since securing your investor?

• Over the last year, we've invested heavily in the product which has led to greater efficiency within sales and marketing.
• If we continue building a product that customers love, continue listening to the product feedback, and continue solving this large and growing problem then we can build a company that is not only relevant right now, but sustainable over the long run.

[19:15] Nobu: You help businesses expand out to Japan, how do you go about it?

• We invest in US-based technology companies and one of the things we do bring to the table for founders is an expansion to Japan.
• We also work with companies that are not necessarily portfolio.

[22:20] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Nobu: There is a risk in not taking a risk.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Nobu: Kunal, Aaron, Elian, my wife, Megan and my daughter, Ruth.

R – What has been the most  rewarding  aspect of working in PropTech?

Fatima: It's a very relationship-driven industry.

E - What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

Fatima: There's so much opportunity in this space.

Sponsors

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Summary: Louisa is joined by Mark Furness, Founder & CEO of essensys and Kally Kang-Kersey, Chief People Officer at essensys for the 8th episode of season 9 of The Propcast. During the course of the episode, they discuss what it means to digitally enable buildings and office spaces. Mark shares his journey from founding essensys back in 2006 to listing it on the stock exchange in 2019. Kally speaks about what people are looking for when joining a business in the post-pandemic world and how to build a successful business in a market that is constantly shifting. The discussion evolves into an overview of the major trends in the market and predictions for the future. 2019, 2020 and beyond have been a huge catalyst in terms of the change in real estate; post pandemic, people want purpose in their work and they want to be connected to the business that they're working in.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Key Insights From This Episode:

• Digitalisation and frictionless building experience are right at the heart of the real estate industry, as well as sustainability. - Mark
• Post pandemic, people want purpose in their work and they want to be connected to the business that they're working in. - Kally
• 2019, 2020 and beyond have been a huge catalyst in terms of the change in real estate. - Mark
• The operation of real estate has not had huge adoption because the acceleration of digital-first type solutions and digital enablement has only really happened in the last few years. - Mark
• We've got to create a growth mindset in our employees. - Kally

About Our Guests:

Mark Furness, Founder & CEO of essensys

Mark Furness is the CEO of essensys, the world’s largest provider of mission-critical software and services to the flexible workspace industry. He has over 15 years of experience in building global SaaS and IT organisations. With a focus on automation and self-service, he founded essensys in 2006 to change the way space providers deliver services and meet occupier requirements in the flexible office sector. Mark is passionate about innovation, customer success and company culture. He is a determined leader and a visionary, guiding essensys to a public listing on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in May of 2019.

Kally Kang-Kersey, Chief People Officer at essensys

Kally Kang-Kersey is a true commercial business HR leader with over 25 years’ experience driving inspirational approaches to enable organisational change and human capital management at international and globally scaled technology-led businesses. She was most recently VP, Talent & Organisational Development at Zebra Technologies, a $4bn revenue global technology business, where she led their global talent function, and previously served as HR leader for EMEA. Prior to Zebra Technologies, she held various senior HR and leadership roles at Xerox, American Express and Yellow Pages Sales Ltd (BT).

In this newly created role of Chief People Officer, Kally joins essensys’ Executive and Operating Board, and will lead on all HR and human capital matters across the group, including talent development, culture, employee engagement, inclusion and diversity.

essensys

essensys is a leading global technology company for commercial real estate. Our platform is designed to solve the problems faced by today’s modern landlords and flex workspace providers, providing the intelligent digital backbone that enables the real-time provisioning of digital services through intelligent network automation.

essensys delivers a simple, secure and scalable solution that helps our customers to create digitally enabled buildings and spaces portfolio-wide, to deliver seamless experiences, and realise smart building and ESG ambitions. We simplify network management, reduce operational complexity, provide enterprise-grade security, deliver on-demand digital services and access the data and insights to drive success.

Founded in 2006, and AIM-listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2019, essensys is active in the UK, Europe, North America and APAC.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[03:05] Mark: Talk us through founding essensys in 2006 and give us some information about the product.

• essensys is the word ‘essential systems’ chopped up and I started it in 2006 because I wasn’t sure many people would consider employing me at that time or in the future.
• The world of technology especially IT and Service Delivery as well as the technology around network services was hugely complicated.
• The genesis of the business was could we automate and make self-service, the management to control IT and infrastructure in an enterprise?

[08:10] Mark: Can you give an example of someone who might be your customer?

• Think about the world's largest real estate brands and companies, whether it is flex, industrious or big asset owners.
• We have a global private network and then we have technologies that we control - imagine walking into a building, you can get your phone out and you can tap your phone and not only will it connect you to the network, but it will also open the door as well as book the space and charge you, all in less than half a second.

[11:30] Kally: What have you seen post-pandemic in terms of what people are looking for when joining a business?

• People want purpose and they want to be connected to the business they're working in.
• Communication and how we engage are more imperative than how many days we are working.
• Aligning your culture to the actions you want to see.

[16:20] Mark: In 2019, essensys IPO’d and raised a significant amount of capital, what has changed in the business since then?

• We bootstrapped to 2019 but we had to set our stall out for the future and the ambition of the business.
• It was an evolution in the real estate sector that drove that thinking.

[18:50] Mark: What are the major trends you've seen?

• I think the trends are the same, but I think they are accelerating.
• Since 2006, flex was already moving in the direction I thought it would go in.
• Finally sustainability. Do we do this as a tick box exercise? Do we do it because we're forced to? Is it part of the responsibility of real estate as such a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions?

[21:15] Kally: How do you build for success in such a rapidly changing market?

• We're evolving fast so companies can get wrapped up in the transactional but we're trying to transform.
• We launched our first sales academy from a structured methodology but also evolving and getting people to understand the impact we make.
• Everybody should be able to have a connection and passion for the company.

[24:45] Mark: What's next for essensys and what are your future predictions for the market?

• For essensys, we are looking for where we can work with those big global real estate providers and those at-scale flex providers to help them with their growth, with their digital transformation and to make their operations more efficient.
• Real estate is going back to the era of let & forget because buildings are becoming more autonomous.
• The main lesson I have learned is to be yourself, have authenticity in every part of what we do. I want people to challenge me and be passionate about what we are doing. The importance of a work-life balance.

[28:20] Kally: What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

• Excitement through empowerment. If you are high energy, you’ve got curiosity, and you want to solve problems. It's a great culture. And, even when you fail, it's still a great culture.

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Summary: In collaboration with our community partners PropTech Denmark, our Regional Manager for the Nordics, Sanna Walfridsson recorded a live podcast at the PropTech Symposium: Real Impact joined by the Nordic industry leaders Rikke Lykke, Group CEO for Deas Group, Filippa Dracke von Euler, Head of Digital Service Development at Newsec, and partner at Stronghold Invest, and finally Rasmus Juul-Nyholm, Founder of Cobblestone A/S and Home.Earth.During this episode, they deep dive into some of the hottest topics discussed in real estate today, ESG, Sustainability, Investment and Talent and most importantly how we move from buzz words to actions.

Companies Mentioned: * Deas Group * Deepki * Plentific * Cobblestone * Home.Earth * Stronghold Invest * Newsec * Wework * LMRE * PropTech Denmark * Axeleo Capital * Regus * Amazon

Shout Outs:
Antony Slumbers, Founder antonyslumbers.com
Daniel Kraft, Partner at Stronghold Invest, co-founder Nordic Proptech Initiative

Magnus Svantegård, Partner Stronghold Invest
Nadim Stub, Group Vice President | Digital Ventures & Partnerships, DEAS Group.

Key Insights From This Episode:
The real estate and Proptech world are 10 years behind banks and the financial industry, so we have a lot to do.
- FilippaDon't focus on talent as we know it, look at other industries, we need other perspectives to move the industry forward.
– FilippaIn order to make change, we have to engage everyone. All employees, not just the C level people. You can set the vision at C level, but you need to let the employees decide the process.
- RikkeThe evolution of real estate that we have seen over the past 10 years has gone more and more towards the digital world. - RikkeThe biggest office space today, it is not in the office, it's at home.
- RikkeThings are changing now because of a pressure. Things are changing now as a reaction to ESG demands, and reaction to the taxonomy and the whole financial instrument that is being implemented. It is still a reactionary movement
- RasmusWho will start the more proactive approach and work towards the opportunities? - Rasmus

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Summary: In the 7th episode of the 9th season of The Propcast, Louisa is joined by the Co-Founders of Smart Building Bootcamp Matthew Marson and Michael Grant to chat about the secret to becoming a “Smart Building Expert”.

Matthew and Michael describe what is offered by Smart Building Bootcamp and how they equip their customers with the skills they need to become Smart Building Experts. By cutting through the jargon and enabling people to see through the smoke and mirrors, Smart Building Bootcamp simplifies smart technology.

They discuss the wide range of businesses that sign up for their courses - from real estate firms to investment banks - and why it’s so important to walk these clients through the fundamental components of smart building technology. After all, digitising a building can't happen overnight, it's a journey that requires a certain level of understanding.

Later in the episode, they touch on what skills they are looking for in the hiring process before they wrap things up with their expectations of the smart building industry.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• WSP
• Accenture
• AirRated

Shout Outs:

• Olga Turner Baker, Co-Founder and Managing Director Co-Founder and Managing Director Ekkist
• Charlotte Laing, Head of Marketing at Metrikus and Co-founder at Smart Building Bootcamp
• Brad Koerner, VP Product & Innovation MgtVP Product & Innovation Mgt at LUXTECH LED Modules

Key Insights From This Episode:

• Before you invest in digitising your estate, you need to educate yourself. - Michael
• Digitising your building can't happen overnight, it's a journey. - Matthew
• Hiring managers should think of their teams as a patchwork that is tied together with all those different experiences, rather than looking for a herd of unicorns, cause you won't find them. - Michael
• If we're going to stop the world from warming up, if we're going to reduce energy costs and we're going to improve indoor air quality, you need to make buildings smarter. - Michael
• People want their buildings to be smart and they want their buildings to react immediately. - Michael
• Customers are looking for different services, some want indoor air quality, some want energy and water monitoring and some want occupancy and capacity monitoring. - Matthew
• Since COVID, I have seen the 3 Cs; compliance, coerce and collaboration. First, it was making sure the air quality was suitable, then it was how can we get people back into the office and finally it has been about collaboration. - Matthew
• To get people back to the office, the obvious answer is to deploy the right smart building technology in order to prove and adapt to all the things that are going on. - Matthew

About Our Guests:

Matthew Marson, Global Market Sector Director - Technology at Arcadis and Co-Founder of Smart Building Bootcamp

Matthew Marson is the Global Technology Sector Director at Arcadis and the co-founder of the recently launched Smart Building Bootcamp.

Having founded WSP’s Smart Places practice and grown Accenture’s offering in this field, Matthew now leads a €100m business across a range of asset types and geographies.

Marson was named as the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Young Engineer of the Year 2022 and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Young Visionary 2016 for his work in creating The World’s Most Connected Building. He now sits on the Institution’s Strategy Committee.

As a recognised thought leader, Matthew is a keynote speaker at international industry events related to emerging technology, net-zero design and places at the building and city scales. He was an author in the Encyclopaedia of Sustainable Technologies and a published writer in a variety of journals, earning a doctorate in Smart Buildings.

He has recently launched Smart Building Bootcamp in an effort to share his knowledge and bring smart technology leaders together, to educate the real estate industry on how they can benefit from smart buildings.

Michael Grant, COO & Co-Founder at Metrikus and Co-Founder at Smart Building Bootcamp

Michael Grant is the co-founder and COO of Metrikus, and co-founder of recently launched Smart Building Bootcamp. Michael is an operations, strategy and management professional with over 20 years in the technology sector. Specialising in technology, software, IoT, ESG and cloud, Michael has over 10 years’ experience working at Senior Management and C-Level and has dealt with large teams to deliver solutions with exceptional service – clients include those from banking, commercial real estate and IT sectors.

Smart Building Bootcamp

Smart Building Bootcamp makes smart simple. The smart building industry is overwhelmingly complicated. There are hundreds of vendors all saying the same thing while at the same time all claiming they do smart ‘differently’. We exist to equip you with the skills you need to interpret technical jargon.

With our online on-demand courses, you’ll be a smart building expert in no time.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[02:00] Matthew: Can you elaborate on your career journey?

• I trained as an architect and engineer and started off working at a bank.
• I then went on to Accenture in the sustainability team where we were looking for ways in which we could reduce energy consumption for our clients.
• After that, I went to WSP to set up their smart places practice.

[03:35] Matthew: How did you meet Michael?

• A chance meeting at an industry event.

[04:20] Michael: Can you talk us through your career journey?

• I am a sparky (electrician) by trade, I then went into engineering and then IT.
• I was never in real estate until I got brought into the previous company and then I did a buyout with Metrikus Ltd, 3 years ago.
• AirRated sprung out of Metrikus and is now run as a separate business.

[07:55] Matthew: Can you talk us through Smart Building Bootcamp’s key modules?

• There are 15 modules and we have arranged them into three tracks of five.
• Track 1: Trends
• Track 2: Physical
• Track 3: Digital

[09:40] Matthew: Give us an example of some jargon which you teach.

• Different types of databases.
• What's a server?
• How different systems come together.

[11:10] Michael: Who are the main people taking this course?

• Quite a wide mix, people from real estate, investment bankers, heads of operations, surveyors, heads of workplaces or heads of facilitates.

[16:45] Matthew: Coming out of COVID what are your customers looking for and what are they wanting from your product?

• It depends on the customer and what they want.
• Before COVID, 95% of our customers were tenants/occupiers and now it is almost 50/50. We have more landlords than we have ever worked with before.
• Some customers want indoor air quality, some want energy and water monitoring and some want occupancy and capacity monitoring.
• Michael: The 3 Cs: compliance, coerce and collaboration.

[22:00] Matthew: What skills do you look for when hiring people, and where do you see the talent coming from?

• Having a good combination of software, some built environment experience, good problem solvers and technically minded.
• I'm looking for more to do with curiosity and interest and the right attitude.

[24:45] Michael: What skills do you look for when hiring people, and where do you see the talent coming from?

• We only have 1 hire that came from the real estate industry (building management systems).
• It is really difficult to find people.
• I don’t think people need to come from the real estate industry as long as they are smart and they understand what it is you are trying to do.

[28:45] Why are you both passionate about making buildings smart?

• Matthew: Growing up, I wanted to be an architect and I was inspired by throwing away ornamentation and antiquity and using the technologies of the time. Now I see this as a new architecture kind that will fundamentally change how we manage our space.
• Michael: I didn’t come from this space, I came from a place where state of the art and cutting edge were everything you wanted but with the real estate industry, it's like going back in time.
• Michael: If we're going to stop the world from warming up, if we're going to reduce energy costs and if we're going to improve indoor air quality, you need to make buildings smarter.

[33:20] What are the major trends you've seen and do you have any expectations in the smart building industry?

• Matthew: We are seeing a rationalisation in the number of companies that offer sensors and we will see an upsurge in more master systems integrators.
• Matthew: On the professional services side, we will probably run out of opportunities to do use-case playbooks and the customers will become much more sophisticated in setting the agenda of what they want to do around intelligent procurement decisions.
• Michael: A lot of drivers are if the government's going to give me a huge tax rebate or pay for 50% of me digitising my building and help make it more efficient then I'm going to do it.

[40:40] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Matthew: When you're designing a system, know the difference between cool and creepy.

Michael: You need to deliver what you say you're going to deliver in this space.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Matthew: Brad Koerner, Presentation at Integrated Systems Europe

Michael: Charlotte Laing

R – What has been the most rewarding aspect of working in PropTech?

Matthew: Creation of a new architecture 2.0 and the difference it will make to the built environment.

Michael: Feedback from customers that say we've genuinely helped them.

E - What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

Michael: Smart Building Bootcamps

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Summary: Louisa is joined by Jeff Allen, President of CubiCasa and Nikki Rinkus, Field Staff Appraiser at Clario Appraisal Network for the 6th episode of season 9 of The Propcast. The discussion kicks off with a description of CubiCasa’s product, what it provides, and how it speeds up floorplan and appraisal processes. Louisa, Jeff, and Nikki chat about the trend of tech adoption and digitization in the industry and how CubiCasa has a strong foothold in 142 different countries. Jeff explains how their company differentiates itself from competitors and describes the PropTech scene in Finland. One of the main takeaways in this episode is that technology isn't eliminating any jobs, it's creating more efficiencies.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• JRL Property Group
• CBRE
• Apprao
• bowery

Shout Outs:

• Jarmo Lumpus, Director Global Business Development at CubiCasa

Key Insights From This Episode:

• You can go completely digital, I walk into an appraisal inspection with just my phone, no pad of paper, just the phone and it does everything. - Nikki
• Technology isn't eliminating any jobs, it's creating more efficiencies. - Jeff
• Appraisers are naturally a sceptical bunch, we want to check and double-check everything so we are slow to adopt new technology. - Nikki
• PropTech touches something universal and is important to everybody in the world. - Jeff

About Our Guests:

Jeff Allen, President of CubiCasa

Jeff Allen serves as President of CubiCasa where he leads the company’s overall strategy to digitize property data collection and unlock actionable data insights for homeowners and mortgage professionals alike. In addition, Jeff serves as Executive Vice President, Innovation Labs for Clear Capital, the real estate valuation technology company that acquired CubiCasa in 2021. In this capacity, Jeff spearheads Clear Capital’s in-house innovation hub, which focuses on the research, testing, and development of new products and solutions. Jeff has held a wide range of leadership roles throughout his career, including Vice President of Operations at CoreLogic, Chief Operating Officer at Rels, Director of Research Services at 10k Researching and Marketing, as well as Research Manager at Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®.

About CubiCasa

CubiCasa is a PropTech company focused on providing value for real estate professionals through the digitization of properties. Headquartered in Oulu, Finland, CubiCasa is the global market leader in mobile indoor scanning and is known for its fast and easy-to-use floor plan app on the App Store and Google Play Store. CubiCasa's technology is used in 144 different countries and has helped create over 1 million floor plans to date. CubiCasa provides technology for the real estate, appraisal, and mortgage industries and is on a mission to digitise real estate.

Nikki Rinkus:

Nikki Rinkus has been appraising real estate in the Chicagoland market for 30 years and also holds her sales broker license. Over those 30 years, she has experienced unprecedented technological shifts in both arenas and has always been an early adapter. Some of her most interesting side jobs over the years include international courier and DJ.

About Clario Appraisal Network

Clario Appraisal Network is a full-service residential real estate appraisal firm. Composed of highly-experienced appraisers, we provide the highest quality services across the nation. We specialise in real estate valuations for the mortgage lending and financial services industries.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[03:20] Jeff: Can you talk us through your journey to the PropTech space in CubiCasa?

• I've been involved in either real estate or mortgage appraisal, for my entire career.
• Before I came to CubiCasa, I was running the R&D Innovation Lab at Clear Capital.
• We were trying to find something that would enable anyone to collect accurate property data and floor plan measurements without any training and we found CubiCasa and made the acquisition.
• It's something that enables anybody with a smartphone to do a five-minute walk-through scan of a property, and then receive back accurate and detailed floor plans.

[05:25] Nikki: How did you meet Jeff?

• I had a long road to Clario, but about six years ago, I started working there and they are a subsidiary of Clear Capital and Jeff recruited me for one of his pilot programs.
• Before CubiCasa we had an app that allowed us to walk through a property to get data points and someone at Clear Capital sent back information.
• CubiCasa saves a lot of time for the appraiser so we could focus more on the valuation part and less on the data entry part.

[06:45] Jeff: Can you go into a bit more detail about CubiCasa's product?

• The product works on a smartphone, a user can download the app and use it without training.
• You just walk through the property room by room, pointing your smartphone down, where the walls meet the floor then the data that's collected and captured is processed through our computer vision and proprietary.
• Ultimately then it is reviewed by a human to make sure that we produce an accurate end floorplan result and then delivered back to the user.
• Floor plan in a lot of different versions and property data as well, bed and bath counts and square footage.

[08:40] Nikki: How long would it usually take to do something like that without CubiCasa?

• It varies between ranch style or cottage style houses at one level, rectangular properties, complex properties and multi-story properties.
• Overall it can cut it by ¾ of the time and accuracy is much better.

[11:15] Jeff: CubiCasa is in over 142 countries, what trends have you seen in terms of tech adoption and are there any countries you are looking to launch in?

• What's cool about CubiCasa is that the technology scales to different use cases and many different geographies.
• It's really a general-purpose technology that fits a lot of different use cases so it has organically grown.

[14:00] Jeff: The debate that is going on is that tech is taking away people’s jobs but CubiCasa helps people do their job as well as create new ones, would you say so?

• Technology isn't eliminating any jobs, it's creating more efficiencies.
• A lot of people spend a lot of time drawing floor plans and it is easy to get it wrong when doing it by hand.

[15:00] Nikki: What are you seeing in terms of people being hesitant to adopt new methods?

• With a lot of appraisers, there's a level of trust involved and appraisers are slow to come to it.
• What I would say to appraisers is; “Do you want to go back to the cut and paste era of appraisals?”

[17:55] Jeff: How does CubiCasa differentiate itself from its competitors in an ever-growing market?

• The major things that set us apart are ease of capture, and getting the data and information.
• The most common way to get floor plans for people is either to hand draw or a virtual tour and you're going to be scanning the house with special hardware, it's going to take you an hour and you're going to need specialised training. It's not scalable or democratising.
• With our product, all you need is a smartphone and you are doing a 5-minute scan with no training.

[21:15] Jeff: Could you tell the audience more about the Finland technology ecosystem?

• Before finding CubiCasa, I didn’t know there was a PropTech scene in Finland.
• There is a huge pipeline of talent and great technical talent coming out of the universities.
• The Finnish PropTech scene is growing pretty significantly.

[22:40] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Nikki: Just be adaptable.

Jeff: Be nice to people and good things will happen,

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Nikki: CubiCasa

Jeff: Nikki for testing out crazy stuff for us.

R – What has been the most rewarding aspect of working in PropTech?

Nikki: Just being able to use the technology in the appraisal space and see how it's made the process more reliable and streamlined.

Jeff: PropTech touches something universal and important to everybody in the world.

E - What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

Nikki: To see the appraisal forms go from the static format that we've had for the last 19 years to a more logic-based cloud environment.

Jeff: AI and computer vision are already making an impact, but it's just getting started.

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Summary: Louisa is joined by Jessica Beck, Co-Founder and COO of Alfred and Marcela Sapone, CEO and Co-Founder of Alfred for the 5th episode of season 9. During this episode, they discuss how building management platforms are changing the way we live. Taking a deeper dive into how Alfred came about and in which city it all began, they also touch on what the product is, what trends they are seeing, and why Alfred acquired a property management company. They wrap up this riveting chat by talking about their journey as female founders and what is next for Alfred. The value bomb from this episode is, “Once you build an asset, you need someone to manage that asset.”

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• The Peloton
• Brookfield Properties
• Hines
• Related
• RXR
• Jamestown
• Greystar

Shout Outs:

• John Fagan, Co-founder & CEO at doorkee

Key Insights From This Episode:

• The people who were able to make it all work had one thing in common: they got really comfortable with asking for help as well as comfortable with the idea of a team backing them up. - Marcela
• ​Once you build an asset, you need someone to manage that asset. - Marcela
• Real estate has been very resistant towards tech enablement. - Marcela
• My advice to founders would be; it does take time but if you build a relationship and you go building by building, one building to ten buildings, you not only build a great relationship, but you actually get to build a great product and you get to learn and work with your customers to bring something to market. - Jessica
• We learned that in this space, there's so much fragmentation; there's fragmentation on the technology side, on the services side and on the operator side. - Jessica

About Our Guests:

Jessica Beck, Co-Founder and COO at Alfred

Jessica Beck is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Alfred. Beck leads Alfred’s day-to-day operations and under her direction, Alfred has grown to be a leader in hospitality, successfully rolling out a national resident experience and building management platform with hundreds of thousands of units managed.

In an effort to expand Alfred’s footprint, Beck has negotiated and developed partnerships with some of the country’s largest real estate developers, expanding Alfred to 44 major cities across the country.

Along with Alfred’s Co-Founder, Marcela Sapone, Beck supports founders who want to live more consciously through WHITESPACE Ventures, a seed investment firm focused on design-led tech for better business.

From SXSW to the Sante Fe Institute’s Annual Business Network & Board of Trustees Symposium, Jess speaks regularly on entrepreneurship and building scalable solutions in the sharing economy. Beck holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in economics from Williams College, where she was captain of the women’s rugby team and graduated cum laude.

Marcela Sapone, Co-Founder and CEO of Alfred

Marcela Sapone is the CEO and Co-Founder of Alfred. Sapone launched Alfred with a mission to make help a universal utility in every home. Since 2014, under Sapone’s leadership, Alfred has expanded to serve more than 135,000 residents in 44 cities across the United States and Canada, and has been named as Fast Company's Top 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

As one of the first leaders in the sharing economy to advocate for fair compensation of service workers, Sapone adopted the company-wide policy of hiring all Alfred staff as W2 employees. Sapone has worked with the U.S. Department of Labor and the White House under the administration of President Barack Obama, as well as The Brookings Institute and The Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities and Financial Security Program, to advance these efforts of economic security for the future of employment. Along with Alfred’s Co-Founder, Jess Beck, Sapone supports founders who want to live more consciously through WHITESPACE Ventures, a seed investment firm focused on design-led tech for better business.

Named one of Goldman Sachs’s “most intriguing entrepreneurs,” Sapone writes and speaks frequently on principled leadership, human-centered technology, and her commitment to being a steward of good jobs and meaningful change. Her writing has appeared in Forbes, Quartz, and Recode, among other highly reputable publications. She has been included in Fast Company’s Most Creative People list, featured as the face of Consumer Tech in Forbes 30 Under 30, and was also a winner of Connect Media’s Women in Real Estate Award in 2021. Sapone serves on the Norwalk Zoning Commission, where she supports initiatives and creates opportunities for urban development and growth. Sapone earned her BA from Boston University and holds an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

Alfred

Operating at the intersection of real estate and technology, Alfred is the leading resident experience building management platform that is changing the way we live. Founded in 2014 by Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck, Alfred’s mission is clear: to create an industry shift in real estate, transforming renters into residents and apartment properties into neighbourhoods. Named by Fast Company as one of the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World, Alfred has been recognized as a leader in the on-demand and in-home economy, investing in the local ecosystems and neighbourhood businesses that give meaning to our communities. Alfred to date operates in over 135,000 residential units in 44 markets across the U.S. and Canada through strategic partnerships with international real-estate operators, such as Brookfield, Hines, Related, RXR, Greystar and Jamestown. To learn more, visit www.helloalfred.com.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[02:10] Marcela: How did Alfred come about and how did you meet?

• I went to Harvard Business School and ended up sitting next to Jessica, we were both working 90-100 hour weeks.
• Our objective, both as individuals and personally, was to figure out if it would be possible to start our own adventure, build our own business and to find a co-founder.
• Our question was, “How can we enable women to stay in the workforce longer?”
• Our solution was, “Could we create a business that would put groceries in your fridge, dry-cleaning your closet, packages on your counter and have everything you ever needed at the tap of the button. And could that be included in our rent?”

[05:40] Jessica: In which city did this all begin?

• We were one of the few consumer companies that originated in Boston as we were still students.
• We opened our next market in New York.
• We have scaled to Canada and now we are in 52 cities.

[07:25] Marcela: Can you tell us more about the product?

• We focus on the largest category and asset class in the world, which is housing and we are making it digital.
• We take technology and we take a resident first, very consumer perspective and we are disrupting the way that traditional property management happens in multifamily and single family build-to-rent communities.
• At your fingertips is an application that allows you to buy services, to pay your rent, to book amenities, to book the Peloton, to book the workspace, to complain about something going wrong in your apartment and to request your packages to be delivered to your front door.

[10:05] Jessica: How did you go about bringing on your first massive client?

• Our approach in working with the industry and gaining our first customers was really one of partnering.
• Our first big customer was Related Rentals.
• My advice to founders would be; it does take time but if you build a relationship and you go building by building one building to ten buildings, you not only build a great relationship, but you actually get to build a great product and you get to learn and work with your customers to bring something to market.
• We always took a partnership oriented, consultative approach.

[12:05] Marcela: What are the major trends you have seen between Boston or New York in terms of what a resident is looking for.

• In Boston and New York, one of our biggest categories in the service marketplace in terms of time-saving service, was dry cleaning. But in San Francisco, you have absolutely no dry cleaning, and in Texas pet care was our largest category.
• In the last three to five years while we've been building the business, there's been a tremendous amount of change in the industry.

[15:10] Jessica: What was the reasoning behind acquiring a property management company?

• One of the things that we learned along the journey is if you really want to change how people live and you want to do it past the front door of their home, you need to be much more connected than you would guess.
• We realised in order to really deliver the product, we had to become much more integrated into building operations to create an end to end user experience and to deliver on top of that platform, you need to have a consolidation.
• We learned that in this space, there's so much fragmentation.

[21:15] Jessica: How long on average does a resident stay in an apartment?

• The average in the US, for annual churn in a property is about 45 - 50% a year and as a consumer business that means there is a lot of opportunity.
• What we've found is when you put a community in a building and residents start to participate and their lifestyle starts to get automated they end up staying longer.
• In properties where we've been operating for some time, we’ve increased the renewal rates for our partners by 5-10%.

[24:25] Marcela: Any advice you can give to other female founders?

• We try to ignore the fact that we're female founders, we would never do female only panels or raise and go out and say, “Female led companies raising X amount.”
• Focus on the business and the fundamentals of the business.
• Have an extreme level of patience and a level of acceptance.
• Jessica: Being a founder is hard so find a good support system.

[27:55] Marcela/Jessica: How do you support your growing team as well as retain employees?

• All of us on the planet are at a point where we're taking a big step back to evaluate our choices.
• There's been a reshuffling of where people are putting their energy and the careers they want to be in.
• One thing that is extremely clear is that connecting back to your mission and having an incredibly clear set of values as well as being as radically transparent.
• Being empathetic and personal with each member of your team and understanding their goals.

[31:40] Marcela: What is next for Alfred?

• Slowly and steadily continually leading the category forward to become the leading brand in residential real estate as well as work with our stakeholders to move the industry forward.
• Continuing to add value to all of our customers

[34:15] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Marcela: First things first and one line to do lists.

Jessica: When you're a founder, you're kind of the captain of a ship and you see calm seas and stormy seas but you are always in both.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Marcela: John Fagan, Co-founder & CEO at doorkee.

Jessica: Our whole team.

R – What has been the most rewarding aspect of working in PropTech?

Marcela: We're taking things from a piece of paper and turning them into something that you can engage with and interact with.

Jessica: Echo what Marcela said.

E - What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

Marcela: Getting through 2022 and 2023 and being able to reflect back and be proud of making it through a pretty challenging market with lots of ups and downs and twists.

Jessica: Keep pushing the envelope in the industry.

[36:05] Jessica: Are there any plans to come to Europe?

• 100% Yes

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Summary: On the 4th episode of season 9, Louisa is joined by Timothy Cocaro, CEO and Founder of canibuild and Simon Curtis, Chief Operating Officer at G.J. Gardner Homes. They discuss the story behind canibuild and how its product is revolutionising compliance, design and sales in the construction world. Simon shares how G.J. Gardner Homes is using canibuild’s product. They chat about what major trends can be seen in the ConTech industry and what is upcoming for canibuild. The key insight in this episode is that in ConTech, the one thing you don't want to do is to lose the human touch by detaching from your customer. Instead, you need to bring the customer along on the journey.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• Procore
• OpenSpace
• Bridgit
• Trimble
• HazardCo
• Open Data Australia
• Digital Twinning

Shout Outs:

• Shuvajeet Nag, Co-Founder of canibuild
• Deepankur Malhotra, Co-Founder of canibuild
• Stella Cocaro, Co-Founder of canibuild

Key Insights From This Episode:

• With ConTech, the one thing you don't want to do is detach from your customer. - Simon
• Clients are reaching a point where they're seeing construction similar to buying something on Amazon. They want answers quickly and they want transparency. - Timothy
• Customers have a huge thirst for knowledge. - Simon

Keywords:

Construction, ConTech, technology, built environment

About Our Guests:

Timothy Cocaro, CEO/Founder of canibuild

Timothy Cocaro possesses the unlikely mix of being both a builder by trade and a holder of a computer science degree.

Timothy's tenure as Founder and CEO of Australia’s leading Granny Flat company, provided the necessary insight to see and, more importantly, understand the pain points of the construction industry.

This led Timothy to put his degree in computer science to use by creating a modern solution, that genuinely aligns with the needs of the construction industry.

In 2019, Timothy hung up his hard hat when he became Founder and CEO of canibuild, a world-first, hypergrowth Prop Tech that is transforming the construction landscape.

canibuild was developed to be the solution to the many root problems in the construction industry with its AI engine allowing home, pool, granny flat & other builders to instantly check site feasibility, site costs, generate site plans & produce quotes with just a click.

canibuild has gained unprecedented traction across the construction industry since its inception, with thousands of searches on the platform every day. canibuild has re-energised the industry by providing its subscribers the ability to be hyper-efficient at a time when the market is booming.

canibuild

canibuild allows builders to replace the need for physical site visits, drafting, surveying, estimating and instead optimising this complex series of high friction steps into an instant point of transaction. canibuild clients can now go from seeing a project site virtually with a client to contract instantly. This not only allows builders to be more efficient but also covers a much wider area geographically which is a game-changer in an industry that is so fragmented.

Simon Curtis, Chief Operating Officer at G.J. Gardner Homes

Simon Curtis is the Chief Operating Officer of G.J. Gardner Homes NSW/ACT and WA and is responsible for the brand's operation in these states. Leading a Head Office team, Simon’s primary responsibilities are:

• To advise and support franchise partners within all areas of their business
• To work with the State Marketing Manager on State and Local Area marketing activities
• To drive franchise growth of GJ Gardner Homes in NSW/ACT and WA
• To provide training to the group in all areas of their business
• To ensure the group continues to have the support, tools and resources necessary for growth

With more than 20 years of experience at some of Australia’s largest property companies under his belt, Simon has proven that he is a strong leader and clear communicator who possesses the ability to motivate, mentor and inspire others.

Simon holds a Bachelor of Business from the University of Queensland and a Master of Project Management from the University of Southern Queensland.

G.J Gardner Homes

G.J. Gardner Homes is a custom home building company. They have built over 36,000 quality, customised homes over the past 37 years and continue to grow on the back of a single premise - ensuring every customer would refer them to their closest friend. Throughout the building of a new home, they are dedicated to the highest standard of workmanship. Each of their qualified builders and preferred subcontractors have been selected for their individual standards of expertise and their commitment to excellence.

From humble beginnings in 1983 in Queensland as an independent building firm owned by Greg Gardner, G.J. Gardner Homes quickly grew to 8 regional offices, building as many as 1,000 custom homes a year. G.J. Gardner Homes quickly established a reputation for building great value, quality homes. Due to popular demand, Greg decided to franchise the business and almost immediately became one of Queensland’s largest privately owned building companies. Fast forward to today, G.J. Gardner Homes has become a household name throughout Australia, New Zealand and the USA. With over 120 franchisees operating throughout the world, supported by multiple global offices, G.J. Gardner Homes continues to build a reputation for reliability and for being a company our customers can trust.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[02:45] Timothy: Can you talk us through your journey to founding canibuild?

• I have a background in computer science and in the .com crash, I moved over to construction where I spent a few years developing a construction company that focused in the granny flat industry.
• During my boots on the ground experience, I tried to see how technology can better improve construction and one aspect is how construction is sold.
• We have been developing our application for 6 years and we went to market 2 years ago.

[05:45] Timothy: Can you elaborate a bit more about your product?

• Client facing sales application tool for construction companies that condenses all the steps involved in construction into a single transaction.
• It does all the compliance and visually shows how that build looks on that block of land, it also takes into account factors such as contours so all parties can visually see what's happening.

[08:25] Simon: Can you talk us through your role when it comes down to innovation technology and how you came across Tim's business, canibuild?

• We're a residential builder, building mainly for mum and dads, but more importantly, we're a franchised business.
• canibuild technology came to us from one of our salespeople - a client walked into the office and had a print out of an outcome of what this tech does and in a short space of time, we adopted the technology.

[11:15] Timothy: How much time does this save?

• You have to imagine that a sales consultant needs to answer quite a few questions that might presumably look easy.
• The back and forth process might take weeks but canibuild collapses all of those down to potentially the same day.

[13:45] Simon: This product must allow you to retain buyers and not let them go to competitors, can you elaborate?

• The one thing you don't want to do is detach from your customer but rather demonstrate knowledge.
• This allows us to show the customer in real time and keep the conversation going without detaching.

[16:15] Simon: How have you gone about upskilling your 80-90 consultants?

• We brought this technology in early in 2020, nicely coinciding with the lockdowns so we trained all of our team remotely and in one session.
• Our house designs are preloaded onto the software.
• We had a sales conference at some point, which Tim presented.

[17:35] Simon: Have you seen an increase in sales or customers?

• The market over the last 18 months has been incredibly buoyant so it is difficult to judge.
• We can have a look at how the performance is and we can have a look at the uptake. We can also see if it is utilising the software or not.
• The feedback from the new hands consultants has been overwhelmingly positive.

[18:50] Simon: When did you start looking at your innovation strategy? Was it pre- or post-COVID?

• The brand has always operated off its own software and in 2019 there was a redesign of the software to move to a cloud based system and that encompasses all aspects that we need to run these businesses.
• We use 2 external pieces of technology, canibuild and HazardCo.

[20:25] Timothy: What is next for the growth and development of your product?

• Continue expanding on the features of the system to be able to better help our clients.
• We are releasing a 3D component as well as doing site costs automatically.
• There are marketplace opportunities like bushfire reports and engineer reports and even architectural reports, particularly in the pool industry.
• We are expanding our footprint in the United States.

[22:00] Both: Are there any major trends which you can pick out across construction and what are you forecasting for the next couple of years?

• Timothy: Builders have started to adopt technology in ways that they haven't, prior to COVID.
• Simon: Customers have a thirst for knowledge, so when they are walking through a display home for the first time, they know a lot about us.
• Simon: We need to bring customers along for the journey, especially in construction.

[27:00] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Timothy: Start early, get your hands dirty and build a business that doesn't scale, you can worry about the scaling later.

Simon: Self-belief and never stop learning.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Timothy: All our current clients.

Simon: Tim and his team.

R – What has been the most rewarding aspect of working in PropTech?

Timothy: Nothing more rewarding than seeing a mum, dad and their family move into their home.

E - What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

Timothy: Stay positive and keep pushing forward.

Simon: All the things I don’t know about tech.

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Summary:

On the the 3rd episode of Season 9 of The Propcast, Louisa is joined by Jonathan Hannam, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Taronga Ventures and Joanna Marsh, GM Innovation & Advanced Analytics at Investa Property Group. They chat about their journeys towards a built environment and innovation space, with a focus on what can be done to bridge the gap between technologists and real estate institutions and corporates.

The discussion zeroes in on how companies can improve diversity and ultimately speed up transformation as well as ESG technologies in the industry. The key understanding from this episode is that there is an incredible opportunity to be in between the real estate world and the emerging technology companies.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• SPACECUBE
• Taronga Ventures

Shout Outs:

• William Cosby, Ex Omnia

Key Insights From This Episode:

• There is this incredible opportunity to be in between the real estate world and the emerging technology companies. - Jonathan
• There is a much greater focus on using ESG to actually deliver real outcomes. - Jonathan
• Historically in real estate, the industry has been extremely opaque. - Joanna
• For the last 12 months, every investor and every discussion has been about ESG. - Jonathan
• One of the trends in real estate has been the move from the point solutions to something that is more of a holistic ecosystem as well as the blending of the technologies together. - Joanna
• We build better products and better businesses with diverse thoughts. - Joanna
• Globally, the real estate sector isn't greatly diverse especially at the senior leadership level. - Jonathan
• We tell founders that, “Your business will be more attractive to us from a capital perspective, if you can demonstrate that you've got diversity of leadership.” - Jonathan
• In 2019, 2.8% of funding went to women-led startups and in 2020, that fell to 2.3%. - Louisa

Keywords: Technology, ESG, Diversity, Real Estate, Proptech

About Our Guests:

Jonathan Hannam, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Taronga Ventures

Jonathan is a global citizen, having held senior executive and board roles across Asia and Europe in real estate, venture capital, technology, and infrastructure-related investments. In 2015, Jonathan jointly founded Taronga Ventures, Asia’s leading technology and innovation investor focused on the real estate sector and the wider built environment. His vision is to bridge the gap between real estate institutions and corporates, and the emerging technology companies that are now targeting the real estate sector. Through Taronga Ventures, Jonathan’s focus is on real estate technology (RealTech) investments that drive real and measurable impact across ESG, including carbon reduction, renewable energy, sustainability, and health & safety. Prior to Taronga Ventures, Jonathan has also held executive roles at Mirvac, as a Director at AREIM in Sweden and as the Portfolio Manager Asia for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) during a period when ADIA completed more than 40 transactions across Asia.

In other roles, Jonathan has lived and worked in China, the Philippines and Singapore with Savills, and was also the Managing Director South East Asia based in Singapore for ING Real Estate. Jonathan attended the INSEAD AMP course in Singapore & Abu Dhabi in 2015-2016. He holds an MBA from the University of South Australia, a Bachelor of Planning & Design and a Bachelor of Town & Regional Planning from the University of Melbourne. He also completed postgraduate studies at Tsinghua University and is fluent in Mandarin and Swedish.

About Taronga Ventures

Taronga Ventures is Asia’s leading technology and innovation investor focused on the real estate sector and the wider built environment. The group consists of the RealTech Ventures Fund, the RealTechX innovation program and Taronga Advisory and has offices in Singapore and Australia. The Fund is backed by global institutional investors and major real estate owners including APG, Ivanhoé Cambridge, CBRE Inc., PGIM Real Estate, Mitsubishi Corporation, Nomura Real Estate, Patrizia AG, Dexus, Vicinity Centres, amongst others. The Fund invests into scalable technology and innovation that enhances or challenges the traditional real estate and infrastructure sectors. Taronga Ventures is focused on investing in strategic opportunities and providing its institutional partners first mover advantage, whilst maintaining a focus on creating a better built environment, through sustainable and responsible investment practices. Recognising that climate change is the biggest global challenge we all face, Taronga Ventures has been independently certified as being 100% carbon neutral.

Joanna Marsh, GM Innovation & Advanced Analytics at Investa Property Group

Joanna is a leader with 15+ years of Australian & International property experience, across office, industrial and residential sectors. Currently, she is GM of Innovation & Advanced Analytics at Investa and is disrupting the property markets globally though data & AI/ML analytics.

Over her career, she has transformed big property companies and small ones. Grown property businesses through acquisitions, financing and leasing. Sold down assets and restructured portfolios. Created property management & tenant service businesses. Built technology platforms with corresponding systems, processes and people.

Prior to Investa, she led Transformation & Innovation in Property at Lendlease, and Strategy & Strategic Operations at Dexus.

Joanna studied Neuroscience at Harvard University, Design Thinking at Stanford and has a variety of AI/ML and data nanodegrees; as well as attending the entrepreneurial school of hard knocks.

About Investa

Investa is a commercial real estate management and development service provider in the Australian office sector. With more than $11 billion in assets under management, we maximise the value of Australian workplaces for our tenants, investors and the community through our office management expertise and by consistently delivering a superior customer experience, while remaining in industry leader in sustainable building management and responsible property investment.t.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[02:20] Jonathan: Talk us through your career and tell us how you ended up at Taronga Ventures?

• My career started in China, I did my post-grad at a Chinese University and I started doing Urban Planning and from there I stumbled into real estate working for a Singaporean firm in China (one the first VC funds in that markert).
• After working in VC, I started at Savills and I have now been in real estate for the last 25 years.
• I then worked for Abu Dhabi Investment Authority before moving on to ING Real Estate Finance and most recently Mirvac.

[04:30] Joanna: Can you tell us about your 15 years in real estate?

• I started at Harvard studying neuroscience. Investment banks, consulting companies and banks love Ivy league kids with science degrees so I went to work at KeyBank Real Estate Capital where we did the structural and financial side of real estate.
• I decided I wanted to be an entrepreneur and started a small fund where we bought multifamily assets, refurbished them and started a property management company to do that.
• I arrived in Australia at 30, with a failed business and a banking career so I started working on strategy at DEXUS Property Group. I was more interested in the cutting edge and at Lendlease I was doing transformation and innovation, moving further up the R and D curve.

[07:20] Joanna: What are investors honing in on when it comes to innovation?

• We have a broad innovation strategy. Advanced analytics and data underpins all of it.
• One of the ways of innovating is to take on startups and scaleups and integrate new technologies.
• Data and analytics sit under everything that we do.

[09:20] Jonathan: You are currently running an ESG impact program, can you talk us through the program and the mission of it?

• We needed to have both the fund and a growth program.
• The ESG program is for select high calibre quality companies
• We needed to move up to the scalable businesses who already had customers and they had some level of traction because the real estate world actually couldn't deal with startups.
• It is an ecosystem builder.

[13:00] Joanna: With ESG, it is difficult to get good data from it as well as finding technology to support it. What is your take on this?

• Historically in real estate, the industry has been extremely opaque. There's been huge information asymmetry and that's resulted in a massive lack of transparency.
• The information asymmetries are breaking down and what's happening is we're starting to be able to abstract data from other industries and from other data sets in order to back solve and fill in data that the real estate industry either doesn't have or is not sharing.
• The pressure from the investors and the capital regarding ESG is forcing a level of transparency and scrutiny that is going to become akin to financial reporting.

[15:35] On the topic of investment going into the real estate space and ESG, are there any technologies which you guys can share?

• For the last 12 months, every investor and every discussion has been about ESG.
• In the building management, energy efficiency space, there are a lot of Companies that are targeting that as an area, but we are looking for a more complete solution.
• It often isn't a cost, it's actually a benefit and an upside for the corporates that start using this technique

[18:30] Joanna: Are there any major trends that you have seen in the real estate space?

• The move from the point solutions to something that is more of a holistic ecosystem as well as the blending of the technologies together.
• Some technologies simplify a part of something but causes so much extra exhaustion.

[21:25] How do we attract and retain more people into the real estate and data world?

• The first thing is to know that it is possible.
• In terms of diversity, I think it is about honouring diversity of thought and innovation.

[24:40] Jonathan: What are your thoughts on this, knowing that you are in the hiring process?

• What we've tried to do from within our advisory board and from our hiring policy, is to have the most diverse approach hiring that we can have.
• When we've looked through the businesses that we are investing in, we often see that it is male founded.
• We're doing a lot of work to try to positively fund female founded enterprises.

[29:35] Have you seen any change happening when it comes down to education and exploring technology as a career path?

• Jonathan: I moved from Australia from Sweden, and in Sweden there is just a different approach. We have systematic issues in Australia when it comes to childcare.
• Joanna: I think there is a lack of how to even do this and things like how to raise capital.

[32:30] Jonathan: What is next for Taronga?

• In the next three months we will be churning through hundreds of deals to work out the partners for the ESG program.

[33:25] Joanna: What is exciting that is coming up?

• The data, analytics and advanced analytics of ESG and the ecosystem around that.
• Giving the power back to the people where you no longer have to big IT for innovation.

[35:50] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L– Touch on the main lessons you have learnt throughout your career.

Jonathan: Decision-making in the corporate real estate world takes longer and you need to build your business to be able to withstand that challenge.

Joanna: Be really resourceful and find a way.

M - Please give amention to anyone / product / service.

Jonathan: SPACECUBE

Joanna: William Cosby - Ex Omina

R – What has been the most rewarding aspect of working in PropTech?

Jonathan: The people

Joanna: Partnering

E - What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

Joanna: Distilling down to the fundamental set of data points.

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Summary: On the 2nd Episode of Season 9, Louisa is joined by Laura Smith, Managing Director at Berkadia and Neda Fields, Director of Product Management at Berkadia to chat about digital transformation within real estate. They discussed how Berkadia went about their own transformation for internal product development and the use of external technologies. They also touched on how to attract a diverse workforce; a key issue during the Great Rehiring that’s sweeping the post-pandemic market. During the global Covid outbreak, while everyone else was downsizing, Berkadia’s adoption of industry-leading technologies helped them to double their workforce.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• redIQ

Companies Mentioned:

• Dwight Capital (Love Funding)
• Arbinger Institute
• Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
• Jefferies Financial Group
• redIQ

Shout Outs:

• Eric Flohr

Key Insights From This Episode:

• During the pandemic while everyone else was downsizing, we were recalibrating and employee staff sizes had almost doubled. - Laura
• Job candidates are asking about the culture, what does the business contribute to the community, are there different programs, different intentions, what is the whole progression and what do they offer? - Louisa
• It is important to have different backgrounds to contribute to innovations. - Neda
• Diversity is not just about gender. - Neda
• Bring your YOU to work. Be yourself, and have that freedom to express yourself as yourself so that you feel comfortable sharing your ideas and contributing to the innovation. - Neda
• Give people flexibility, especially if we've learned nothing else from COVID, we all have to learn to embrace change and be flexible with whatever comes our way. - Laura
• Business is not usual, there's no more normal. Noone knows what the new normal is. - Laura
• The real estate industry has been an industry that has been reluctant to technology innovation. - Neda

Keywords: Technology, PropTech, Women, Data, Digital Transformation

About Our Guests:

Neda Fields

Neda Fields leads cross-functional efforts and teams in the development of data insight and visualisation tools for real estate market research. Berkadia's Data and Analytics tools synthesise property fundamentals, demographics and market intelligence to optimise the evaluation of real estate investments. Neda was selected as one of Real Estate Forum's CRE Tech Influencers in 2021.

Neda began her career with KPMG in the Information Risk Management practice where she advised numerous clients on their Information Technology internal control frameworks. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Missouri State University.

Laura Smith

As Managing Director, Laura Smith is responsible for loan origination of market-rate multifamily, affordable and healthcare properties nationwide. Over the course of her career, she has underwritten approximately $6 billion in FHA, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Wall street conduit transactions. She has originated and closed more than 120 transactions totaling nearly $1 billion.

Laura holds a bachelor's degree in political science from West Chester University and in German from the University of Marburg, Germany. In 1992, she received her Masters of Business Administration from American University with a concentration in real estate finance.

Berkadia

Berkadia, a joint venture of Berkshire Hathaway and Jefferies Financial Group, is a leader in the commercial real estate industry, offering a robust suite of services to our multifamily and commercial property clients. Powered by deep relationships and industry-changing technology, our people sell, finance, and service commercial real estate, providing support for the entire life cycle of our clients’ assets. Our unique ownership structure allows us to put our clients’ interests first and create a marketplace that delivers a superior experience

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Timestamps:

[01:10] Laura: Talk us through your journey to Berkadia.

• I left Love Funding (Dwight Capital) when the company was bought by a bank and the culture started to change.
• The unique culture and technology blew me away when I met with Berkadia’s senior management team.

[02:50] Neda: Talk us through your journey to Berkadia and what your role entails.

• I joined Berkadia about 9 years ago because we decided to relocate to the Philadelphia area.
• I was really impressed with Berkadia’s leadership and that is why I joined the company. And the best part is that I have had the opportunity to do several different roles.
• I started in compliance then slowly moved into the data and data science group and then evolved into the product team and through that continue to develop the data analytics tools that Berkadia has developed.

[04:20] Neda: Talk us through the digital transformation at Berkadia.

• Berkadia is sitting on a lot of data, we service over $350 billion in our servicing portfolio right now as well as over 100 bankers and investment sales advisors.
• We have the ability to gather a lot of data from all of the markets across the US and we combine that with other demographics and have built-out a big base for us to build our tools on.
• We started to see, how do we bring value with this data and how do we transform our managers directors into advisors, more so than transaction managers.
• How do we help our clients make sure that they have the right investment strategies through data-driven analytics?

[06:00] Can you give a couple examples of your clients?

• Real Estate Investors of all sizes.
• Mid-market and institutional investors.

[09:50] Your workforce has doubled, where have you seen the biggest growth at Berkadia?

• In Berkadia’s technology team, we have had exponential growth over the last few years.
• Berkadia is a privately held company so when there is any type of downturn, we are able to take advantage and attract good talent to accelerate the company’s vision.

[11:15] Can you expand on how Berkadia is engaging with people at different levels in the education system?

• We have an employee resource group called Be United, a summer internship program and we are participating in a work-study program.

[13:05] How do you attract people to your teams, what initiatives are working at Berkadia at the moment?

• The DIB initiative has launched and it is management's commitment to diversity.
• Berkadia’s commitment is not just about women but all backgrounds.
• Bring your YOU to work. Be yourself, and have that freedom to express yourself as yourself so that you feel comfortable sharing your ideas and contributing to the innovation.
• We are highlighting individual stories.
• Mentoring.

[20:25] What products are you working on?

• We have a lot of internal data visualisation tools to drive the advice strategy of our producers to help our clients be successful.
• We have an external product called redIQ. It is advancing how rent roll statements and operating statements are ingested and analysed.
• We have an internal initiative working on tech startups in the real estate industry.

[26:30] What are the different reactions you have seen from your products?

• The non-profit, mom and pop oriented are the ones we are trying to get on board.
• Larger clients who have portfolios of 20 and more, they get it.

[27:20] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L – Touch on the mainlessonsyou have learnt throughout your career.

Neda: You have to embrace the change.

Neda: Just go for it, whatever you want to achieve, just act like you are already there.

M - Please give a mentionto anyone / product / service.

Laura: Our IT and product development team as well as the senior management team.

R – What has been the most rewarding aspect of working in PropTech?

Neda: Seeing the clients face when they see the technology.

Laura: Watching my team grow.

E - What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

Laura: Continuing to embrace change and working with our technology group.

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On the first episode of season 9 of Propcast, Louisa is joined by Michael Bristow, CEO and Co-Founder of CrowdProperty and Faisal Butt, Founder & CEO of Pi Labs. During the episode, they discuss how Pi Labs started, as well as how the PropTech market has changed and grown. Michael shares his journey from investor to founder, and chats about his specialist property development lending platform, CrowdProperty. With their 'property finance by property people' proposition, CrowdProperty and Pi Labs are disrupting property finance for small and medium sized developers who have previously struggled to access the financing they need.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• Spire Ventures
• OfficeRnD
• PropTech1
• Fifth Wall
• GREENPASS
• Okibo
• Lantech

Key Insights From This Episode:

• We're disrupting property finance for small and medium sized developers, where historically financial services underserved them. - Michael

• If you're a B2B SaaS business, it doesn't matter where you are because you can build a globally scalable business. - Faisal

• If you can prove one market, you can arguably have the ability to scale in many markets. - Michael
• Australia has many duopolistic markets which typically drive less aggressive competition between players. - Michael
• Since there was such a dearth of liquidity for PropTech before, I find that there is more coming in now, but I don’t think there is too much. I believe that the market needs to mature and that funding is needed at different stages. - Faisal
• Retention is what you need to focus on. When you have someone great in your team, you need to look after them because if not, they will go elsewhere. - Michael

Keywords: Europe, Technology, Venture Capital, Finance, PropTech, FinTech

About Our Guests:

Mike Bristow

Mike Bristow is the CEO and Co-Founder of CrowdProperty, the UK's leading specialist property development online lending platform. With a background in strategy consultancy advising major corporates and private equity funds on corporate strategy and M&A, Mike has been investing in property since 2002, investing in high potential proptech businesses since 2014 and sits on the Investment Committee of Pi Labs, Europe’s first and most prolific venture capital fund investing exclusively in early stage ventures in the proptech vertical, in which he is also an LP.

Mike has an MBA from London Business School, is a founding board member of the Innovate Finance 36H Group alongside other leading fintech lending platforms and was named 'Entrepreneur of the Year' at the Midlands Business Awards 2020.

About CrowdProperty

CrowdProperty is the UK's leading specialist property development online lending platform – a fintech/proptech lending innovator, exceptionally efficiently matching the demand (quality property professionals undertaking quality property projects) and supply (major global financial institutions and private investors) of capital for value-creating property projects. CrowdProperty has built the best SME property development lender in the market, changing the game with a distinct 'property finance by property people' proposition, unlocking the potential of small and medium sized developers to build more homes and drive spend in the UK economy on labour, materials and services.

Small and medium sized property developers and property professionals have been poorly and inefficiently served by traditional funding sources for decades. Actual property development and investment experience lies at the heart of CrowdProperty meaning a hands-on, expertise-led partnership, underpinned by technology for efficiency and deep asset class expertise for effectiveness of lending, increasing the likelihood of success of our customer’s projects. CrowdProperty funds property professionals undertaking any sort of property project, structuring the perfect funding product and doing so with greater speed, ease, certainty, transparency and expertise than anyone in the market. As property people providing property finance, we intimately understand market pains and built the business around the needs of small and medium sized property developers.

CrowdProperty has funded over £400,000,000 of property projects and the construction of 2,000 homes. CrowdProperty was recognised as one of the 50 fastest growing tech businesses in the UK (UK #41 and Midlands #1 in the Deloitte Fast50 report) and by the Financial Times as the #132 fastest growing business in Europe. Apply for finance for your property project in just 5 minutes at www.crowdproperty.com/apply View video case studies of projects we’ve funded at: www.crowdproperty.com/case-studies

Faisal Butt

Faisal Butt is CEO and Founder of Pi Labs, a London-based venture capital firm focused on backing companies that are at the forefront of digitalising the real estate and construction sectors. Faisal founded Pi Labs in 2015, after leading the first round of investments in PropTech start-ups Hubble and Trussle as an individual investor. Faisal and his team have built a portfolio of over 60 PropTech companies across the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia, making Pi Labs one of the most active investors in PropTech start-ups globally. Faisal is also the founder of Spire Ventures, a personal investment vehicle with a focus on investment in traditional property services companies. His traditional property investments include POD Management, Beaumont Bailey, and 90 North, a real estate investment manager which has managed $2bn of real estate assets across Europe and the USA.

Global proptech venture capital (VC) firm Pi Labs backs the innovators revolutionising the future of physical spaces. Connecting next generation technologists with the real estate world and mentoring forward-thinking founders as they grow and scale their startups, Pi Labs’ purpose is to solve the greatest challenges facing the real estate world through technology and create a positive impact on our physical environment for people, businesses and communities. Founded in 2014, London-based Pi Labs invests in early-stage proptech startups which are transforming the future of physical spaces across Europe – where it is the most active proptech VC. Its portfolio companies operate in global markets, including Asia and the US. From pre-seed to Series A and follow-on investments in later funding rounds, Pi Labs has grown its portfolio to more than 60 companies which are shaping the future of our physical spaces, with more than 50% of startups focused on addressing environmental and social issues.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Timestamps:

[02:40] Faisal: Why did you get into this space and how did Pi Labs come about?

• I started my career in California during the first .com boom and bust.
• At 25, I quit the corporate world to join the entrepreneurial world and set up my own tech business. Being a founder led me to segwaying and deciding to do an MBA at Oxford.
• In 2009, during the recession caused by real estate, I was looking for investment opportunities and I looked at investments into traditional real estate businesses. In 2013, I wanted to focus on the intersection between real estate and technology.

[05:00] How does Spire Ventures come into all of this?

• I made investments before Pi Labs that were in traditional real estate and I decided that if I wanted to continue, I should set up an Investment Management Business - a Fund Management Business- and separate personal investment from business investment.
• Pi Labs focuses on PropTech businesses where Spire Ventures focuses on traditional fee-generating businesses.

[05:40] Michael: You are an Investment Committee Member at Pi Labs, what does that mean and can you tell us more about the move you made from being an investor to a founder?

• My background started in Mechanical Engineering and I went into strategy consulting.
• I did things in the reverse route. I started as an advisor, went on to be an investor, and then went on to be a founder.
• I did my MBA at the London Business School, pre financial crisis.
• Since 2002, I have been investing in residential real estate.
• Once the investment team has filtered a lot of businesses and they pieced together the investment thesis, they put that to the final approving committee called the “Investment Committee”.

[09:15] Talk us through finding CrowdProperty and the product.

• We are in full-on growth mode as a profitable FinTech, PropTech business. We fund small to medium sized property developers.
• We've got a lot of debt capital from major global asset managers; over £400M worth of property projects with over 2000 homes being built.
• We have expanded into Australia

[11:05] After your third fund raise, is the focus going to remain in Europe?

• After our first fund was launched in 2015, we were mostly a UK fund and we had one company in Bulgaria which has turned into a global business.
• With our second fund, we started investing in the Netherlands, Finland, and throughout Europe and we wanted to focus on businesses that had a global thesis.
• Our third fund is our most international fund.

[13:30] How much are you looking to invest?

• We can invest anywhere from pre-seed to series A but our sweet spot is anywhere on the seed spectrum.
• Checks can be as small as £100,000 to £1 million.
• This fund has a pretty significant amount of growth capital reserves.

[15:00] Michael: Why is Australia the next point of call rather than the US?

• Most of my consulting career was spent advising businesses on international expansion.
• Australia is a smaller market with 24 million in population and they are in the earliest stage of the evolution of FinTech and PropTech.
• Australia has many duopolistic markets which typically drive less aggressive competition between players. You can drop in and be quite disruptive.

[17:40] Faisal: You’ve done 25 investments, is there a direction for this fund?

• We are quite a dynamic investor.
• We are publishing our own research on a number of topics such as sustainability and ESG.
• We are interested in robotics and the metaverse.

[20:55] What are the main challenges which are out there for you and other investors?

• Sifting through the volume and identifying the winners.
• There is such a dearth of liquidity for PropTech before that now the market needs to mature.

[23:35] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

L – Touch on the mainlessonsyou have learnt throughout your career.

• Faisal: Stay focused, be disciplined.
• Michael: Focus drives expertise, world-class talent and competitive advantage.

M - Please give a mentionto anyone / product / service.

• Michael: Pi Labs

R – What has been the most rewarding aspect of working in PropTech?

• Faisal: Watching businesses grow. Watching a founding team build to scale.

E - What are you excited about in the future of PropTech?

• Faisal: Deploying this capital into a batch of really exciting high calibre startups.
• Growing our team.
• Michael: Disrupting property development, finance, and helping more homes get built.

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Summary: For the 10th and final episode of Propcast season 8, Louisa is joined by Greg Smithies, Partner and Co-Head of Climate Tech at Fifth Wall and Jonathan Schulhof, co-founder and CEO of FootPrint Coalition Ventures. They talk through their roles and what their funds are doing within the climate and sustainable technology space. They explain the growth and trends that they have seen in the market at the macro and micro level. Finally, they speak about what the future looks like and what we can personally do to reduce our carbon footprint. The key insight from this episode is the simplest thing you can do for the planet is to switch your thermostat down.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• Battery Ventures
• Coldwatt, acquired by Flextronics
• Kleiner Perkins
• GE Conoco
• Turntide Motors
• Carbon Cure
• Sidewalk Labs
• Zero Acre
• Sealed

Shout Outs:

• Rob Soni, Executive Chairman, Founder, CEO & Investor
• Krishna Srinivasan, Founding Partner at LiveOak Venture Partners, Chairman of the Board at DISCO, Chairman of the Board at The Miracle Foundation
• Stephen M. Ross, Owner of The Related Companies
• Jeff Blau, CEO at Related Companies
• Harvey Spievak, Executive Chairman and Managing Partner, Equinox Group
• Robert Downey Jr.

Key Insights From This Episode:

• Looking at climate tech today, the vast majority of them require some level of industrial tech. - Greg

• The technologies we're investing in on the climate side are good for the planet, cheaper for the consumer and have higher returns. - Greg

• We might be in the golden age of climate and impact investing. - Greg
• We've had a washout of cleantech, 1.0 companies that weren't sustainable without subsidy. - John
• It is a travesty for the planet that for the last 20 years, the world's best and brightest went through, and spent all of their time doing ad click-through optimization. - Greg
• When you look at a problem that no one's looked at in the last 200 years, you can come up with some solutions that are cheaper, better and faster. - Greg
• People are really looking and examining the food supply and thinking about how we can scale in a way that's compatible with the planet. - John
• 70% of the world's natural gas is burnt inside buildings for either powering them or heating them. - Greg

Keywords: Climate Tech, Sustainable Tech, Future, Climate Change, Sustainability

About Our Guests:

Greg Smithies, Partner and Co-Head of Climate Tech at Fifth Wall.

Greg is a Partner at Fifth Wall, where he co-leads the Climate Technology Investment team. Prior to joining Fifth Wall, Greg was a Partner at BMW i Ventures where he led the Sustainability investing practice, investing in companies such as Prometheus Fuels, and PureCycle (NASDAQ: ROCH). Before joining BMW i Ventures, Greg led Finance & Operations for both The Boring Company and Neuralink simultaneously.

Greg started his investment career at Battery Ventures where he covered early-stage enterprise technology startups, as well as industrial technology buyouts. Successful exits from his work there include Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc.), and IST (acquired by Scott Brand).

Greg was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and currently lives in Oakland, CA. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School where he received a BS in Economics and a BS in Computer Science.

Founded in 2016, Fifth Wall, a Certified B Corporation, is the largest venture capital firm focused on technology-driven innovation for the global real estate industry. With approximately $3.0 billion in commitments and capital under management, Fifth Wall connects many of the world's largest owners and operators of real estate with the entrepreneurs who are redefining the future of the Built World. Fifth Wall is backed by a global mix of more than 90 strategic investors from more than 15 countries.

Jonathan Schulhof is co-founder and CEO of FootPrint Coalition Ventures, a digital publishing and venture firm he started in partnership with Robert Downey Jr., to back environmentally focused sustainable technologies. FootPrint is a cross-platform digital publisher that features sustainable technology in news and short form video content for social media, and long-form series for streaming networks. FootPrint uses its publishing activity to originate and add value to investments in high growth companies. FootPrint then makes these investments accessible to investors that want to join in our movement through funds and through co-investment syndicates. We invest in areas such as alternative proteins, biodegradable plastics, electric vehicle motors, and energy storage.

Jon has over 20 years of experience investing in clean technology startups. He was a founder and lead investor in Motivate, which owned and operated Citibike and the other leading North American bike sharing systems (sold to Lyft). He started Loom Media to finance the rollout of free public electric vehicle charging systems, and other smart city amenities sponsored by corporate media (now part of WPP). Earlier in his career, Jon created ColdWatt, a high efficiency power 81 Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 8HY electronics company (sold to Flextronics); and Glori Energy, a microbially enhanced oil recovery business (IPO).

In addition to his cleantech work, Jon serves as non-executive chairman of GTI Capital Group, a permanent capital investor in India. Jon started this company while living in New Delhi from 2010 through 2012. GTI’s holdings include Air Works (aviation maintenance), Samhi (hotels), and WebEngage (B2B SaaS tools for ecommerce). GTI has several prior exits including Brattle Foods (refrigerated logistics, sold to Future Group), National Stock Exchange (sold through secondary trades), Sandhar (autoparts, IPO), and Nova Medical Centers (healthcare services, sold to Apollo).

Jon was a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and served on the Board of Northside Center for Early Childhood Development for 10 years. He is now a mentor at iMentor. Jon holds a law degree from Stanford, and attended Dartmouth College.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Timestamps:

[02:05] Greg, can you talk us through your journey?

• Currently, I co-head the climate investment team at Fifth Wall.
• I set up and founded the climate investing team for BMW.
• Prior to BMW, I was an Elon Musk world for a number of years. I was head of finance and operations at two of his companies.
• I started my investing career at a fund called Battery Ventures.

[06:10] John, can you talk us through your journey?

• I didn't set out to be a climate tech investor.
• I have a law degree from Stanford.
• I started several companies that were venture-backed, the first was Coldwatt.
• I started my first asset management company as an investor in India and set up a permanent capital vehicle for investing.
• I partnered with Stephen M. Ross, Jeff Blau and Harvey Spievak and we turned around Citi Bike.
• Finally, I set up Footprint Coalition with Robert Downey Jr.

[14:20] Greg, can you talk us through impact investing and how it's going affect our built environment?

• Impact investing has historically gotten little bit of a negative connotation to it because in the capital markets people have always said there's real investing and then there is impact investing.
• A lot of these technologies that people used to think were expensive are now incredibly cheap.

[16:50] John, in your 20 years, what major changes have you seen?

• We've had a wash out of clean tech, 1.0 companies that weren't sustainable without subsidy.
• Technology is accelerating, the world looks nothing today, like it did 15 years ago.
• The talent that has followed the capital that is flooding into this market is truly amazing.

[22:30] With technologies such as Carbon Cure and cross-laminated timber, it is expensive for buildings to put into practice and will the cost of these building be higher?

• This technology is safer because these things are lighter and they're easier to transport. You need smaller foundations for the buildings and they naturally are able to band with the wind and high-rise buildings.
• It's cheaper, it's better for the planets, your buildings go up faster and they weigh less.
• We've got to climb up a little bit of a mountain when it comes to training engineers and getting permitting done.

[24:50] John, you have experience in alternative proteins, can you expand on that and give an example of a technology in that space?

• People are really looking and examining the food supply and thinking about how we can scale in a way that's compatible with the planet.
• We look for investments in areas where through alternative methods of production, we can create more denser sources of the very things that we need to eat and that are healthier and just better alternatives.
• Zero Acre Farms ferment in this case, vegetable oil and if you're able to do that you have a much more energy dense way of producing that food without having to go and cut palm forest.

[28:00] Is there something our audience could be looking in to play their part in the future of the built environment?

• The simplest thing you can do, inside buildings is turning your thermostat down.
• What we need is to allow people to voice their opinions and give CEOs and the people who make policy decisions, the power and the space to change how they do business.

[30:55] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about;

• Lessons learned in your career
• • Greg: Catch me if you Can and Inventing Anna, these people were to do outstanding things because they had the moxie and the guts to try.
  • Greg: You fail at a 100% of the things, you don't try.
  • John: Never underestimate the power of human incentives.

• Mention a person, product or service

• • Greg: Sealed.com
  • John: My wife

• Rewarding parts of working in the space:

• • Greg: When you work on anything in climate tech it is quite rewarding inherently because the, technologies you're working on are here to try and save the world.
  • John: I love the community feedback.

• What are you most Excited about for the future of the space?:

• • John: I drove a 1968 Volkswagen bus and this one was kitted with a salvaged Tesla engine.

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Summary: On this episode of Propcast, Louisa speaks with Jeanne Casey and Jacinda Lofland from Nuveen Real Estate. They talk about what led them to the innovation, sustainability and technology space at one of the largest real estate investment managers globally. Jeanne and Jacinda explain what works in creating a diverse and inclusive powerful team, and how to avoid the issue of tokenism. They elaborate on needing strategy and investment decisions and how ESG, technology and community play a part in all of it. Lastly, they'll give us some home truths about what they think needs to change in terms of adoption and integration. The key takeaway from this episode is that the crux of the diversity issue is around retaining, promoting and genuinely empowering diverse talent that's already within the organisation.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• Nuveen
• Morgan Stanley
• Cisco
• Remote Year
• PwC
• Selina
• Fitwell
• Cushman & Wakefield
• Industrious Office

Shout Outs:

• Zander Geronimos, Head Of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development at MetaProp.vc
• Abigail Dean, Head of Strategic Insights Nuveen Real Estate

Key Insights From This Episode:

• In 2021 we saw a 30% increase in ESG consultants and a 26% increase in ESG analysts. We also saw a 20% increase in innovation. - Louisa

• The crux of the diversity issue is around retaining, promoting and genuinely empowering diverse talent that's already within the organisation. - Jeanne

• It's so important that sustainability is not a side job. - Jacinda
• There's wide recognition that technology is going to play an outsized role in achieving fairly ambitious net-zero carbon and other sustainability goals. - Jeanne

About Our Guests:

Jeanne Casey is the Global Head of PropTech and Innovation at Nuveen, and leads investments and insights in PropTech for the firm. Previously, Jeanne was a Principal at MetaProp, a leading PropTech venture capital firm based in New York. Prior to joining MetaProp, Jeanne was a founding team member and Vice President at Digital Alpha where she worked on the launch, fundraising, and deployment of a $300 million growth equity fund focused on digital infrastructure. She has previous experience with Cisco and Morgan Stanley, and holds a MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA with honours from Johns Hopkins University.

As Director of Customers & Community, Jacinda Lofland works with Nuveen Real Estate’s operating partners to improve customer experience and productivity, engage with customers around ESG initiatives, promote and collaborate with community organisations and local businesses, and to measure, analyse, and act on customer feedback. Jacinda helped develop and roll out Nuveen Real Estate’s smart, sustainable building blueprint for various sectors. Prior to Nuveen Real Estate, Jacinda was a Director on the Real Estate team at Selina and prior to that, she led the Finance team at Remote Year. Jacinda has previous experience in real estate equity and debt investments with TIAA, auditing with PwC, and she holds a B.A. in Business Economics from UCLA.

Nuveen Real Estate is one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world with $142 billion of assets under management. Managing a suite of real estate funds and mandates, across both public and private investments, and spanning both debt and equity across diverse geographies and investment styles, we provide access to every aspect of real estate investing. With over 85 years of real estate investing experience and more than 600+ employees located across over 30 cities throughout the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific, the platform offers unparalleled geographic reach, which is married with deep sector expertise.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Timestamps:

[01:45] Jeanne, how did you get started in this space and your role?

• I have been in venture capital for over 10 years. Half of that time I have focussed on PropTech and most recently at MetaProp.
• I started my investing career in FinTech at Morgan Stanley in the early 2010s and then I worked at a fund that spun out of Cisco. We were investing in digital infrastructure, including smart cities and IOT and that's what led me to PropTech.

[02:55] Jacinda, can you tell us about your journey?

• I started out at PwC and I worked mostly on commercial real estate clients.
• My first time with Tiaa was back in 2013 and I did commercial mortgage originations as well as equity investments on the West Coast.
• I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina and was the first finance hire for Remote Year. I worked for Selina for about 10 months after that.
• After that, I came back to Nuveen where my focus is customers, community and the experience of our end users as well as engaging around ESG.

[06:30] Jeanne, what do you think can be done to attract more diversity to this space?

• The crux of the issue is around retaining, promoting and genuinely empowering diverse talent that's already within the organisation.

[07:20] What is Nuveen doing in terms of their hiring?

• Jeanne and I sit on the Insights Team which is led by Abigail Dean and that team includes our research team, sustainability, PropTech, Customers & Communication and Innovation.

[09:40] There is a lot of women leadership at Nuveen, what do you think can be done to increase this?

• I think it's beyond just attracting and recruiting diverse talent. It is about retaining, promoting and empowering the talent that already sits within an organisation.
• Our DEI initiatives are more genuine and actually reflect what our teams look like.

[11:45] Jacinda, you are from more of a real estate side, what have you seen in terms of diversity and inclusion?

• We're making meaningful progress.
• There have been a lot of reports around the benefits of diversity.
• Implicit bias training has been a really important step for us.
• It's important to hire outside of the same sets of colleges that might have strong, finance or real estate programs.

[19:50] Is there anything more you want to delve into about what you've seen in the more VC (corporate side), or within the startups?

• I've seen a lot of genuine improvement over the decade.
• I've always been at the intersection of finance and technology and both of those are historically very male dominated, very white dominated and a little bit older. I think that's largely, or at least in the process of changing quite a bit.
• Boardrooms and investment teams look quite a bit different than when I started just 10 years ago.

[19:10] Talk us through the focus for 2022.

• Our tomorrow's world strategy, there are three key things that we focus on; sustainability, technology and demographics.
• We have what we call a smart, sustainable building blueprint (SSBB) and there are a number of categories that we think really tied to those three overarching themes; energy, water, waste, resilience, health, and wealth, tenants & community, leasing and data & digitalisation.
• We want to build on our partnership with Fitwell.
• We'll be launching a VC strategy in the coming months.
• The two, overarching themes are;
• • a data strategy and tools and new technologies that help unlock our own proprietary data across our massive portfolio.
  • the intersection of sustainability and ESG with PropTech

[27:40] What do you think the industry could do better as a whole to move things forward in terms of adoption/integration?

• Incentives alignment is an area that is still fairly nebulous.
• Cascading goals around our own compensation targets that are specifically tied to sustainability and innovation goals.
• Rethinking how our buildings work, but also rethinking how we work.

[31:40] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about:

• Lessons learned in your career

• Jeanne: Throw out for a 5- or 10-year plan.

• Mention a person, product or service

• Jacinda: Our asset management teams and then the properties that sign up and do pilots.

• Cushman & Wakefield and Industrious Office

• Rewarding parts of working in the space:

• Jeanne: I love real estate and PropTech because I love seeing the tangible impacts on the ways that people work, live and spend all of our time.

• What are you most Excited about for the future of the space?:

• Jacinda: Data Standardisation and Climate Tech.

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Summary: In episode 8 of season 8 of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Benjamin Miller, CEO and Co-Founder and Alison Staloch, CFO of Fundrise. They talk about their journey in PropTech and how they built the Fundrise product to make high-quality real estate investments available to everyone at a low cost. They also discuss the benefits to the everyday user and how they've grown since they launched in 2012. A key takeaway from this episode is that most financial products are built for institutions, so how can we democratise private market real estate for individuals?

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• Blackstone
• Starwood Capital
• Sequoia
• WHOOP
• Blueprint

Shout Outs:

• Vik Venkatraman

Key Insights From This Episode:

• Consumer products are built for people but most financial products are built for institutions. - Benjamin

• Most people invest in stocks but that is only half of the investment world. The other half is the private investments; venture capital, real estate, private credit and private equity. - Benjamin

• Good investment performance is usually a long undertaking and the outcome is a result of years of work and many people's contributions. - Benjamin

• I dream about disrupting the old-fashioned institutions. If we could tear down the system and rebuild it from scratch, we would all be better off. - Benjamin

• Two reasons which have accelerated our ability to find the right team members over the last year are; we've moved to being a remote-first company and we're focused on expanding our source of talent in order to continue to increase the diversity of our team. - Alison
• As the business scales; the CFO needs to be thinking about what resources we need, what capital we need so that we can continue to innovate, to pivot and to find breakthroughs. - Alison

Keywords: investment, real estate, portfolio, venture capital

About Our Guests:

Benjamin Miller is Co-Founder and CEO of Fundrise, the largest direct-to-investor real estate investment platform.

Fundrise’s mission is to use technology to build a better financial system for the individual, one that is simpler, more reliable, lower cost, and transparent. Since launching America’s first online real estate investment in 2012, Fundrise has become the largest direct-to-investor real estate investment platform with more than 1.2 million users, more than $2.4 billion worth of equity under management, and $7 billion worth of real estate transacted, including over 18,000 residential units. Thanks to their robust proprietary technology and vertically integrated infrastructure, they’ve continued to democratize private market real estate for everyone.

Prior to Fundrise, Ben has decades of experience in real estate and finance. As Managing Partner of WestMill Capital Partners and President of Western Development Corporation, Ben was responsible for acquiring, developing, and financing more than $500 million worth of property.

Alison Staloch, CFO at Fundrise. Alison joined Fundrise in April 2021, she characterises her workload as typical of a late-stage company. She’s focused on accounting and reporting, alongside more strategic work, like improving revenue models and managing diversity, equity and inclusion goals. Prior to joining our Fundrise, she served as the Chief Accountant of the Division of Investment Management at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from December 2017 to April 2021, and before that, served as Assistant Chief Accountant from November 2015 to November 2017. From 2005 to 2015, she was with KPMG LLP in the Asset Management practice. Alison has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Miami University and received a Master of Accounting from the Ohio State University.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Timestamps:

[02:15] TO BEN: Prior to Fundrise, you were managing partner of WestMill Capital Partners and President of Western Development Corp. Can you tell us about your journey and how you ended up founding Fundrise?

• I have been in real estate for 20 years but the first half of my career was very different to the second half. My first half was the ‘normal’ real estate, development and investment.
• When the financial crisis of 2008 happened, it changed how I viewed the industry. I was not happy with the system and wanted to come up with a solution and Fundrise was born.
• Most people invest in stocks but that is only half of the investment world. The other half is the private investments; venture capital, real estate, private credit and private equity.
• It was strange to me that individuals were excluded from the private investment industry so we started a mission to go about trying to break down that barrier.

[05:35] TO ALISON: What's the transition been like going from the traditional capital markets investments zone into a fast-growth tech company?

• My entire professional life has been in investor protection roles as either a regulator or as an auditor. The investor-centric mission at Fundrise resonated with me as well as that mission focused on building what's best for the individual.
• A CFO role obviously encompasses much more than my previous roles.
• At Fundrise, our business encompasses much more than in a normal CFO role because we're a real estate operator, we're an asset manager and we're a software technology company.

[08:45] When you say the ‘normal investor’, can you describe that profile?

• In any of the private world investments, the normal investor in that world is somebody with a billion-plus dollars and if not, you're not served, you're not a customer of those institutions.
• If you have tens of millions, maybe they made a little sleeve for you, but you're not really their core customer.

[09:55] What is the profile of someone who uses Fundrise?

• A person uses our product. Institutions use places like Blackstone, Starwood or Sequoia.
• We have investors who have tens of millions of dollars and we have investors who have tens of dollars.

[11:50] Fundrise announced that the average annual return for all Fundrise clients’ accounts was 22.99% for the year, can you tell us how you made that happen?

• Good investment performance is usually a long undertaking and the outcome is a result of years of work and many people's contributions.
• We pursue two strategies; a fixed income strategy and a high growth strategy in real estate.
• Under those two strategies, we have two main parts; structural technology advantage and teams of people who are doing the work to drive great results.

[13:40] How have you gone about growing the team and attracting people from all other industries to Fundrise?

• We have doubled our team since I joined in April 2021 and hiring is a daily effort for our entire team.
• We're looking for smart people with a strong work ethic, low ego and who really care about the individual investor.
• Two reasons which have accelerated our ability to find the right team members over the last year are; we've moved to being a remote first company and we're focused on expanding our source of talent in order to continue to increase the diversity of our team.

[16:40] What is next for the whole sector as well as Fundrise?

• One thing that I didn't expect as we achieve scale is that we can do so much more than I imagine, so we now have new initiatives underway that are distinct from the original idea.
• The goal is to change how investment analysis and operations are done in real estate and finance.

[17:50] From the CFO point of view, as the business scales, there are lots of extra bits of structure you're putting in as well to make sure the business can continue to grow and make money.

• We need to continue to build out our resources, to support all of that growth including from a financial perspective and as portions of the business continue to mature.
• Thinking about what resources we need, what capital we need so that we can continue to innovate, to pivot and to find these breakthroughs.

[19:15] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about:

• Lessons learned in your career

• Ben: One of the operating principles is; you have to build your business on bedrock. You have to keep asking why until you get to bedrock.

• Mention a person, product or service

• Alison: My Whoop

• Rewarding parts of working in the space:

• Alison: It's such a nascent part of the tech industry and then being able to see all of the unique and innovative ideas at this stage.

• What are you most Excited about for the future of the space?:

• Ben: I dream about disrupting the old-fashioned institutions. If we could tear down the system and rebuild it from scratch, we would all be better off.

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Summary: In the 7th episode of season 8 of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Julia Paolucci, Managing Director at HqO France and Samuel Warren, Managing Director of HqO UK Ltd about how tenant engagement can slow down the resignation movement and help landlords meet ESG targets. They touched on what tenants can get out of HqO’s product, the acquisition of Office App and how ESG plays into the tenant experience. They also discussed what HqO has planned for 2022 as well as JLL Spark being a key investor. The key takeaway from this episode is that the focus in the current era is all about the employee experience.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• HqO
• WorkWell
• Insight Partners
• JLL Spark
• Navitas Capital
• Cushman & Wakefield
• Suffolk Capital
• Office App by HqO

Shout Outs:

• Chase Garbarino - Cofounder and CEO at HqO

Key Insights From This Episode:

• In a tech company, or a very service-driven company, things do change considerably month in, month out – Samuel
• When we started delivering something to the office market, it was something that was predictable, something pretty stable, and now we've seen everything transforming. - Julia
• In this era right now, the focus is really being directed at the employee and what their experience is as well as engaging with them and making them see the benefits of the workplace. - Julia
• 48% of the working population in the US are seeking new employment, therefore employers really need to understand what an employee wants. - Louisa
• The trend right now for us is; what can the landlord give to their tenant to enhance that tenant experience, to make the experience in the building as attractive as possible? - Julia

Keywords: ESG, tenants, landlords, real estate, office, future of work

About Our Guests:

Julia Paolucci

Julia Paolucci is Managing Director for France at HqO, where she is responsible for establishing and growing the French business.

Julia brings forward a property technology expertise, and a track record of leading greenfield organisations. In her previous role, as Head of Sales for Workwell, she was tasked with building the organisation’s client base in the proptech sector’s nascent stages, developing a thorough understanding of the landlord, tenant, service provider, and end-user experiences.

Julia started her career in banking, working in New York, Paris and London for the New York Stock Exchange, Deutsche Bank, and lastly HSBC Corporate Bank where she spent 7 years.

Julia graduated with a BComm from McGill University in Montreal and an Executive MBA from IE University in Madrid.

Samuel Warren

Samuel Warren is the Managing Director of HqO UK Ltd, our London based business. At HqO Samuel is responsible for the growth of our platform in Northern Europe, including Germany, Netherlands and Nordics.

Prior to HqO, Samuel spent 12 years in the real estate market specialising in growing new businesses and high performing sales and marketing teams with companies such as CBRE and Chesterton Global and developers such as Berkeley Group and Country Garden. He worked in the Middle East, Singapore, China and Russia.

He is a graduate of Exeter University and also commissioned into the British Army, serving as a Bomb Disposal and Search Officer in the Royal Engineers.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Timestamps:

[01:50] Julia, how did you become the managing director of HqO France?

• I started my career in finance, working for different financial institutions in New York, Paris and London.
• I was one of the first members of WorkWell.
• I joined HqO in November 2019 to launch the French market.

[03:15] Sam, how did you end up at HqO and what experience do you bring to it?

• I have a varied career, I worked for the British army and now my career in real estate has been focused on growing high-performance sales teams.
• I started at HqO and set up a country from the start, I grew the team and brought everything together.

[04:30] Tell us more about the product and how has the product pivoted over the last few years?

• One of the underlying things at HqO is regardless of the product, it's working with our customer base to really understand what they're trying to achieve.
• We've done a huge amount of work on analytics and data.
• When we started delivering something to the office market, it was something that was predictable, something pretty stable, and now we've just seen everything transforming.

[06:20] Say I'm one of the tenants, what value do I get out of this product?

• An individual employee in a building is going to have the technology on their mobile phone and will be able to do a whole range of things in that workplace; from booking different meeting spaces, being able to work in different places to being able to use your phone as an access badge.
• Connecting you to those services and features as well as making your day in the building a lot happier and easier.
• Bringing perks to employees, thinking of discounts in the vicinity, or promoting local foods and beverages.

[09:25] You have some well known investors; Insight Partners, JLL Spark, Navitas Capital, Cushman & Wakefield and Suffolk Capital. This has allowed you to grow across North America, UK and Europe. Are there any areas of focus or growth for the business which you are looking at?

• It varies from region to region so in Europe, we are consolidating what we deliver across those territories.
• Making sure that we can service a customer in all the different languages, all the different territories and all the different technologies.

[11:20] You acquired Office App. How did that come about and what does it mean for the business? You also have a fantastic culture; how do you sort of balance that with the acquisition?

• They were a direct competitor of ours in the European market but our cultures weren't miles apart.
• What they brought to the table was where we had gaps and vice versa.

[13:25] How does ESG play into obviously tenant experience?

• It is a necessity right now for real estate because they actually have to take action, they have to reduce their carbon footprint but they don't necessarily know how to do that yet.
• From the employer's perspective, this is becoming more important because we are in a great resignation period and people are looking for new employment opportunities.

[15:50] Can you talk us through how HqO can help clients achieve their ESG goals?

• ESG = environmental, social, and governance.
• Social: Our customer success team can implement for our clients can be things like events that are going to bring about inclusion or can push a different cause.
• We've been able to include a lot of guidance to users.

[17:00] JLL Spark has made an investment into HqO, what does this mean for the whole of HqO?

• Their knowledge of the marketplace has been put forward by them in the early days when no one knew who we were and it was really fundamental.
• They provide introductions that ratify who we are.
• Our clients know and trust JLL and their evaluations.

[19:25] What's next for 2022 in HqO, in each of your regions?

• The great resignation and people in work spaces are really driving that more holistic experience for both users of our product and people in buildings.
• With our acquisition of Office App, we have acquired a lot of knowledge about the corporate market. The trend right now for us is; what can the landlord give to their tenant to enhance that tenant experience, to make the experience in the building as attractive as possible.
• Enriching the experience for the employee and creating that engagement for them in their workplace in general, not just the building.
• Landlords and corporations desperately want to understand more about their population.
• A big trend of 2022 in the real estate world, in France, is satisfaction, how do we gauge satisfaction?

[23:40] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about:

• Lessons learned in your career

• Julia: Revolutions don't happen overnight but they do happen. To make revolutions happen, you need to keep pushing, you need to have energy, but you also need to have patience.

• Mention a person, product or service

• Samuel: Some of our early adopters, some of our customers that have got innovation teams that wanted to test the product and innovate, evolve, work with us.

• Rewarding parts of working in the space:

• Julia: Seeing my clients not refer to tenants anymore but rather as users.

• What are you most Excited about for the future of the space?:

• Samuel: A more holistic approach. The big goal is the way that physical space will be totally connected, be it whether you are in a residential component of it, whether you're in an office component of it, whether you're a public visitor. It's not about tenants anymore, it's about customers.

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Summary: In the sixth episode of season eight, Louisa hosts the first Propcast on the Italian PropTech market. She is joined by Giorgio Tinacci, Founder & CEO and Fausto Maglia, Chief Product Officer at Casavo to hear about their journey of founding Casavo in 2017. We'll learn about how the product enables the residential community to buy and sell quickly, conveniently and simply. Giorgio talks us through their series C raise back in March 2021 and they discuss how they've adapted their product and their marketing for different European markets.

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Companies Mentioned:

• Casavo
• Greenoaks Capital
• 360 Capital
• Picus Capital
• Exor Seeds
• Boston Consulting Group

Key Insights From This Episode:

• The Italian PropTech market has been growing rapidly since 2018, the number of PropTech companies operating in Italy has been doubling year by year. - LouisaIn Europe, it's a sellers' market. - Giorgio
• It was a hyper-growth journey and it still is. - Giorgio
• Digitalisation in real estate is really green. - Giorgio
• I was always keen on investing in human capital before technology and business. - Giorgio
• It's important that new technologies can lead to a disruptive innovation or a new market. - Fausto
• There are a lot of existing technologies that should be applied to old problems. - Fausto
• 20 years ago you had to go to a travel agency if you wanted to go to Japan. Today, you can book a ticket with your smartphone. That is the level of simplicity we are looking for in real estate. - Fausto
• The next three to five years will lead to a substantial change in the real estate market. - Fausto

Keywords: PropTech, Italy, Real Estate, Europe

About Our Guests:

Giorgio Tinacci graduated with a degree in International Management from Bocconi and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2015. He then joined BCG, where he worked for 2 years focusing on digital transformation projects in banking, insurance, and industrial goods. Giorgio left BCG in September 2017 and founded Casavo, the leading digital residential platform in Europe.

Fausto Maglia, is currently Chief Product Officer at Casavo, after leading the Marketing Team in the first phases of the company growth. Fausto has a very variegate background, with the tech world as a constant, as he has been part of product/tech teams in startups and large corporations in the travel, telecommunications, and real estate industry.

About Casavo

Casavo is a digital residential platform that is redesigning the experience of selling and buying homes in Europe leveraging proprietary technology in each step of the transaction process. Whether you want to sell or buy a home, Casavo makes it simple, fast and convenient, providing the best solution for your needs. Casavo offers integrated home-related services, providing a turn-key experience with an inclusive approach towards real estate operators (brokers, contractors, banks. etc). Founded in 2017 by Giorgio Tinacci, Casavo currently operates in Italy (Milan, Rome, Turin, Florence and Bologna) and Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), rapidly expanding into other European markets thanks to the work of an international team of over 300 people and the support of top-tier global investors. As of November 2021, Casavo has carried out more than 2,000 transactions for a value in excess of €600 million.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Timestamps:

[3:20] Tell us more about your journey: you have founded Casavo and studied globally. You've worked at one of the leading consultancies, Boston Consulting Group on digital transformation. Where did your passion for residential tech come from?

• I grew up in a small village close to Florence with a family of small entrepreneurs. My passion for real estate and entrepreneurship came from my dad.
• During my studies abroad I met several startups and I joined some of them as an intern.
• After my studies, I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur but I hadn’t found that big opportunity yet so after working for 3 years in consulting, I was looking at what was happening in the residential markets globally and in Europe and there hadn’t been a lot of innovation over the last 10 years so I decided to found Casavo.
• I had a passion for the intersection between the real estate world and the technology world.

[5:15] Fausto, you started out in the marketing world and have now moved over to product as the CPO. Can you tell us a little about the product as well as how you made that transition and if you have any tips for people looking to make that transition?

• Before joining Casavo, I had a career in product and it had been mainly in travel.
• A few months after Casavo launched, Giorgio was looking for someone in marketing and I had a bit of experience in that so I decided to start at Casavo in marketing. After 2 years, it was time for serious and important investment in technology so I moved over.
• Coming from marketing, I had a lot of understanding of some dynamics and that would have been harder to get if I was just a product person.
• What we offer to the markets is the ability to receive a purchase offer on their property without any kind of human interactions.

[7:40] Who was your first major client that you brought on board?

• It's a consumer platform, not a B2B platform.
• We really understood that in Europe, it's a sellers’ market so there is no presentation, everything starts from the seller. We started with a very strong and disruptive value proposition in order to solve the issue of a very lengthy, inefficient, and inconvenient traditional selling process.
• We did so by changing the paradigm; proposing ourselves to buy the home directly in a matter of days, instead of going through the whole process.
• Our first clients were the first family who sold us their apartment in Milan.

[9:25] Let’s talk about your series C, you raised €200 million led by Exor Seeds. You also have some other good investors including 360 Capital, Picus Capital and Greenoaks Capital. What were some of the major challenges when you looked to raise and how did you go about it?

• There were three key challenges;
• • Digitalisation in real estate is really green. The number of investors that were willing to be the first one betting on that category were few.
  • We started with a very asset-heavy model that requires a certain level of understanding of the balance sheet dynamics and the residential dynamics in order to not be skirted by volatility.
  • We are a leading technology company in Italy, but the ecosystem is pretty underdeveloped if you compare it to other markets.
• It always starts with the team and with a clear vision and executing that vision well.

[12:10] Why was the product so successful in Italy? You have expanded to Spain, what are the differences in what the buyers and sellers want? Do you have to change your marketing technique from country to country?

• We are the first movers with the AVM (automated valuation for models) so we were the first ones in Italy to provide free, online real-time valuations of residential properties.
• We added to that a very strong value proposition, which was you as a sender can sell immediately to us and you don't have to look for a buyer.
• The residential stock in Italy is generally quite old and we propose to customers renovated, nice looking apartments.
• There are some differences but what we want to do is to build a European platform, a single platform in terms of product but of course, there are some local nuances both in terms of product development and in terms of marketing.

[16:35] How long does it take to buy a property in Italy?

• In terms of selling a property in the large, metropolitan cities in Italy, the time needed is around six months. More or less the same applies to Southern Europe in general.

[18:30] Do you have some exciting news to share with us about a potential launch into a different market?

• We have just launched in our third country, Portugal.
• We started our internationalisation journey in the beginning of 2020 in Spain.

[19:40] How have you managed to grow your headcount over 300 people and what are your cultural values?

• It was a hyper-growth journey and it still is.
• My personal mission from the beginning was to be able to have an impact on the market, be the category-defining business, but with a strong team and building really a talent hub within our markets, all sharing the same vision from the very beginning and being focused on executing on that vision.
• I was always keen on investing in human capital before technology and business.
• When you are growing at the speed of light, launching new products, new markets, you cannot afford processes. You have to trust people, you have to empower your team and let them do what they think is the best for the company.
• We have our list of values and we live and breathe them in every way:
• • Focus on customers: our customers come first and we want to create long-term value for them.
  • Share the drive to innovate
  • Learn to adapt: continuous, direct, upfront feedback

[23:15] Is there any advice you would give to an aspiring entrepreneur?

• Just jump and do it - if you start to analyse everything and overthink it, it's not going to work.
• Be optimistic - turn challenges into opportunities

[25:15] What's next for the Casavo products? Are you planning or developing any new technologies?

• There are a lot of existing technologies that should be applied to old problems.
• The challenge is to be able to make portfolio-based decisions and market-based decisions for our investments, rather than transaction-based ones and we have to keep in mind changing consumer preferences that will affect the price properties.

[28:40] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about:

• Lessons learned in your career

• Change and self-development are very important.

• Mention a person, product or service

• A company in the FinTech industry called Scallop.

• Rewarding parts of working in the space:

• To start with no understanding of this industry, which is very complex with a lot of incumbent players, very traditional. Thinking about how to solve problems for our customers within this industry with an out-of-the-box and naive approach.

• What are you most Excited about for the future of the space?:

• The next three to five years will lead to a substantial change in the real estate market and we have the opportunity to be at the forefront of this change.

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Summary: In episode 5 of this season of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Tarush Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of 5x. He is one of the leading experts in leveraging data for exponential growth and has over 10 years of experience in the field. In this episode Louisa and Tarush talk about his journey through data and his involvement in WeWork that allowed the business to grow 10x in 3 years.

Tarush shares how to convert data into dollars, and how his business does exactly that. They discussed the data trends that he has seen over the years and Tarush gives some tips on how to get into the data space and make it a serious career path.

Companies Mentioned:

• 5x
• Salesforce
• WeWork

Shout Outs:

• Nelson Lau, CEO at PropertyQuants

• Adam Neumann, Co-Founder of WeWork

Key Insights From This Episode:

• What is super interesting about the data revolution is that we are still living through it. - Tarush
• Growth is something that takes time. You can grow really quickly, but at some point, it becomes unsustainable. - Tarush
• If you are serious about adding business value by being data-driven, you have to develop a data stack, and you are going to have to store it, structure it and clean it. - Tarush
• We saw a 46% increase in people being hired in data roles... I think this year it is going to increase even more. - Louisa
• In today's age data is no longer a nice to have, it's an essential part of any company's business proposition. - Tarush
• It is easy to have poor company values. - Tarush
• It's important to have values and write them down, but what are you doing to action them? - Tarush
• I think sequel is probably the most important skill in any of the data professions - Tarush

About Our Guests:

Tarush Aggarwal

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarushaggarwal/

Tarush is one of the leading experts in leveraging data for exponential growth, with
over ten years of experience in the field. After graduating with a degree in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon in 2011, he became the first data engineer on the analytics team at Salesforce.com. Data was in its infancy, and the log metric framework which Tarush built was critical in allowing Salesforce to analyse data across customers and provide benchmarks across different industries and verticals. Most recently Tarush led Data for WeWork, one of the fastest-growing companies in the world. WeWork leveraged data to be able to grow 10x in 3 years, supporting a footprint of 800+ offices in 120+ cities in 23+ countries with over 12,000 employees. Tarush scaled the data org from 2 to 100+ and their unique approach allowed them to stay lean while supporting every functional area of the business. In 2019 he moved to China to help establish WeWork’s Asia operations and focus on the hyper-growing Chinese market.

About 5x

https://5x.co/

The biggest challenge for most businesses is converting data into dollars. Businesses lack the expertise to build the data engine (infrastructure, data collection, self-service reporting) That's why we created 5x. To enable companies to answer business questions, without having to worry about building data infrastructure or bringing in the right team. Because of our prefabricated data blocks & network of remote data engineers, we deliver data reporting faster, cheaper, and of higher quality, than anyone else in the industry.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Timestamps

[2:35] Can you talk us through your career? You started off at Salesforce, then went on to be the Global Head of Data at WeWork, you have founded and grown your own business. How did you scale the data from two to a hundred plus at WeWork and how did you get Adam to prioritise this as a business need?

• We are still living through the data revolution. 10 years ago, at Salesforce, no one in the valley had a data team. 10 years later at WeWork, it was completely different, we had an established modern data stack.
• When I joined, WeWork had about 100 offices and a few years later we had close to a thousand. The business was growing so quickly and we had to scale the team as well. It was slightly unsustainable.

[6:10] What does your business do and how does it come together with the modern data stack? How does it drive more value for customers and can you give an example of who one of your customers might be.

• Businesses find it difficult to extract value from data because startups today have 10-12 different sources of data. Hiring an ad hoc analyst who builds a few dashboards isn’t good enough anymore, it doesn’t lead to long-term business value.
• If you are serious about adding business value by being data-driven, you have to develop a data stack and you are going to have to store it, structure it and clean it.
• 5x stitches together the data stack with all the best-in-class vendors, across data collection and Deshon storage modelling and reporting.
• We interview and hire engineers and we get to hire the top 1% of these engineers. We can pre-train these engineers on the platform.
• 5x is faster, cheaper and higher quality.
• Our sweet spot is a company that has found some success and then they need to go scale the business and they need to go deploy an entire data comprehensive strategy and do so fairly quickly.

[11:10] You are 8 months old and you’ve already raised, are about to raise again and you have over 50 employees. What's the secret to maintaining a good culture?

• A lot of it comes from the Founder.
• It is easy to have poor company values.
• It's important to have values and write them down, but what are you doing to action them?

[14:45] Are there any macro trends that you have seen in the 10 years that you have been working in data and what does it mean for companies?

• 10 years ago, no one was doing digital marketing and no one had a website for their business and Google came along and said that if you don’t have an online presence, you are not going to exist.
• In the next 10 years there will be the evolution of digital marketing and digital marketing will go more mainstream and that will evolve into data.
• In very early rounds, venture capitals are asking what's your data strategy.

[17:50] You started off as data engineer, now you are a Founder and you have started a new profession. How can people learn more about it?

• We are early in the space and when I started the playbook of data hadn't yet been written.
• Ramping up in your tech skills, SQL is really important. Something like Python or any analysis language are skills that are extremely valuable.
• Understanding the best practises and being able to shadow a company. Doing it well and spending time to really understand the best practises and the trends.

[22:55] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about:

• Lessons learned in your career

• When you look at what data it's adding visibility organisation that's kind of one side of the spectrum and on the other side is being in flow, extremely creative and intuitive. We tend to be either or.

• Unless you actively try you're just going to move more and more on that spectrum. If you're a data-driven person then likely you're just going to make everything in your life even more data-driven.

• Moving more towards the middle is something that will serve everyone.

• Mention a person, product or service

• My assistant, Tricia

• To-Do-List and Google Calendar save my life on a daily basis

• Rewarding parts of working in the space:

• Impact is a huge one. Being able to leverage data for growth is not something which is trivial.

• Being able to take something, spend time in it and work towards helping commoditise it.

• What are you most Excited about for the future of the space?:

• The evolution is going to continue. In the next few years, we're starting to get more into decision-making, recommendations and insights.

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Summary: On the fourth episode of Season 8 of the Propcast, Louisa speaks with Liza Benson, covering her journey to becoming a partner at one of the most prominent female-led Venture Capital funds in the Real Estate Tech space, Moderne Ventures. In this episode you’ll hear how Liza balances the time being a board member of several companies whilst also raising $200 million in 2021. You’ll also hear about the plan for deployment and what Liza and the team look for when evaluating a PropTech business or a tech company. Lastly, you’ll hear about Liza’s personal experience with being a woman in the Proptech space, as well as a woman in Venture Capital and the effect of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives within some of their portfolio companies.

Companies Mentioned:

• Moderne Ventures
• DocuSign
• StarVest
• Avalon Bay Communities
• Greystar
• Oak Tree Capital Management
• Icon
• Hippo
• Better Mortage
• Widevine
• Webify
• Blackstone
• Xeal

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Shout Outs:

• Constance Freedman Founder and Managing Partner at Moderne Ventures

Key Insights From This Episode:

• April 2000 was an interesting time to join venture capital at a very instructive time in many ways, because we've seen over the last 5+ years everything is up and to the right. - Liza

• We actually don't use the term PropTech. We use the term Real Estate Tech. - Liza

• We think about Real Estate Tech in a very broad way. We actually like companies that have multi verticals because the more verticals, the bigger the market, and also not subject to the cyclicality of real estate. - Liza

• There are so many different verticals in PropTech, that it touches anything in the built environment, whether it’s mobility, ESG or the content. There is a new vertical coming out every month. - Louisa

• You could have the greatest market, the greatest business model but without the right leaders to execute on it, it won't work. - Liza

• What we're not seeing as much of, unfortunately, is women partners. It is still a very, very low number. I always tell people to make it your advantage. Everyone will remember you when there's eight guys and you on a Zoom call. - Liza

• We're in a unique time right now where it's become easier to balance that work-life balance. I think that is going to be a huge benefit for women going forward. - Liza

Keywords: Venture Capital, Real Estate Tech, Women, Investing

About Our Guests:

Liza Benson is a Partner with Moderne Ventures and helps lead and manage investment activity with particular focus on high-growth technology companies that can achieve rapid adoption and scale. Prior to Moderne, Liza was a Partner with StarVest Partners, focused on expansion stage B2B SaaS investments. Previously, Liza was a Managing Director of Highbridge Principals Strategies and invested primarily in online video, digital media, and marketing technologies and prior to that she was a Managing Director with Bear Stearns’ Constellation Growth Capital and an investment banker at Patricof & Co and First Union where she started her career.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Timestamps:

[02:00] You started off in investment banking, at First Union and then a part of StarVest partners. How did you come to Moderne Venture and meeting your partner, Constance?

• I have been in venture in growth equity for 20 years. I started in investment banking to learn the technical aspects of modelling and I joined my first fund in April 2000.
• I joined StarVest, a B2B SaaS investor, and that is where I met Constance.
• I have been at Moderne Ventures for 4 years. We have had a great run, we finished investing the first fund which was $43 million. Then, last summer we raised our second fund, where our original goal was a $125 million and our cap was $150 million and we're able to blow through that cap, get our LPs to agree to go to $200 million.

[05:50] What makes Moderne unique, besides the 2 female leaders, and what does that mean to you? Is there a set mission behind the fund?

• The fund was originally conceived by Constance as a strategic fund out of the National Association of Realtors. The basic premise was; “How can I stack the deck? How can I help my companies in the most in the most profound way?”
• We're an early-stage investor in real estate home services, FinTech and InsureTech having to do with real estate.
• DocuSign is very interesting because it's really not a PropTech company in any way. It has a lot of applicability in our industries, but has many other verticals as well. DocuSign became in the model for how we work with companies.
• We love companies that have these multi vertical applications.

[8:05] Some of your strategic investors include; Avalon Bay Communities, Greystar and leading real estate companies such as Oak Tree Capital Management. Constance generated a lot of these herself but how do you continue to support them?

• They are investing in us to improve the operations and ultimately the NOI of their businesses. Therefore, we need to make sure that we're bringing the best tech to these companies so that they can fundamentally innovate right.
• We have systematized corporate programs that we work with our LPs on.
• We also have another program that we call Passport that is our business development group. It is systematised approach, over a seven-month program, where all of our companies are led through a mentorship with our LPs and larger advisory group of 700 real estate execs.

[10:10] You have got about 700 real estate execs of which some notable names are Icon Port, Hippo and Betta Mortage covering real estate, mortgage, finance and insurance. Is there anything Moderne Venture looks for when evaluating a company?

• Late seed to early B stage companies.
• Founders are the number one thing. You could have the greatest market, the greatest business model but without the right leaders to execute on it, it won't work.
• Total Addressable Market (TAM), we look at it in a very systematic way.
• We love companies that have a foothold in real estate or want to have a foothold in real estate but also have multi vertical applications.
• We also look at the business model, what is the cost to acquire a customer? What is the long-term value of that customer? What are the fundamental economics of the business at scale?

[13:10] You are on various boards as well like Widevine and Webify. What is it like balancing all of this and being on the board of various companies?

• I am on 8 or 9 boards as a board member or board observer.
• I keep in touch with all of my CEOs on a bi-weekly or monthly basis for one-on-one phone calls.
• From the perspective of the executives who are running the companies, they think of Moderne Venture as a strategic investor. We're not necessarily going to help them with their budget, but we will help them get customers.

[16:15] Is there any advice that you can give to woman looking to get into the investment space, whether they're coming from the banking side, the consultancy side, the venture capital side?

• There are 2 ways to come into venture capital; you work for a particular startup or multiple startups that are successful, or there is the investment banking and consulting route.
• Core skills of modelling, deck building and strategic thinking are beneficial.
• What we're not seeing as much of unfortunately is women partners, it is still a very, very low number. I always tell people to make it your advantage. Everyone will remember you when there's eight guys and you on a Zoom call.

[17:55] Are there any positive experiences personally for you or any successful changes your various portfolio companies have implemented to ensure DEI?

• Giving people the flexibility, they need to balance work and life.

[19:55] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about:

• Lessons learned in your career

• Never have religious beliefs in either a company or an idea. I think you always have to be open to the information that comes in open to criticism, open to other thoughts.

• Mention a person, product or service

• Xeal. Electric Vehicle charger that does not need WiFi or cell service.

• Rewarding parts of working in the space:

• It changes every day. There is no schedule that has to get done necessarily.

• What are you most Excited about for the future of the space?:

• Being at a venture fund that is focussed on the real estate industry.

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The first month of streaming is free, and when you use the code LMRE you’ll also receive 25% off the second month.

Visit plus.cretech.com for more.

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Summary: In the third episode of season 8 of The Propcast, Louisa is chatting to Mallorie Brodie CEO & Co-Founder and Lauren Lake COO & Co-Founder of Canadian-based construction technology company, Bridgit about Women in ConTech. They talk about the growth of the ConTech market, how Bridgit have secured investment from some of the leading VC’s and won over some major contractors. You’ll hear about how a huge part of their software focuses on people and how they have scaled their team during the war on talent which is a problem that many founders are facing.

Companies Mentioned:

• Bridgit
• Local Logic
• Agora
• Autodesk
• BDCs Capital Women
• Camber Creek
• Storm Ventures
• McKinsey
• Skanska
• Ryan Companies
• Toric

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews

Shout Outs:

• Amy Abascal, VP of Marketing for Bridgit
• Courtney Cooper, Principal at Alate Partner
• Julian Brockhurst, Venture Capital at VentureCrowd | Director at Proptech BNE
• Michael Beckerman, CEO, CREtech and CREtech Climate
• Ben Lerner, MRI Qube Global Software
• Jason Fitzpatrick, Senior Vice President Of Sales at Bridgit
• Thiago Da Costa, Co-Founder & CEO at Toric

Key Insights From This Episode:

• The war on talent and is a problem most founders are facing, and I'm sure that many entrepreneurs are experiencing the same pain. - Louisa
• We found the problem before creating the solution, which we found was different to how a lot of tech companies start. - Lauren
• You don’t solve the pain point and then stop developing the software and just continue marketing into the industry. We are making improvements and learning from our customers every single week. There is no end to continuing to innovate at Bridgit. - Mallorie
• ConTech market investment has doubled in the last decade and it’s accelerated, far beyond the pace of growth of just the venture capital. - Mallorie
• The other thing we've seen is just a ton of consolidation in the markets. Not all of that capital is going into seeding new companies. Some of the larger companies out there are seeing all of the innovation within the small and midsize companies and there has been a ton of acquisitions. - Mallorie
• At the beginning, we certainly found it challenging to raise capital early on in the business... Over time what we were able to do is start to prove our efforts more in the actual metrics and numbers of the business. And that makes the conversation much easier. - Lauren
• You have two female founders... I think looking into DEI is extremely important for the growth of a tech business. - Lousia
• We were females in construction technology really didn't make a selection of two male dominated industries. - Mallorie
• Companies felt heard. They get to actually give their input into how the product is being developed. And so, through that process, we're also figuring out, which of these companies would actually want to use the product once it's developed. - Lauren
• People make the assumption that if they don't have a technical background, they can't work in tech. - Lauren

Keywords: Construction, Technology, Women, ConTech

About Our Guests:

Mallorie Brodie

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorie-brodie-b3885827/

Mallorie Brodie, CEO and Co-Founder of Canadian-based construction technology company Bridgit. She has almost 10 years of entrepreneurial experience and holds various entrepreneurial awards, including receiving the top prize at Google Demo Day, being named Techvibes Entrepreneur of the Year, being named to the Forbes Manufacturing & Industry 30 Under 30, being named to the Best Of Canada Forbes Under 30 Innovators list, and being named to the Top 40 Under 40 in Canadian Construction list. Since opening Bridgit, herself and Lauren have established Bridgit Bench, our flagship product, as the leading workforce intelligence solution in construction today. Bridgit Bench is now used by over 100 leading general contractors across North America like Rogers-O’Brien, DeAngelis Diamond, Ryan Companies, Alberici, and more.

Lauren Lake

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-lake/

Lauren Lake is the COO and co-founder of Canadian-based construction technology company Bridgit. With a degree in Civil Structural Engineering from Western University, With her guidance and expertise in the AEC industry, Lauren has helped establish Bridgit Bench, the company’s flagship product, as the leading workforce intelligence solution in construction today. Lauren has been named in the TechWeek 100, Forbes Manufacturing & Industry 30 Under 30, and Best Of Canada Forbes Under 30 Innovators lists. Her true source of pride comes from helping over 100 contractors across North America get the most out of their workforce.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Timestamps:

[02:30] Talk us through founding Bridgit and the product. You founded it back it in 2014 in the Tech Hub, Waterloo, Canada.

• We met through an entrepreneurship program. Lauren was studying civil engineering and Mallorie had been studying business. We also both had family in the industry.
• Lauren had some of that first-hand experience from her time on site, how little technology there was, everything was pen and paper back then.
• We found was people really liked having the opportunity to open up and share their challenges. We found the problem before creating the solution which we found was different to how a lot of tech companies start
• Through our research and talking with the largest general contractors in the U.S, we learned about the strategic challenges they were having around the labour shortage in general, and just managing their people and really trying to put the best project teams forward. And we set out to create our second product, Bridgit Bench.

[08:00] Last year you raised $23 million and you are backed by some big names like Autodesk, BDCs Capital Women and Technology Venture Fund, what are the plans? Is it further growth across the states?

• We brought on Camber Creek and Storm Ventures to co-lead the round. Camber brings the deep contraction and property tech expertise and Storm has the B2B enterprise SaaS experience so them joining the board and coming on as investors has been very helpful in the last 6 months.
• The key to our overall product development process is that it's very repeatable because we know how to go and do the research, find the pain points and actually launch a product or a module or a feature to solve for those pain points.
• Selling to mean general contractors right now, our primary user, and really excited to just get more and more contractors onboard the platform over the next year.
• We're definitely looking at adding new product nodules and also looking at international markets like the UK and Australia.

[10:10] Tell us a bit more about the ConTech market in terms of investment. It's the era that's received the most amount of investment in 2021 and set to be bigger in 2022. What have you seen since founding Bridgit back in 2014?

• ConTech market investment has doubled in the last decade and its accelerated, far beyond the pace of growth of just the venture capital.
• The other thing we've seen is just a ton of consolidation in the markets. Not all of that capital is going into seeding new companies. Some of the larger companies out there are seeing all of the innovation within the small and midsize companies, and there has been a ton of acquisitions.
• We've just seen a dramatic shift since when we started the company. The appetite and need for technology now, it feels like we're just at the beginning.
• We've started to see solutions where the data is being collected. And now over the next number of years, I think we're going to see some really interesting opportunities around how that data can be put to use.

[13:00] The statistics say it's harder to raise as a female founder. How did you find it? Are there any tips?

• At the beginning, we certainly found it challenging to raise capital early on in the business. At that point, you're really just pitching your vision and you're pitching yourselves as founders. And at that point that was much more difficult of a sell.
• Over time what we were able to do is start to prove our efforts more in the actual metrics and numbers of the business. And that makes the conversation much easier. And that was just because of the momentum and the product market fit that we were able to show. And just proving that through all of the growth that we have.

[15:30] You’re fast-growing tech business. How have you gone about recruiting from a diverse talent pool? What would you say are the most attractive parts of working in this space? And why did you both go into it?

• We both have family backgrounds in construction. After our studies and hearing all of the different pain points and challenges, we realised we can play a role in helping to solve the problems in the industry.
• At Bridgit we've been diverse from day one. Mallorie and I did not come from software engineering backgrounds. We were females in construction technology in two male dominated industries.
• We had little capital to put to work and hired people within our network. If diversity happens early on, it becomes really attractive for a lot of people to come and work at a company that has people with so many different perspectives and so many different backgrounds.
• We do very specific things in terms of how we're attracting and recruiting talent. We cast a very wide net by how we post our job descriptions and job postings. We eliminate a lot of the criteria that a lot of tech companies would include things like “you need to have X number of years in this type of role at another B2B SaaS company”. For more entry level roles, we've found that you don't need to have that experience to work at Bridgit.

[21:00] You've got some huge clients. How did you go about securing some of your clients? Any tips for people looking to break into this industry you'd like to share?

• We built our product hand in hand with different customers.
• The construction industry is a very tight nit group, a very competitive industry. It was a very deliberate choice to start with the enterprise segment, because those companies hold a lot of credibility.
• To have customers speak to how they've used the product at trade shows doing different podcasts or webinars and having the customers speak to the product, that is what we have found is the most engaging.
• We've been very careful to say no when it comes to our strategy and the type of client that we're selling to. So, we could really focus on who we could add the most value to given where the product is at today and deliver a great experience.
• We are also very genuine and very honest in how we speak to the product.

[26:00] Have you used any sort of external support, associations or groups to help your growth?

• There are associations that we are part of. We have integration partners, companies that our product integrates with and we're able to actually show that business use case for how the two products can work together. There're other partners that we work with that are more industry specific. There are marketing partners that we work with to do joint webinars and collaborate together as different teams.
• Our base of investors who provide a ton of different supports. And we've been quite deliberate in building that group of investors to have those construction backgrounds and people with tech backgrounds.
• There's been so many people in the industry that have given us so much time. And I think it speaks to everyone's motivation and interest.

[30:00] The ‘LMRE’ part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about:

• Lessons learned in your career
• • Importance of corporate values. It's really helped to align everyone and the decisions that we're making and how we're hiring and just the brand that we're putting out to the team and to potential employees.
  • Deliver results fast. We have win or lose together, which is all about teamwork. We have never stopped learning.
• Mention a person, product or service
• • Thiago Da Costa, Co-Founder & CEO at Toric. Analytics is such a compelling opportunity in the space right now.
• Rewarding parts of working in the space:
• • The industry was open to giving us feedback so that we were able to figure out how to build a product, launch it and build a 90-person diverse team.
  • The partnership that Lauren and I have together
• What are you most Excited about for the future of the space?:
• • Expanding on our product, workforce planning.
  • The growth and seeing some of the early team members that have been able to just take on challenge after challenge.

Sponsors

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Summary: In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa speaks with Christopher Hopper & Samuel Adeyemo from Aurora Solar about what effect the growing solar industry can have on the built environment. They discuss how their technology is changing the way that solar panels are designed and fitted, saving on emissions and reducing money for the end consumer. You’ll learn more about the career opportunities within renewable energy projects within PropTech and Christopher and Samuel’s best advice for anyone looking to enter the industry at this exciting time.

Companies Mentioned:

• Fifth Wall

Shout Outs:

• Michael Beckerman, Climate Tech

• Greg Smithies, Brendan Wallace, Brad Greiwe at Fifth Wall

• Brian Bartholomeusz

Key Insights From This Episode:

• We started a non-profit organization that developed off-grid electrification solutions for developing countries... We electrified about 600 homes over the course of a couple of years, mostly through solar power. - Christopher
• Obviously solar is renewable energy. You're not burning fossil fuels in are causing emissions. - Samuel
• As we move to more decentralisation, I can't think of anything that's much more decentralised than being able to control and own your own energy. - Samuel
• Unfortunately, when there are in natural disasters, it's a poignant reminder to people that a) we need to do something about it, and b) if you're concerned about reliability and independence, solar is something that you should seriously consider. - Samuel
• Solar is a super interesting space, and in a very interesting time. It's a space that matters and that's pretty rare combination. - Chris
• In the last decade or so, we've seen the early stages of this massive shift from large centralised fossil fuel nuclear base generation, towards distributed renewables that are much more dynamic. - Christopher

Keywords: renewable energy, solar panels, ESG, climate change, emissions

About Our Guests:

Christopher Hopper, Co-Founder & CEO, Aurora Solar

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-hopper/

Christopher Hopper is the Co-founder and CEO of Aurora Solar, the solar industry’s leading platform for solar PV system design and sales. Prior to founding Aurora, Chris co-founded e.quinox and BBOXX, a charitable organization and a startup focused on developing sustainable rural electrification solutions for the developing world. He received an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and an MEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Imperial College London.

Samuel Adeyemo, Co-Founder & CRO, Aurora Solar

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sdadeyemo/

Samuel Adeyemo is the co-founder and CRO of Aurora Solar, a software application used by solar professionals to design and sell solar PV installations. Prior to Aurora, Samuel was Co-Founder of Vituo Technologies, a solar EPC that installs small commercial PV systems in emerging markets. Samuel started his career at JPMorgan, where he was a Vice President in the bank's Chief Investment Office, and was responsible for investing the bank's assets. Samuel got his AB from the University of Chicago, and his MBA and MSc from Stanford University.

About Aurora Solar

Aurora Solar was founded in 2013 with the idea that well-built digital tools could transform the process of how solar projects are designed and sold, paving the way for scalability and cost reduction. Fast forward to today, Aurora is the industry’s leading software platform, trusted by thousands of solar industry leaders around the world.

To date, over 7 million solar projects have been designed in Aurora. Aurora Solar was named Rising Star Company by S&P Global Platts in 2020, and ranked on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 2021 list.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Timestamps

[02:30] What is the founding story or Aurora Solar?

• Along with a couple of friends, Chris started a non-profit bringing off grid power to developing countries.
• Chris and Sam met at Stanford Business School and both shared a passion for entrepreneurship.
• Now they make software for solar companies to help them scale their business design and support adoption of solar.

[06:40] What are the major ESG components of solar, how does it slow down climate change?

• Aurora takes all of the manual processes of design and fit of solar panels and turns them into easy digital processes.
• By nature, the product is ESG as it is all done remotely.

[11:00] Do you have a challenge with people who are less used to tech being slower to adopt your software?

• The technology has proven itself; we have validations from various places and customers are seeing it themselves.

[13:00] Is it right that you’ve delivered over 7 million solar projects?

• We help out clients and scientists do work in the field. The work of Aurora is behind the scenes and we don’t take credit for the project, but we support the end-to-end process through the software.

[14:30] What major trends have you seen from customers?

• During the snowstorm in Texas last year, we saw Texas having the highest per capital number of solar designs created, which wouldn’t have been the case in the past.
• People have seen a problem and want to have more independence and reliability with their energy.

[17:45] What are the career opportunities in this space?

• Energy is undergoing such a huge transition right now. It’s an interesting trend with a lot of challenges to shift to a future powered by renewable energy.
• There's a lot that software can actually do to bring down the cost of, solar which ultimately will drive adoption.
• The work is meaningful, the product is interesting, the value of what you’re selling is clear with some explanation.

[23:00] The LMRE part of the podcast. L - what is the main lesson you’ve learned? M - mention someone or give a shoutout to a product or service. R – what is the most rewarding part of working in PropTech? E – what are you most excited about for the future?

• L – Follow your personal interests. Don’t make a plan B, go for broke.
• M - Brian Bartholomeusz from TomKat Centre for Sustainable Energy at Stanford, the team at Aurora and Fifth Wall as investors.
• R – Being able to have an impact.
• E – Bringing new technology to the market.

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Check out CREtech+, the first streaming platform devoted to innovation and technology in the built world, featuring new weekly videos with the world's leading real estate and tech professionals.

The first month of streaming is free, and when you use the code LMRE you’ll also receive 25% off the second month.

Visit plus.cretech.com for more.

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Summary: Welcome back to season 8 of the Propcast! In this first episode, Louisa speaks with Frank Furman, COO at PadSplit and Kevin Shtofman, COO of NavigatorCRE about what the real role of a COO involves. They discuss how the COO is the ‘CEO of Execution’ and how they support organisations to scale efficiently. Louisa shares some insights on recruiting for the COO role and how the role can look different in each organisation. You’ll learn more about how PadSplit and NavigatorCRE operate in this insightful episode.

Companies Mentioned:

• PadSplit
• NavigatorCRE
• McKinsey
• Georgia Pacific
• Common
• WeWork
• OfficeApp
• Building Engines
• Yardi
• MRI
• Dottid
• Jojo Learning

Shout Outs:

• Atticus LeBlanc, CEO PadSplit
• Matt Ellis from Measurabl

Resources:

• Listen to Brad Hargreaves from Common in this episode from Season 7 of The Propcast

Key Insights From This Episode:

• Our view is that if you can make affordable housing higher return than market rate there is no affordable housing challenge because you're leveraging the capital and energy and intellect of the private investor, and they are motivated to solve that. - Frank
• The most consistent problem I got was we've got a bunch of information that we don't use to make decisions because it's spread out all over the place. It's almost like what Frank's company has done with space we are doing with information and data. - Kevin
• In the most general sense, to me, a COO role is an execution one. - Frank
• I really think at the end of the day, the job of the COO is to help a company scale efficiently. - Kevin
• What I found is the most important role of the COO is finding lieutenants. - Kevin
• The COO hat really is the CEO of execution. - Kevin
• I think a few trends that we saw in 2021 are absolutely going to continue in 22. You'll see continued consolidation among proptech firms. - Kevin
• Finding talent as you grow is still so hard. And that's what keeps me up at night. - Kevin

Keywords: Retail, Operations, Startups, Mergers And Acquisitions

About Our Guests:

Kevin Shtofman

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinshtofman/

Kevin has spent the last 17 years in the Commercial Real Estate industry, working with clients across four continents. His work at Morgan Stanley, EY, and Deloitte led him to join NavigatorCRE as their chief operating officer just over two years ago. Kevin has presented on stages in 27 countries, discussing the future of real estate technology and covering topics around Blockchain, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Twins. He and his wife Katie live in Dallas with their two daughters, Avery and Lily.

NavigatorCRE is a patented, cloud-based business intelligence platform that serves enterprise owners, operators, investors, and managers across all property types, stages, and geographies…and works on any device, without an app. Over 2 Billion square feet sit on the Navigator platform.

Frank Furman

https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-furman-4b70b353/

Frank is the Chief Operating Officer at PadSplit, a co-living startup that is dedicated to solving the affordable housing crisis. Prior to PadSplit, he worked as a Category Director at Georgia Pacific and as an Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company in London and Atlanta. A former infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps, he commanded at the platoon and company levels and served two tours in Afghanistan. He has a B.S in Aeronautical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and an M.S. in Applied Physics from Johns Hopkins University. He and his wife Caelyn live in Atlanta, and have two sons, Rudyard and Byron.

PadSplit is a privatized housing company focused on providing affordable houses. They have over 1,700 units (within just 3.5 years), including single and multi-family properties. PadSplit also increases yield by more than 100 percent for property owners by using existing housing stock as shared housing. PadSplit was founded in 2017 to leverage housing as a vehicle for financial independence for low-income workers that serve our communities.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

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Welcome back to the Propcast for Season 8.

This is the show where host, Louisa Dickins interview PropTechs most compelling figures from around the world to discuss industry trends and challenges, career learnings and what the future holds for start ups, and the funds who are changing up the property landscape.

Our guests share not only professional but personal experiences and the valuable lessons they have learnt for our listeners to find out more about the evolution of the built environment.

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In this week's episode of The Propcast, Louisa speaks with Vincent-Charles Hodder and Sara Maffey from Local Logic. They talk about how AI can be used to build better cities that support sustainability and create great lifestyles for their residents. Vincent and Sara explain how the AI can help developers make their investments more profitable by understanding the data that exists outside the four walls of their buildings.

Companies Mentioned:

• Local Logic on LinkedIn
• Local Logic Website
• Transwestern LinkedIn
• Transwestern Website
• Ivanhoe Cambridge LinkedIn
• Ivanhoe Cambridge Website
• Lime

Shout Outs:

• Climate Check
• Cal Inman – Climate Check
• Jason Stanley
• Fifth Wall

Key Insights From This Episode:

• We're essentially trying to quantify everything outside the four walls of any assets to optimise profitability, sustainable. And we think that by leveraging that data, we're enabling data-driven decisions, which ultimately will enable us to, make better decisions as to what should be built, where, and making sure that what is currently being built in our cities actually works for the people that live in them. - Vincent
• [Local Logic] was such a great solution for everything that I'd been looking for. The idea of actually using data to quantify objectively, something that you know is so often described using gut feel or personal opinion by the brokers and various stakeholders in commercial real estate. - Sara
• Everything outside of the four walls of that asset has huge repercussions on the value of the asset, but also on what that asset enables people to do or the lifestyle that enables people to have. - Vincent
• We were able to look at leading indicators relating to location, and it enabled us to de-risk an investment that otherwise we wouldn't have been able to de-risk and we wouldn't have done. - Vincent
• There's a huge, huge push to think about sustainability. And I think there's two major components that are currently being looked at, the first one is kind of the operation of the building. And then the materials that are being used to actually build. - Vincent
• I think there's a huge opportunity for developers to actually minimize carbon emissions by. building denser communities, by making sure that the day-to-day amenities are actually within a reasonable distance...this is something that we're seeing a lot of developers take on. - Vincent
• If we keep building car-centric communities, I think we're not going to be able to hit the targets that we've set as a society when it comes to emissions. - Vincent
• There is a demand from investors to start getting into more sustainable reporting and our ability to actually use data to help tell that story, I think is going to be really important. - Sara

Keywords: Startups, Construction, Artificial Intelligence, Green Solutions

About Our Guests:

Vincent Charles Hodder

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincent-charles-hodder-24567326/

Vincent is the CEO and co-founder of Local Logic, a location intelligence company that digitizes the built world for consumers, investors, developers and governments - delivering unrivaled clarity and actionable insights capable of creating more sustainable, equitable cities. Passionate about cities, tech, and how they can work together to change how our cities are built, Vincent has always been at the intersection of Urban Planning and Real Estate. Prior to co-founding Local Logic, Vincent co-founded a real estate and urban planning consulting firm and gained real estate experience working for a real estate development firm as well as a public affairs firm. Vincent has a B.A. in Finance from HEC, and studied Urban Planning at McGill University.

Sarah Maffey

https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramaffey/

Sara Maffey is the Head of Industry Relations at Local Logic, a location intelligence company, where she combines her passions for real estate development and placemaking with data analytics and PropTech. She is responsible for building Local Logic’s brand, product exploration and driving the company’s growth across the U.S. and Canada. Sara has deep experience throughout the built environment lifecycle. She previously served as the Managing Director of Placemaking and board member at commercial real estate services firm Transwestern, where she led the repositioning of major commercial assets. Her career also includes running her own consulting firm, Edgewood Strategies, and stints with real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, and a Presidential Management Fellowship with the U.S. Department of Commerce during the Obama Administration. Her career began in project management at Turner Construction in New York City. Sara holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree from Yale University and a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Design and Architecture from New York University.

Company Summary
Local Logic is a location intelligence company. We built a digital twin of cities, quantifying the built world using data and AI to interpret the $217T real estate market throughout the US and Canada. We believe our understanding of cities, from predicting macro development patterns to describing the micro experience of specific neighborhoods and sites, gives our users the ultimate edge. Local Logic delivers sophisticated location insights through webtools, APIs, one-click reports and a data analytics platform depending on your needs.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

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Coming on the heels of CRETech’s return to live events with an 1,800 person turnout in NYC on Oct 13 and 14th, Louisa sat down with three of the leaders who headlined the event. She spoke with Brad Greiwe, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Fifth Wall, Raj Singh, Managing Partner, JLL Spark and Sharad Rastogi, President of Revenue at JLL Technologies.

They talked about their recent investments, the global movement towards sustainability in buildings and who the responsibility lies with to make changes towards net zero, and how buildings will be computers in need of operating systems in the future.

Companies Mentioned:

• CRETech New York Conference
• CRETech New York Website
• Fifth Wall
• Icon
• Sealed
• Juno
• CRETech Climate Tech Copenhagen
• Equity Residential
• Hudson Pacific Properties
• Ivanhoe Cambridge
• Kimco
• Turn Tide

Shout Outs:

• Michael Beckerman
• Scottie Lee
• Aloft
• Swift Connect
• Building Engines

Key Insights From This Episode:

• We invest in companies where we think that we can be a customer or we can be a channel to our clients, and sell their products through that channel. - Raj
• Technology was definitely impacting and influencing, from a disruptive or an enabling perspective. - Raj

• But at the same time the challenges around, climate tech specifically around decarbonizing the built world was also proven to be extremely challenging as well. The muscle groups that these corporates need in order to engage technology, and decarbonization, require different approach. - Brad

• And I think what makes this sort of green wave a lot different than the ones we've seen in the past is that in addition to sort of this government mandated demand, there is a real impetus and a real interest from corporates to be a part of the solution. - Brad

• I think the two things that stuck out for me firstly, was the number of attendees from the regular real estate world, as opposed to the technology PropTech world. So, there were a huge number of people there who were genuinely curious to understand how technology could have an impact on their business. - Raj
• I think change is driven by people, The whole world is waking up, why we need to be more carbon neutral, how we need to sort of control increase in temperature. What can we do as individuals to make the world a better place. And I think that's driving the investors, the occupiers to make different decisions. - Sharad
• I think buildings are will become computers eventually, and computers need an operating system. - Sharad
• I think for a lot of corporates who expecting the world to just go back to normal, post pandemic, it's just not going to happen. And having a very comprehensive digital strategy is likely going to be your best way to navigate the path forward. - Brad

Keywords: funding, innovation, sustainability, collaboration, acquisition, smart buildings, COP26

About Our Guests:

Brad Greiwe, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Fifth Wall

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-greiwe-96022a38/

Brad Greiwe is a co-founder and Managing Partner at Fifth Wall, where he guides the firm’s strategic vision.

Prior to starting Fifth Wall, Brad co-founded Invitation Homes (NYSE: INVH), a multi-billion dollar owner and operator of single-family rental properties originally backed by The Blackstone Group. As CTO, he positioned Invitation Homes as the dominant technology-forward brand in the single-family rental category, developing a proprietary technology stack to support the valuation, acquisition, rehabilitation, leasing, and professional management of over 80,000 homes in 17 major markets, serving 120,000 residents across the U.S.

Brad started his career in investment banking at UBS in the real estate, lodging, and leisure group, where he tallied over $33 billion of M&A advisory work and $1 billion of debt and equity financing, including the sale of Hilton Hotels to The Blackstone Group for $26 billion—the largest hotel privatization in history. He then worked in real estate private equity at Tishman Speyer and Starwood Capital, where he executed over $30 billion of acquisitions, debt financing, and development projects.

Brad is originally from Cincinnati, lives in San Francisco, and graduated from Harvard University, where he received his BA in economics.

Raj Singh, Managing Partner, JLL Spark

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajsingh/

In his role as JLL Spark managing partner, Raj guides strategic investments to continue growing JLL Spark’s portfolio, further accelerating innovation and adoption of PropTech in commercial real estate. Raj is a venture capitalist, strategist and adviser in the innovation and information technology sectors. He most recently served five years as head of investments and then as interim co-head at JetBlue Technology Ventures—the corporate VC arm of JetBlue Airways.

JLL Spark - Company Summary

JLL Spark is a global venture fund, founded in 2017, investing in early to mid-stage property technology startups. JLL Spark’s team and venture capital fund have invested tens of millions of dollars in more than 30 early-stage proptech startups—from IoT sensors to investment platforms and more.

Sharad Rastogi, President of Revenue at JLL Technologies

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharad-rastogi/

Sharad Rastogi is president of the revenue division at JLL Technologies (JLLT), a business division of JLL dedicated to commercial real estate (CRE) technology. Sharad leads product strategy and engineering execution of JLLT’s revenue-generating technology offerings, helping to unlock data-driven insights and experiences, while improving the efficiency and ROI of clients’ real estate portfolios.

JLLT - Company Summary

JLL Technologies (JLLT), a business division of JLL, was established in 2019 to build and expand the company’s portfolio of technology products and services to shape the future of commercial real estate. JLLT is a first-of-its-kind team that combines commercial real estate experts with world-class technologists to deliver solutions that transform the way organizations acquire, manage, operate and experience space.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

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In this week's episode of The Propcast, Louisa speaks with Scottie Lee, Vice President, Strategy & Research at Equity Residential in Chicago and Marco Biasiotto, Director of Retail and Digital Strategy at Primaris Management Inc. They talk about how PropTech startups can get the attention of funders and VC’s to partner and support their products go to market strategy or fund their scale up. Scottie and Marco share their best advice for any startups looking to secure funding, as well as their do’s and don’t’s of fundraising.

Companies Mentioned:

REIM Tech https://www.linkedin.com/in/naqash/?originalSubdomain=uk

PGIM site https://www.pgim.com/

La Salle https://www.lasalle.com/

Primarche https://primarche.ca/

Tableau https://www.tableau.com/

Shout Outs

Naqash Tahir - https://www.linkedin.com/in/naqash/?originalSubdomain=uk

Dropit - https://www.linkedin.com/company/dropit-shopping/

Key Insights From This Episode:

• Alot of it is about the team, and then the technology or whatever they're trying to sell you. Because oftentimes they're very early on. And wherever they're trying to sell you today, it's going to evolve in six months, and that evolution is really going to be dependent on the team. - Scottie

• Is the problem that you're really trying to solve for us all that meaningful and impactful? Or is it maybe a secondary problem and maybe you're better off as a bolt-on feature to something else. - Scottie

• In terms of big don'ts, the one thing I can't stand is the constant email blasting that we're getting from multiple people within an organisation. It's just, it puts a red flag up to say, I'm out. I don't want to hear any more from you. You're done. - Marco

• I think there's lot of work in trying to connect, I would say, legacy systems with more modern technologies, particularly around their data and analytics and so forth. - Scottie

• Uou need to try things. You can't just stay with the status quo. So you need to be able to be open-minded understand what technologies that you're going to look at to embrace and bring into the organisation. - Marco

• if we were going to engage and want to do something like a pilot, we need a little bit of suitability on partner side or on the vendor side. So those are some of the things that you try to pick at and try to get a good handle on before you really start to engage. - Scottie

Keywords: investment, proptech, retail, startups, institutions, failure, success

About Our Guests:

Scottie Lee

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottie-lee-05a6313/

Scottie Lee is Vice President, Strategy & Research at Equity Residential in Chicago where he manages a team responsible for market research, sustainability, resilience, energy and environmental. Prior to Equity, Mr. Lee served as Vice President, Strategy & Analytics at Taubman where he oversaw corporate strategy, market research, financial planning & analysis, and financial & data analytics.

Mr. Lee is a member of the Urban Land Institute. He previously was a member of ULI Michigan’s Technology Local Product Council and was a member of ULI Michigan’s Larson Center for Leadership’s inaugural class. He is an emeritus member of ICSC’s North America Research Group. He previously served on the Governing Board of Detroit Chief Data Officer.

Mr. Lee received his MBA with High Distinction from the University of Michigan and his BS in Industrial Engineering and Economics from Northwestern University.

Company description

Equity Residential is an S&P 500 company focused on the acquisition, development and management of rental apartment properties located in urban and high-density suburban markets where today’s renters want to live, work and play. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 307 properties consisting of 79,322 apartment units, primarily located in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, Southern California and Denver.

Marco Biasiotto

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-biasiotto-35383923/?originalSubdomain=ca

Marco Biasiotto is the Director of Retail and Digital Strategy at Primaris Management Inc. He oversees the evolving industry trends and provides strategic recommendations that drive success for our shopping centre business. Marco is responsible for developing an insights platform at Primaris while also focused on embracing innovation through emerging technologies and partnerships.

With a retail research and shopping centre career spanning over 25 years, Marco is a leading expert in retail real estate technology and business insights. He recently launched the first ever omni-channel multi-shopping centre marketplace linking real time inventory. He is an active participant in ICSC’s North American Research Group and the Canadian Research Group. Marco holds a master degree in Spatial Analysis from Ryerson University.

About Primaris

Primaris is a wholly owned subsidiary of H&R REIT. Primaris owns and manages more than 7.5 million square feet of commercial space, including 17 enclosed shopping centres located across Canada. H&R REIT is one of Canada's largest real estate investment trusts with total assets of approximately $13.1 billion at June 30, 2021. H&R REIT has ownership interests in a North American portfolio ofhigh-quality office, retail, industrial and residential properties comprising over 40 million square feet.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

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In this episode of The Propcast, Louisa speaks to David Williams, Smart Buildings Industry Lead at Microsoft, and Fanie Reynders, Head of Technology at EDGE Next, about the future of smart buildings. In this episode they discuss the movement towards net zero and what that means for real estate businesses, construction companies and landlords, and how the technology needed for smart buildings has become more affordable and accessible.

Companies Mentioned:

EDGE Technology https://edge.tech/

EDGE Next https://edge.tech/next

YIT https://www.yitgroup.com/en

RXR Realty https://rxrrealty.com/

CBRE https://www.cbre.com/

Mitie https://www.mitie.com/

Azure Digital Twins https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/digital-twins/

Shout Outs:

Coen van Oostrom https://www.linkedin.com/in/coenvanoostrom/

Guy Grainger, JLL https://www.linkedin.com/in/guyjgrainger/?originalSubdomain=uk

Erik Ubels https://nl.linkedin.com/in/erikubels

Key Insights From This Episode:

• We build great buildings, and what is a building without a great smart building platform. - Fanie

• With the pandemic, we realised there was a different need, also with working from home and also post pandemic of people trying to optimise workspace - Fanie

• There’s kind of like the base layers, as I like to think of it, which is the building itself. Then there's the middle layer. And for me, that's kind of what goes on in the building. And then at the top layer, it's how the people interact with the building. - David
• The whole notion of getting back to work and bringing people safely back to work, first of all, but also having them productive in the offices - Fanie
• The amount of data that building provides is like, you cannot comprehend how much data it gives. - Fanie
• The pandemic, I don't think has actually changed any trends. I genuinely don't think it has, but what it's done is it has accelerated trends that we were already seeing in the industry. - David
• What's really exciting is when you're working with companies that aren't aware of how digital technologies can help them, how they can make the buildings better for the humans that work in them and look after them. - David
• Find your niche find something that enthuses you really makes you want to make a change. - David

Keywords: smart buildings, facilities management, service management,

About Our Guests:

David Williams

https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-williams-9559641/

David has worked for Microsoft since 2005 and has been part of an internal Innovation Team since December 2014. For the past 5 years he has been responsibility for creating and developing Microsoft’s Smart Places emerging industry. He provides commercial, business, and technical advice, that enables Microsoft customers and partners in the real estate industry to digitally transform. Prior to joining Microsoft, David served in the Royal Air Force for 22 years as an Engineer Officer and he has a LLB Honours degree in English Law.

Fanie Reynders

https://www.linkedin.com/in/faniereynders/

Fanie is an enthusiastic technologist who always thrives to push technology to its limits, whether its IoT devices, cloud infrastructure or even software design. He is an engineer by heart with over 16 years of experience building on the Microsoft stack. He joined EDGE Next in 2020 as the Head of Technology, being responsible for leading the engineering teams and also serving as the Principal Solution Architect.

About EDGE Technology

Today’s world runs on data. We use it every day to make our lives easier, our impact bigger, our goals more achievable. At EDGE Next, we’re using it to make better buildings. For everyone. The EDGE Next platform offers a seamless solution to optimising any office building’s performance, making it smarter, healthier, and more sustainable. The platform uses multiple sensors and sources to not only gather data, but also to deliver valuable and actionable insights. It’s the ultimate tool to enable buildings, companies and people to thrive. Check out https://edge.tech/next.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

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In this week's episode of The Propcast, Louisa speaks to Michael Werner, CEO and Founder of HomeX, a home services platform for both homeowners and service providers, radically improving the complex and fragmented home services industry. In this episode they discuss the trends and problems that exist within the residential home services industry and how these challenges can be addressed through PropTech to create a complete consumer and supplier service that creates jobs and is underpinned by the value of being a positive force within the industry.

Companies Mentioned:

HomeX https://homex.com/

Allstate Insurance https://www.allstate.com/

Shout Outs:

Stephanie Werner Payne, Co-Founder https://www.linkedin.com/in/swerner1/

Vincent Payen, Co-Founder https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincent-payen-9b6b72a/

Key Insights From This Episode:

• We're building digital experiences that provide convenience and reduces the friction of taking care of a home - Michael Werner
• Housing is way behind and it'd be great to help housing be able to make the same kind of leap that every other industry has made with digital technology - Michael Werner
• Housing is central to our existence - Michael Werner
• As you think about the next two to three or five years in the prop tech market, it's going to be about digitisation. It is going to be about bringing the same kind of convenience to the home that has been brought to so many other areas - Michael Werner
• The beauty of what we're doing for contractors is we're making their work more effective and efficient, and then we're actually giving them jobs. And rather than giving them leads, we actually will give them a fully vetted job - Michael Werner
• Shelter is so central, so critical to people's lives that if we can make home life better, we’ve made a huge, huge contribution to the world - Michael Werner

Keywords: home services, contractors, consumers, tech, trade, assistance, home improvements

About Our Guests:

Michael Werner

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-e-werner-09258/

Michael is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of HomeX. He has built HomeX to be a positive force, leveraging technology to radically improve the home services industry for consumers and service providers. Prior to HomeX, Michael was President and CEO of Globe Union Group (Gerber Plumbing Fixtures and Danze Faucets) and served as President of Werner Ladder Co., a family operation that spanned 75 years.

Michael is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a master’s degree in Engineering Management and Science. Michael is past Chairman of the Lymphoma Research Foundation, on the Executive Committee of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and has been active in the Economic Club of Chicago, the Young Presidents Organization, and the National Kitchen and Bath Association. When he’s not working or volunteering, you’ll find him with his family at hockey games or on his skis, mountain, or road bikes. He resides in Chicago with his wife Laura and they have three grown children, including Stephanie Werner-Payen, who is a co-founder of HomeX.

About HomeX

HomeX is a first of its kind home services platform for both homeowners and service providers, radically improving the complex and fragmented home services industry. HomeX is making home maintenance less complicated for homeowners by providing quick, trusted solutions for issues that arise related to heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical systems and appliances. Scaled amid COVID-19, HomeX Remote Assist provides virtual, personalized solutions with expert guidance through video, call, or chat. The HomeX suite of business solutions helps established, local service companies thrive, automating their booking, driving qualified demand, simplifying their operations and improving their holistic customer experience.

About HomeX Remote Assist

Remote Assist is a virtual service from HomeX that connects homeowners to trained technicians who can offer expert advice, a diagnosis, or one-on-one guidance through the repair process right over a phone or video call. With professional, personalized attention — and at a fraction of the typical in-home service fee — Remote Assist is the quick and contactless answer to homeowner headaches. If the issue is complex enough to require hands-on support, HomeX can book you an in-home visit from a trusted home pro to finish the job quickly and efficiently. Remote Assist is also now available on the HomeX app, so homeowners can access a trusted expert from anywhere.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

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In this episode of The Propcast, Louisa speaks with Peter Gibbons, MD of Openn Negotiation and Jeffery Gray, Founder and CEO of PROPIC about what it takes to exit and IPO a real estate company. They discuss how to set your company up to be IPO ready, how exciting it is to be in the Proptech sector right now, and how to maintain resilience when working in a Proptech startup.

Companies Mentioned:

Openn Negotiation https://www.openn.com.au/

PROPIC https://www.propic.com.au/

REACH Australia https://nar-reach.com/

Domain Group https://www.domain.com.au/group/

Second Century Venues https://www.scv.vc/

National Association of Realtors https://www.nar.realtor/

MRI Group https://www.mrisoftware.com/

Fleet https://fleetspace.com/

Shout Outs

Ash from ActivePipe (Ashley Farrugia) https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-farrugia-99bb0616/?originalSubdomain=au

MRI Group https://www.linkedin.com/company/mri-software-llc/

Key Insights From This Episode:

• Australia is quite advanced in terms of the technology we're using this vertical... there’s probably a contact every two or three months from potential investors, from the US. So they are clearly watching what's happening with technology in PropTech, in Australia – Jeffery Gray

• 80% of all consumer inquiries for real estate happen out of work hours. - Jeffery Gray

• Forbes has estimated by 2025, 95% of all consumer interactions are going to be supported by AI technology. Residential real estate is the largest asset class in the word. And you look at it as a vertical, it is well behind any other consumer facing vertical, arguably in the world. - Jeffery Gray

• VC’s and investors in America are...scouring the word, looking for technology companies that are investing in artificial intelligence. It is the next generation of technology and that's why they're reaching out. - Jeffery Gray

• There's positives and negatives to being listed. For us it was overwhelmingly a positive on balance, particularly around securing the funding so that we don't need to worry about funding now in terms of our runway, but more importantly, we've got a very clear roadmap that needed funding to execute it. - Peter Gibbons

• To me real estate is that last great bastion. It is a great industry to be in, but there's so many areas for improvement, and that improvement is all about customer journey. So the buyer and seller journey, how do we make their lives easier? And the key conduit to that is help out the agents. - Peter Gibbons

• COVID was a bit of a wakeup call to maybe there are other ways of doing things that aren’t the traditional way that we've undertaken it. So agents have really embraced it from that perspective because a) they either had time on their hands to learn about new things, and b) they had to come up with solutions that they probably haven't thought of before. - Peter Gibbons

Keywords: proptech, AI, IPO, listing, public, exit, property, real estate, funding, VC, investors

About Our Guests:

Peter Gibbons, Openn Negotiation

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-gibbons/?originalSubdomain=au

Peter Gibbons has extensive experience in property investment banking, property development and financing and technology development. He has held senior roles in some of the world’s largest investment banks, including Macquarie Bank, Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank, as well as Board roles at Landcorp, the Western Australian Football Commission, Silver Chain, and Chairman of the Bethanie Group.

About Openn Negotiation

Openn Negotiation is an Australian property technology company offering a proprietary cloud-based software platform to support real estate agents in selling property online with greater transparency. The Openn platform facilitates a negotiation process, featuring streamlined digital contracting and automated communication tools, which enhances a property transaction. The solution provides buyers with real-time feedback through their device on how much competition exists and where their price stands in the negotiation, resulting in an optimal sales outcome.

Jeffery Gray, PROPIC

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffery-gray-8b3216a/?originalSubdomain=au

Jeffery Gray the founder and CEO of Propic. He has extensive experience in property technology, data and AI. Jeffery was a former executive of Domain Group, Aristocrat, Lexis Nexis and numerous other data and technology companies. After a successful exit from a prior start up, he be came a Real Estate agent for a period, prior to joining Domain Group. As such has first hand
experience with the pain points, challenges and opportunities that the Real Estate vertical has.

About Propic

Propic is an Australian based data and AI company that delivers conversational AI and data solutions to residential real estate agents spanning, Sales, Property Management and Project Marketing, House and Land and Build to Rent Propic's conversational AI (Enliven AI) serves consumers 24/7 enabling its customers to scale with out people and in real time. ReVeal AI is a data platform that tracks every property and listing in australia, ingests customer data and its algorithms works out who has the highest propensity to transact in the future. The agent app tells and agent, who to call, when and most importantly why, all in natural language.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

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In this week’s episode of the Propcast, Louisa speaks with Brad Hargreaves, CEO and Founder of Common, a residential brand creating a better kind of multifamily property manager through innovations in technology, design, and operations. This episode covers the differences between the UK and US rental markets, and how co-living has taken off in US markets and what this might mean for the market in the UK and Europe.

Companies Mentioned:

• Common https://www.common.com/
• General Assembly https://generalassemb.ly/
• Kinnevik https://www.kinnevik.com/
• Greystar https://www.greystar.com/
• Quarters https://quarters.com/
• Student Hotel https://www.thestudenthotel.com/
• Noah https://www.noahapartments.com/

Shout Outs

• Brian Lee https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianlee860/?originalSubdomain=uk

Key Insights From This Episode

• Our thoughts around value proposition for the customer have always been for co-living for micros in particular, have always been really centered on affordability. Community is important. It's a great value add. The experiences is key. But if you're not offering real value it's going to be very difficult to scale. - Brad Hargreaves

• There are certainly ways where Europe is ahead of the US I would say, in terms of liberalising zoning and, allowing more innovative, mixed operations and mixed uses. - Brad Hargreaves

• I read this the other day and I think it maps perfectly to the real estate industry, is that you generally overestimate what you can do in a year, but underestimate what you can do in 10 years. And I think that speaks incredibly true to the real estate industry, which is not fast moving. But when it moves, it can do tremendous things. - Brad Hargreaves

• I would encourage anyone getting into real estate to really take the long view of it. It is an industry that rewards the long view. - Brad Hargreaves

Keywords: co-living, capital, affordable housing, shared housing, multi family, build to rent

About Our Guests

Brad Hargreaves

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bharg/

Brad Hargreaves is the Founder and CEO of Common, the nation’s leading residential brand that designs and manages multifamily apartments with more than 6,000 residents in over 10 markets across the country. Before founding Common in early 2015, Brad was the co-founder of General Assembly, a global education institution with campuses in more than 15 cities worldwide. As part of the General Assembly founding team, Brad led the growth of the company's education business from its launch in 2011 into a global institution with over a dozen campuses. Most recently, he was a Venture Partner at Maveron, General Assembly's lead investor. Brad has been named to Ernst and Young’s 2020 “Entrepreneur of the Year” award; Vanity Fair’s “The Next Establishment”; Business Insider’s “Silicon Alley 100”; and Crain’s 2017 “40 Under Forty.”

Common is a residential brand creating a better kind of multifamily property manager through innovations in technology, design, and operations. Common delivers exceptional experiences for renters across twelve cities and nearly 7,000 units in coliving, microunit, and traditional apartments. They are the preferred choice for both residents looking for a stress-free and all-inclusive living environment from a trusted brand, and for real estate owners seeking reliable, above-market returns. The Common platform also includes workforce housing management brand Noah and family-first operator Mily. With over 20,000 units signed and under development and over $110 million in venture capital investment, Common is expanding into 22 cities across the world. To work with us, visit our partners page or follow us on instagram at @common.living.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

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In this episode of The Propcast, Louisa speaks with Dan Salmons, CEO of Coadjute, the company who is creating a ‘National Grid’ for the property market to make buying and selling real estate quicker, simpler and a more transparent process for everyone involved by utilising blockchain technology. We discuss why the property buying and selling process is so lengthy and laborious, and how Proptech is significantly changing the game for residential and commercial real estate deals.

Companies Mentioned:

• Coadjute https://www.coadjute.com/
• Pay by Phone https://paybyphone.co.uk/
• Land Registry https://www.linkedin.com/company/land-registry/

Shout Outs

Richard Price, Dezrez https://www.linkedin.com/in/richieprice/

Martin MacDuff, Redbrick Solutions https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-macduff-29a1b717/

Key Insights From This Episode

• The property market is in an ecosystem of multiple professions - the real estate profession, the legal, financial, the government. And they somehow have to work together to get your property transaction done. And yet they have no infrastructure to do that.
• Sometimes the small things are really transformative.
• Blockchain allows a group of people who want to share information with each other to be certain that that information is reliable and that no one's cheating. It allows them to do that without a central authority having to review and confirm all that information.
• Blockchain is a new piece of infrastructure that allows people to securely share data and know it's a hundred percent accurate without someone in the middle telling them it is.
• What I want to come up with something that feels effortless, easy, obvious, simple. Then you'll get fantastic adoption. And then gradually of course you can extend and expand what it is.
• Sometimes people lack the imagination to believe the world can ever be different. you have to have the imagination if you're innovating to believe the world can be better.
• We've got lots to do in the UK. We were number four in the Olympic metal table, but on the world rankings of how easy it is to move property, we're number 42.
• The reception has been really warm and I think it's cause in this case, the bit that we're helping where this is the bit no one likes anyway. The administration, the chasing I mean, who doesn't want to have more up to date information when they're dealing with the property deal?
• Innovation is all about perspiration. They say ideas are really cheap. Anyone can have an idea. What's interesting is what happens when that idea meets the real world and you start actually making it happen.

Keywords: blockchain, innovation, fintech, national grid, property sales, technology, information, connectivity

About Our Guests

Dan Salmons, Chief Executive Officer, Coadjute

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansalmons/?originalSubdomain=uk

A leader in innovation in Financial Services for 25 years, Dan has held executive roles at Capital One, Barclays, and RBS/NatWest, and has launched ground-breaking products including Contactless Cards and Mobile Payments. He has been CEO and NED of several FinTechs, and an advisor to Roche.

2:54

Company summary Coadjute -

Coadjute’s mission is to make buying and selling property a simpler, faster and more transparent process for everyone involved. To do that, we are creating a transformative new piece of national infrastructure for the UK: – a “National Grid” for the property market.

Coadjute connects the software that runs the property market in real-time. Our open blockchain network connects the platforms already used by estate agents, conveyancers, mortgage brokers and lenders, opening up a range of new connected possibilities. These include seeing progress updates in real-time, securely sharing documents and messages, and even automating processes like payments.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

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In this episode of The Propcast, Louisa talks with Roger Smith, CEO of TermSheet, about how productivity in real estate deals can be maximised through centralised data, workflows and collaboration tools to bring together all functions of a firm, saving time, increasing efficiency and extrapolating data in meaningful ways.

Companies Mentioned

Fundrise https://fundrise.com/

RealtyMogul https://www.realtymogul.com/

CrowdStreet https://www.crowdstreet.com/

Platform Ventures https://platformventures.com/

CRE Tech https://newyork.cretech.com/

Lincoln Property Company https://www.lpc.com/

Shoutouts

Michael Beckerman, CRE Tech https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-beckerman/

Eric Roseman, Lincoln Property Company https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-roseman-ab010912/

Jordan Kovalsky, Faropoint https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordankovalsky/

Jacob Emery, Lincoln Property Company https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-emery-8037a7b1/

Key Highlights from this Episode

• The power of Excel and the excessive use of Excel is interesting, but like the amount of insight and data that's generated, because of my data background, like generated in those Excel spreadsheets is massive and it's untapped right now. - Roger

• first and foremost, our core problem we're trying to solve is to build workflows that help real estate professionals manage their deals better. - Roger

• So our purpose is really to help them surface insights from their own data. Not necessarily for us as a company to surface insights from their data. - Roger
• What we're hearing on is like platform fatigue, where I have to go to all these different places to understand one thing. - Roger
• When you build a tool inside a private equity firm, it's great because you have access to all the problems. But that's not great because you think the world thinks exactly like that. - Roger

About our Guests

Roger Smith

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogesmith/

Roger Smith is the CEO of TermSheet, which he co-founded in 2020. He is a seasoned entrepreneur with extensive experience in technology companies and deep roots in proptech.

Prior to founding Term Sheet, Roger served as Chief Technology Officer for a real estate-focused private equity firm based in Kansas City. He was responsible for the creation and maintenance of internal, advisor-facing,and investor-facing technology systems.

Previously, Roger was chief technology officer at Groundbreaker, Inc., where he built the firm’s white-label real estate crowdfunding product, which powers a number of current applications. Prior to Groundbreaker, Roger was lead engineer for PlotWatt, Inc., a start-up energy disaggregation technology company, growing the client base from zero to several thousand.

Roger earned a Bachelor of Science in Math and Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was a Researcher in Duke University’s Computational Neuroscience Laboratory, and earned a Master of Science in Machine Learning from Columbia University.

Sahil Rattan

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahil-rattan-88389b15a/

Sahil Rattan is the COO of TermSheet, which he co-founded in 2020. He spent the early half of his career focused on real estate private equity covering diverse transactions on both the acquisitions and asset management side.

He spent the latter half doing technology investment banking in Deutsche Bank's San Francisco office focusing mergers and acquisitions, and debt/equity capital raises for leading software businesses.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Southern California where he graduated with honors.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

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In this episode of The Propcast, Louisa talks with Tyler Scriven and Maxwell Bonnie from Saltbox about making warehouses and logistics accessible to everyone in e-commerce. We discuss creating hyperlocal logistics centres, what this means for diversity and reducing the barriers to entrepreneurship for everybody across the board. We talk about building a compelling brand and recruiting the right people to deliver a mission which is much bigger than just warehouses and logistics.

Companies Mentioned

Saltbox https://www.saltbox.com/
Techstars https://www.techstars.com/
Shopify https://www.shopify.co.uk/
Bessemer Venture Fund https://www.bvp.com/

Key Insights From This Episode

• ’I'm drawn to really hard problems that have a big impact.’ - Maxwell Bonnie
• ‘I also encountered this ugly, dark side of digital commerce, which was having to source all of the goods.’ - Tyler Scriven
• ‘I found that I was, along with millions of other smaller e-commerce entrepreneurs, pushed to the fringes of the real estate ecosystem. And implicitly also pushed to the fringes of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at large, because we were forced to work in basements, garages and self-storage facilities.’ - Tyler Scriven
• ‘There is this simple reality, which is that e-commerce begins and ends in the physical world. It will always be that way until we moved to purely digital products.’ - Tyler Scriven
• ‘Logistics begins with the warehouse, plain and simple.’ - Tyler Scriven
• ‘We're creating access to that infrastructure, and we're doing that in a way that reflects the fact that our primary user, that merchant, is a human… The very basic idea is human centric logistics.’ - Tyler Scriven
• ‘You could summarise it by saying that what we're doing is we are creating an access to critical logistics infrastructure… in a way that makes it very approachable, very accessible by a normal person but without any sort of meaningful trade-offs to the efficiency or productivity of those tools.’ - Tyler Scriven
• ‘Very quickly what we realised what's actually happening during the pandemic was this exponential growth in adoption of digital commerce. When people were just buying more online because they weren't leaving their homes. That was like gasoline on the fire.’ - Maxwell Bonnie
• ‘A small business seeking to work with a very large 3PL is challenging. The incentive structure of that 3PL is just not aligned to meet the needs of that small business.’ - Tyler Scriven
• ‘One of the things we were seeing is the demographics and firmographics of who our customer base is, reflecting the changing dynamics of people who are business owners.’ - Maxwell Bonnie
• ‘We're seeing that it’s more heavily index with more women as founders of these (e-commerce) companies, and more heavily indexed on people in persons of colour. Where traditionally you see something like 70-80% white males, we see like more of a 50/50 split, which is very interesting.’ - Maxwell Bonnie
• ‘The issue that we need to address is that when one pursues a business, like the sort of businesses that are built at Saltbox, they often are doing so without operational leverage in a way that's going to help them to grow faster and achieve their goals. And so, we want to solve that.’ - Tyler Scriven
• ‘As a founding team of essentially three minorities, we're a pretty unique founding team… we are building a culture that is attractive to a diverse array of people. If you asked me that the key to that, if we are doing it well, is to treat everyone the same. It's not rocket science.’ - Tyler Scriven
• ‘Warehousing is the means to the end. So you have this attractive mission. There’s a story that people want to be a part of. And then you have internally a culture where people feel supported and feel that they can be themselves. We talk a lot about self-awareness, talk a lot about vulnerability as key tenants of our culture, so when you have that in place, those are like the little kernels of a culture that people can feel comfortable. With that, we can attract the right people who want to be part of us achieving our ambitious mission.’ - Maxwell Bonnie
• Tyler - ‘As we think about the future of logistics and in particular, the future of logistics for small companies, we believe in essence that this is something that every company will need in the future, and they'll need it in a way that is much more humanised, in much smaller scale, much more flexible, much more approachable. And that's really the vision that guides us.’ - Tyler Scriven|
• ‘We think that in a world in which there is some trillion-ish dollars worth of market cap of companies that are enabling things to be sold online today that surely there's a few tens of billions at least for companies that enable those things to get to where they're going. And that’s exactly where we’re focused.’ - Tyler Scriven

About Our Guests

Tyler Scriven

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerscriven/

A thoughtful, dynamic, and innovative entrepreneur, Tyler is currently the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Saltbox, a venture-backed startup building workspace and logistics infrastructure to power the future of commerce. Saltbox was founded in 2019 and is on a rapid growth trajectory.

From 2016 to 2018 Tyler served as the Founding Managing Director of Techstars Atlanta, a global early-stage venture capital investment fund. At Techstars he led investments in dozens of early-stage startups.

From 2009 to 2016 Tyler served as Head of Operations and Chief of Staff at Palantir Technologies, the world’s leading big data analytics software provider. During his tenure at Palantir he built and led people operations, recruiting, IT, real estate, corporate development, and various other operational functions. His responsibilities led him to build and lead teams across the globe, including Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and India.

As a key member of the company’s executive team, Tyler was broadly engaged in scaling the operations of the business from 100 to nearly 2,000 employees and saw the company grow to become one of the most valuable technology companies in the world.

Tyler currently sits on the board of directors of the Serenbe Land Corporation, a pioneering and nationally renowned wellness community connected to nature on the edge of Atlanta.

Tyler began his career in 2005 with J.P. Morgan, and worked in the fields of private equity and investment banking in New York City prior to moving to San Francisco in 2009. He holds a bachelor's degree in American Studies and Economics from The University of Virginia.

He currently resides in Atlanta, GA with his wife Faith, and son Patterson.

Maxwell Bonnie

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellbonnie/

Maxwell Bonnie is one of the cofounders of Saltbox, currently leading all aspects of the Member Lifecycle and Product. Prior to Saltbox, Maxwell helped build the Customer Experience and Bionic Operations teams at FullStory and was part of the leadership team in the Research and Operations departments at Bridgewater Associates.

Maxwell received his bachelor's degree in American History from The University of Virginia, and his master’s in Economic Development from Georgia State University.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

Saltbox https://www.saltbox.com/
Saltbox Fulfilment https://www.saltbox.com/fulfillment
Techstars https://www.techstars.com/
Shopify https://www.shopify.co.uk/
Bessemer Venture Fund https://www.bvp.com/

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I can’t believe season 6 is over! I have been out in the US, finally getting the chance to meet many of our clients overseas and taking the opportunity to build on new relationships we have made from a distance in the last year. I had the honour of attending Blueprint, and now I am heading to CREtech New York. So if you are listening to this and will be there - get in touch! I want to see as many of you before I head back to the UK!

My time over here (due to the fact I had to spend 2 weeks in Mexico before being allowed into the US - which i promise has been spent working, not just drinking margaritas on the beach) has given me some time to reflect. I have been looking back over the last six seasons of The Propcast but also reflecting on the last couple years LMRE has had as a business.

The Proptech market received a staggering 9.7bn dollars of VC investment in the first 6 months of 2021 and the pace of the market is not slowing down.

At LMRE we are proud to have reached some record numbers of our own.

Over the last 12 months we have firmly established ourselves as the No1 global talent management provider within Real Estate tech and innovation.

Along with our existing US, UK and European teams we have opened an office in Berlin,, set up our global Tech team as well as a dedicated research function to support our strategic and C suite hires.

We are also in the early stages of launching LMRE in the APAC region which will enable us to offer a truly global talent management solution to all of our clients.

Now it is not only us who have seen some pretty impressive achievements, I want to shout out to some of my previous guests who over the last couple months have been hitting milestones of their own.

Back in Season 5,In April I spoke to Jade Francine from WeMaintain and Deborah Fritz from MYRE about the French Proptech scene. Congrats to WeMaintain on your recent series B raise! WeMaintain has transformed the regulated maintenance market, initially supplying elevator and escalator solutions. Jade will be joining LMRE for an update on the French Proptech market with our Head of Europe Dilan, so make sure to look out for that later this year to hear about the growth, challenges and trends in France.

Also in season 5, I spoke to Cem Savas from Plentific about how property management can be made simple. Huge congratulations to Plentific on their Series C raise of £73m.

For those who aren’t familiar with Plentific, Plentific works with landlords to transform how they deliver repairs and maintenance services.

Looking back at season 4 in February, I had the chance to speak with CEO and Co-Founder of Flyhomes Tushar Garg.

We discussed how Flyhomes has reinvented the way we can buy a home. It was really interesting to hear the behind the scenes of the product and how Tushar has built the company.

Now a shoutout to the Rise Buildings Team who have recently been acquired by VTS.

I interviewed Charlie Wade from VTS back in January and also had Prasan Kale from Rise buildings on in March. I had no idea the acquisition was going on but its Super exciting to see two great products and teams coming together! Both brilliant episodes if i say so myself, so if you missed them, go check them out!

Now throwing it back to season 2 which aired a full year ago! Can you believe it! I spoke to Mike Sroka of Dealpath and John Fitzpatrick of Blackstone about deals and investments within PropTech. I learnt so much from my conversation with them both and have thoroughly enjoyed watching Dealpath grow and Blackstone do further investments in this space to follow on from Dealpath with companies such as VTS, Aquicore and many many more.

There is lots to enjoy from the last 6 seasons, but let me get you excited for season 7, I have a great line up including Tyler and Maxwell from Saltbox, who teach me all there is to know about smart warehouses.

I also have Brad from Common joining me to chat about co living - will it be the new way of living?

Also another conversation which i cant wait to share is with Dan from Coajute, where he explains the value of Blockchain in real estate. So we have got you covered!

So if you are new here make sure to subscribe - so you DO NOT MISS AN EPISODE>

Join me Louisa Dickins and my brilliant lineup on the Propcast , every Wednesday.

Also, if you want to get in touch, we love hearing from you - please reach out at info@lmre.tech

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.tech

Nexus Lab Foundation Course www.nexuslabs.online/courses/

James’ Podcast Nexus with James Dice

Nexus Lab newsletter, explore here

JLL Technologies website www.jllt.com

Nexus Labs website www.nexuslabs.online

Keywords

Season 7, Louisa Dickins, LMRE, Proptech, Smart Buildings, Progress, PropTech, Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate Market, IoT, Sustainability, Climate Change, Technology, Digitization

For full episode transcript head to www.lmre.tech/blog

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In this episode The Propcast talks to James Dice the founder of Nexus Labs, and Ramya Ravichandar from JLL Technologies, about the Nexus Lab Foundation Course and how it can help further the industry’s understanding of smart buildings and sustainability. We also chat through how the smart building space is going to affect the future of our buildings. Explore the course here!

Key Insights From This Episode

• There's a lot of growing momentum in the smart building space – James Dice
• We're looking at bringing in CRE experts with world-class technologists to deliver solutions – Ramya Ravichandar
• Why we need smart buildings depends on the “who” that we're talking about. So what we like to do is start with those humans and the outcomes that they need in order to get their jobs done better – James Dice
• Technology is just only one component. The success of the product really depends on the people and the processes that are in play in that vertical – Ramya Ravichandar
• It took me messing up a project and spending long nights and weekends in the office fixing it to learn a lot of the lessons that we try to bake into the curriculum – James Dice
• Back in the day we were all excited about smart cities and I feel like we've come a full circle today. A decade later, we're still excited about smart cities but we're still grappling with what that exactly means – Ramya Ravichandar
• Leaders are waking up to the fact that you need fundamental infrastructure and domain expertise to support smart buildings – Ramya Ravichandar
• Energy efficiency when I started my career in 2010 as an energy manager used to be a fringe thing. And now it's central to the business of real estate – James Dice
• There's a clear call to action for everyone here in terms of being able to do what we can do to reduce emissions, reduce our carbon footprint and achieve net zero goals – Ramya Ravichandar

About Our Guests

James Dice

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jwdice/

James Dice, PE, CEM, CMVP is the founder of Nexus Labs, a weekly blog, podcast, online school, and consultancy striving to create smarter, more efficient buildings. Through Nexus, James shares remarkable stories with the aim of educating and moving the smart building industry forward. James created the Nexus Foundations course to share everything he wished someone had told him in his first 10 years in the smart buildings industry, showing how to avoid common pitfalls and roadblocks. James has experience as a professional engineer and energy efficiency innovator, and is an expert in data analytics software for smart buildings, such as Energy Management and Information Systems (EMIS).

Ramya Ravichandar

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramya-ravichandar-ph-d-b919921/

Ramya is VP of Product Management and Sustainability at JLL Technologies, delivering clean-tech products to reduce the carbon footprint of our built environment. In her role Ramya is focused on enabling sustainability goals informed by the dimensions of Environment, Social, Governance, Resiliency (ESGR) through AI, ML, Edge, and IOT technologies. Ramya is a seasoned product leader in identifying blue ocean markets, with special expertise in defining, creating and launching innovative products. Ramya was part of the Nexus Labs course previous cohort of students.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.tech

Nexus Lab Foundation Course www.nexuslabs.online/courses/

James’ Podcast Nexus with James Dice

Nexus Lab newsletter, explore here

JLL Technologies website www.jllt.com

Nexus Labs website www.nexuslabs.online

For full episode transcript head to www.lmre.tech/blog

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In this episode The Propcast talks to Serene Al-Momen from Senseware, and Sara Anzinger from Measurabl, to discuss those famous three letters that everyone loves talking about -the ESG - and how technology can really play a part in not only assisting the climate crisis but helping to reduce it. We also find out what changes in the adoption of real estate technology they have been seeing, and some future trend predictions.

Key Insights From This Episode

• Starting a business is never a straight line – Serene Al-Momen

• There's outsized impact and therefore outsized opportunity in terms of transforming the built environment – Sara Anzinger

• The action piece is about implementing solutions that are going to help decarbonize the industry and both protect and future-proof from transitional and physical climate risk – Sara Anzinger

• We believe that getting real time data versus data after the fact is really important to affect real change – Serene Al-Momen

• What we're really seeing is this push for decarbonizing the life cycle of real estate – Sara Anzinger

• 80% - 90% of all buildings that will exist in 2050 already exist today – Sara Anzinger

• Commercial estate is one of the largest asset classes in the world, but less than 1% of CRE space is digital or digitised – Serene Al-Momen

• Within Europe there's a lot of awareness and prioritisation of sustainability – Sara Anzinger

• We're seeing the move towards real estate as a service is a big trend, which requires more digitisation than what's available out there – Serene Al-Momen

• I'm excited for us as a society to continue to move into a world where energy environment, sustainability and tech intersect. And I believe that bringing these sectors together will not only be better for the world, but will also be better for our bottom line – Serene Al-Momen

About Our Guests

Serene Al-Momen

https://www.linkedin.com/in/serene-al-momen-phd-2915824/

Serene Almomen is the CEO and co-founder of Senseware, a complete IoT technology stack that provides modular connectivity for digitization of assets in the physical environment. Serene holds a Ph.D. degree in IT and is a certified PMP, SCM, ITIL, and SCJP. Before Senseware, Serene spent over 11 years managing large, mission critical projects overseeing teams as large as 40 people and managing an annual budget of at least $10M. She has a track record of delivering projects on time and budget and growing revenue by an average of $1M a year. She is an expert in self-managed and control systems, and Serene has been recognised by Forbes as heading up one of their Top 50 Women-Lead start-ups.

Sara Anzinger

https://www.linkedin.com/in/saraanzinger/?originalSubdomain=nl

Sara is a seasoned finance and business development professional at the forefront of sustainability. She has rich experience in strategy and product development, global and cross-sector project management, investor and lender engagement on ESG. Sara is a Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) Credential-holder and MSc in International Finance. She is responsible for Measurabl's capital markets line of business, which includes development of business models, GTM strategies, and engagement with banks and lenders, insurers, indirect investors (LPs), and ratings agencies.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.tech

Senseware website www.senseware.com

Measurabl website www.measurabl.com

For full episode transcript head to www.lmre.tech/blog

View Details

In this episode The Propcast talks to Kylie Davis, President of PropTech Australia Association and Scott Willson, CEO of Forbury to talk about the trends in Australian PropTech adoption, along with the obstacles PropTech can face down under. They also discuss the mission of PropTech Australia Association, and find out more about Forbury’s CRE valuation software which has recently launched in the UK.

Key Insights From This Episode

• I'm really looking forward to Australian PropTech’s potential to transform how we live and work and interact with the built environment around the world – Kylie Davis
• it's not just about investment and dollars when we're talking about residential real estate, we're talking about the most important asset people have - it's people's homes and it's where their hearts and their families are – Kylie Davis
• In the last 18 months is a real awareness of, there are better ways to do things and actually it's not risky to do it. It's risky not to do it – Scott Willson
• I'm excited how quickly Australian PropTech is growing. I'm excited about how our market is really of interest to overseas PropTechs – Kylie Davis
• There will become a time when the effort that goes into avoiding the change, or avoiding learning the thing that you don't want to learn, becomes actually greater than actually just getting into stuck into it and embracing it – Kylie Davis
• Don't underestimate how hard it is to get the true modern product market fit, and really understand what job you're trying to solve – Scott Willson
• So big data's been around for a while, but I think we're starting to make sense of it – Kylie Davis

About Our Guests

Kylie Davis

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyliecdavis/?originalSubdomain=au

Kylie Davis is a leading commentator and speaker on Proptech and innovation in real estate in Australia. She is the founder of the Proptech Association of Australia and has successfully established and sold two startups. Her most recent ventures have been HomePrezzo and Real Content which were acquired by ActivePipe in July 2020. Kylie has an MBA from the University of NSW and a 25-year career across media and big data, holding senior editorial and marketing roles at Fairfax, News Corp and CoreLogic. Kylie is an advisor on advisory boards including Cribz, Property Investment Professionals Australia and consults to the Real Estate Institute of NSW and OpenAgent. She was a finalist in the thought leadership category of the 2019 REB Women in Real Estate Awards

Scott Willson

https://www.linkedin.com/in/willsonscott/?originalSubdomain=nz

Scott is the CEO of Forbury, the market leading valuation platform for commercial real estatae in Australia and New Zealand. Scott grew the Forbury business from the ground up, and as CEO he has developed analysts, software developers, and product, sales and marketing managers into a high-performing team. Using a highly analytical approach, Scott undertakes process improvement, forecasting and financial modelling, and strategy development. His ability to simplify complex information extends to his management approach. He is proud of Forbury’s achievements and status as the number one business of its kind in Australasia. Scott speaks passionately about this success, conveying the power of the Forbury product and the Forbury people. Scott holds an Honours Commerce Degree specialising in Operations Research.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.tech

Forbury website www.forbury.com

Proptech Association Australia www.proptechassociation.com.au

Link to Kylie’s articles: www.proptechassociation.om.au/author/kyliecdavis

For full episode transcript head to www.lmre.tech/blog

View Details

In this episode The Propcast talks to Vik Venkatraman, founder of Blueprint, real estate’s premier event for tech startups, VCs, and industry players to connect. Blueprint is hosting an in-person live event this autumn in Las Vegas! They are joined on the podcast by Matthew Boras, from RXR Realty and Nima Wedlake, from Thomvest, both of whom are speakers at the Blueprint 2021 to find out what to expect from Blueprint 2021, who is attending, and some top tips for PropTech pitching to investors. Get your ticket for Blueprint here!

Key Insights From This Episode

• (Blueprint ‘21) is going to be a gathering not to miss - Vik Venkatraman
• We are bringing together what we believe is the very best, the very brightest, the most active, the most prolific collection of folks who are on the technology side, the investor side, and the industry side of real estate – Vik Venkatraman
• We are focused on and excited to meet entrepreneurs that are building companies which ultimately serve as the backbone of the industry – Matt Boras
• This has been a very interesting time for the built environment, but we have also seen a lot of amazing advancement, adoption, and strength from the technology community – Vik Venkatraman
• At events like this, the density of connections you can make is really valuable – Nima Wedlake
• We are excited about the opportunity that tech is unlocking across all aspects of the industry – Matt Boras
• There's always stuff to learn and that's one of the pleasures of this role is that I get to learn from talented entrepreneurs on a daily basis – Nima Wedlake
• One-to-one networking is a really important part of Blueprint – Vik Venkatraman
• My recommendation for folks is, be proactive about reaching out and making connections – Nima Wedlake
• Knowing your metrics as a founder and knowing where to invest your resources as a company in order to achieve your goals for growth is pretty important (when pitching) – Matt Boras
• There's no replacement for tenacity. I think in this game, just sticking with it can take you a really long way – Vik Venkatraman
• By almost any metric there's never been a better time to be an entrepreneur – Matt Boras

About Our Guests

Vik Venkatraman

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikvenkat/

Vik is a strategy and innovation management consultant, and a seasoned general manager. He currently serves as the general manager for Blueprint - the preeminent platform at the intersection of tech, venture, and real estate. At Bionic, he worked with a team of serial entrepreneurs to create and go after huge opportunities with F500 c-suites. He has lead multiple teams through the deployment of dozens of ecommerce sites, built multiple B2B sales & outreach machines, designed 2 hardware IOT products, and evaluated models ranging from SaaS to Marketplace. Vik has played a key role in building the $50MM Business Insights unit at American Express, and engineered the savings or growth of over $50MM in value for clients at Deloitte Consulting. Additionally, he built a beverage company, Star Power, to a business with over 500 accounts on no outside financing, and even published a book, Inspired! (Wiley, 2008). He graduated with honors from Columbia University with a degree in Biomedical Engineering.

Nima Wedlake

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimawedlake/

Nima Wedlake is a Principal at Thomvest Ventures, focusing on investment opportunities across the real estate & financial technology verticals. He currently serves as a Board Observer at LoanSnap, a mortgage technology company, Wholesail, a B2B payments network, and Singular, a marketing attribution provider. He also spearheaded Thomvest’s investments in Ribbon, Tala, Blend, Mynd, Obie and PeerStreet. Nima was previously a Board Observer at Vungle (acquired by Blackstone in 2019) and DataXu (acquired by Roku in 2019). In 2020, Nima was recognized as one of 25 Rising Stars of Fintech VC by Business Insider. Prior to joining Thomvest, Nima worked as a management consultant advising technology clients on issues related to go-to-market strategy with the firm ZS Associates. He was also on the founding team at Sponge, a venture-backed customer engagement platform, where he led product development efforts. Nima is originally from the Bay Area and graduated from UC Berkeley, where he studied Business Administration and Operations Research.

Matt Boras

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattboras/

Matt serves as Senior Vice President on the Investment team at RXR Realty and leads the RXR digital ventures investment strategy. RXR offers a dynamic array of innovative investment products across the risk spectrum for its investors. Coupled with a rich history of office and industrial development, our funds benefit from our strategic increase in the construction of residential, storage, telehealth and transportation facilities across the US. Prior to this Matt was Vice President a Colony Capital, VP at NorthStar Asset Management Group, and Associate at Five Mile Capital.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.tech

Blueprit website www.blueprint.connectiv.com

Blueprint October 4-6 2021 event - get your ticket HERE

Blueprint list of event speakers www.blueprint.connectiv.com/#speakers

RXR website www.rxrrealty.com

Thomvest www.thomvest.com

For full episode transcript head to www.lmre.tech/blog

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In this episode The Propcast talks to Jeremy Sicklick, from HouseCanary, about how we can use data to maximise value in real estate. Jeremy chats us through how HouseCanary keeps their real estate product competitive in the market, predictions from the data that is emerging, and how the role of technology is changing the real estate space.

Key Insights From This Episode

• I saw a need to bring it into the modern age, try to do it in a much more digital, faster way to ultimately value what properties are worth and make the decision-making factor – Jeremy Sicklick
• 4 of the top 10 major lenders in the US use and depend on HouseCanary - Jeremy Sicklick
• We've continued to invest around not just having good data, but really driving great insights off of that consistently and continuing to push the extreme of what is possible - Jeremy Sicklick
• What we've seen as we went through COVID it is the demand is that demand for real estate is outstripping supply – Jeremy Sicklick
• We're seeing we're at the early stages of millennials and millennial household formation – Jeremy Sicklick
• There's more demand coming on the institutional side because real estate is a great inflation and it delivers a great yield in a yield starved market – Jeremy Sicklick
• My sense is we're going to see a pretty strong roaring twenties for quite a while, especially with the strong job market. Jobs drive households, people need somewhere to live - Jeremy Sicklick
• You are going to see “automate everything”- Jeremy Sicklick
• There's just more focus on how to take and leverage information to better automate decision-making - Jeremy Sicklick
• Every business that we see and work with is continuing to infuse more and more information into automating a set of processes that drive more productivity
• Did we make a 1% improvement? And if you can keep making these little 1% improvements every day, they start really stacking up and compounding -

About Our Guest

Jeremy Sicklick

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-sicklick-216a861/

As co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at HouseCanary, Jeremy drives the company’s vision, strategy, and growth to identify interesting and unique ways to use data to maximise value in real estate. Jeremy was previously a Partner & Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group, where he helped leading real estate investors to deploy billions of dollars in capital. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife, their three children, and two energetic dogs.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.tech

HouseCanary website www.housecanary.com

Contact Jeremy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-sicklick-216a861/

For full episode transcript head to www.lmre.tech/blog

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to Paul Zukauskas and Joseph Binestock from Guesty about the changing times of short-term rental, what to expect in terms of summer and winter trends, Guesty’s recent acquisitions, as well as delving into the shift in consumer behaviour they have seen.

Key Insights From This Episode

• There is also a growing demand for automating more processes – Joseph Binestock

• COVID-19 did accelerate the need to digitalise property management companies – Joseph Binestock

• Right now versus 2019, we're seeing 80% increases in reservations – Paul Zukauskas

• The sales cycle has been more focused on the ability to build rapport with customers online than ever before – Joseph Binestock
• We get to be on the front lines of the creativity of our clients – Paul Zukauskas
• In terms of the short-term rental ecosystem as an alternative accommodation, we see it continuing to become more of a mainstream – Joseph Binestock
• Our property management companies are like snowflakes, they're all unique – Paul Zukauskas

• Now it's vacation rentals and short-term rentals who are in the spotlight – Joseph Binestock

• Today it's really more crucial than ever that our users can rely on tech solutions as an extension to their business – Joseph Binestock

About Our Guests

Paul Zukauskas

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pzukauskas/

Paul is Global Vice President of Customer Success at Guesty, the end-to-end property management platform for short-term and vacation rentals. Paul has ten plus years of SaaS Leadership, and has experience in customer lifecycle management and a track record of delivering significant customer retention gains and growth. Paul is an experienced manager of global teams responsible for $70M+ in recurring revenue. His key skills include significant revenue generation and retention, customer advocacy, user adoption, high performance team development, along with customer value creation and operational execution.

Joseph Binestock

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbinestock/

Joseph is the Director of Sales for the America’s a Guesty, which provides an end-to-end SaaS hospitality management software that streamlines, automates, and centralizes complex workflows and business processes with robust built-in features and a wealth of deeply integrated applications that increase productivity and revenue while reducing OPEX. Joseph is focused on penetrating and scaling new and mature B2B SaaS markets through disciplined business analysis and innovative out of the box thinking with an interdisciplinary approach. He specialises in the full sales cycle, managing cross-functional teams of complex SaaS products in the intersection of design, technology, and hospitality, providing mentorship and the skill set needed for team members to outperform.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.tech

Guesty website www.guesty.com

Contact Paul www.linkedin.com/in/pzukauskas

Contact Joseph www.linkedin.com/in/jbinestock/

For full episode transcription head to www.lmre.tech/blog

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to Sean Godoy from Divercity, and Wayne Berger from iShack, to discuss the emerging PropTech sector in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. You'll hear of trends, tech, adoptions, and obstacles Sean and Wayne encounter across Africa.

Key Insights From This Episode

• I believe that the real success stories are still on the way in Africa and in South Africa – Wayne Berger

• there's a big focus on investment that can spur that next stage of growth and adoption in the sector – Sean Godoy

• Africa is really a dynamic continent – Wayne Berger
• ESGS, particularly on environmental side, is an area where we'll see a lot more activity going forward – Sean Godoy
• the interest in venture capital as a segment, and then also PropTech as a segment in venture capital has significantly grown – Wayne Berger
• We've seen a lot more seed and angel investment into PropTechs – Wayne Berger
• There's a lot more need and opportunity around investments – Sean Godoy
• There's definitely strong tech talent in South Africa – Wayne Berger
• It doesn't matter if you get things right and you get them wrong, it just matters that you continue – Wayne Berger

About Our Guests

Sean Godoy

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-godoy-6270582a/?originalSubdomain=za

Sean is the Founder & Director at Divercity Property Solutions and EXCO member at the South Africa Chamber of Commerce UK. Divercity Property Solutions is an independent property consultancy which is passionate about property markets and the property industry across Sub-Saharan Africa, and the opportunities they offer. This passion coupled with their forward-looking insight drives our unique and innovation approach to producing meaningful advice and developing solutions tailored to your specific property needs. Their key focuses are advisory around market insight and strategy, training & skills development, and innovation & digital strategy advisory.

Through his passion for South Africa, and role with the South African Chamber of Commerce, Sean supports and promotes promising UK/SA business opportunities and charitable initiatives. Sean firmly believe in Africa and its people, and am excited for the future of this diverse and dynamic continent. He is co-founder of PropTech Africa, which connects the PropTech ecosystem in Africa in order to create meaningful interactions and relationships. PropTech Africa also promotes the PropTech sector to the property industry and related stakeholders as a whole in order to raise awareness and drive growth on the continent.

Wayne Berger

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayneberger/?originalSubdomain=za

Wayne is an experienced technology entrepreneur with a top international MBA. Wayne currently holds the position of Managing Director of iShack Ventures, a Venture Builder mandated to develop disruptive technologies in the Property industry, FinTech and Big Data. In addition, Wayne is the chairman of iShack Innovation Consultancy (established in 2005). iShack Innovation, a consultancy specialising in advising both local and international corporations on their online advertising and software development initiatives, ensuring maximum ROI on their digital spend. iShack Innovation’s clients include, Internet Solutions, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Growthpoint Property Fund, L’Oréal, Canon, Gareth Cliff and Cliffcentral to name a few.

Wayne is a co-founder of Venture Network South Africa, a non-profit entity with the intention of stimulating the South African start up eco-system. to-date Venture Network has facilitated 8 events, where 5 start-ups have acquired funding from the network (May 2016). Lastly, Wayne is a guest speaker focussing on Entrepreneurship, Business plan, Advanced digital marketing strategy, Gamification & Exponential organisation attributes.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.tech

Divercity website www.divercity.co.za

iShack website www.ishack.co.za

South Africa PropTech Association www.saproptech.co.za

PropTech Africa Association www.proptechafrica.com

For full episode transcript head to www.lmre.tech/blog

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to Helen Kings from Touchstone, and Tom Allason from Residently about their partnership to improve the customer experience within the rental market, new changes coming into play that can affect the rental space, and what tenants really want in 2021.

Key Insights From This Episode

• I had the realisation that what most of the world are going to spend the most on for the rest of their lives, has an inconsistent customer experience that enjoys no brand loyalty – Tom Allason
• I'm a firm believer that businesses can only really be very good at one thing – Tom Allason
• In four years, the expectation from our residents and our landlords have massively increased – Helen Kings
• COVID has also brought together one change - You've got an overall shift towards renting from home ownership – Tom Allason
• The fastest growing demographic of renters in the US and the UK are the affluent people who can afford to buy but choosing not to, because ownership is not really compatible with their lifestyle – Tom Allason
• renting really is about flexibility and convenience – Tom Allason
• If we properly measure, record, analyse and use data, we can make a real difference to our client’s portfolio performance – Helen Kings
• Folks have realised the need to invest in customer experience, and how important retention and engagement with renters is – Tom Allason
• Data, both property and customer related, is absolutely at the corner of our understanding of how particular assets perform – Helen Kings

About Our Guests

Helen Kings

Helen joined Touchstone as Managing Director in January 2017. She's passionate about making people's experience of renting the very best it can be. As increasing numbers turn to the private rented sector, she believes customers should expect a quality product and professional experience when renting. Results driven, Helen is focused on growing Touchstone's business, while also ensuring our customers and clients receive the very highest levels of service and expertise.

Her career to date has included working for some of the UK’s largest and well-known retailers, including Aldi and Somerfield. Before joining Touchstone, Helen was Sales Director at Compass Group, a market leader in contract catering and FM support services. Her retail background means she really understands what makes great customer service. She believes by providing the pinnacle of customer experience, we deliver customer satisfaction and the best returns for her clients.

Tom Allason

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomall/?originalSubdomain=bm

Tom Allason is a serial marketplace entrepreneur known for founding eCourier (acquired Royal Mail), Shutl (acquired eBay), Rehaus where he is a non-exec, and Residently where he is CEO. Prior to founding Residently, Tom spent four years as an executive at eBay, during which he rented five homes in three countries, each time repeating the same stressful and time consuming process. Tom's current venture, Residently wants to be the number one home brand and aim to give power and control to renters. Residently aims to do this by simplifying the rental process from finding the perfect pad, to furnishing it, and finding an expert Home Services all at the tap of a button

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.tech

Touchstone website www.touchstoneresi.co.uk

Residently website www.residently.com

Qube MRI software www.mrisoftware.com

Tom’s contact: Tom@resident.ly

Helen’s contact: Helen.kings@touchstoneresi.co.uk

Sponsors

This show is sponsored by ReimTech, a forum for the Real Estate Investment Technology peers across Europe, find out more here.

We are also sponsored by CREtech, the intelligence platform for real estate innovation. CREtech will be opening their doors for live events again soon! Find out more www.cretech.com/events

Property Quants brings quantitative investment strategies to real estate, to access their new seminar click here

For full episode transcript head to www.lmre.tech/blog

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to Julian Brockhurst and Isaac Coonan, from PropTech Brisbane and Aprao, about Brisbane as a PropTech hub, tips for start-ups planning to launch in Australia and who is leading the way in Australia’s PropTech space

Key Insights From This Episode

• What we're wanting to do with PropTech Brisbane is to bring visibility, transparency and amplification to the emerging PropTech sector here in Brisbane – Isaac Coonan
• I think if we can use space and buildings which we live, work and play in, in a more efficient manner, build them in a more efficient manner, then that's going to go a long way to solving those (sustainability) issues – Julian Brockhurst
• Brisbane actually has the industry decision makers right here in our city – Isaac Coonan
• If you look at commercial, there's a case to be made at the moment that ESG can really reduce the cost of operation, but then in some cases increase the revenue, which is giving you better margins – Julian Brockhurst
• This is a relationship game. But not just real estate, not just PropTech, but the business economy is built on relationships – Isaac Coonan

About Our Guests

Isaac Coonan

https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaacjholmyard/?originalSubdomain=au

Isaac has extensive experience in building some of the countries leading innovation and tech communities with a particular focus and passion for the property technology cluster. Isaac is currently the Senior Industry Development Manager for Brisbane Economic Development Agency, leading the city of Brisbane's PropTech strategy along with being a global advisor to Second Century Ventures and their accelerator program, REACH. Isaac started PropTech Brisbane in efforts to demonstrate the diversity in talent within the Brisbane property technology cluster and to act as a centralised point of promotion, amplification and education for the sector.

Julian Brockhurst

https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianbrockhurst/?originalSubdomain=au

Julian is focused on the intersection of real estate, technology and ESG with the goal of creating a grander built environment. Through PropTech Brisbane and initiatives guiding some of the most promising PropTech scale-up companies across APAC, Julian promotes how to create a place of the future throughout the design, build and operational property lifecycle stages. Julian has a deep background of 10+ years expanding businesses and building networks across international markets such as the UK, US, and Australia. Naturally inquisitive and a lifelong learner, his goal is to combine domain experience and expertise within the property sector to help drive innovation.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.tech

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.tech

PropTech Brisbane www.proptechbne.com

Aprao website www.aprao.com

For full episode transcript head to www.lmre.tech/blog

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks Jack Sibley from Insurami, and Alex Edds from JLL about the next phase of PropTech and what this means for the real estate industry. We review the last five years and lessons learned, the education gap between VCs and solutions, and what various buzzwords really mean. And we address the hard questions focused around diversity and organisation's strategy!

Key Insights From This Episode

• COVID was a milestone for real estate and the opportunities coming out of COVID for PropTech and for specific types of companies were going to be huge – Jack Sibley

• Sustainability has become so important across the value chain, and now tech innovation is really coming alongside that to drive much quicker results – Alex Edds

• In the last five years the other theme of this discussion is that parallel between sustainability and technology – Jack Sibley

• If you put in the hard yards, what we're now seeing with sustainability and the acceptance of it, there are roles everywhere – Alex Edds

• In the next five years we're hopefully going to see more of that business model innovation, which is what really needs to change, come from within the industry as well as outside – Jack Sibley

About Our Guests

Alex Edds

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexedds/?originalSubdomain=uk

Alex advises JLL clients in the technological and systematic disruption facing the property industry. Alex is also a board member of the United PropTech Association. Alex’s career history includes serving as head of sustainability at JLL UK and at Nuveen being a Director of Upstream Sustainability Services and a Strategic Adviser to a number of UK PropTech companies. Alex takes pride in challenging the status quo and he says there’s a huge opportunity to improve the built environment by fundamentally changing the way we design, build and manage physical spaces to better serve the people that use them, and the environment upon which they depend

Jack Sibley

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-sibley/?originalSubdomain=uk

Jack leads business development and partnerships at Insurami, a fast growing startup at the intersection of PropTech and FinTech. Insurami’s deposit guarantee platform gives landlords the same protection as the traditional cash deposit, while saving tenants over 95% of the upfront deposit costs. Jack previously lead innovation at Nuveen Real Estate, one of the world's largest real estate investment managers, including venture capital, PropTech strategy and portfolio implementation.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk

Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA).

About LMRE

www.lmre.co.uk

LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community.

Resources Mentioned

LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk

UKPA website www.ukpa.com

JLL website www.jll.co.uk

Insurami website www.insurami.com

Nuveen Real Estate wwww.nuveen.com

For full episode transcript head to www.lmre.tech/blog

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Welcome back to the Propcast for season 6.

This is the show where host, Louisa Dickins interview PropTechs most compelling figures from around the world to discuss industry trends and challenges, career learnings and what the future holds for start ups, and the funds who are changing up the property landscape.

Our guests share not only professional but personal experiences and the valuable lessons they have learnt for our listeners to find out more about the evolution of the built environment.

Over the last 2 years we have met many incredible businesses and seen so much talent being absorbed into the sector, so decided to create this podcast to make those conversations I was having with inspiring folk available for all.

In the last 5 seasons we have made the list of the top 10 podcasts in property and the global charts, if you see our reviews - you can see that we bring entertainment and education every Wednesday morning.

To get in touch, please reach out at info@lmre.tech

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks Idriss Goossens from PropTech Lab, Alain Waha from Cogital, Alexandra Nicoletti from Camber Creek and Travis Connors from Building Ventures about Relevation 2021, the leading digital fundraising summit for Proptechs, and about the changing landscapes of VC. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter, is brought to you in partnership with CREtech and ReimTech. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE www.lmre.co.uk LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Guests Idriss Goossens https://www.linkedin.com/in/idrissgoossens/ Idriss Goossen’s is the founder of PropTech Lab (Belgium), PropTech Lab are the Belgium community of innovators in the real estate value chain. Their mission is to foster innovations in construction and real estate and to ease digital transformation of the industry. PropTech Lab help to connect and relate companies, start-ups and investors, in order to underline the new trends of the market, to promote industry advancements, to contribute influencing and educating the market, and to foster collaboration and innovation in the Belgian Real Estate community. Idriss is also the founder of Relevation, which is the Global Digital Fundraising Summit for PropTech. This event aims to facilitate matchmakings between start-ups in fundraising process, and investors ready to invest . Travis Connors https://buildingventures.com/travis-connors/ Travis Connors is the co-founder of Building Ventures where he co-leads the Investment Committee. Building Ventures invests in companies that are reshaping the way the built environment is designed operated and experienced. Building Ventures partner with visionary entrepreneurs who will have a profound effect on how and where we live as humans on our planet. Travis currently manages the firm’s involvement with Smartvid.io as a member of the Board of Directors. In addition, he works closely with the teams at Blokable, Dandelion, Join Digital and Measurabl. Travis is a New England native having attended Connecticut College and earned his M.B.A. from Columbia University. Alain Waha https://www.linkedin.com/in/alainwaha/?originalSubdomain=uk Alain Waha is the co-founder of Cogital and leads Ventures and Digital Strategy services. Cogital are an international Digital Transformation Agency for the Built-Asset Environment. They work with owners, consultants, contractors and ventures to guide and support their digital transformation journey. Alain began his career started in aerospace and automotive, deploying new business models and information systems. He later transferred to the construction industry in 2008 as CEO of Atlas industries, then CEO and founder of a further 2 start-up in BIM and Digital services. Alain also sits on advisory boards for VC funds, #contech and #protech start-ups, and is the co-founder of the Process Innovation Forum. Alexandra Nicoletti https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-nicoletti-a205ab11/ Alexandra Nicoletti is Senior Associate at Camber Creek, with over 10 years of transaction experience in real estate, investment banking and private equity. Camber Creek is a venture capital firm providing strategic value and capital to operating technology companies focused on the real estate market. Alexandra earned her bachelor’s degree at Duke University and went on to work at Goldman Sachs, Apollo Global Management and Norges Bank, where she has managed commercial real estate portfolios totalling over $10 billion in value. Resources Referenced LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Relevation www.relevation.org PropTech Lab www.proptechlab.be Building Ventures www.buildingventures.com Camber Creek www.cambercreek.com Cogital www.cogital.tech Insights From This Episode * We're also seeing a lot more real estate to strategics coming into this space, and having a greater desire to participate in the in the ecosystem, both from an adoption standpoint but also from a direct investment standpoint – Alexandra Nicoletti * Do you want to have the support from generalistic VC? Do you want to have the support from more specific and more personalized, or specialized VC? So it's a big question you have to ask yourself as founder – Idriss Goossens * COVID certainly up ended everyone's thoughts around what we needed space for what spaces we needed. But the simple reality is we still spend 95% of our time indoors. And now we have more choices about where that's going to be – Travis Connors * At the beginning, I think bottom up wins. But then over time, expanding and putting a fundamental structural shift into the market means that Europe becomes potentially more attractive because you can you find a more structured environment where you can sell, iterate, and then scale – Alain Waha * The volumes of capital that are deployed in the PropTech space according to our data are really growing almost 100%, year after year – Idriss Goossens

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Cem Savas from Plentific and Andy Belton from Notting Hill Genesis about how property management can be made simple. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter, is brought to you in partnership with CREtech and ReimTech. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE www.lmre.co.uk LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Guests Cem Savas https://www.linkedin.com/in/cem-savas-3686673/?originalSubdomain=uk Cem Savas is the co-founder of Plentific, an award winning digital platform for property management. This platform empowers housing providers to streamline operations and enhance resident experience, unlocking operational savings throughout and competing work order management solutions and work to get the marketplace better trade professionals. Plentific is now in six countries, and has over 165 people. Prior to this Cem worked for some of the world's best known banking institutions but always maintained a keen interest in property, conceiving the idea for Plentific with co founder and CTO Emre Kazan, as the pair believed property management could and should be better - for local trades specialists, property managers and tenants. Andy Belton https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-belton-0925a2/ Andy Belton is Chief Operating Officer (COO) and a member of the Executive Board for Notting Hill Genesis. Notting Hill Genesis is one of the largest housing associations in London and the South East, owning and managing more than 66,000 homes and around 2,000 staff. NHG provide homes across a range of tenures and are committed to continuing to deliver housing that is affordable to all. With roots reaching back to the 1960s, their legacy organisations were established by local people who shared a similar vision – to house west London’s working poor, providing them a home from which to build themselves and their families a secure future. In 2017 Andy lead a digital transformation programme of ‘automation and efficiency’ to support our corporate strategy, called the WorkWise programme will be key to delivering the Notting Hill Genesis strategic objectives to modernise and improve customer services and to operate more efficiently. Resources Referenced LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Plentific website www.plentific.com Notting Hill Genesis website www.nhg.org.uk Insights From This Episode * You have to be very close to your clients and understand their pain points and get their feedback, but then sometimes to disrupt and to change how things work, you also have to challenge them and bring different ideas and different concepts to them, which they might not be comfortable with – Cem Savas * Where it falls down is not necessarily about bad repairs, it's often about poor communication – Andy Belton on property management * Longer term, what is very helpful is case studies and raw data to show to clients. And the more you can show, the easier it gets – Cem Savas, about widening client bases * I think we're over a lot of the resistance now, and I think more and more people are seeing the power of technology – Andy Belton * On the governance side (of ESG), data is always the most important driver of making the right decisions going forward – Cem Savas * We've introduced a number of issues and initiatives to try and bring black and minority ethnic people through the organisation faster and into senior roles in the organisation – Andy Belton

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The Propcast S5 Ep7 Title: The PropTech For Good Movement with Menno Lammers and Andrea Basilova Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Menno Lammers from PropTech For Good and Andrea Basilova from Sensoneo about the PropTech For Good Movement. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter, is brought to you in partnership with CREtech and ReimTech. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE www.lmre.co.uk LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Guests Menno Lammers https://www.linkedin.com/in/menno1977/?locale=nl_NL Menno Lammers is the quartermaster of the PropTech for Good movement. The PropTech for Good Movement propels Real Estate and Technology forward to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals. By stimulating connections between the Sustainable Development Goals, real estate and technology, they create future-proof environments for everyone. Menno is the founder of PropTechNL, one of the founding board members of the PropTech House, the European network and a much sought-after strategy sparring partner to the boards of real estate companies. Menno has worked for companies like Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Heimstaden Nederland, Savills, Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance, Rijksvastgoedbedrijf (part of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations). He helps his clients focusing on their needs while producing new ideas, developing effective strategies and designing high quality and scalable solutions. Andrea Basilova https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreabasilova/?originalSubdomain=sk Andrea Basilova is co-founder of Sensoneo – global provider of smart waste management solutions that are designed and developed in-house and produced in the EU. Sensoneo changes the way waste is managed. The solution combines unique sensors, tracking equipment, and sophisticated software to enable customers to manage waste efficiently and with a lower environmental footprint. Sensoneo is on a mission to help cities and companies manage their waste more effectively and efficiently while improving environments for people. The company has developed a cloud-based platform which allows customers to completely digitize the entire bin infrastructure, and to configure, monitor and manage daily waste operations online. Using their inhouse developed and produced smart sensors that are combined with sophisticated software, the solution provides real-time waste monitoring and suggests optimal collection routes and automated navigation via shortest and safest routes. The solution enables to collect waste on demand while utilizing the resources to maximum. Resources Referenced LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Proptech For Good www.proptechforgood.com Sensoneo www.sensoneo.com Insights From This Episode * When you are trying to promote a solution that you do not believe in, it's extremely hard job – Andrea Basilova * PropTech is broad, sustainable development goals are broad, but when you combine them it's more niche – Menno Lammas * We are discovering or uncovering the hidden data which is not available right now, especially for the cities who are really facing challenges related to growing urbanisation – Andrea Basilova * The digital twin is really a big topic for the future – Menno Vammers * Our global awareness and priority of the environmental topic, of the climate topic, that's actually what I see as the primary driver of the adoption of the new technologies towards sustainability – Andrea Basilova * It's the mindset that's the big hurdle or challenge, we need another way of thinking. Let go of what you learned, or how you how you do it in the past – Menno Vammers on sustainability

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Jade Francine from WeMaintain and Deborah Fritz from MYRE about French PropTech. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter, is brought to you in partnership with CREtech and ReimTech. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Guests Jade Francine https://www.linkedin.com/in/jade-francine-0106bb41/?originalSubdomain=fr Jade is the co-founder and COO of WeMaintain, the tech-enabled lift maintenance company radically and rapidly transforming the market. Jade spent five years studying and working in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Bangalore before returning to France to launch WeMaintain. WeMaintain gives building managers a high-quality service that combines the technical skills of lift engineers with the agility and predictive power of its own proprietary technology. WeMaintain uses digital technology to empower lift engineers and customers, and believe that technology should serve people, not the other way around. At the centre of our philosophy is the belief that “we rise by lifting others”. Deborah Fritz https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahfritz/?locale=fr_FR Deborah comes from a background of real estate and corporate finance and after working for nearly 10 years in management control at UBS, Deborah became the CFO of the real estate investment fund US speaking Capital Partners in France. After that, she decided to model the asset management tool that was lacking and as a result cofounded MYRE in 2016. MYRE is the real estate data management solution for asset managers, this solution optimises performance of assets and initiates a profound transformation of collaboration between teams. Deborah holds three master's degrees on modelling applied and Economics and Management, Banking Management Control and Ecometrics. Resources Referenced LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com WeMaintain website www.wemaintain.com MYRE website www.getmyre.com Insights From This Episode * If we trust in ourself, and if we're convinced that we have the good idea we need to go forward and push all the doors, the doors are now open to woman definitely – Deborah Fritz * Mostly customers are not satisfied by the current situation. They want innovation, they want data they want transparency, reactivity. So you have to make sure that the product can answer such needs – Jade Francine * It's important to have strong clients that can talk about it (your product) as they are your best PR – Deborah Fritz * We have a very strong diversity, not only in terms of women but ages, backgrounds, nationalities and this is also how you can change the industry – Jade Francine * I think real estate is right now reinventing itself – Deborah Fritz

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Mete Varas from ME PropTech and Helen Chen from Nomad home about exploring new territories and PropTech launching in the EMEA. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter, is brought to you in partnership with CREtech and ReimTech. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Guests Helen Chen https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-chen-508b6b49/ Helen Chen is the CEO and Co-founder of Nomad Homes. Nomad is a managed marketplace for users to search, transact, and finance residential real estate under one roof across Europe and the Middle East. Prior to founding Nomad, Helen was an investor and worked at Goldman Sachs, China Investment Corporation (CIC), and Blackstone Private Equity. While pursuing her MBA at Stanford, the heart of Silicon Valley, Helen developed a passion for PropTech. Against all odds, Helen left her MBA to start Nomad. A strong believer in supporting women both in tech and in the boardroom, Helen is a champion for hiring female talent at Nomad and encouraging a balanced workforce. Helen graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is an alumnus of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She was selected to Forbes 30 Under 30, Finance. Mete Varas https://www.linkedin.com/in/mete-varas-0b3aab/ Mete Varas is the founder of Middle East PropTech initiative, ME PropTech, which is based in Dubai. He has also founded EurAsia PropTech initiative which is based in Istanbul, the mission is to create the ecosystem, foster innovation, and share knowledge among all stakeholders in the region. Mete is one of the thought leaders and influencers and predominantly his focus is on the EMEA. Now he is a prominent entrepreneur in technology businesses, involved in numerous ventures as a founder, advisor and MED. He is a speaker at various conferences and holds a Bachelor degree in Industrial Relations and Economics from Gazi University and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. Resources Referenced LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Nomad Homes www.nomadhomes.co ME PropTech Initiative www.meproptech.com Insights From This Episode - If you're going to build a company, you should pick a market and a region that is large and where the customers are really asking for a better solution to what they're in today – Helen Chen - (Dubai) is visionary, someday we'll call it a futuristic city. And there are lots of programs, it's really investment friendly – Mete Varas - The city and the country is incredibly progressive and that I have been welcomed by open arms into the ecosystem, both on the real estate side as well as the tech side – Helen Chen on Dubai - We always say that FinTech and PropTech are twins – Mete Varas - I think there will be a convergence of PropTech and FinTech, because buying and renting is ultimately a financial decision. I believe we'll see eventually these two sectors will converge into one – Helen Chen Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart A Podcast Company - is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. - https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to CoStar’s Andy Kean and Scott Gabor about CoStar being one of the first generation PropTechs, and CoStar's acquisitions within the space. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter, is brought to you in partnership with CREtech and ReimTech. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Guests Scott Gabor https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-gabor-9745223/?originalSubdomain=uk Scott is CoStar’s Regional Sales Director. He spent the first 12 years of his time at CoStar in the Washington DC office, and has held various sales and leadership roles with clients spanning most of the US. Today Scott oversees a team that looks after CoStar’s clients in the Southwest, Midlands, Northwest and Yorkshire. CoStar is one of the first PropTech and real estate data companies out there. And known by quite a few as the world leader in commercial real estate information analytics and market places. Andy Kean https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkean/?originalSubdomain=uk Andy is CoStar’s Head of UK Sales, he has been with CoStar for 12 years, starting originally in research in 2009 and working from their Glasgow office. He moved to join the sales team in London in 2010, and he is now responsible for over 30 sales professionals and driving UK revenue and customer success. He is an experienced and passionate sales leader of high-achieving B2B sales teams with over a decade of selling online PropTech solutions. Andy is described as a believer in a consultative, client-focused approach to selling and fostering long-term business relationships. Resources Referenced LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com CoStar website www.costar.com The Challenger Sale book by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson recommended by Andy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Challenger-Sale-Control-Customer-Conversation/dp/0670922854 Insights From This Episode * As a business that's always growing, there's always new things coming in and so you've got to have people who are happy to learn and to acquire new skills and understand new verticals – Scott Gabor * When we talk about the skills and the attributes that we look for in people, adaptability is definitely one of them – Andy Kean * CoStar is a bit of a melting pot, where we have our core culture but as we bring in different organisations, we do change in some ways with them – Scott Gabor * I say to any young PropTechs out there - often they'll start with outsourcing their tech, and the building of that and their platform. But the sooner you can bring that in house, the better, because you control everything and really work it – Andy Kean * Whenever we're looking to buy a business, we're usually looking at it adding three things to our current business - So one is data, another one is technology, and then the last piece is people – Scott Gabor * Your cancel risk goes way up if you don’t do service well. You’ve got to be present with your user group, you've got to be communicating - Andy Kean

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Javed Singha from Fieldwire, and Vivin Hegde from Hilti about the growth of ConTech and project management solutions, trends in Contech, and what we’re seeing with the adoption of Contech across the globe. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with CREtech and ReimTech. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Javed Singha https://www.linkedin.com/in/javed-singha-1a78265/ Javed is an entrepreneur and the co-founder of Fieldwire, a collaboration platform for construction, where he focuses on business and product development. Previously, Javed has held leadership roles in healthcare and video game start-ups within start-ups in addition to having been a management consultant. Fieldwire is the simplest way for construction companies to keep everyone organised on the job site. With it's easy to use mobile applications, Fieldwire saves each user up to one hour per day by enabling more efficient information sharing. Fieldwire was recognised by Forbes as one of America’s best start-up employers in 2020. Vivin Hegde https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivin-hegde/ Vivin is a Construction Technologist, and leads Hilti’s Scouting and Venturing US office to find new technologies that will help bring the next wave of innovation to construction. Vivin also mentors start-ups and enables development of the construction tech ecosystem leveraging over a decade of experience in strategy, sales, project management and operations in multiple continents. Hilti design and manufacture leading-edge technology, software and services, which power the professional construction industry. They are based in over 120 countries worldwise with more than 30,000 employees. Hilti offer a 360 degree service – from design software, products and tools onsite to training, repairs, testing and consultancy. Companies mentioned: Ubisoft, McKinsey, Clark Construction, Ellis Don, Power Design Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Hilti website www.hilti.com Fieldwire website www.fieldwire.com Insights From This Episode * I think there'll be a collision between hardware and software down the line – Javed Singha * Bringing new solutions and software helps us be looked at as a newly innovative player – Vivin Hegde * We really strive to find people that are builders in whatever capacity that is, it can be with a hammer or a keyboard – Javed Singha * You have to pick the right battles, at least initially and once you reach a certain scale, then automatically you can move to the next pace and be much more disruptive – Vivin Hegde * Oe suggestion I would have for anybody is really taking ownership of your career and taking the path less travelled – Javed Singha * There's no cookie cutter recipe for innovation – Vivin Hegde

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Phillip Oliver and Joff Sharpe from Excell Group about tech enabled working from home and working from office. The Propcast is by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with CreTech and ReimTech. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Joff Sharpe https://uk.linkedin.com/in/joffsharpe Josh is a senior advisor to PropTech company Excell and Inventure, an LA based executive search company. Prior to this, he was CEO of British Land PLC, a FTSE real estate investment trust. He founded their flexible workspace start-up Storey. He also chaired property management company PropTech company Vincinity. He's a member of the New York real estate council, and is a published author of business topics, and has freelanced for Newsweek, Huffington Post and Hong Kong South China Morning Post amongst others. His second edition of “Who Dares Wins in Business” is coming out soon. Phill Oliver https://uk.linkedin.com/in/Phill-oliver-6300508 Phill is the Chief Business Development Officer of Excell Group. Excell Group is an award winning provider of bespoke managed communication services. They deliver support, connectivity, cloud, and communication solutions for the business, Phill has over 15 years experience in the PropTech industry, having previously led teams at O2, World Pay and Fluid One. Phill joined Excell Group to drive Excell’s aggressive growth into the property sector. Already Phill has played a crucial role in driving digital transformation for some of the industries leading property companies and including British Land, CBRE, Land Sec and Workspace Group. Phill was passionate about innovation leads with a focus on coaching and personal development, to create company cultures where employees are passionate about the positive impact and benefits of technology. Resources Mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Excell website www.excellgroup.com Joff’s book “Who Dares Wins in Business”: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dares-Wins-Business-Joff-Sharpe/dp/1909869813/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1614608372&refinements=p_27%3AJoff+Sharpe&s=books&sr=1-1 Key Insights In this Episode - The tech is going to enable efficiencies and customer service and growth moving forward – Phill Oliver - The office could even become more valuable in the sense that people make sure it's value added – Joff Sharpe - Customers are going to have to potentially need to think about taking a ‘remote worker first’ thought process or strategy – Phill Oliver - There is a red thread, there are a number of themes that tend to repeat themselves, and things that make organisations successful that make leaders successful, and the sources of innovation – Joff Sharpe - The flexible space Proptech market is changing – Phill Oliver - So HR is having to be again, a lot more planful and involved in property and technology and how those two things come together – Joff Sharpe Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart A Podcast Company - is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. - https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Prasan Kale and Tim Conway from Rise Buildings about The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with CreTech and ReimTech. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Prasan Kale https://www.linkedin.com/in/prasan-kale-07933b7 Prasan Kale is the Chief Executive Officer at Rise Software LLC. Rise Buildings believe people should be delighted by where they live and work, with seamless access, a captivating user experience, robust operations tools, and advanced capabilities, Rise Buildings native platform replaces all other property technology solutions. Their founding team is comprised of owners, developers, and property managers, with more than 300 properties globally, Rise Buildings has proven ability to deploy their product at any property, anywhere. Previously, he has worked with companies like Akara Partners, LLC, CMK Companies, Golub and Company, Teng and Associates, Heery International, Turner Construction, and The Drake Hotel. Prasan has done B.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Windsor. Tim Conway https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-conway-7a9b88b/ Tim Conway is the Commercial Portfolio Manager for Golub & Company, overseeing operations in Golub's commercial portfolio with a hands-on approach that produces maximum revenues, reduces operating costs and enhances the value of each asset. He was previously general manager for 680 N. Lake Shore drive, a 2.2 million square-foot, mixed-use property, since 2005. Golub & Company provides real estate services, the company specialises in commercial and multifamily real estate development, acquisitions, and management. Golub & Company also offers marketing and advisory services, in the United States and Central and Eastern Europe. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Rise Buildings www.risebuildings.com Golub & Company www.golubandcompany.com Insights From This Episode • For us, it's about connecting with them and furthering our brand and making that really emotional connection with them and using technology as a vehicle to accomplish that – Tim Conway • We're trying to bring our technology to literally every corner of the world – Prasan Kale • We want this seamless technology to get lost, and not have anyone think about it so that we can engage with our customer – Tim Conway • You can't have technology for the sake of technology alone – Prasan Kale • An app for your building, or technology for your building has to be a total tech stack for your building – Prasan Kale • It's our ability to market our brand and to make the connection with our tenants really in an emotional way to solve their problems and make their lives easier. And that makes them happy, and that makes them satisfied – Tim Conway Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart A Podcast Company - is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. - https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Jordan Kostelac from JLL Asia and Helen Lam from Lendlease about the unhidden truths of working in PropTech Asia. The Propcast is by Louisa Dickins, co-founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Jordan Kostelac https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkostelac/?originalSubdomain=hk As JLL’s director for Proptech in the Asia Pacific, Jordan has been tasked with driving technical innovation within the firm and for their clients. He is also concurrently the co-founder and creative lead for home-grown cider brand NEONOTIC! and a founding partner of HK Walls, a non-profit arts organisation that aims to create opportunities for local and international artists which is best known for its annual street art festival held during Hong Kong’s art month each March. In Jordan’s mind, JLL’s path towards becoming a technology firm specialising in real estate must start with becoming an advisory firm first. Helen Lam https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenlam8/?originalSubdomain=sg Helen has over 19 years experience in property and development environments in Asia and Australia including 15 years in Commercial & Retail Property Management, Investment and Mixed-use/Urban Regeneration projects across Asia Pacific Regions. Helen has been in Asia for over 9 years in various senior roles leading highly successful transformation projects, developments, acquisitions, strategic management, and commercial projects. Helen has a strong knowledge of technical, operational, legal, and commercial aspects of the businesses. Track record of success in innovation, change management, leadership, governance, systems implementation and strategies around commercial and retail opportunities. Helen’s current role oversees the Development Operations and innovation teams for Lendlease. She is primarily responsible for managing the process of governance, corporate innovation and change management. This means not only supporting people as they originate and execute new ideas, driving consistent standards for the existing portfolio of urban regeneration projects but also recognising solutions to be researched, tested and integrated into the way they work. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com JLL Asia Pacific website www.jllapsites.com/research/geographies/asia-pacific Lendlease website www.lendlease.com Insights From This Episode • That urgency and that just instinct to act when something is almost existential is really what drives progress more than sitting back and waiting until we find what we think is the smoothest path – Jordan Kostelac • There will be macro thinkers and there's micro thinkers, and the job right now is to pull both of them together to actually tangibly deliver the micro projects, but have the macro view– Helen Lam • You need to harvest an ecosystem that needs to be nurtured as a community to make progress in the industry – Helen Lam • That veil of secrecy that existed between asset holders and the tenants is much more thin than it used to be. So of course, we're trying to make sure that technology supports better analysis and more sophisticated transactions – Jordan Kostelac • I think the most interesting trend is where we're taking human senses and then applying computing specifically to look for a certain things using those senses – Jordan Kostelac • I always encourage younger women in my teams to essentially get out there on the construction site. The reality is, if you don't actually put yourself out there, then it won't change – Helen Lam Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart A Podcast Company - is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. - https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com

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Summary: In this episode we speak to Mikkel Bülow-Lehnsby from NREP about the sustainability challenges and PropTech resolutions of 21st Century Real Estate The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikkel-bulow-lehnsby-63365/?originalSubdomain=dk Mikkel is the Chairman and Co-founder of NREP, a leading Northern European real estate investment house driven by a mission of making real estate better. The NREP approach and mission has lead NREP to not only be one of world’s most consistently outperforming managers, but also a founder and developer of several leading Nordic real estate platforms, such as Pelican, Logicentres, UMEUS, Plus Husene as well as an important counterparty for municipalities on large scale city development projects and cutting-edge sustainability innovations such as UN 17 Village and Upcycle Studios some of the world’s first “upcycled” development projects. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com NREP website www.nrep.com Insights from this Episode * Personally, I think that finding ways to fundamentally make existing stock more sustainable is something that's super interesting – Mikkel

• We realised that technology clearly holds a lot of potential for enabling the making of a real estate better – Mikkel

• Wouldn't it be nice if one could build an organisation where people come, and then they really feel free. And they really feel like they are allowed to express themselves as you are? – Mikkel

• How you build cities really defines how we get to interact as humans - Mikkel

• We realised what we really cared most about using those years to do, was to fundamentally try to make better products and try to nudge the industry in a direction that we subjectively felt was a good one – Mikkel

• We are just the results of our habits. So the biggest obstacle to changing something in the world is that you need to change people's habits - Mikkel

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Courtney Cooper and Julia Chelaru from the PropTech Collective about the trends they are seeing in their new Canada PropTech Report. The Propcast is by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Guests Julia Chelaru https://www.linkedin.com/in/jchelaru/?originalSubdomain=ca Julia is a start-up workplace experience consultant and co-founder at the PropTech Collective with a BSC in Chemistry and Economics from the University of Waterloo. She started her journey to PropTech and 2015 as an innovation strategy consultant at Founders Intelligence in London. As Julia's passion for helping entrepreneurs succeed in growth, she joined TechStars to launch and run the first ever international PropTech accelerator program. Julia is a community builder at heart. She loves all things strategy, people and operations and is now focused on building engaged, inclusive and collaborative work cultures and communities that inspire positive change in the tech industry. Courtney Cooper https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneyjcooper/?originalSubdomain=ca Courtney is a principal at Alate Partners. In this role, she helps identify and scale promising real estate technology companies, provides market analysis and due diligence, and manages relationships with industry partners. Courtney has spent most of her career in real estate —including more than four years at Dream, leading innovation and business transformation initiatives. She went on to work as an Innovation Strategist at Great-West Life, where she helped one of Canada’s largest financial institutions analyse new markets and identify opportunities for growth. Courtney takes a human-centred approach, developed through her graduate studies in Strategic Foresight and Innovation at OCAD University. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a specialty in Operations from Georgetown University. About The PropTech Collective https://www.linkedin.com/company/proptech-collective/about/ The PropTech Collective is a collective of real estate professionals, technologists, entrepreneurs, and community builders that believe technological innovation can change the built world for the better. Through the collision of people and experiences, we provide our members with the opportunity to make meaningful connections and elevate their work. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com The PropTech Collective website www.proptechcollective.com The Canada PropTech Report www.proptechcollective.com/report Insights from this Episode * I think our goal here is to increase collaboration. We can't really do anything without working with others – Julia Chelaru

• Canada is actively looking to bring in talent and hopefully trying to make it as easy as possible – Courtney Cooper

• I do think the Canadian ecosystem is definitely a key hub for real estate innovation – Julia Chelaru

• I would say that great talent anywhere they are in the world, they have lots of options – Courtney Cooper

• We came to the conclusion that there is basically a need in this space to create a place where people can authentically come together and actually collaborate. So most of the real change, happens when people know and understand one another – Julia Chelaru

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Andrew Lloyd from Search Acumen about data and property law. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Andrew Lloyd https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewslloyd/?originalSubdomain=uk Andrew is the Managing Director of Search Acumen, who are on on a mission to create the next generation of Property Technology and Data business. Combining many years of industry experience with recent advances in information and data systems and the latest in customer service technology, Search Acumen offer the modern real estate professional a cost effective and fresh alternative in the property data market place. Andrew has vast experience in the online property data sector for over 18 years where the power of advancing technology, his passionate leadership and a customer-driven approach translates into helping create a business that grew from start-up to market leader in 5 years. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Search Acumen website www.search-acumen.co.uk Insights From This Episode - Change is risk of course, it always is, and so overcoming those challenges has been the key – Andrew Lloyd - The one advantage of the property sector is that we always need somewhere to live and we always need the existence of property – Andrew Lloyd - And the firm's that are proven to be successful, are the ones that have recognised that the adoption of technology and the use of data is one of the ways they can cut down on their resource and time – Andrew Lloyd - Now that you made that investment, whether you're a law firm or you’re land registry or utilities businesses, you've had to think about how can I do things differently – Andrew Lloyd - Believe in your people, I think that's the one thing I've learned over the years is that money can come and go… but the people that you have around you, and what you will get in return from people and staff that believe in you in terms of leadership, far outweighs the short term losses or gains that you get financially – Andrew Lloyd - The local authorities will recognise that holding data themselves is an important public duty, but doesn't have to be restrictive, you can make it available digitally without compromising the value or the integrity of that data – Andrew Lloyd Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart A Podcast Company - is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. - https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Tushar Garg from Flyhomes about the reinvention of homebuying. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Tushar Garg https://www.linkedin.com/in/tushar-garg-a6837445/ Tushar is the co-founder of Flyhomes, which is an end-to-end real estate brokerage and technology company that empowers home buyers, sellers, and agents to win. Flyhomes transform the home buying experience through comprehensive consumer education, segmented expertise, financial innovation, and on-demand technology. Tushar has previously worked at Microsoft and McKinsey and Company, before deciding to pursue his passion for the real estate market. He and Flyhomes co-founder Steve Lane started the company in 2015 with the goal of reimagining the broken homebuying experience. The company has raised more than $70 million worth of venture funding, and helped thousands of customers close on $2 billion worth of homes. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Flyhomes www.flyhomes.com Insights From This Episode * (COVID) has put home at the centre of our lives, so the home is more important than ever before – Tushar Garg

• Once every buyer becomes a cash buyer, which is where we believe the world would go, at that point you won't necessarily win the home at a low price, but the system would become a lot more efficient – Tushar Garg

• And it's continuously putting people at the heart of it and taking the experience to the next level. That hypothesis, I think is becoming more and more true in these times – Tushar Garg

• Home buying has always been an essential human need, and I think it's becoming even more central to have a place that you can call your own. And it's more than just a place to work, it's a think it's a place that you feel that you belong, and I think that is becoming so core to everything – Tushar Garg

• is buying has always been just so daunting for people, because there has been no process that's been designed to simplify home buying – Tushar Garg

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Summary: Today the Propcast will be talking to Michael Mandel from CompStak about transparency in commercial real estate data. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Michael Mandel https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmandel/ Michael is the Co-Founder & CEO of CompStak, a marketplace for commercial real estate information. CompStak uses a crowd-sourced model to gather real information that is hard to find, difficult to compile or otherwise unavailable. Our first product is a marketplace for the exchange of commercial lease comparables. Users add the comps they have to find the comps they need. CompStak was born out of Michael's experience as a commercial leasing broker in Manhattan. He has been recognized for his success as Grubb & Ellis’ National Rookie of the Year in 2007 and Real Estate New York’s 30 under 30 in 2008. CompStak has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Real Deal, Forbes, Bloomberg, AG Beat and more. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Compstak website www.compstak.com Michaels email michael@compstak.com Insights from this Episode * Data in its most granular, basic form has been used in the industry forever – Michael Mandel

• The idea behind CompStak was simply to move that that trading of information from offline to online – Michael Mandel

• It was years before we started entertaining partnership opportunities, the reality is that you need to be focused on your core business early on – Michael Mandel

• It becomes like a virtuous cycle where more data leads to more insight, and then continues to make it more important in the industry – Michael Mandel

• You need to get the fundamentals right before you start looking at those data on the fringe – Michael Mandel

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast we talk to David Sullivan from Till about the world of flexible rent and delinquent paying. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests David Sullivan https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsullivantill/ David is the founder and CEO of Till, which is a PropTech that is on a mission to transform rental housing with personalised financial experiences. Till empowers renters to better access pay and stay in their homes, while enabling the next generation of risk management for landlords. Till's core product, Flexible Rent develops personalised lease and payment structures that improves the renters ability to pay rent based on the renters cash flow. Prior to founding Till, David was the CEO at The American Home single family rental, where he grew the platform and successfully exited to reality corp SBY, and an entrepreneur in residence at Route 66 Ventures, a leading venture capital investor in the FinTech ecosystem. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Till website www.hellotill.com Insights from this Episode * When you're a landlord, you really have a responsibility and a deep personal relationship with the renter, because you are providing someone's housing. You're providing their access into a community – David Sullivan

• I think the whole ecosystem is really recognising now that a lot of the intersection between PropTech or RentTech, and FinTech is very related – David Sullivan

• I think landlords want to be innovative. And many of them are looking for ways to be innovative, but they need partners that are building these things - David Sullivan

• So it's about bringing technology to the partnership, and bringing an open mindset and ear towards where do they want the product to go – David Sullivan

• How do you adapt the way you work with a renter based on the dynamic events of the renters financial life? And so leases, payment structures, and the whole renter experience I think will become personalised over the next five to ten years – David Sullivan

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to John Meadows and Noah Isaacs from Bowery about how tech is revolutionising appraisal. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests John Meadows https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-meadows-7434a615 John Meadows in the co-founder and co- CEO of Bowery Valuation. Bowery is redefining the commercial appraisal space through big data, advanced technology, and extensive expertise. Bowery improves the efficiency of the commercial appraisal process by automating tasks using their software product Prior to co-founding Bowery, John worked at Leitner Group, now BBG, the largest independent appraisal firm in New York City. In his 4+ years there he valued over $3 billion of commercial property across all asset types. Frustrated with the antiquated process of appraising, but excited by the need for a better solution, he left to start Bowery with Noah and Cesar in June of 2015. John graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in US History. Noah Isaacs https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-isaacs-3a430278/ Noah Isaacs is the co-founder and co-CEO of Bowery Valuation. Bowery is redefining the commercial appraisal space through big data, advanced technology, and extensive expertise. Bowery improves the efficiency of the commercial appraisal process by automating tasks using their software product. Before co-founding Bowery, Noah worked for BBG, valuing over $2.5 Billion worth of commercial real estate in New York. In 2010 he started his career in Baseball Operations, “Money-Balling” for the Toronto Blue Jays. Noah graduated from McGill University with a major in Statistics and a double minor in Operations Management and Labor-Management Relations. He has on multiple occasions lectured at Columbia University, with a primary focus on PropTech and the future of the real estate. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Bowery Valuation website www.boweryvaluation.com Key Insights In this Episode * We realised there's so many other aspects of an appraisal firm that we can change and make different and hopefully make better not just from a tech standpoint, but from an operational standpoint – John Meadows

• Really, all of our success is due to the people that we've attracted – Noah Isaacs

• A huge part of how we think about building a different culture is setting up a compensation structure that has a really sizable equity component to it, that really connects people with the large division - John Meadows

• I think if you are able to attract a lot of smart, ambitious people and put a problem in front of them, it's pretty incredible what they're able to achieve – Noah Isaacs

• We have one pretty significant advantage on the product side, which is that we're building a tool for ourselves internally today… It was originally Noah and I designing our dream software for ourselves as appraisers – John Meadows

• John and I were very intentional about having gratitude be a core value that we built our corporate culture around – Noah Isaacs

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to John Sikaitis at Avison Young about innovation and acquisitions of technologies into real estate business. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest John Sikaitis https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnfsikaitis/ John Sikaitis is the CIO of Avison Young, and a lead innovator driving data, analytics, visualisation, client product development, customer product development, client engagement and go-to-market and pursuit strategy, development, implementation and execution. Avison Young creates economic, social and environmental value powered by people, the firm helps clients realise the full potential of spaces and assets through its global intelligence platform, which delivers insights and competitive advantage for real estate occupiers, owners and investors. John was previous Managing Director in the research department at JLL for 14 years, before moving over to Avison Young. He is also a member of Global Executive Committee, driving strategy and operations for the firm. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Avison Young website www.avisonyoung.com Insights From This Episode * We speak so much around technology, but technology without data is useless – John Sikaitis

• Our innovation strategy is completely interconnected with our business development and go-to-market client strategy – John Sikaitis

• We’re really trying to change… how we engage with a future client at the point of sale, and really trying to instill in that future client the experience of how we want to carry that client relationship out – John Sikaitis

• I would always say, technology just takes time and money and a vision. The data is the hard part, because it's constant and consistent – John Sikaitis

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Kim Lewis of Oxford Properties, and Courtney Cooper from Alate Partners about gender diversity in PropTech. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Kim Lewis https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-lewis-410a007/?originalSubdomain=ca Kim is Senior Vice President at Oxford Properties Group, who connect people to exceptional places, and is the owner, developer and manager of some of the world’s best real estate assets. Established in 1960, it manages approximately $60 billion of assets across the globe on behalf of its co-owners and investment partners. Oxford’s portfolio encompasses office, retail, industrial, hotels and multifamily residential and spans more than 100 million square feet in global gateway cities across four continents. Kim is a seasoned strategist in all things digital, she is passionate about work that positions her on the edge of change leading the way. Kim likes collaborating with innovators who think deeply about how technology can add value and solve for business opportunities, Kim builds off their creativity and enjoys the challenge of honing a vision, connecting the dots between business outcomes and technology, elevating ways of working to deliver real value and empowering innovation in big ways and small. Courtney Cooper https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneyjcooper/?originalSubdomain=ca Courtney is a principal at Alate Partners. In this role, she helps identify and scale promising real estate technology companies, provides market analysis and due diligence, and manages relationships with industry partners. Courtney has spent most of her career in real estate —including more than four years at Dream, leading innovation and business transformation initiatives. She went on to work as an Innovation Strategist at Great-West Life, where she helped one of Canada’s largest financial institutions analyze new markets and identify opportunities for growth. Courtney takes a human-centred approach, developed through her graduate studies in Strategic Foresight and Innovation at OCAD University. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a specialty in Operations from Georgetown University. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Oxford Properties website www.oxfordproperties.com Alate Partners website www.alatepartners.com Key Insights In this Episode -- As we see more diverse people around the table, there's proof that this leads to better outcomes and actually better business outcomes – Courtney Cooper - I think the motivation has definitely shifted in recent years towards increased diversity more as a foundation to drive better outcomes and solutions within the organisation – Kim Lewis - We all have an accountability to support each other, through what is a long journey. And so, being open about concerns, perceptions, ideals, and proactively engage in constructive dialogue – Kim Lewis - Each one of us needs to think about what we can do ourselves as well as organisationally, to try to reduce these kinds of barriers and inequality – Courtney Cooper - The hiring process is an important key because you're interviewing the candidate, but the candidate is also interviewing you– Courtney Cooper Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart A Podcast Company - is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. - https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Scott Sidman of Building Engines about innovating building operations and how to reduce cost through technology. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Scott Sidman https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottsidman/ Scott serves as Executive Vice President, Business & Corporate Development, driving strategic growth through partnerships, mergers and acquisitions and their successful integration. He collaborates with all departments and customers on opportunities for market expansion while enhancing product value. Scott’s led sales, marketing and strategy in his career at Building Engines and writes and speaks regularly about the promise and future of technology for CRE. Scott began his career in the hospitality industry, learning about world-class customer service in management roles at Four Seasons and Intercontinental hotels. He then embarked on a diverse entrepreneurial path that included co-founding a real estate services firm, and a trade consulting business in Brazil. His start in technology was leading business development for Cedona Technologies, a company providing early hosted document and media archiving tools for consumer brands and distributors. Scott earned his B.S. from Cornell University. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Building Engines website www.buildingengines.com Insights From This Episode * I'd say it's not the product, it's actually the mindset of the customers that leads to adoption – Scott Sidman

• There wasn't accountability, revenue wasn't tracked appropriately, and certainly no data, to inform business decisions. So those are the things we set out trying to improve – Scott Sidman

• It is aligning people and skill sets with where you're at as a company, and where you need to get to next – Scott Sidman

• Change management is a key component of adoption – Scott Sidman

• Ease of use has always been an important thing for us, but more than ever customers are asking how quickly can I get up and running? How fast can I get our people using this without a tremendous amount of training and hand holding? So we wanted to make that even better than ever – Scott Sidman

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Dan Drogman from Smart Spaces, and James Pellatt from Great Portland Estate about making workspaces smarter. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Dan Drogman https://www.linkedin.com/in/drogman/?originalSubdomain=uk Dan is a software development entrepreneur who first entered the market in 2004. He is a founding partner, owner and Managing Director at D2 Interactive, a London based PropTech, Software Development Consultancy ‘where design meets technology’ set up in 2010 and now employing 37+ .Net, C# software developers and UX/UI designers working across the office, retail, residential and industrial markets. D2i Provide specialist consulting services in IoT, API Development & Integration. Notable enterprise-level projects include reservation software for Marriott; the Peer-to-Peer foreign currency exchange platform Midpoint.com and their smart building platform Smart Spaces and loyalty programme Smart Rewards. He is a successful investor and sits on the Midpoint.com Board as Non-Executive Director. James Pellatt https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-pellatt-45619917?originalSubdomain=uk James is Director of Workplace and Innovation at Great Portland Estates. He is passionate about making the most of available technology to make workplaces more healthy, productive and open for innovation. James is a board member for British Council for Offices, member of Research and Mentoring committees. His specialties are PropTech, disruption, innovation, workspace, development management, site acquisition and disposition, appraisals, project and construction management, planning, community, and sustainability. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Great Portland Estates www.gpe.co.uk Smart Spaces www.smartspaces.app Key Insights in this Episode * People need spaces that welcome them and they're excited to be in – James Pellatt

• I think what makes the space smart is using technology to make life easier. So the smart piece is the technology working in the background to provide services to you, which are more accessible – Dan Drogman

• We're trying to make schemes that fulfill our occupiers needs, and help users thrive by enhancing the everyday experience. And so we're trying to take away the pain points every day from that journey – James Pellatt

• You start to create those cause and effect relationships where the building and the office within the building are working harmoniously – Dan Drogman

• I think success to us is a satisfied occupier. That's ultimately why we're doing this – James Pellatt

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Title: Maintaining Culture While Managing Expansion with Charlie Wade Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Charlie Wade from VTS about maintaining culture while managing expansion. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Charlie Wade https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliewade10/?originalSubdomain=uk Charlie Wade is UK Managing director of PropTech giant, VTS. In their own words, VTS is the commercial real estate industry’s leading leasing and asset management platform. Landlords use VTS to maximise portfolio performance by transforming their leasing and asset management process and unlocking real-time insights – enabling them to convert leads to leases faster than ever before, and build informed data-led strategies. Brokers can manage their deal pipeline and get tenants into empty spaces faster, collaborate across teams and work easily with their landlord clients using VTS for Brokers. Beyond his role at VTS, Charlie’s an influential figure in promoting technology within the property industry and has a background firmly rooted in the traditional industry. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com VTS website www.vts.com Insights From This Episode * Our vision is to create a platform for those that operate commercial real estate, to collaborate, manage, and ultimately support their day to day tasks – Charlie Wade

• We've often been referred to or some have coined and said that we’re the Bloomberg for commercial real estate – Charlie Wade

• It's not one size fits all. It requires partnering with local clients to ensure that nuances of their processes or the way they run their workflows are reflected in the product – Charlie Wade

• We don't develop technology for technology's sake, we develop solutions based on what our clients are telling us they need – Charlie Wade

• There is no doubt that while the industry was going through change and was transforming ahead of COVID, and the pandemic, overnight COVID accelerated this shift towards a reliance on technology – Charlie Wade

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Adam Stanley from Cushman and Wakefield about diversity, talent and race. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Adam Stanley https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamstanley/ Adam Stanley is the Chief Information Officer and Chief Digital Officer for Cushman & Wakefield, and is responsible for all client facing and colleague technology worldwide. A member of the executive team of this $8.8 Billion revenue company that provides comprehensive real estate solutions to clients in 70 countries, that offers cloud first, mobile friendly solutions. Adam has over 20 years of achievement in driving value from technology investments, and has implemented leading SaaS platforms like Workday, Salesforce, Microsoft 365, zsvaler, and Crowdstrike. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Cushman & Wakefield website www.cushmanwakefield.com Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart A Podcast Company - is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. - https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast we talk to David Fuller-Watts from Mallcomm, and Ben Chesser from Coniq about driving efficiencies in real estate. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests David Fuller-Watts https://www.linkedin.com/in/digitaltbm/?originalSubdomain=uk David is an experienced Senior Business Development director and IT specialist with leading edge experience in SaaS technology solutions, product development & digital marketing strategy in both EU and USA. David has worked in the real estate sector for over 15 years, and leads the product development of the award winning PropTech platform Mallcomm, used by more than 350 commercial real estate destinations to manage communications, operations, retail and community engagement. Mallcomm as a 360-degree integrator for managing and engaging real estate communities, tenants, operators, suppliers, shoppers and other stakeholders. The product transforms a user's experience of the space, creates loyalty by connecting people to places whilst delivering efficient operations, significant budget savings and valuable insights. Ben Chesser https://www.linkedin.com/in/benchesser/?originalSubdomain=uk Ben is an experienced CEO with a passion for market changing disruptive technologies. For the last 15 years, Ben has focused on bringing the rigour and measurability of the online retail world into offline businesses, helping retailers and shopping malls understand the true value of their customers. Ben founded Coniq in 2014 to make the advanced tools for the retail giant readily available to every business in the industry. Coniq is today recognised as one of the fastest growing customer engagement and loyalty software companies in the world, by following Ben’s founding principles of putting the customer first, Coniq’s loyalty programs continue to deliver ongoing sales growth for clients. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Coniq website www.coniq.com Mallcomm website www.mallcomm.com Insights from this Episode * The mall space is evolving really fast right now and the need for technologies is on top of everyone's agenda – Ben Chesser

• We believe that technology really has the potential to drive down the costs of operating a shopping centre – David Fuller-Watts

• (Those who are thinking) about digital in the future, they've now jumped the top of the agenda. Because if you don't do that, you don’t survive, so it's accelerated and shaken out the industry incredibly – Ben Chesser

• I always like to say that Mallcomm solves actual real problems, problems that people actually have a need solving is not technology for technology's sake – David Fuller-Watts

• Were not doing projects to win prizes or tick boxes, we really want to impact the businesses we work with and not a lot of vendors don’t do that – Ben Chesser

• It's about who you integrate with, how we get connection, what type of technology you can use… and any of those different types of connections, all at the same time – David Fuller-Watts

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Summary: In this episode the Propcast talks to Sahil Gupta from Noah about navigating home ownership and understanding value. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Sahil Gupta https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahilgupta85/ Sahil founded Noah in 2016, Noah partners with homeowners to unlock the value of home ownership to live the lives they aspire to. Now Noah is redefining traditional finance products by offering home equity financing without the burden of debt or additional monthly payments. Sahil cultivated the passion for solving financial challenges for consumers by working in product development and strategy at Motif Investing, Slice and Mellon Capital, a $400 billion investment, managing investments for large pensions and endowments. He holds a master's in computational finance from Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, and a Bachelor's in electronics engineering. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Noah website www.noah.co Insights From This Episode * I think to us, homeownership is not a transaction, it's a journey – Sahil Gupta

• The best piece of advice that I could share is think outside the box. I think when you think outside the box, when you push yourself to be creative, you will often see answers and solutions that you didn't think were possible – Sahil Gupta

• Those are the two pillars of any economy in credit or in housing, you have to have access to capital, and you have to make it affordable for people – Sahil Gupta

• At the end of the day, you really have to think of Noah as a digital home advisor, who is there 24/7 working for you in the background. And I believe that is what truly differentiates us from a couple of other companies in the space – Sahil Gupta

• You see technology and the proliferation of data into every single aspect of our lives, I think that the future of housing and housing finance is very exciting – Sahil Gupta

• At Noah as a company we believe in product innovation, and that is why a core part of our philosophy is we are going to solve the underlying problem – Sahil Gupta

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast speaks to Demetrios Barnes from SmartRent, and Tyler Christiansen from Funnel about how technology is revolutionising renting. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Demetrios Barnes https://www.linkedin.com/in/demetriosbarnes/ Demetrios is the co-founder and chief operating officer of SmartRent, where he leads his support Field Operations and Account Services teams. Prior to co-founding SmartRent, he was vice president of technology for Colony Starwood homes. Previously, Demetrios is director of property management and technology with visa pre owned rental homes, and a regional manager for several multifamily companies. Demetrios holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Arizona State University. SmartRent empowers property owners, operators and home builders to effectively manage, protect and automate daily on-site operational processes for IoT devices and from one enterprise level platform. Tyler Christiansen https://www.linkedin.com/in/ Funnel/ Tyler is Funnels newest CEO driving the company towards continued growth leads to revenue organization, including sales, marketing and client experience. He brings over a decade of multifamily experience to Funnel including six years of multi multifamily software sales. Prior to joining Funnel, Tyler was at Entrata, where he was responsible for running the national sales organisation. Tyler has a proven track record of success both out and try to and most and his past position as director of multifamily sales at the Rainmaker Group, a revenue management and profit optimization software company. Funnel is the industry leading marketing and leasing platform for multifamily owners and managers. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Funnel www.funnelleasing.com SmartRent www. SmartRent.com Insights from this Episode - You've got to make sure you integrate so tightly to that property management software. And I think continuously growing and evolving that will always just open the door as we bring in more hardware into our scope – Demetrios Barnes - As we've seen other verticals, beginning to focus on the consumer, the customer, and realising that that focus will lead to better returns – Tyler Christiansen - When I think of any consumer today and any vertical for any type of product, what really what sticks out to me is being able to move quickly, being able to have options, and be able to able to move on your own time – Demetrios Barnes - I think allowing the shift to focus more towards the customer, that renter experience, and then bringing in the smart hardware into the properties has opened up just a world of possibilities – Tyler Christiansen - We're now leveraging that technology to provide such a seamless touch free experience, just around that community or that neighborhood – Demetrios Barnes Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart A Podcast Company - is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. - https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast speaks to Charlie Hobey and Mikki Ward from EQ Office about the evolution of office space technologies. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Charlie Hobey https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-hobey-6a63381/ Charlie is the managing director of production operations for EQ office. He is a real estate executive with over 25 years of experience, who is responsible for all facets of property management, engineering, construction, and product development for 50 office properties comprising approximately 23 million square feet of office space across the US today supervisors about 100 product design operations professionals. Charlie has over 25 years of experience in real estate, strategic consulting, and various operational fields. He also holds an MBA from MIT, and a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University. Mikki Ward https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikki-ward/ Mikki is responsible for developing and advancing EQ Office's use of AI, automation and data analytics across the portfolio with a focus on customer and tenant services, automating for the future of work, security/access control, data acquisition and monetization, multimedia and experience design and more. Mikki is a member of EQ senior leadership team where her focus is on customer and tenant services. She's currently involved in automating for the future work security and access control data acquisition and monetization, multimedia, multimedia and experience design. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com EQ Office website www.eqoffice.com Insights From This Episode * EQ are “co-creating spaces for greatness”, providing flexibility for humans to do their do their best work – Charlie Hobey

• It's really about listening to our customers, but also observing how they work and what tools and technologies they need to succeed – Charlie Hobey

• When we have people approach us, the things that are most important to me are just a company that's very real – Mikki Ward

• We've accelerated our outdoor workspaces, which ties back to optionality but also health and wellness, the ability to get outside – Charlie Hobey

• I think with COVID, I think that will accelerate and people will be willing to give up a little more of what they perceive as losing some of their privacy in order to have that secure touchless option – Mikki Ward

• How you design a space and layout of space, and program a space, we think is going to evolve – Charlie Hobey

• What I look for is a company that genuinely has a good technology behind them, even if they're small they have the ability to grow and listen to us, and partner with us to find the right technology that suits us – Mikki Ward

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to Nicholas Schmidt of Blueprint Power, and Sonny Tai of Actuate AI about how they moved from the Military into PropTech. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Nicholas Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/oneguynick Nicholas is a proven entrepreneurial executive, with extensive expertise in leading high-performing teams that design, engineer, and deliver multi-faceted solutions. His knowledge includes managing complex integration projects, performing unique R&D projects, as well as creating quick reaction capabilities for clients. He is the CIO of Blueprint Power, which is a New York City based tech company whose mission is to accelerate the growth and financial sustainability of distributed intelligent clean energy, by helping regional groups or real estate companies transform their portfolios into power plants. Nicholas's background spans both military and corporate solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East with globally dispersed teams. After serving in the United States Air Force, he has worked in a variety of roles to include Co-founder and Entrepreneur, as well as Chief Engineer at companies such as Boeing. Sonny Tai https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonny-tai Sonny is the CEO and co-founder of Actuate, an AI company that builds software that turns existing security cameras into smart cameras. Prior to founding Actuate, Sonny served as a captain in the United States Marine corps, where he led anti terrorism, force protection, planning and training. After the Marine Corps, Sonny helped corporate executives solve their most challenging growth and operational problems in strategic advisory. Sonny graduated with BA from the University of Illinois, and has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Companies mentioned CBRE Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Blueprint Power www.blueprintpower.com Actuate AI www.actuate.ai Insights From This Episode * I think the biggest lesson that I brought over from the military… was to get as much information as you can and charge the hill. So not to necessarily fall into just analysing an issue over and over again, but trust your gut and go forward - Nicholas Schmidt

• A good decision executed assertively now is better than a perfect decision executed 10 minutes later, or a week later - Sonny Tai

• I find that in the private sector, some people tend to micromanage. And that's something that I've learned not to do in building this company - Sonny Tai

• I think finding that curiosity in somebody and seeing the passion that they want to learn what you're talking about, is in some ways better than having a tonne of background and experience in something - Nicholas Schmidt

• You want to hire people that are not averse to doing the things that it takes for your organisation to be successful. - Sonny Tai

• Being able to build a team and mentor that team and watch it grow and shape and change as a leader just an incredibly rewarding thing - Nicholas Schmidt

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to Paraag Sarva, founder of Rhino about housing affordability and the power of choice. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest https://www.linkedin.com/in/psarva Paraag is the CEO and co-founder of Rhino, a builder of products and services that gives renters a more affordable way to live in the homes they want. Since its founding in 2016, Rhino has made it a mission to replace cash security deposits with low cost affordable insurance. The product is now offered in over 1 million homes across the US, Rhino offers hundreds of thousands of renters a choice to eliminate high upfront security deposits with a low cost insurance. Before co-founding Rhino, Paraag lead a property management and development company with over $100 million worth of assets, and in that time learnt firsthand the pain points he’d go on to address for the creation of Rhino. He also served as City Hall policy advisor and aided in administration of the New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomsburg. He has also worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, and graduated from New York University have a bachelor's and master's degree in economics. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Rhino website www.sayrhino.com Insights From This Episode * I have a strong profit motive and want to build a successful business, but at the same time, I want to help people and I don't feel the only two ways you can do that – Paraag Sarva

• What we do is make renting much more financially affordable for people at the time of move in – Paraag Sarva

• Our goal is really thinking about the service and the products we provide as creating a new option for a resident, for a renter that never existed before – Paraag Sarva

• (COVID 19) is not a one size fits all problem and it's not a one size fits all remedy – Paraag Sarva

• It doesn't matter where you live or how much money you make, you are feeling COVID and some economic uncertainty very much, and giving people a different way of essentially reclaiming a whole bunch of cash that they otherwise would just have to put into these escrow accounts with landlords is really meaningful – Paraag Sarva

• What we've come to learn is that focusing on the resident is really Numero Uno. And it's also number 2, 3, 4, and 5… and the importance of financial amenities what we offer is now so front and centre – Paraag Sarva

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Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to Dustin Figge from Homelike about his company providing a home away from home. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Dustin Figge https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustin-figge-a454364b/?originalSubdomain=de Dustin Figge is Founder of Homelike. In 2015, he and Christoph Kasper founded Homelike, the leading marketplace to book furnished business apartments entirely online. Before Homelike, he successfully co-founded the HR-Startup “Talents Connect” and worked as an Executive Assistant to the CEO of Arvato. He also spent 2 years working in the Silicon Valley. Through long-term work experiences in China, Spain and the US, Dustin learned about the pitfalls of the highly offline long-term housing market which eventually led to the founding of Homelike. Dustin holds a Master’s in Business from the University of Cologne. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com Homelike website www.homelike.com Dustin’s twitter @dustin_figge Insights From This Episode - We see this Corona situation as an opportunity for business. So we called it “Never Waste A Crisis” – Dustin Figge - I think for me personally, it's the best thing in my life to be a founder because you can really challenge the status quo – Dustin Figge - You’ve got to have passion for your product. But I think the biggest thing, which I personally learned and I presume you and your co-founder agree is resilience – Louisa Dickins - I think Corona has been a great opportunity for furnished apartments, and also mega trends like flexible working and remote working – Dustin Figge - I believe that we have proven that furnished long term apartments are resilient to a crisis like Corona – Dustin Figge - One very interesting trend is flexibility when it comes to booking furnished apartments… So that's definitely a trend, I also believe will be a lasting trend – Dustin Figge Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart A Podcast Company - is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. - https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com

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The Propcast: Season 3, Episode 2 Title: Built Environment Through Innovation and Solutions Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to Brad Dockser and Jake Dockser of GreenGeneration about the built environment and innovations and solutions. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Brad Dockser https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-dockser-83467018 Bradford H. Dockser is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Green Generation, which engineers and implements comprehensive integrated energy efficiency solutions that lower operating costs while improving sustainability on behalf of a diverse set of clients worldwide. Founded in 2011, GreenGen transforms the world's built environment through innovation and solutions by integrating energy, real estate, technology, and capital markets to Operate in the Green. GreenGen helps its clients use energy as a driver of value across all asset types in North America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. GreenGen’s turnkey approach to energy efficiency is implemented by a team that includes electrical, lighting, mechanical, and environmental engineers, PhDs, tradesmen, as well as real estate and finance experts. Jake Dockser https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobdockser Jake Dockser is Vice President, Ventures at GreenGen where he is primarily responsible for identifying and investing in property-related technologies that lower operating costs in the built environment. Prior to GreenGen, Jake spent over two years working in the administration of President Barack Obama as the Special Assistant for International Trade and Investment under Secretary Penny Pritzker and Under Secretary Stefan Selig at the Department of Commerce. Jake was involved in achieving President Obama’s robust trade agenda, including two major negotiations (TPP and US-EU Privacy Shield). Responsible for attracting foreign direct investment into the US and helping US businesses operate internationally, Jake traveled to more than 25 countries, including extensive travel to China. His expertise in identifying key actors in foreign markets has been invaluable to GreenGen's operations Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com GreenGeneration website www.greengen.com Insights From This Episode * We are finding demand for those who understand the financial side of climate change and the financial side of upgrading assets in high demand – Brad Dockser

• One of the things that is going to become increasingly important, if it isn't already, is transparency – Jake Dockser

• What we're finding is that we're helping people understand how the environment and climate is profitable – Brad Dockser

• People want to work at companies that reflect their values, whether it be social values or related to the environment, and sustainability – Jake Dockser

• The overall trends of the business are extremely positive, and we are seeing growth – Brad Dockser

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The Propcast: Season 3, Episode 1 Title: Smart Council and Connectivity with William Newton Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to William Newton about WiredScore’s Smart Council, and connectivity. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest William Newton https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-newton111/?originalSubdomain=uk WiredScore’s mission is to enable the world to get “better connected” by uncovering information and simplifying activities for businesses and individuals to access internet service and other connectivity technologies. To achieve this mission, WiredScore has developed Wired Certification. In an increasingly tech-driven economy, connectivity is fast becoming the most critical utility for commercial real estate tenants when selecting office space. The widely recognised Wired Certification seal is a trusted symbol that identifies buildings that have been independently certified to provide the best-in-class connectivity infrastructure that businesses require to thrive. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA website www.ukpa.com WiredScore website www.wiredscore.com Insights From This Episode * Sometimes the most obvious ideas are the best, it may not be ingenious, but that's because it's so necessary – William Newton

• that gave us the perfect opportunity to put together the WiredScore smart council and try and provide a bit of clarity about what a smart building really is, why it's useful and why it's important – William Newton

• We were increasing the understanding what the factors were that were going to define the future of real estate, and good connectivity is undoubtedly one of them – William Newton

• People will need to rely on cloud-based office systems even more than they have before. Which makes connectivity more and more important – William Newton

• One of my favorite facts is for the average internet outage, your heart rate goes up. equivalent to if you were watching a scary movie – William Newton

• making a shift into a small startup might seem like a daunting prospect now, but as long as you're confident that you're going to be able to learn from that…there's no way that it won't help you in your career – William Newton

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Summary: In this episode we talk to Jonathan Mills and Conrad Davies from Osborne Clarke to talk about PropTech law and launching. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Jonathan Mills https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-mills-b0692933/ Jonathan is an Associate Director in the real estate department at Osborne Clarke LLP and advises on a variety of property related matters, including investment, development, tech, and energy and utilities. He has a specific focus on the alternative residential market including co-living, student accommodation, Build to Rent/multifamily and assisted living/care. Jonathan is currently on secondment to Osborne Clarke’s office in New York where he is advising US companies on English legal matters and supporting their global legal projects. Jonathan is working closely with Osborne Clarke’s international offices and network of law firms around the world with their cross-border real estate, infrastructure and PropTech projects. Conrad Davies https://www.osborneclarke.com/lawyers/conrad-davies/ Conrad is a Partner in Osborne Clarke’s corporate practice and head of their Urban Dynamics group - which focusses on the transformation taking place in global cities and the impact this has on clients and their businesses. His work includes acting on private equity fundraisings, private acquisitions and disposals, restructurings and complex joint ventures and partnership arrangements. He has a particular focus on advising on transactions involving real estate and infrastructure assets and portfolios. He also has significant experience of work in the technology sector. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Osborne Clarke www.osborneclarke.com Insights from this episode * I really think that COVID has put in data, and the use of data for everybody's benefit really into the public eye as well – Jonathan Mills

• The reality is that data is the lifeblood of digital transformation in real estate – Conrad Davies

• Similar cultures obviously really helps when either working out and calculating whether a product is going to fit or solve a problem in a different market – Jonathan Mills

• I think there's going to be lots of opportunities for businesses to use technology to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and their buildings, and I think that decarbonisation agenda is going to also fuel adoption – Conrad Davies

• The appreciation that talent can work from anywhere is going to be key – Jonathan Mills

• We always explain clients to think globally, but act locally, obviously, because there are so many differences between individual markets – Jonathan Mills

• I think the technology sector is now better understanding the real estate market, and the people that are involved, and what investors and developers really want from technology. I think what that's also meant that the tech has got better – Conrad Davies

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The Propcast Season 2, Episode 9 Title: The Changing Face of Workplace Experience with the Modern Day Worker with Clinton Robinson Summary: In this episode we speak to Clinton Robinson, from Lane about the changing face of the workplace experience with the modern day worker. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Clinton Robinson https://www.linkedin.com/in/clintjrobinson/?originalSubdomain=ca Clinton is a tech entrepreneur with over 10 years experience creating internet and mobile products, launching his first internet start-up in 1996 at the age of 15. Clinton sold his second start-up, a web based e-health solution in 2008, shortly after graduating from Queen’s University with a MSc Computer Science. Clinton founded the multiple award winning design and tech agency Little Room in 2011 and most recently founded Lane in 2014. Lane is SaaS software that creates a smart workplace; it leverages the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) ecosystem to enable buildings and their tenant companies to communicate and engage with urban-professionals, directly to their mobile devices. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Lane website www.joinlane.com Insights from this Episode * We provide a platform for each one of the stakeholders that exist in commercial real estate… all focused on giving the end user, the employee, a better experience through their day. And that is really important – Clinton Robinson

• We've got to learn how to work together and take the best parts of real estate and the best part parts of tech companies, and put those together. And that's how we're going to win – Clinton Robinson

• Tenant engagement is really important. That's an important part, and the Lane platform does that really well. That's an important piece of this bigger puzzle. But if you just focus on that you haven't solved the bigger picture – Clinton Robinson

• What I think is interesting about COVID, I think we're now starting to see a shift of a lot of interest to the suburban work places – Clinton Robinson

• Understanding how the entire industry is structured is so important. All business is relationships, but in commercial real estate it's the next level, it is all relationships. It's who can connect you, who can vouch for you – Clinton Robinson

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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The Propcast Season 2, Episode 6 Title: AI & Portfolio Management with Richard Belgrave and Kevin Mofid Summary: In this episode we talk to Richard Belgrave of MRI Leverton AI and Kevin Mofid, of Savills about how artificial intelligence is transforming portfolio management and delivering great insights for corporate occupiers The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Richard Belgrave https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardbelgrave/?originalSubdomain=uk Rich is a Vice President at Leverton, an MRI Software Company. He helped the global expansion of Leverton prior to acquisition and served in various capacities (the latest being Chief Revenue Officer) since joining the company in May, 2016. Richard started his career in corporate finance, where he worked on a wide range of strategic projects and performed analysis for FTSE350 clients. His strong interest in technology later drove him to join Leverton, now MRI software. MRI Software is the leading provider of innovative real estate software applications and hosted solutions. MRI’s comprehensive and flexible technology platform, coupled with an open and connected ecosystem meets a unique need for real estate businesses, from property level management and accounting. to investment modelling and analytics of the global commercial and residential markets. Kevin Mofid https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-mofid?originalSubdomain=uk Kevin is a Director in the Savills Research team and heads up research capability into Industrial & Logistics markets co-ordinating market data collection across the UK and producing Research reports covering the sector. Previously, at BNP Paribas Real Estate, Kevin headed up research into Central London Office markets and Industrial & Logistics markets producing a number of landmark reports including The Real Estate Implications of waste management and recycling, The Warehouse of the Future and the Real Estate implications of the proposed IAS 17 lease accounting changes. Kevin is a key market commentator and regularly presents at industry events appearing at The ICE Energy From Waste Conference, The Estates Gazette European Distribution Summit, the Retail Week Supply Chain Summit and other events for the IPF, IPD and the CPD Foundation. Kevin is a member of the Society of Property Researchers, the Industrial Agents Society, the IPF and in 2013 was the youngest ever Chairman of the Society of Property Researchers. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Savills website www.savills.co.uk Insights from this Episode * Our technology is geared towards helping our clients find, analyse, interrogate data buried within both complicated contracts – Richard Belgrave

• It's really about helping people make decisions quicker to adapt as a result of the pandemic – Richard Belgrave

• The data that was unstructured before is now structured. And that as I said before creates efficiencies just in terms of the way we work internally – Kevin Mofid

• So, the more data we have in a structured fashion that will allow us to answer those big questions that are troubling everyone at the moment – Kevin Mofid

• I think for decision making, I think for running your business or staying ahead of the competition, and just doing what's right by your investors, by your senior stakeholders, you need data. You need to be able to access it, you need to be able to trust it. And thematically I think the real estate industry is making a lot of progress – Richard Belgrave

• Data will give you some answers, but are you asking the right questions – Kevin Mofid

• The models that we deploy to process these contracts and turn unstructured content into structured data, they can also be used to help drive really meaningful analysis– Richard Belgrave

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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The Propcast Season 2, Episode 6 Title: Talent and the Real Estate Company of the Future Summary: In this episode we talk to Antony Slumbers PropTech influencer, about talent and the real estate company of the future. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Antony Slumbers https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonyslumbers/?originalSubdomain=uk Antony has been a software development and technology strategist in commercial real estate since 1995, and now consults and works with corporate real estate boards on Transformation, Technology and Innovation. Antony speakz internationally on ‘‘Space As a Service’, AI, Innovation, and the future of work and the workplace’. Some of the companies he has worked with are CBRE Global Investors, EPRA, INREV, CoreNet India, CREDAI (in Tel Aviv), MSCI, MRI, NSI, SEGRO, RICS, Nepi Rockcastle, Fifth Wall Ventures, IREI, iwfm. He sits on themAdvisory Board of Tenant Engagement leader Equiem, is a member of the Leadership Board of CRETech, a mentor at MetaProp RE200 and also on the ULI Europe Technology and Real Estate Council. Along with consulting and speaking he writes regular blogs and features about the industry. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Antony’s website www.antonyslumbers.com Antony’s blog https://www.antonyslumbers.com/theblog The Real Innovation course: Future Proof Office www.realinnovationacademy.com Insights from this Episode * People don't realise actually how fast technology has developed, the progress within artificial learning and the speed of processes and the amount of data we have, and the scale of computational power that’s now at our disposal, is absolutely extraordinary – Antony Slumbers

• The user experience of your space is going to represent your brand, and the brand is going to represent your value – Antony Slumbers

• People are going to use your space if it enables them to be as productive as possible. And the only way you're going to do that is by really understanding the jobs to be done with people, and their wants, needs and desires, and then providing them with space that offers them the services they need as and when they use them – Antony Slumbers

• Clearly we are at a time of huge change, I’d just like to say it's going to happen anyway. So really embrace it as an opportunity and think hard about how can you rework your value proposition, your business models, your offering to your customers, to take account of the change – Antony Slumbers

• They create an ecosystem of partners that they work with, provides all these skills. So we have real estate skills, networking skills, data skills, workplace skills, HR skills, hospitality skills and we combine them all and we get them all working together. And that's the way we're going to create great spaces – Antony Slumbers

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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The Propcast Season 2, Episode 5 Title: Tech Enabled Build to Rent with Rajesh Shah Summary: In this episode we speak to Rajesh Shah on Quintain and Tipi to talk about tech enabled Build to Rent. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the build to rent environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Rajesh Shah https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajesh-shah/?originalSubdomain=uk Rajesh is Quintain's Executive Commercial Director, working in our Build to Rent (BtR) business, Tipi, having set it up in 2015. Rajesh is responsible for all commercial and financial aspects of the Tipi business to position it to become the UK’s largest BtR platform. He works closely with the wider Quintain team on the design and pricing for future plots at Wembley Park and new business. Rajesh joined Quintain in 2008 as the Transactions Director responsible for refinancings, acquisitions, disposals and joint ventures. Rajesh has worked in real estate for over 20 years across a range of sectors including commercial, residential and retail. He has led transactions ranging from raising capital for new funds through to acquisitions and disposals of property portfolios and businesses. Prior to Quintain, Rajesh spent 10 years at Land Securities, where he was Investment Strategy Director at its Trillium subsidiary. He led the pricing of Trillium’s new business transactions as well as portfolio management of existing assets. Prior to this he worked at PwC as a management consultant in sectors including real estate, retail and media. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Quintain www.quintain.co.uk Tipi www.tipi.london Insights from this Episode * One of the things we learned early days is a very strong focus on customers, be it the landlord's at that point when we slowly sold the apartments or ultimately the customers who lived with us - Rajesh

• They're really bringing neighbourhoods to life and creating communities, which I think that's what a lot of us are all seeking, this new concept of living – Louisa

• I spent probably 12 months heavily researching and taking the foundation we had within Quintain, but looking very, very hard at what the customers really want as renters at large in London and beyond what our pain points were – Rajesh

• we want to make sure we stand uniquely for, is the whole strength and depth in customer service – Rajesh

• Rather than sector specific, what we've been testing very heavily in our recruitment is mindset. People really willing to go the extra mile are people really willing to put themselves into the customer shoes, willing to take every problem to its resolution – Rajesh

• But ultimately, the success with the data is really are we improving enhancing the customer enjoyment and benefits – Rajesh

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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The Propcast Season 2, Episode 4 Title: The Effects of Coronavirus with Nikolas Samios Summary: In this episode we talk to Nikolas Samios from Proptech1 Ventures about the effects of coronavirus on the industry. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Nikolas Samios https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikolassamios/?originalSubdomain=de Nikolas Samios is Managing Partner of PropTech1 Ventures, the first venture capital fund focused on PropTech startups in Germany. For decades, the real estate industry has shied away from true innovation, but now faces drastic change because of the advancing digitalization. This creates enormous opportunities for PropTech startups that focus on the optimization, digitalization, and disruption of the real estate industry. PropTech1 Ventures is a joint project of the real estate entrepreneur Marius Marschall and the COOPERATIVA Venture Group, which Nikolas heads as Managing Partner. COOPERATIVA is a platform which, based on the experience of its partner as founders, business angels, venture capital managers, and limited partners, covers 360° of the venture capital life cycle: Direct, indirect and LP investments in startups, support in their fundraising and exit efforts, venture-centric family office services and the inception and operation of VC funds in cooperation with leading sector experts. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com PropTech1 Ventures www.proptech1.ventures Download free white paper “Proptech and the Corona effect”: https://proptech1.ventures/download-deep-dive-2-en Insights from this Episode * If you have a digital file, if you have a digital process, if that's even cloud based, you are a productivity wise in a good position – Nikolas

• It's not a tectonic shift. So all the standards are still there, you see normal deals happening but it's maybe a little bit more investor friendly climate right now than last year - Nikolas

• We are very bullish on green technology because we believe that's the super major trend in a way for the next 10/20 years – Nikolas

• I’ve been doing venture capital for 20 years now, so this is not the first situation that the market changed away, and it was always a good idea to be careful with your valuation – Nikolas

• So if you just look at 20, 30 years of data… more or less the best venture deals have been done after the financial crisis – Nikolas

• As a professional investor, if you're correctly investing, if you pick the right targets, if you've optimized terms - it's a good time to invest - Nikolas

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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The Propcast Season 2, Episode 3 Title: The Importance of Real Estate Data with L.D. Salmanson and Thomas Walle Summary: In this episode we talk to L.D. Salmanson from Cherre, and Thomas Walle from Unacast about the importance of real estate data. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests L.D. Salmanson https://www.linkedin.com/in/ldsalmanson/ L.D. has extensive experience founding, advising and investing and leading private technology companies. L.D’s latest venture is Cherre, which is the leader in real estate data and insight. Cherre connects decision makers to accurate property and market information, and helps them make faster, smarter decisions. By providing a unique single source of truth, Cherre empowers customers to evaluate opportunities and trends faster and more accurately, by saving millions of dollars in manual data collection and analytics costs. Prior to founding Cherre, L.D. served as an executive director of Oppenheimer’s private shares group, and after Openheimmer acquired GreenCrest Capital, a firm he co-founded to enable pre IPO transactions and some of the largest private technology companies in the world, including Facebook, Twitter and Uber. Prior to that, L.D. served as the principal of Knight Capital's group private equity fund and previously as a captain in the Israeli army, which I'd love to hear a little bit more about as well later on in the show. L.D. holds an MBA in finance and is a Joseph Wharton Merit Scholar. He also holds a BA, LLB and LLM in finance and international law. Thomas Walle https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaswalle/ Thomas is the CEO and Co-Founder of Unacast, the leading human mobility data company who empower companies globally to make smarter decisions and build better products by understanding how people move around on our planet. Unacast serves data-hungry clients in multiple verticals such as retail, martech, research, real estate, and city planning. Unacast has been awarded multiple awards for its tech platform, products, and it’s Nordic-based culture. Prior to Unacast, he was a part of the early team at the music streaming service TIDAL, which was acquired by Jay Z in 2014, where he led business development and partnerships globally.Thomas shares his opinion on tech and startups regularly as a member of Forbes Technology Council and has been profiled by Inc. Magazine, Business Insider, The New York Times and Wired. He is also an LP in Nordic Web, a seed-stage fund investing in the growing Nordic Startup scene. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Insights from this Episode - What we’ve seen over last few years is the emergence of a lot of really interesting data sets that just didn't exist a few years ago or weren't packaged in a way that was usable… Firms are more and more looking to combine those datasets to have something that's a lot more meaningful for whatever end use cases they have today – L.D. - In order to cater to the real estate vertical, the data needs to be as you started with, it needs to be clean, it needs to be easily accessible - Thomas - Data is being put front and centre where it should be. It means that people are able to make a lot more informed decisions – L.D. - In a case like COVID, where the mobility patterns of people that changed overnight, it has an extremely powerful data set to help them understand what's happening in their neighbourhood, in their city, and help them make better decisions – Thomas - Our focus is on understanding how people move around on the planet, mobility data, that's where we are experts - Thomas Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! 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The Propcast Season 2, Episode 2 Title: Deals and Investments within PropTech with Mike Sroka and John Fitzpatrick Summary: In this episode we talk to Mike Sroka of Dealpath and John Fitzpatrick of Blackstone about deals and investments within PropTech. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Mike Sroka https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-sroka-9958391/ Mike is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dealpath, the real estate industry’s leading cloud-based deal management platform. Previously, he's spent over a decade growing venture-backed software companies including Fanhood, Zynga and OneSeason. Mike started his career at Hudson Advisors, managing agent for the Lone Star Funds, and graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.S. in Economics with Finance Applications. John Fitzpatrick https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-fitzpatrick-2b9a654/ John Fitzpatrick is a Managing Director and Global Chief Technology Officer of Blackstone Real Estate within the Technology and Innovations group. He is responsible for all aspects of technology across Blackstone Real Estate and our portfolio companies and also oversees the Blackstone Innovations investment program, which seeks to unlock value for LPs and the firm by taking stakes in targeted, early stage, technology-based investment opportunities. Prior to his current role, Mr. Fitzpatrick oversaw various initiatives across the entire Technology and Innovations group. Before joining Blackstone in 2011, Mr. Fitzpatrick worked at Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor’s, for seven years where he was most recently the Head of Product. He received a BS in Finance from St. John’s University and currently serves on the Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s Leadership Council. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Dealpath website www.dealpath.com Blackstone website www.blackstone.com Insights from this Episode * I always think of us as kind of like pipeline through portfolio management, and really managing that lifecycle of an asset – Mike Sroka

• Investing is a game of connecting the dots and whoever can connect the dots and tell the best picture and have an information advantage typically wins – John Fitzpatrick

• Having centralised data that is globally accessible, has never been more important – Mike Sroka

• Two pieces of advice: one is to really have a wholesome vision for your overall technical - Mike ecosystem… and then two, the (PropTechs) that are quite successful are truly solving a business problem, and doing it in a technical way that will allow them to scale for the future – John Fitzpatrick

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The Propcast Season 2, Episode 1 Title: The Largest European VC with Gregory Dewerpe Summary: In this episode we talk to Gregory Dewerpe from A/O PropTech about being the largest European VC. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the PropTechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Gregory Dewerpe Gregory is the Founder of A/O PropTech, Europe’s largest PropTech venture capital firm and a real estate and technology investor with over 15 years of experience across I-Banking, real estate and venture, a multi-billion deal-making history, and a deep understanding of the financial markets, real estate and venture eco-systems. Prior to A/O PropTech, Gregory founded AMD Capital, a specialised real estate investment company focusing on the most thriving segments of the industry through both private (direct assets) and public markets, taking advantage of market dislocations and price asymmetry in order to build strong conviction positions. Gregory is a Swiss national, fluent in English, French, and Italian; he attended HEC Lausanne University, London School of Economics (Masters), and Harvard Business School. A bit about A/O PropTech A/O PropTech invests permanent capital and combines deep real estate, data science and engineering expertise together with a strategic sandbox of over $35bn of Real Estate assets from its investors. As a result of their permanent capital approach, A/O is Stage agnostic, investing from Series A to later-stage breakouts growth stages. They enable founders to create and scale disruptive tech-enabled products and platforms disrupting the real estate industry. Their mission is to transform real estate into a more digital, efficient, and accessible asset class by applying innovative technologies and business models. This mission is underpinned by a vision to improve quality of life, accelerate sustainable living, and enable the decarbonisation of the largest asset class in the world. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com A/O website www.aoproptech.com Insights from this Episode - The number one lesson is it doesn't matter what product you're backing, doesn't matter what segment you're backing, it always comes down to the entrepreneurs – Gregory Dewerpe - You're going to work a lot with those people in tough times, in good times, but more importantly in tough times, and being able to understand who's across the table means you can help them better and you can support them better. And so a lot of work needs to go into the people. It's really all about the people – Gregory Dewerpe - I always say I'm looking for humility. Humility is something that might sound very generic, but for me, I always say that when you find humble people, it means they're open minded to learn, they know they can get better, they're also able to change their plans when it doesn't go the way they want – Gregory Dewerpe - For me, everything around the decarbonisation is essential because the only way to be more efficient from a carbon standpoint is to become digital and tech enabled – Gregory Dewerpe - Since we've all been in lockdown, we've all had that time to take a step back and realise what's important, what's going on in the world and to actually really appreciate it, and make changes – Louisa Dickins - The office has been challenged over many decades. It needs to reinvent itself and I'm sure it will, it just going to be different and different doesn't mean worse... We reinvent ourselves, we reinvent the way we work and how we work, and how we interact with one another. So there's certainly going to be some great things happening so for me, it's all positive when I think about the future – Gregory Dewerpe - For issues like sustainability, I think the collaboration between private and public is actually essential – Gregory Dewerpe Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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The Propcast Episode 10 Title: Real Estate, Tech Collaboration and US Launching with Real Estate with Oli Farago and Richard Croft Summary: We talk to Richard Croft (M7 Real Estate) and Oli Farago (Coyote Software) about Real Estate Tech Collaboration, and US Launching. The Propcast is by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Richard Croft https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-croft-b2b95022/?originalSubdomain=uk Richard is the Executive Chairman for M7 Real Estate. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the company, capital raising and leads the real estate fund management function. In this capacity he sits on the GP board and Investment Committees of all of M7’s funds in addition to numerous other M7’s JV boards. Prior to co-founding M7 Real Estate in April 2009, Richard founded Halverton REIM LLP (subsequently GPT Halverton), a European real estate fund management business which was sold to The GPT Group (an Australian listed property trust) in July 2007. From 2005 to early 2009 Richard was CEO of GPT Halverton which at the time of sale employed circa 180 people across ten European offices and managed €2 billion of assets. Before his time at Halverton, Richard was International Investment Director of Property Fund Management PLC (now Valad), and was responsible for setting up their international infrastructure, including offices in Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Copenhagen and Madrid. Richard has been involved in over €8 billion of transactions across the UK and Europe during his 26 years of real estate experience. In addition to his duties at M7, Richard is a Non-Executive Director of IPSX (the International Property Securities Exchange). He is a member of the Global Real Estate Institute and a regular speaker at conferences across Europe covering real estate and economic topics. Richard is a supporter of several charities and foundations and is actively involved The Suffolk Community Foundation and Shout About Suffolk. Oli Farago https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliverfarago/?originalSubdomain=uk Oli is the CEO and Co-Founder of Coyote. He has been fundamental in scoping, designing and developing Coyote since its beginning in 2009. In fact, for the first three years of Coyote’s journey, he wrote every line of code himself. Prior to Coyote, Oli was one of the founding partners and CTO of M7 Real Estate. Oli has now been at the forefront of Real Estate technology for over 12 years. Oli spends his day working with a team of 37 on everything from the strategic growth and direction of the company, helping design new product features / functionality to demoing the platform and onboarding new clients. When Oli is not busy with Coyote or his family, he loves scuba diving and flying helicopters. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Coyote Software www.coyote.co.ukwww.coyote.io M7 Real Estate www.m7re.eu Insights from this Episode Our view is that we think technology is going to change real estate investing – Richard Croft the industry is changing. The industry is becoming more accepting of technology, and the technology can improve the way that we do things – Richard Croft We are just now entering into the period where I think people are really starting to commit to major projects of digital transformation – Oli Farago They used to say that there were three rules to investing in real estate, which was location, location, location. I think that's changing, and is becoming space, space and connectivity. I think long term, it's going to cause a massive acceleration in adoption across the board. It is from networking that you make relationships, and through work relationships that you build businesses – Richard Croft Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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The Propcast Episode 9 Title: Global Data with Robert Courteau Summary: In this episode we talk to Robert Courteau from Altus Group about Global Data The Propcast is by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Robert Courteau https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobcourteau/?originalSubdomain=ca Robert Courteau is an accomplished senior executive with extensive experience in leading new business initiatives and achieving growth objectives with some of the world’s foremost companies. Most recently, he was President of SAP North America, a $6 billion global market leader in enterprise application software, with other previous roles including COO of its Global Customer Operations. Prior to joining SAP, Mr. Courteau served as an Executive Vice President for EDS Corporation. He has held a number of senior management roles at Xerox Corporation, where he served as a North American Divisional Vice President and General Manager. Robert has been an active board member of numerous North American not-for-profit organizations and has served on the boards of several publicly traded organisations. Robert joined Altus Group as CEO in 2012, and has repositioned the company for growth by capitalizing on a global market opportunity for software and data solutions into the commercial real estate sector. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Altus Group www.altusgroup.com Argus Enterprise https://www.altusgroup.com/argus/products/argus-enterprise/ OnSiteIQ www.onsiteiq.io Insights from this Episode Really getting control of how you look at your business is fundamental to good governance, insight and decision making – Robert Courteau We are trying to attract CTOs from all sorts of other industries, whether it's finance or other technology sectors, and they're now seeing the huge opportunity they have to really change the real estate world – Robert Courteau Cloud based technology opens up the opportunity to really innovate on how you operate your business on a global basis – Robert Courteau At the end of the day, you have to have people that are like minded about making the customer the priority as you move forward – Robert Courteau The automation of your workflows, the improvement in the way you manage your businesses is fundamental. If you have things like straight through processing of data and information, you're going to be at a competitive advantage – Robert Courteau The whole world is going to be driven by AI machine learning, the ability to collect data at scale and to put that data into information – Robert Courteau Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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Title: Innovation Hubs with Sivan Blasenheim Summary: In this episode we talk to Sivan Blasenheim from Rentigo about Innovation Hubs. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Sivan Blasenheim https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivan-blasenheim-b258a/ Sivan is an experienced chief executive officer with a demonstrated history of working in the Fintech, Proptech and Tech industries. He is a global expert in Payment solutions and Extensive leadership experience in organizations from start-ups to global businesses. Sivan Co-founded Rentigo in 2016 after building his first payment company. Rentigo is a PropTech-AI start-up changing the traditional property management ecosystem ($500B industry) by combining payment expertise with a free end to end tenants facing platform that unites payments, marketing and operational decisions for real estate owners and operators. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Rentigo website www.rentigo.com Insights from this Episode There's a huge need from the start-ups to connect to the real estate, to understand the language and to understand what the real estate is looking for – Sivan When we see good technology, the door is always open – Sivan You’ve got to do your research, you’ve got to have those connections, but it's also a lot of investment and proof of the product – Louisa We created a big asset, a big synchronisation, which gives all the sides of the equation big value – Sivan One of the things that I see many times with many start-ups is that adopting the new technology in a very old environment and with an environment that is afraid of the technology is very challenging – Sivan This is gold advice for the start-up – patience, patience, patience” - Sivan Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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Title: Diversity and Tenant Engagement with Gabrielle McMillan Summary: In this episode we talk to Gabrielle McMillan from Equiem about Diversity and Tenant Engagement The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the Proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Gabrielle McMillan https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellemcmillan/ Gabrielle is thee founding CEO of the world’s leading tenant experience platform, Equiem, and a passionate advocate of the power of technology to transform the global commercial real estate space. As the founding CEO of Equiem, Gabrielle has led the business from its 2011 inception to become the world’s leading tenant experience platform today, used by 137,000+ people across 60 million sq ft of prime commercial real estate worldwide. With a proven track record of success in delivering growth through innovation, development and leadership, Gabrielle has helped build Equiem from a team of two, to over 200 employees, in just eight years. Today, Equiem manage a client portfolio of 135+ buildings across Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the USA, with over 8,900 companies using our technology. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Equiem website www.getequiem.com Insights from this Episode In a business like Equiem, if you're a good person and you're willing to put in discretionary effort and you can learn, the sky's the limit in terms of what you can do. There are no barriers. - Gabrielle McMillan If you're a woman and you worried about how to get started there's plenty of groups these days… and there's plenty of great, amazing women doing amazing things in the space, if you can find yourself whether it's an official mentor or whether it's you set up a handful of coffee chats and get your network up and running, everyone's willing to help each other out help good people get their start. - Gabrielle McMillan Ultimately, put your hand up, go ask for advice. Communication is everything and if you don't ask a question, how you ever going to find the answer? - Louisa Dickins How do we keep that competitive edge? I think we certainly try to be very customer centric in our approach. - Gabrielle McMillan In terms of what's coming next, I’d say almost certainly more consolidation. - Gabrielle McMillan Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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The Propcast Episode 6 Title: PropTech VC European Trends with Miguel Nigorra Summary: In this episode we talk to Miguel Nigorra from Fifth Wall about Propech VC European Trends. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Miguel Nigorra https://www.linkedin.com/in/miguel-nigorra-esteban-86688313/?originalSubdomain=uk Miguel Nigorra is a Principal on the Strategic Advisory team at Fifth Wall, where he drives innovation and value creation transformations with start-ups and corporate partners in Europe. Prior to joining Fifth Wall, Miguel worked at McKinsey for over nine years in the Madrid and London offices. As part of the digital practice, he led teams across Europe in numerous real estate engagements. He also was a Business Development & Strategy Manager at Fon Wireless, the largest WiFi network in the world. Miguel started his career at The Coca Cola Company and Diageo. Miguel is from Madrid, and currently lives in London. He received his BA in business administration and finance from Universidad Pontificiade Comillas, ICADE in Madrid and participated in exchange programs at Fordham University in New York and HEC at the University of Montreal. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York. Resources mentioned LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk UKPA www.ukpa.com Fifth Wall website https://fifthwall.com/ Fifth Wall LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/fifth-wall-ventures/ Insights from this Episode -The single largest impact we can have towards mitigating climate change are the choices we make around real estate – Miguel Nigorra -Anything that has to do with ESP sustainability, carbon impact emission, circular economy, are topics that are very exciting for real estate. I believe this is the next biggest trend for the real estate world – Miguel Nigorra -I think sustainability is going to be at the front and centre of any discussion about real estate moving forward – Miguel Nigorra -There are trends that are being basically accelerated, and some of the things that you would expect to see in the next three years probably have happened in a three month period – Miguel Nigorra -There's so many interesting opportunities, so many interesting verticals that we're looking at that if anything, it's the golden age of real estate technology – Miguel Nigorra -Flexible space and flexible solutions are top of the list and this has been a trend for a long time now – Miguel Nigorra -So, Europe is following a trend very similar to the one that the US followed, probably three to four years behind in terms of growth and technology, but we see Europe as the next big opportunity – Miguel Nigorra Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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The Propcast Episode 5 Title: Real Estate Investment Management Tech Association with Naqash Tahir (PGIM) and Imran Nasir (La Salle) Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to Naqash and Imran about how they together founded REIM Tech Association, and about good proptech's in the market across the world, what technology is missing, and what makes a good pitch to the real estate world. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guests Naqash Tahir https://www.linkedin.com/in/naqash/?originalSubdomain=uk Naqash Tahir is Director at PGIM Real Estate, Head of Systems for Europe and Project Manager for the Asia region. He is responsible for technology strategy, digital transformation, innovation and PropTech for continental Europe, as well as overseeing various projects in Asia. Previously, he served as the team lead for European systems, while managing projects and overseeing fund analysis. Naqash is a PropTech advisor and mentor, representing and speaking at technology events around Europe. Naqash began his career fifteen year ago developing solutions primarily for Real Estate. He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science and is currently pursuing his MBA through Cranfield University. Naqash is also the founder and chairman for ReimTech, which is a forum for the Real Estate Investment Management Technology peers across Europe. Imran Nasir https://www.linkedin.com/in/imran-nasir-177a0a86/?originalSubdomain=uk Imran is FCA qualified with 7 years experience at a Big 4 firm, with an impressive client portfolio which included FTSE 100 listed companies. He has over 10 years experience at two leading private equity real estate firms, and experience of leading a large Finance Team as well as also leading a Business Technology team, which has successfully project managed the implementation of numerous business critical initiatives across Europe. Imran has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and management studies, and is a qualified chartered accountant. Imran co-founded founded the REIMtech Association. Resources mentioned ReimTech via Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naqash/?originalSubdomain=uk PGIM site https://www.pgim.com/ La Salle https://www.lasalle.com/ Insights from this Episode -The momentum will build again. And I think there's a lot of opportunities in our industry – Imran Nasir -I think that's what was unique about REIMtech, I would say, is we are really open to showcase our failures and also our tremendous successes- Naqash Tahir -that's the real benefit I think that Proptech firms can do, is if they find the right business partner it's kind of a symbiotic relationship that both parties can really get benefits out of it- Imran Nasir -. So if a company comes and solves the problem of integration with different systems, and also integration with different vendors, then I think they will be the ones to go for in the future – Naqash Tahir -Collaboration is key from all sorts of angles, whether it’s start-ups, to associations, it’s the sharing of a set of information, the sharing of data, seems to be what everyone’s talking about the moment- Louisa Dickins Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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LMRE Series 1 Episode 4 Title: Real Estate and the Cloud with Neal Gemassmer Summary: In this episode The Propcast talks to Neal Gemassmer from Yardi about real estate and the Cloud. The Propcast by Louisa Dickins, Co-Founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech recruiter brought to you in partnership with UK PropTech Association, The UK PropTech Association is a membership organisation to drive the digital transformation of the property industry. This show will focus on connecting the proptechs, real estate funds and VC’s globally…and get everyone talking about innovation of the built environment. About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/?originalSubdomain=uk Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About Our Guest Neal Gemassmer https://www.linkedin.com/in/neal-gemassmer-a27313/?originalSubdomain=nl Neal Gemassmer is the vice president international of Yardi board member of the UKAA which is United Kingdom Apartment Association. Yardi is a leading provider of real estate asset financial property management software. Yardi provides fully connected investment asset and property management solutions across the real estate value chain, that includes servicing fund management, commercial office, retail, industrial, residential, for example, PRS, build to rent, and the student housing market. Yardi is a privately held company founded in Santa Barbara, California and Neal manages Yardi’s operations across Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. His specialties are strategy, organization development, sales & marketing, international markets, technology platforms, start-ups. Resources mentioned LMRE website Yardi website https://www.yardi.co.uk/ UKAA website https://www.ukaa.org.uk/ UKPA website https://ukproptech.com/ Insights from this Episode -People at the end of the day are really the foundation of any business, and so I think building the right team and having the right culture is super important – Neal Gemassmer - I think PropTech is an interesting term these days. I think at the end of the day, though PropTech can be defined as innovation and another effort to create value for clients. So it's to be creative – Neal Gemassmer -It's so important for people to get involved in associations and meet the people leading it, because these associations are there to connect people – Louisa Dickins -The interesting thing about real estate for me is that everyone is exposed to it… we're all born into real estate, we grow up in real estate, we study and rent apartments, we go to restaurants, we go to malls and at some point in time we may buy our own real estate. Tt's all very familiar to us – Neal Gemassmer -The level of innovation happening the market is just tremendous – Neal Gemassmer -If you want to be passionate about the business that you're in, every individual really optimally needs to think in terms of “Where's that next opportunity?” How is someone managing the process today? How do I make the experience better? How do I connect people and add value during that process?” – Neal Gemassmer -The Cloud will continue to grow – Neal Gemassmer Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/

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The Propcast Series 1 Episode 3 Title: Real Estate Economy, VC Expansion and Trends with Aaron Block and Zander Geronimos Summary: We talk to Aaron Block and Zander Geronimos about real estate economy, VC expansion and trends. About our hosts: Louisa Dickins Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the right place at the right time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. About our guests Aaron Block https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronnblock/ Aaron is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of MetaProp, a New York-based venture capital firm focused on the real estate technology (“PropTech”) industry. Founded in 2015, MetaProp’s investment team has invested in 100+ technology companies across the real estate value chain. The firm manages multiple investment funds for both financial and strategic real estate investors representing a pilot- and test-ready sandbox of 15+ billion square feet across every real estate asset type and global market. Aaron served as Chairman of Chicago-based BayRu, LLC, the US-Russia ecommerce shopping and shipping specialist and eBay.com’s exclusive drop shipping partner for Russia/CIS consumers. Prior to BayRu, Aaron was a commercial real estate executive with Cushman & Wakefield and oversaw more than 270 professionals as leader of the Chicago region. Aaronreceived numerous honors and awards during his real estate career including Top Producer, Most Creative Deal, Agency of the Year and Most Promising Brokerage Professional. Aaron has a BA from the University of Illinois, an MBA from DePaul University. He is co-author of PropTech 101 (proptech101.com) published by Advantage Media. He has also been featured in dozens of international publications and media including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Chicago Tribune, Crain’s, CBS Radio, The Moscow Times, RIA Novosti, RBK, Vedomosti, and Kommersant. Zander Geronimos https://www.linkedin.com/in/zander-geronimos-60055b41/ As the Head of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development for MetaProp, Zander leads relationships and communications with key players across the real estate value chain and acts as a conduit between strategic real estate firms and the emerging PropTech community. Prior to joining MetaProp, Zander was a Senior Solutions Engineer covering the North American region for VTS, where he spent four years working across business development, strategic data analysis, marketing, and solutions engineering. His efforts supported the growth of VTS from a start-up to a market leader, as the company became the #1 technology platform in leasing and asset management with over 12 billion square feet of commercial real estate space on the platform. His breadth of experience allowed him to work with sales, marketing, data, product engineering, and design. Before that, Zander started his career as a Real Estate Research Analyst for a Hedge Fund in Stamford Connecticut. He adds immense value to the MetaProp platform given his experience as a PropTech operator and his work with the strategic real estate community. Zander holds a B.S. from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia with focuses on Real Estate and Marketing. He is also the founder of the University of Virginia Alumni in Real Estate which boasts over 200 members internationally. He’s a regular guest lecturer at the University on real estate technology topics. Resources LMRE website www.lmre.co.uk Metaprop website https://www.metaprop.org/ Aaron Block and Zach Aarons book - PropTech 101 buy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/PropTech-101-Turning-Through-Innovation/dp/1642250600 Contact details for Aaron and Zander: info@metaprop.vc zgeronimos@metaprop.vc Value Bombs and Tweetables: - “We have a mission. And our mission is to be a part of creating the connective tissue between these stakeholder groups" – Aaron Block, Metaprop - "The key to success is people. This is a people business" – Aaron Block, Metaprop - "Important advice I give is to identify who would be your mentors and advisors, and grow that network from your onset to always look out and always stay in touch" – Zander Geronimos, Metaprop - "I would encourage others who work at these projects start-ups to reach across every group and try to gain exposure and a perspective" Zander Geronimos, Metaprop -“The senior space across the entire spectrum of subtypes is really hungry for technology driven solutions today, and we're excited to invest in them." Aaron Block, Metaprop Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Sponsors You're listening to a podcast produced by A PODCAST COMPANY. This show was made by Podcast Syndicator where we help you go from start to grow to make money with your podcast. Let us help you share your message and your voice with the world. Reach out now. Jason@apodcastcompany.com to find out more. Thank you for listening and do come back to hear more shows like this. 1) Hey, don't miss out on a free webinar! Learn about how to launch a profitable podcast in just 60 days! http://www.apodcastcompany.com/sales-page1586718105525 2) Take your podcast from idea to execution in just 6 weeks! https://www.apodcastmasterclass.com/podcast-launchpad 3) Join our Exclusive Facebook group to Make Money Podcasting: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PodcastPeople/