Explore every episode of the podcast Tech Nest: The Proptech Podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
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| Blueprint Conference Conversations Part 3 | 26 Nov 2024 | 00:37:07 | |
In this special episode, you'll get to listen in on conversations I had while attending Blueprint Conference, 2024. Here's the list of guests in this Part 3 of my Blueprint Conversations series.
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| Rental Listings Marketplace 3.0 with Anthemos Georgiades, CEO at Zumper | 14 Nov 2024 | 00:29:46 | |
In this conversation I'm joined by Zumper Co-founder and CEO, Anthemos Georgiades. We discuss the evolving landscape of the rental market, highlighting the record supply of rental units in 2024 and the implications for renters and property management companies. I was excited to discuss the latest partnership between Zumper and Airbnb, exploring how this collaboration reflects the convergence of long-term and short-term rental markets. Anthemos has been in the trenches of this industry for quite a few years, stays in the data, and have some interesting outlooks for the industry to come. Do not miss this important episode!
Zumper is the largest privately owned rental platform in North America with more than 76 million site visits a year. Zumper is on a mission to make renting a home as easy as booking a hotel. To date, Zumper has raised over $178 million from Kleiner Perkins, Goodwater Capital, Headline, Dawn Capital, and the Blackstone Group. | |||
| Building for Tighter-Knit Communities with Phil Levin, Founder and CEO of Live Near Friends | 25 Sep 2024 | 00:40:39 | |
In this episode, Phil Levin, Founder and CEO of Live Near Friends, shares insights on the importance of proximity in shaping our lives and the potential for multiplayer mode housing. He discusses the benefits of living near friends and family, how transportation influences city design, and the rise of cul-de-sac communities. Phil also touches on the role of ADUs in fostering closer-knit neighborhoods, the loneliness epidemic, and the health impacts of community living. The conversation highlights how proximity to happy friends can boost happiness by 40%, and explores the future of urban planning with self-driving cars.
Today's product aggregates latent demand for living near friends & family, identifies existing housing supply that is a good fit for groups, and greases the behavioral mechanics. It's been covered by Vox, Guardian, Axios, Bigger Pockets and Business Insider. The vision is to become the marketplace where all "proximate housing" is marketed, developed, financed, and sold. Phil is the CEO/founder of Live Near Friends, the social real estate platform that helps people live within walking distance of friends & family. Previously, he helped start Culdesac (a developer building walkable, car-free neighborhoods, $200m+ raised). Phil started a housing cluster called Radish where he lives near 19 friends and 5 of their kids spread across 10 homes. He writes about this on Supernuclear, the #1 newsletter on living near friends (160K reach). Phil’s mission is to create forms of housing which makes us happy, healthy, and connected. And in doing so rebuild the social fabric of our neighborhoods. | |||
| Enabling Digital Transformation in Real Estate Development with Adam Stark, Co-founder of Jet.Build | 24 Jan 2023 | 00:50:11 | |
Adam Stark is Co-founder of a company called Jet.Build. Jet.Build is a platform that enables real estate developers to streamline communication between vendors, partners, lenders, and other important stakeholders on projects. This is accomplished by digitizing and automating a lot of the manual processes you might encounter when completing a ground up or retro-fitting an older apartment building. Tools such as Jet.Build help companies initiate and progress significantly in digitally transforming; ultimately leading to saved time, money, and effort. Adam shares more about the opportunity of ahead of Jet.Build and the industry as a whole. Listen in to hear what he has to say. More about Adam and Jet.Build Jet.Build is the equivalent organizations necessity for real estate operators; a cloud-based command center. Jet-clients? Developers, contractors, owners reps, construction managers—and a few more unique cliental. My co-founder and I know each other first as enemies; competing in high school sports agains one another. Fast forward, we end up in the same military enlistment as airborne troops (paratroopers). Fast forward again, we end up in NYC working for real estate developers. Here, we recognized the need for a better 'salesforce' equivalent solution for the industry; the legacy products that exist are simply outdated, clunky, and wildly priced. Jet.Build will standardize the industry as the essential organization management software. | |||
| Fractionalizing Vacation Rentals Like Stocks with Jorge Aldecoa, President of reAlpha | 17 Jan 2023 | 00:46:20 | |
Join host Nate Smoyer on Tech Nest podcast as he sits down with reAlpha President, Jorge Aldecoa, to discuss their concept of investing in vacation rentals like stocks. Jorge will share his insights on the current state of the vacation rental market and explain how owning a share of the budding vacation rental industry is more attainable than ever before. Jorge shares how reAlpha is approaching vacation rentals investing differently than others using their proprietary AI-powered reAlphaBrain, Elon Musk deep-fake viral marketing, and offering a Reg A product. Whether you’re an experienced investor or just starting out, this episode is a good listen for anyone looking to learn more about something new in the vacation rentals space. More about Jorge and reAlpha Want to see that viral video reAlpha created using a deep fake of Elon Musk? Watch it on TechNest.io | |||
| Unconventional Proptech Venture Capital with Max Brickman, Founder at Heartland Ventures | 11 Jan 2023 | 00:45:14 | |
Max Brickman, founder of Heartland Ventures, discusses his unconventional approach to venture capital investing on Tech Nest. Brickman has an incredible background as an operator, and that experience has helped him rethink the approach to venture capital. All the way from the investors he partners with all the way to how his firm determines what companies to invest in. Max is the Managing Director of Heartland Ventures, which he founded in 2016. He manages the fund’s relationships with other venture capital partners and oversees key investment decisions with the Heartland team. He was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2022. | |||
| The App That Rewards Renters with Lily Liu, CEO of Piñata | 03 Jan 2023 | 00:55:29 | |
Tech Nest Podcast brings you an interview with Lily Liu, CEO of Piñata, an innovative new app that rewards renters for their monthly payments. In this episode, Lily discusses the inspiration behind Piñata, how it works, and the benefits it offers to both renters and landlords. She also shares her insights on the future of the rental market and how renter amenities will take shape in the years to come. Tune in to hear more about this exciting new app that is changing the game for renters everywhere. More about Lily and Piñata Lily Liu's career started out by straddling the lines of technology and government founding PublicStuff, which she sold to Accela that was then acquired by Berkshire Partners. As the CEO of Piñata, Lily has brought to life her vision of creating financial equality for renters. In 2017, she was recognized as Forbes’ 30 under 30 Top Entrepreneurs and Business Insiders’ People to Watch. Her entrepreneurial leadership allows Lily to address glaring systemic issues in the financial and real estate industries. Learn more at www.lily-liu.com. | |||
| Better Decisions from Better Data with Kevin Shtofman, Global Head of Innovation at Cherre | 27 Dec 2022 | 01:03:52 | |
More about Cherre and Kevin Kevin is recognized as one of the leading commercial real estate executives and currently the Global Head of Innovation at Cherre. | |||
| Instant Real Estate Transactions on Blockchain, with Sanjay Raghavan and Geoff Thompson of Roofstock onChain | 20 Dec 2022 | 01:02:28 | |
More about Roofstock onChain and Sanjay Raghavan and Geoff Thompson Roofstock provides extensive resources for investors to actively participate in the SFR space, including data analytics, connections to property management companies and contractors, and other management tools. Founded in 2015, Roofstock has facilitated more than $5 billion in investment transactions to date. Sanjay is the Head of Web3 Initiatives of Roofstock onChain where he leads the real estate investing platform’s blockchain initiative. After being accepted into Cypher Accelerator, the first-of-its-kind Wharton-backed program for blockchain startups, Sanjay continues to build connections between real estate investing and blockchain. Sanjay is also an Advisor at Pudgy Penguins NFTs. With over 20 years of finance and product experience, Sanjay has an extensive background consulting, developing, and founding several financial companies. Prior to Sanjay’s current role at Roofstock, he was the Co-creator and GM of Roofstock One, an innovative, transparent rental investment platform that allows accredited investors to get targeted exposure to the economics of curated SFR properties. Before joining Roofstock, Sanjay served as a Product Manager at Renew Financial and Director of Carolina Financial Group LLC. He also co-founded LCAP Advisors which provides Wall Street caliber portfolio analysis and risk assessment solutions to small banks and credit unions for their on-balance sheet loans. Sanjay has a Masters in Business Administration from The Wharton School. Geoff is the Chief Blockchain Officer of Roofstock onChain where he leads the real estate investing platform’s foray into web3. After being accepted into Cypher Accelerator, the first-of-its-kind Wharton-backed program for blockchain startups, Geoff continues to push the blockchain ecosystem forward through real estate investing. Geoff built his career at top tier law firms practicing in the areas of capital markets, banking and credit, structured finance, private equity and cross-border transactions. Geoff’s prior role at Roofstock was as General Counsel where he advised on partnerships, product innovation, fundraising, deal structuring, real estate matters, securities law, international expansion, and all other legal and compliance matters. Before joining Roofstock, Geoff served as General Counsel at ApplePie Capital, where he was instrumental in helping the company originate over $500 million in small business loans in 3 years. He previously practiced law at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, White & Case and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Prior to attending law school, Geoff was an associate at McKinsey & Company. Geoff has an undergraduate degree from The American University of Paris and a Masters in International Economics from SDA Bocconi in Milan. He earned a JD and LLM from the Duke University School of Law.
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| Modernizing Home Maintenance with Brent Hasse, CEO of Flat | 06 Dec 2022 | 00:47:35 | |
What a time to be alive. It truly is and this episode is proof of that. I'm talking with Brent Hasse, CEO of Flat. Flat is a subscription service for homeowners. They're leveraging smart technology, combined with a network of vetted trade partners, to provide superior home maintenance and wellness checks to homeowners. Brent gives us all the dirt on the business, including how strategic channel partnerships have proven to be significant driver of growth versus other more costly channels like digital advertising. When building a startup in a category consumers don't know to search for, it can be a tough go. Listen in to hear how Brent is bringing Flat into homes today and what their expansion plans for the future looks like. Brent is the founder and CEO of Flat, a tech-enabled proactive home maintenance and management platform to help flatten the cost of homeownership. He noticed we take better care of our cars and pets than our largest asset - our homes - and decided to create a platform to capture potential home issues as they arise and make projects more efficient for local vendors. He has over 10 years of real estate services experience and a passion for all things Chicago, Purdue basketball, and real estate. | |||
| Modernizing Design and Building ADUs with Alex Czarnecki, CEO of Cottage | 23 Nov 2022 | 00:44:24 | |
Alex Czarnecki is leading the charge at Cottage, focused on modernizing the way in which homeowners can build ADUs. The popularity of ADUs only seems to grow as housing becomes tougher to afford while legacy zoning laws have made it very difficult to build new, infill housing units. With legislation changes to zoning laws and increased focused on units such as ADUs, it's no wonder the opportunity to revolutionize this segment of real estate is only accelerating. Even though Cottage has only been in business for a little more than two years, the've completed projects in over 100 California cities, with a focus on the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas. Alex breaks the opportunity down, mentioning this is not a winner take all game, but rather, there will be many winners (ideally that also means homeowners and renters win in all of this, as well). Listen in as Alex breaks down the hubbub around ADUs. More about Alex and Cottage Alex Czarnecki, CEO of Cottage, wants to help homeowners and contractors build more and build better. After forging a career launching new business units for Uber around the world, Alex took on the challenge of building his own ADU, but after confronting delays through an overly complex process, he knew there had to be a better way. Since its founding in 2020, Cottage has expanded to more than 100 California cities – and growing – to help homeowners get more out of their home with an ADU. | |||
| People Radar for the Office, Optimizing Space Usage with Andrew Farah, CEO of Density | 15 Nov 2022 | 01:00:37 | |
Easily one of my favorite startup founding stories. Andrew Farah, CEO and Co-founder of Density, wanted to create an API he could call to find out how many people were in line at his favorite coffee shop. Once Andrew figured this out, he quickly discovered this sort of technology was something many real estate operations teams and workplace teams across the country would want. Shortly after announcing what he'd created and that he intended to build it out more, thousands signed up for a waitlist to learn more. Density is both a software and hardware company, but as you'll hear Andrew describe, they're a reluctant hardware company that's really great at creating software solutions. By bringing in some of the best talent in creating physical products and leaning on his experience leading a dev shop, Andrew has created the perfect balance that is driving the success of Density today. Whether or not you care about office space utilization, you'll be hard pressed to listen to Andrew and not be inspired by what he's building and dream up other use cases throughout this episode. Jump on in! More about Density and Andrew Andrew is the co-founder and CEO of Density, driving the team toward its mission to help companies measure and improve their footprint on the world. Today, Density partners with companies that occupy more than 1.25 billion square feet across 32 countries. Prior to Density, Andrew spent five years as a Partner and Strategic Lead at Rounded, a product-focused software development agency. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Writing and a Master’s in Information Management, both from Syracuse University. | |||
| Renters Earn Rewards to Buy Real Estate with Will Dunn, CGO at Gravy | 01 Nov 2022 | 00:56:43 | |
Over the last few years there's been a few startups that have tried to focus on the first-time home buyer as their market segment by courting renters through rewards programs. You can even see the evidence of this in how the listings marketplace websites like Zillow and Realtor.com want to build relationships with renters today—who in their minds are the homebuyers tomorrow. Will Dunn, Co-founder and CGO of Gravy (Chief Growth Officer, though I recommended the G should be Gravy), breaks down why creating a unique rewards program for renters is a powerful tool to helping unlock homeownership. What's unique about Gravy is there is no fee up front for renters and landlords don't have to sign-up for anything nor change anything about how they collect rent. Listen in as Will gives us all the details and more. More about Gravy and Will Buying a home is a confusing and complicated process––especially if you don't have a network of friends/family who have done it––including knowing where to start. Gravy is designed to be both the first-step toward homeownership for renters and each step following to getting the keys to a new home. Will Dunn is the co-founder and CGO of Gravy, where he oversees the company’s marketing, customer acquisition, and B2B partner operations. Prior to Gravy, Will was Business Manager of Resident Services at leading property management software company, Buildium. Teaming up with Buildium alumni Jimmy Lien and Jeff Dinter, the three launched Gravy in April 2022 to become the destination where all 100M+ renters in the U.S. save money to buy their first home and learn how to successfully navigate the homebuying process. | |||
| Reshaping Turnover Services in Multifamily with Greg Sack, Partner and CMO of Pinch | 10 Sep 2024 | 00:41:42 | |
Greg Sack, partner and CMO of Pinch, discusses how Pinch is reshaping the multifamily industry's approach to turnover and common area cleaning. Pinch offers centralized solutions for property management companies, bridging the gap and providing efficient cleaning services. The conversation covers topics such as the challenges of finding cleaners, the need for a B2B avenue in the cleaning industry, the role of technology in scaling the business, and the potential for consolidation in the industry. Greg also shares his predictions for the future of Pinch and the real estate industry.
Greg is a serial entrepreneur who spent his early career in the logistics industry. In 2014, he sold his e-commerce and logistics business to FedEx, which is the first time in their history that they acquired a start-up technology company. Greg is Partner and CMO for PINCH. He heads up all strategic growth initiatives and helps to drive the direction of the business. | |||
| No-Code Platform for CRE Operators with Marcus Moufarrige, CEO of ility | 26 Oct 2022 | 00:52:05 | |
Marcus Moufarrige, CEO of ility, joins Tech Nest to discuss all things no-code, frameworks, and building tools for those who run complex real estate businesses. Marcus' experience in the office flex-space gives him a unique advantage in understanding the needs for a flexible platform that is able to be molded to meet the unique needs of each operator's needs. ility is that platform. Being that ility is a no-code platform, built in a way to meet a large array of use cases, it may be one of the most versatile middle-wares on the market. More about ility and Marcus Connecting new and legacy digital systems, ility’s middleware gives companies like RXR, Legal & General and EQ complete control over their technology, operations and offer. ility also has a strategic partnership with Microsoft. By using physical rights management, operators have a simple framework for digitising their property, to increase NOI, improve efficiency and decrease operating expenses. Marcus is effectively leading property into the world of 'composability'. He's also the ex-COO of Australian property giant, ServCorp, alongside fighting with Justin Bieber (Google it!). | |||
| Modernized Accounting Platform for Residential Landlords with Logan Ransley, Co-founder of Landlord Studio | 18 Oct 2022 | 00:47:15 | |
As the story goes with many products, someone got tired of dealing with the same problems, they searched the market for what they believed should be a product to solve the problem, only to discover there was not an adequate solution. So instead of allowing the problem to persist, they built the product themself. That's sort of the story here with Landlord Studio. Today I'm joined by Co-founder, Logan Ransley. He's breaking down some of the common problems residential landlords face every day when it comes to managing their finances. It can be simple keeping track of one rental, but when you start building your portfolio, problems multiple and this can cost an investor lots of time and money. Landlord Studio is unique in that they're not just focused on the US market. With a presence in Europe and Australia, as well as the US, Landlord Studio has focused on building a platform that can meet the investor where they're at. Equally as unique, the company has had a mobile-first mentality from the start—making Landlord Studio one of the few options available that give residential investors the accounting tools they need on the go. More about Landlord Studio and Logan In addition to providing accountancy support, Landlord Studio helps landlords maximize the ROI on their property investments with a suite of management features such as online rent collection, tenant screening, listings, document storage, reporting, and maintenance tracking. All features are available on both desktop and mobile and are easy to use, making adoption simple for anyone with a smartphone. Logan Ransley is the Co-Founder of Landlord Studio. He is also an official member of the Forbes Real Estate Council. | |||
| Digs Journey from Start to Exit to Rebrand with Pat McLoughlin, Product Lead at OJO | 12 Oct 2022 | 00:53:28 | |
Pat McLoughlin was the first person to agree to grab coffee with me when I moved to Chicago that was not a coworker of mine. We met up in a Foxtrot Cafe in mid 2019. It was there he shared with me what Digs was working on and what they hoped to achieve—ultimately helping more people realize their dreams of homeownership. Fast-forward to late 2020 and Digs was acquired by OJO, a well-funded and well-respected real estate tech company that hosts a vast network of agent partners and operates its own listings marketplace. Pat walks us through the journey of his original idea, getting started, going through the acquisition process, and finally rebranding Digs into what is now known as OJO Homeowner. This episode is absolutely jam-packed with insights. Check it out. More about Pat McLoughlin and OJO OJO acquired Digs in late 2020 to expand fintech offerings to their consumers. Digs provides homeowners with tools to help manage their biggest asset including home valuations, mortgage tracking, and an FDIC insured savings account. | |||
| Leasing Compliance Monitoring for Affordable Housing with Christine Wendell, CEO of Pronto Housing | 05 Oct 2022 | 00:47:04 | |
If you've never heard of lease compliance monitoring, then you and I can join the same club. When Christine and I met at Blueprint, she shared with me what Pronto Housing was doing in the affordable housing space and I knew we had to have her on the show. Did you know there's 80 pages of paperwork when proceeding through lease compliance verification? What a nightmare! There's a good need to make affordable housing more accessible and to improve the experience—that's what Pronto Housing is working towards. More about Pronto Housing and Christine Wendell Christine Wendell is the founder and CEO of Pronto Housing. Prior to Pronto, she worked in real estate investing and development with RXR Realty and Megalith Capital. She has a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA from Kenyon College. | |||
| HW Media CEO Clayton Collins, ATTOM EVP Rick Sharga, & Tech Nest Host Nate Smoyer Discuss the Blueprint Conference and What It Means for Proptech | 20 Sep 2022 | 00:26:43 | |
This is a crosspost episode from the Housing News Podcast, hosted by Clayton Collins. This week, Clayton is coming to your feed live from the Blueprint proptech and real estate conference in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada. He had the opportunity to sit down in person and talk to Rick Sharga, the Executive Vice President at ATTOM, and Nate Smoyer, the Head of Marketing at Obie as well as the host of the Tech Nest Podcast. The three of them talk about what they learned and took away from the Blueprint conference, and how the market is impacting the decisions being made by prop-tech, mortgage tech, and real estate companies. The Housing News podcast explores the most important topics happening in mortgage, real estate, and fintech. Each week a new mortgage or real estate executive joins the show to add perspective to the top stories crossing HousingWire’s news desk. Hosted by Clayton Collins and produced by the HW Media team. Check out the Housing News podcast at https://www.housingwire.com/podcast Follow and connect with this week's guests:
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| Proptech Tailwinds, Shakeups, and a Hot-Take on Venture-Backed Property Management with Nate Smoyer, Host of Tech Nest | 14 Sep 2022 | 00:27:35 | |
Links and details mentioned in this episode
Nate Smoyer is the host of Tech Nest. When not podcasting, he's head of marketing at Obie, an insurtech that partners with proptech and fintech companies to provide real estate investors insurance. Obie differentiates by way of its propriety instantly-bindable quote engine—the only insurtech capable of doing so as embedded insurance for real estate investors. Nate was previously head of marketing at Avail, where he helped see the company through its Series A, and then exit to Realtor.com in just 18 months. Connect with Nate Smoyer | |||
| Advanced Management Tech for Vacation Rentals with Marcus Räder, CEO of Hostaway | 03 Sep 2022 | 00:59:14 | |
More about Marcus and Hostaway Hostaway is the world's leading vacation rental software which makes it easier for property managers and hosts - whether they have 5 or 1,000 vacation rentals - to get more out of their business while spending less time on tedious manual tasks. Hostaway's property management system and channel manager offer scalable solutions for marketing, sales, reporting, communication, and more, with an extensive Marketplace of over 100 integrated software and service partners, backed by award-winning customer support. The company was founded in 2015 by a team of ardent technology enthusiasts. Unlike competitors, Hostaway’s platform was built in-house, making it one of the most reliable solutions on the market. This reliability has been recognized by leading online travel agencies Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com who have also chosen Hostaway as one of their elite software partners. | |||
| Venture Backed Property Management with Chuck Hattemer, Co-founder and CMO of Poplar Homes | 24 Aug 2022 | 01:00:51 | |
More about Chuck and Poplar Homes Poplar Homes is a tech-enabled real estate service helping investors manage and monetize residential rental property across disparate locations. With remote staffing and an AI-powered platform, Poplar leases, manages, and maintains over 13,000+ doors across 19 markets in 11 states. With Poplar, property owners can confidently unlock geographical expansion to grow their portfolios like never before. | |||
| Putting Resident Experience First in Multi-Family with Fatima Dicko, CEO of Sugar | 15 Aug 2022 | 00:54:19 | |
More about Fatima and Sugar 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. Fatima is a frequent mentor and volunteer for organizations such as Built By Girls, Black Girls Code and MLT. She was named as '18 Inspiring Women to Watch' by Inc and listed on the 2021 Forbes 'Next 1000' list. She has also been featured in TechCrunch, Business Insider, Crunchbase, Black Enterprise and CNBC. Sugar allows residents to pay rent, unlock doors, socialize with neighbors and easily communicate with management - all inside a single app. By elevating the residential experience at their properties, Sugar helps managers attract new residents, increase lease renewal rates and introduce additional revenue streams. | |||
| Design Driven Prefab Homes with Steve Glenn, CEO of Plant Prefab | 09 Aug 2022 | 00:50:06 | |
More about Steve and Plant Prefab Plant Prefab is the first Certified B Corporation™ building technology company dedicated to sustainable design, materials, and operations. The company’s patented Plant Building System™ utilizes advanced digital modeling and fully customizable Plant Panels™ and Plant Modules™ to help architects, developers, general contractors, and individuals design and build multifamily and custom single-family homes 20 to 50 percent faster than site-based methods. The system provides better quality control, design flexibility, and time, cost, and material efficiency than traditional methods of offsite or on-site construction. Plant Prefab has two factories in California (Rialto, Ontario) and a design studio and show home in Santa Monica. With a mission to build a better world by design, Plant Prefab was the first housing prefabricator to announce a net zero goal and has achieved carbon neutrality in their operations since 2020. Plant Prefab is backed by leading investors including Amazon, Asahi Kasei, Gerdau Paris Ventures, Obvious Ventures, and others. | |||
| The Impact of Pest Control in Property Management and Tenant Experience with Landon Cooley, Co-founder and CEO of Pest Share | 03 Sep 2024 | 00:45:53 | |
In this episode, I chat with Landon Cooley, CEO and Co-founder of Pest Share, about the crucial yet often overlooked role of pest control in property management. Landon highlights the challenges of dealing with specialty pests like bed bugs and cockroaches, which can cause major issues in multi-family settings. Pest Share offers a solution by providing tenants with direct, on-demand access to pest control services, bypassing the need for property manager involvement. This not only improves the resident experience but also helps property managers focus on more pressing tasks. We also discuss how property managers can build trust and add value by responding quickly to maintenance requests, which can lead to better tenant satisfaction and easier lease renewals. Finally, we touch on the future of Pest Share and the impact of technology on real estate, exploring how deep integrations and custom solutions can boost operational efficiency.
Landon Cooley is the CEO & Co-Founder of Pest Share. Landon has almost 20 years of experience in pest management and is 4th generation in his family to pursue a career within the industry. Landon has a strong belief that, “There is always a better way”. After years of encountering the same, unaddressed pest control paint points in the property management space, Landon and his Co-Founders decided to launch their most recent venture, Pest Share. | |||
| Rental Inspection Transparency with Lydia Winkler, Co-founder and COO of RentCheck | 02 Aug 2022 | 00:45:40 | |
More about Lydia and RentCheck We’re RentCheck, a venture-backed, New Orleans, LA startup on a mission to make renting fair and transparent. We’ve built software that serves Renters, Landlords, and Property Managers by providing an easy to use experience for documenting rental properties and by becoming the trusted third-party for security deposit administration. We are an early stage company looking to transform the $100 billion residential real estate industry. | |||
| Modern Rental Management Tools for Real Estate Agents and Investors with Michael Lucarelli, CEO of RentSpree | 26 Jul 2022 | 00:50:27 | |
More about Michael and RentSpree Founded in 2016, RentSpree is an award-winning rental software known in all 50 states for its easy-to-use tenant screening process, renter management, partnership program and rental screening API. In just six years, RentSpree has grown its database by partnering with over 250 of the most trusted names in real estate and over one million agents, owners and renters across the country. RentSpree helps real estate agents handle the influx in applications by providing them with professional tools to help save time, reduce liability, and grow their business with quality tenants. | |||
| Real-Time iBuyer Data with Tyler Okland, Co-founder of Datadoor | 19 Jul 2022 | 00:50:20 | |
More about Datadoor and Tyler Okland Tyler Okland is a Stanford trained physician who currently works as a Fellow in Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery at Vanderbilt Hospital. He writes a newsletter called The Operator, covering technology and business strategy. Tyler co-founded Datadoor, a proptech analytics startup with Sebastian Szturo in May, 2022. | |||
| Modern Commercial Lease Management with Matt Giffune, CEO of Occupier | 19 Jul 2022 | 00:57:15 | |
More about Occupier and Matt Giffune With an increasing demand for real time data, quick insights, and collaboration tools, the use of email and spreadsheets to get things done just doesn’t cut it. Teams need a smarter way to rapidly gather, organize, and share critical information within their real estate portfolio. Tenants are faced with unique real estate challenges and we set out to build digital solutions that automate and streamline the management of your lease portfolio and transaction. Occupier's lease management software connects brokers, real estate teams, and lease accounting professionals so that they can make rapid, strategic real estate decisions, and proactively adapt to the changing needs of their business. Occupier recently completed a $10.5 million series A fundraise, co-led by Stage 2 Capital and OMERS Ventures with participation from seed stage investors, Alate Partners, MetaProp, and Second Century Ventures. Matt Giffune has been in the commercial real estate industry for over 15 years and his experience spans many facets. Prior to co-founding Occupier, Matt was the Vice President at JLL representing tenants and landlords of office, industrial and laboratory space and then moved onto becoming the National Director of Strategic Sales at VTS. | |||
| Resident-First Property Management with Marcela Sapone, CEO of Alfred | 12 Jul 2022 | 00:52:08 | |
More about Marcela and Alfred Alfred is the largest and most advanced residential management platform. Since its inception, Alfred has focused on providing a resident-first experience. With an unparalleled knowledge of what residents want and technology that boosts income and efficiency for owners and operators, Alfred provides a single stop that elevates the rental ecosystem for all involved. Named by Fast Company as one of the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies, Alfred's AOS technology drives lower operating costs and higher returns for property owners and operators. Alfred's portfolio now extends to more than 300,000 residents in 52 cities across the U.S. and Canada. | |||
| Unlocking Renewable Energy in CRE with James Geshwiler with Chief Strategy and Investment Officer of Catalyze | 05 Jul 2022 | 01:09:13 | |
More about James and Catalyze Catalyze is a leading clean energy transition company specializing in commercial and industrial partnerships. By taking on the cost and risk of building, financing, owning and operating clean energy assets and infrastructure — including solar, battery energy storage, and electric vehicle charging — Catalyze makes it easy and profitable for its commercial real estate partners to reach their ESG goals and deploy clean energy solutions across national portfolios. | |||
| It's All About the People in Property Management with Joe Polverari, Co-founder of PURE Property Management | 28 Jun 2022 | 00:52:00 | |
More about PURE Property Management and Joe Polverari Joseph Polverari is co-founder and general partner of Silicon Valley-based PURE Property Management, the fastest growing profitable residential property management and technology company in the U.S. He is a seasoned entrepreneur and fintech pioneer, who led corporate development and strategy at Yodlee, a financial data aggregation and analytics platform, through its IPO in 2014 and subsequent acquisition by Envestnet. Polverari is leveraging his expertise to lead an experienced team of industry insiders looking to transform the traditionally cumbersome and complex process of managing properties. | |||
| Creating the Check Engine Light for Homes with Dan Simpkins, CEO of Dwellwell | 21 Jun 2022 | 00:57:11 | |
Learn more about Dwellwell and Dan Dwellwell monitors and proactively identifies issues across core property systems — including HVAC, electrical and plumbing, as well as indoor air quality — helping large-scale single-family rental (SFR) and multifamily owners streamline maintenance, generate cost savings and improve resident comfort. A serial entrepreneur who holds more than 20 U.S. patents, Dan Simpkins brings more than two decades of startup success. He founded Hillcrest Labs, now a division of CEVA (NASDAQ: CEVA), which introduced the first SmartTV operating system to the market and developed the first motion-controller for television. He also founded SALIX Technologies, a telecom company that was acquired by Tellabs (NASDAQ: TLAB) for $300 million. | |||
| Rethinking Rental Property Finance Management with Mathias Korder, CEO of Baselane | 14 Jun 2022 | 00:51:35 | |
More about Mathias and Baselane While working together at Boston Consulting Group from 2012 to 2018, Mathias and Thorben saw the opportunity to build a vertical-focused financial platform for individual landlords and real estate investors - a massive segment of the US economy - who are lacking modern financial technology, forced to rely on fragmented solutions, manual processes, and limited data to manage their rental properties. | |||
| Finding Small Multifamily Rentals to Invest In with Jeff Gopshtein of Yieldeasy | 07 Jun 2022 | 00:46:54 | |
More about Yieldeasy and Jeff Gopshtein Having spent 7+ years in institutional real estate investing and private equity, Jeff ventured off into the entrepreneurial world and is building Yieldeasy to help mom and pop investors acquire small balance CRE. Jeff's previous work experience also includes capital markets, development, and property management. He's bought and sold single family rentals during the pandemic which gave him the idea for this business. | |||
| Data-Driven Decision-Making in Real Estate with Jason Lewris, Co-founder at Parcl Labs | 16 Aug 2024 | 00:40:48 | |
In this episode, I chat with Jason Lewis, co-founder of Parcel Labs, about the evolving landscape of real estate data. We dive into the power of real-time housing data, how it's becoming more transparent, and the impact it's having on the market. Jason shares insights on how Parcel Labs is leading the charge by providing unparalleled access to housing information, making it easier for developers and operators to make informed decisions. If you're curious about the future of real estate data and how it can be your best tool, this episode is a must-listen!
Jason is the Co-founder and Chief Data Officer of Parcl Labs. He brings experience from his time at Microsoft and Deloitte, where he worked on large-scale international data standardization and machine learning projects. | |||
| Security Deposits as a Service with Chanin Ballance, CEO of Roost | 31 May 2022 | 00:46:48 | |
More about Roost and Chanin Roost is a mission-driven tech company focused on improving property NOI and renter financial health. Co-founder & CEO Chanin Ballance is an experienced Founder (and multifamily real estate & PropTech investor) with three exits already behind her. | |||
| Mapping Real Estate Data with Josh Fraser, CEO of Estated | 24 May 2022 | 00:53:24 | |
Learn more about Estated and Josh Estated graduated from Techstars Boulder in 2017, which led to capital partnerships with Foundry Group and Techstars Ventures. | |||
| Vacation Rental & Hospitality Market Tech with Vince Breslin, CEO of Uplisting, and Emmanuel Lavoie, CEO of Jetstream | 18 May 2022 | 01:07:35 | |
More about Vince and Uplisting Vince Breslin is a co-founder of Uplisting, a property and channel management software built specifically for growing short-term rental businesses. Launched in 2017, after the co-founders met working at HouseTrip (sold to TripAdvisor) Uplisting now works with managers across the globe, helping them to increase revenue, decrease inefficiencies, create 5-star guest experiences and reliably grow. More about Emmanuel and Jetstream Emmanuel is a passionate French-Canadian engineer and entrepreneur who values integrity and competent execution above all. Graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2002, Emmanuel landed in the HVAC Consulting world where he specialized in sustainable and energy efficient solutions for his clients. Following a successful exit of his small HVAC consulting engineering firm, Emmanuel took a major fork in the road and joined Jetstream in 2015 in the role of COO. Initially a small niche OTA, Jetstream quickly found itself providing connectivity and channel marketing services for an ever-expanding list of vacation rental resort management companies throughout North America and Europe. Emmanuel co-led the rapid growth of the company including a successful Series A and eventual exit to The RedAwning Group in 2018. Seizing on the financial difficulties suffered by the travel industry at the onset of COVID, Emmanuel and his business partner seized the opportunity to re-acquire Jetstream from under the parent company, and are now delivering on their bold vision for the future of hospitality. Emmanuel is a disciple of data-driven decision making and leading by values. When not trying to build an exemplary business, Emmanuel can be found skiing, sailing or paragliding. | |||
| Fully Digital Fund Transfers in Real Estate with Earnnest CRO, Russell Smith | 10 May 2022 | 01:06:39 | |
More about Earnnest and Russell Russell Smith serves as Earnnest's Chief Revenue Officer, leading all marketing, sales, and customer success efforts for the digital payments leader. Prior to joining Earnnest, Russell held multiple go-to-market roles at HouseCanary, RealScout, and Trulia. He was named as a 2020 HousingWire Rising Star and is a NAR REACH Mentor. Russell lives in Napa, California with his wife and son. | |||
| Using AI to Detect Tenant Fraud with Daniel Berlind, CEO of Snappt | 03 May 2022 | 00:48:58 | |
More about Snappt and Daniel Daniel Berlind is a real estate executive and the CEO of Snappt. Dan co-founded Snappt after running his own property management company and noticing a significant, industry-wide financial issue in the multi-family rental industry. Previously, Daniel was a professional baseball player for the Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins. (Links above not working? Visit TechNest.io) | |||
| Finding Upside in Commercial Elevator Tech with Ashleigh Wilson, CEO of Auditmate | 27 Apr 2022 | 00:42:31 | |
More about Auditmate and Ashleigh Ashleigh Wilson is a San Francisco-based Entrepreneur, raised by a used car salesman and an elevator guy. Tapping into her roots, Ashleigh opened and sold multiple small businesses by the age of twenty until ultimately landing in the elevator business. She excelled in the industry and was leading global research projects and being mentored by the CEO of one of the leading elevator companies.
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| Second Home Co-Ownership Market Goes Mainstream with Pacaso CEO, Austin Allison | 19 Apr 2022 | 00:52:49 | |
More about Pacaso and Austin Allison Austin co-founded Pacaso to make the dream of second home ownership a reality for more people after experiencing the profound effect it had on his own life. In 2009, he founded dotloop in his hometown of Cincinnati, a company that created software to seamlessly manage real estate transactions. Zillow acquired dotloop in 2015, and Austin continued to run dotloop as a Zillow executive until 2018. | |||
| Bootstrapped Land Marketplace is Taking Ground, with Founder Michael Leigeber of Landsearch.com | 12 Apr 2022 | 00:37:23 | |
More about Landsearch.com and Michael: Our initial focus is creating the best marketplace experience with a long-term goal of being the face of land and making land more accessible for all. Michael has over 15 years of marketing and technical experience. He cofounded a digital marketing agency that grew to a 20 person team and has consulted with major brands on digital strategy.
Email Michael at michael@landsearch.com. | |||
| Can Auctions Bring Transparency to Buying Real Estate? With Jordan Allen, Doorsey CEO | 05 Apr 2022 | 00:59:13 | |
More about Doorsey and Jordan Jordan Allen is the CEO and Co-Founder of Doorsey, the online platform set to improve the home buying offer process. Prior to Doorsey, Allen was the CEO & Founder of the short-term rental company, Stay Alfred. A real estate and army veteran, Allen knows how to foster, lead, and grow PropTech's companies at scale. See what it's like to watch a Doorsey transaction in action. | |||
| CRE Inefficiencies Create a Booming Data Business with Connell Mcgill, CEO of Enertiv | 22 Mar 2022 | 00:55:20 | |
More about Enertiv and Connell McGill Enertiv is an operational intelligence platform that delivers transparency from the boardroom to the boiler room, enabling commercial real estate portfolios to do more with less, decarbonize operations, and ultimately increase asset value. Connell McGill co-founded Enertiv in 2011. Connell majored in Entrepreneurship and Business Strategy at Babson College. After Babson, he worked Momentum Bay Consulting as an energy analyst for green building projects, and then the New England Consulting Group as a Project Manager. | |||
| Where is Proptech Headed from the Triple Win Podcast with Andrew Smallwood, VP of Revenue at Second Nature | 16 Aug 2024 | 00:39:05 | |
This episode is a bit different. I recorded this as an episode for the Triple Win Podcast with Andrew Smallwood, VP of Revenue at Second Nature. So today, I'll be playing the role of guest and Andrew is host. Enjoy this fun discussion on where proptech is headed. Few things have changed the property management industry more in the last five years than a growing proptech industry, but that industry continues to go through changes of its own. Nate Smoyer, host of the Tech Nest Podcast, joins Andrew Smallwood to cover the state of the proptech industry, where things could be headed, and how it’s all likely to affect you as a property manager. More about Andrew and Second Nature | |||
| More Than an iBuyer with Ian Wong, Co-founder & CTO of Opendoor | 15 Mar 2022 | 00:47:12 | |
More about Ian Wong and Opendoor Ian Wong is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Opendoor, where he is responsible for the development of product and technology. Ian is building a team of engineers, data scientists, product managers and designers to modernize the real estate industry. He was previously pursuing his PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford when he left to join Square as their first data scientist. Opendoor is a leading digital platform for residential real estate. With a mission to empower everyone with the freedom to move, Opendoor has reinvented one of life’s most important transactions with a new, radically simple way to buy and sell a home through an on-demand, digital experience. | |||
| Creating Faster, Better Appraisal Management Systems, Interview with Reggora CEO and Co-founder Brian Zitin | 08 Mar 2022 | 00:47:04 | |
More about Reggora and Brian Zitin: Brian Zitin is the co-founder and CEO of Reggora, a venture-backed startup that provides software to speed up the appraisal process for mortgage lenders and real estate appraisers. Prior to Reggora, Brian co-founded a real estate brokerage, which was based on a proprietary algorithm that helped efficiently target and sell investment properties in the Greater Boston area. This experience exposed Brian to the inefficiencies in the modern appraisal process, which led to the start of Reggora. Brian has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 as well as a HousingWire Tech Trendsetter. | |||
| Financing $1.5B as Unsecured Loans Through Service Contractors in 2 Years with David Haas, Co-founder and COO of PowerPay | 01 Mar 2022 | 00:50:02 | |
More about David and PowerPay PowerPay is a digital lending platform for the home improvement industry. Our fully automated technology offers near-instant approvals on loans up to $100,000, helping homeowners translate expensive home improvement projects into low monthly fees that can be paid over time. Unlike other digital lending platforms, PowerPay is a fully independent company that is committed to delivering loans with no extra fees or added costs in order to offer the lowest monthly payment possible to our customers. After all, the more affordable the loan, the bigger the possibilities for your home. David has over 25 years of successful business experience and ownership of multiple lines of service. David has extensive experience working in the home services space - consumer financing for home improvements, comprehensive digital marketing, and web design. | |||