For more than a year now, Propmodo has had the pleasure of working with the team at Blueprint to help them promote a new event for the commercial real estate industry. I don’t have to tell you what an undertaking this was in the environment we have all lived in. Today the event is officially underway at The Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. All precautions have been taken and hundreds of industry professionals starved of personal interactions have emerged from behind their webcams to exchange ideas and close deals.
The Propmodo team is onsite to cover the event and bring our readers thoughtful analysis of the keynotes and educational sessions. Come back to this live blog feed throughout the week for frequent updates. We will also send a couple of email alerts to our subscribers. If you have anything to add or would like to share some news or tips from the event, please feel free to email travis@propmodo.com or stop by the Propmodo lounge inside of the “Palm B” conference room.
October 6, 2021 @ 12:00 pm
Searching for Diamonds in Early-Stage Proptech
A central theme at Blueprint 2021’s Searching for Diamonds in Early-Stage Proptech panel was expectations. Tigre Wenrich, CEO of Lab Ventures explained that “A lot of startup founders don’t have realistic expectations about what it means to do business with larger corporations.” Expecting that you’re ready as a startup to take the leap to partnering or piloting with corporates can backfire, resulting in reputation damage if things don’t go according to plan. At the same time, Matt Boras, Senior Vice President at RXR, said that tech investors should expect to offer something more than just funding to startups. “There are some investors that focus on recruiting or business development. One of our specialities is distribution,” he said. Matt Knight, Founder at PropTech Angel Group, seemed to agree, saying “Just because you can invest doesn’t mean you have the back office to support a pilot.”
October 6, 2021 @ 11:40 am
Shiny Objects — Finding Real Innovation Amid All the Buzz
Finding real innovation is about focusing on the signal and ignoring the noise. At the Shiny Objects — Finding Real Innovation Amid All the Buzz panel at Blueprint 2021 speakers talked about what buzzwords and what type of language is a red flag. “Blockchain,” Qira CEO Bill Staniford said. “Innovation itself, you have to define what that means,” Vector VP of Enterprise Innovation Dan Sachar replied. “I’m allergic to anyone who uses the phrase ‘there’s no real competition,’’ Upward Labs CEO Shana Schlossberg said. Cutting through the hype is key to developing and understanding what’s truly innovative about a new product or service. The right language can make all the difference when pitching.
October 6, 2021 @ 10:45 am
An OS for Multifamily
The high-energy panel about operating systems in multifamily was a chat about optimism and challenges in the industry. Resembling a chat amongst friends, the experts shared stories of working with clients who want integration without truly knowing what that means, the value of IFTTT programming, and how building an OS is like playing like legos — you always need to be able to add on another block, as Jindou Lee, CEO and founder of Happy.co explained. Peter Weiss, CREO of Latch, and Courtney Cooper, Principal at Alate Partners, shared stories of success and asked questions about what multifamily truly needs, too.
There’s nothing worse than installing a powerful new system in your multifamily building and finding out you bungled the training.
-Brad Hargreaves, CEO and founder, Common
October 6, 2021 @ 9:15 am
Is Flex the Future of Office?
Starting off day two of Blueprint, the office predictions keep coming. The role of technology being a partner for landlords so that they don’t need to hire engineers and a CTO was a topic of conversation, started by essensys’ Jeremy Bernard, CEO of North America. The panel debated what “flex” actually means and how offices will utilize it in the future.
No one knows what they want their office layout to be but they know they don’t want it to be THAT. In the future, space is going to be an accordian-like structure where you can move a wall to meet your needs.
– Bobby Goodman, CRO, Swivel
October 6, 2021 @ 8:15 am
Thank you for coming to the Propmodo Subscriber Soirée!
Thank you to those who joined us last night at the Hazel Lounge! Co-hosted by Sugar, the evening was packed with good conversations and creating new connections with a side of delicious food and flowing drinks. Come by to see us at Palm B today!
October 5, 2021 @ 12:10 pm
Blueprint’s Housing Affordability’s Tech Tipping Point
Technology is promoting housing affordability by making all housing markets operate more efficiently. At Blueprint’s Housing Affordability’s Tech Tipping Point, panelists discussed how inefficient markets create cascading effects that end up leaving the most vulnerable struggling to find suitable housing. Landed Co-founder Alex Lofton explained that if a housing market is not meeting the needs of buyers in that market, they search outside their market. Using technology to make housing markets more efficient helps people find the right home for themselves faster, getting more people into homes at every level, creating a tide that lifts all boats. Inefficient housing markets are particularly prevalent in Latin America, where countries lack affordable banking, listing services, and tax databases explained La Haus co-founder Rodrigo Sanchez-Rios. Bridging equity gaps to give renters more options to transition to homeownership will also be crucial in making housing markets more efficient, Rhino co-founder Paraag Sarva said.
October 5, 2021 @ 10:05am
The great debate of “The Office is Dead – Long Live the Office” took the office discussion on from a few different perspectives. The panelists shared predictions on what is next based on what has worked for them in the past but they weren’t all singing the same tune. Nick Romito of VTS mentioned that NYC is “effectively back” and is second in the country for demand in office space. However, Ryan Simonetti of Convene said while NYC restaurants are packed, offices remain empty and the challenge is attracting people back to spaces. Other points included a resurgence of lifestyle cities in Maine, Montana, and Rhode Island among others which support remote or hybrid work. While it all seems widely unknown, Jamie Hodari of Industrious said a lot of that is because it’s still new — while it will always be complex, it will become better.
October 5, 2021 @ 9:50am
October 5, 2021 @ 9:00am
Don’t miss the Propmodo + Sugar Subscriber Soirée Tuesday night at Mandalay Bay
This evening we are excited to be hosting a Propmodo Subscriber Soirée with our friends at Sugar to welcome the global real estate community back to in-person networking. The party is from 8 PM – 10 PM at Mandalay Bay’s Hazel Lounge. If you are attending Blueprint and would like to join us, please complete our invitation request form. Paid Propmodo subscribers are guaranteed admission. If you are not a subscriber, what are you waiting for? Click here to subscribe today and then complete the form to request your invite to the party. Paid subscribers enjoy unlimited access to Propmodo articles and digital archives as well as admission to all of our subscriber events.
