Proptech Espresso

What were the benefits of being a student athlete at UC Berkeley? Why was it so beneficial for Ben to learn the details of the finance behind real estate? Why don't more real estate professionals go back to school and earn their MBA? How are the underlying financial incentives of sustainability programs paramount to their long-term success? Why is the right type of capital some important to match with an infrastructure technol...

Why does defining proptech as the digitization of real estate work well as an umbrella definition? Why is the University of Berkeley a unique collegiate experience? Where does cognitive science and computer science intersect? Why is Berkeley such an entrepreneurial powerhouse? How did the real estate seed get planted with Justin? How did Justin meet his RealtyMogul co-founder? What was the learning curve like for creating one of th...

How does the resident experience tie back to property operating economics? What were the contributing factors to the early serial entrepreneur ventures that David dabbled in? Where did David's early interest in technology stem from? How is the origin story of DoorLoop tied to David's prior startup PracticePanther even though these two companies are in completely unrelated industries? Why is the property management softwar...

Why is access to information a cornerstone component of proptech? How did Zillow and the Zestimate fundamentally change access to home valuations for homeowners and homebuyers? What are the important lessons that athletes can take from losing and positively apply to their professional careers? For Alex, what resonated about the construction industry and the people involved in it? Which lessons stood out to Alex from working as a sa...

Can proptech be defined as the modernization layer for the built world? How did the Rabine family business grow from a local mom-and-pop services business to the national multi-business unit holding company that exists today? Why did technology adoption opportunities and business model scalability convince Austin to take a leadership role within the family paving business? What lessons did Austin learn from founding several contech...

How did the complexity of the protech industry spark Diane's interest in taking on the challenges of building a company in this space? What was it like building an adtech startup during the Internet 2.0 heyday? How is the current AI boom similar to the Internet 1.0 era? Why did Diane jump from adtech to fintech? What has contributed to the technology in the mortgage space being so outdated? Why are the mortgage files created d...

Are there industries outside of real estate where the asset has as many lifecycles? What were some of the problems that Vikas dealt with at Amazon Robotics while working with AEC professionals when building new logistics warehouses? How did growing up in a family-owned manufacturing business influence Vikas' later career pursuits? Where did Vikas' early interest in robotics come from? Why is system design as important as ...

In major real estate downturns, who has all the real estate business? What do real estate agents need to do differently in a real estate recession? What was the innovation that Trulia and Zillow brought to the home buying industry? Why has Zillow been detrimental to so many real estate agents? What middlemen artificially add costs to the home purchase transaction? How did Rob transition from being a vendor of Chad's to being a...

Should proptech be defined as a technology that solves a problem in the real estate industry? What made programming easier for Eleni than learning to read and write English? Why is computer science considered a creative science? What were the challenges of often being the sole female student in computer science classes? How did Eleni convince her father to switch from investing in commercial real estate to residential real estate? ...

What inspired Karly and Alena to found Hardline and how did their professional journeys shape the company’s mission? What are the biggest operational pain points Karly saw construction teams face that technology failed to address effectively? How does Hardline define “on-site tech enablement” and why is this an overlooked opportunity in the broader contech space? What were the early customer signals that validated the need for Hard...

Why is creating real value for the end customer critical for startups to ensure a going concern? How has construction become responsible for such a large portion of global pollution? What did Jennifer observe about the construction space that she identified as a process opportunity for differentiating her firm from competitors? Why is there so much mistrust within construction? What about the tangibility of construction was so comp...

What are the similarities between the terms 'proptech' and 'I love you'? Why was learning to speak English so important for Oscar? What lessons on entrepreneurship did Oscar learn from being a real estate agent? Why is it important to break out of your comfort zone and put yourself in uncomfortable situations? What did Oscar learn about himself after working as an accountant for several months? Why is making mis...

How are Norway and the Upper East Side related in Joachim's mind? Why did Joachim decide to pursue a corporate job after initially starting as an entrepreneur? What makes 40 year old entrepreneurs more likely to succeed than some of their younger counterparts? What sparked the entrepreneurial desire within Joachim? How did Joachim and his team turn a customer's bankruptcy into a spinout opportunity for a new product compa...

 Jenna Louie, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer of Ivory Innovations, joins Proptech Espresso to announce the winners of the seventh annual Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability. This year's winners were selected from a record 280+ nominations within Construction & Design, Finance, and Policy & Regulatory Reform. These companies represent the most compelling and novel housing innovation solutions directly addressin...

What are the primary differences between Proptech 1.0, Proptech 2.0, and today's Proptech 3.0? In what way did Brian's consulting work quickly change as financial firms navigated the Great Financial Crisis? What was it like to be at the forefront of the technology revolution within investment management that led to quant investing? Why did Brian get the chance to build a reinsurance business from the ground up and how did...

How does proptech differ for asset classes depending on the customer needs and expectations? Has AI adoption and development todate been more front-of-house or back-of-house? Why are American management consulting firm jobs so sought after by recent university graduates in the UK? What was it like working on a consulting engagement for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London? How did experiencing corporate bloat while on engagements as ...

What was it about political theory that convinced Julie to study political science at university? What was occurring within the technology industry that created an opportunity for Facebook to do things in new ways for consumers which resonated with Julie and drew her to work there? Why was it so fascinating to be leading corporate development for a well-positioned adtech firm during the period of mass consolidation? What about mana...

What sort of building inspections are required in Europe before a building is taken down? As someone new to tech startups, what were the lessons learned from building the Airbnb for boat holidays from the ground up? What did participating in Antler's startup accelerator program lead to for Ieva? How does circularity in construction prolong the life of a material and prevent it from entering a dump? What are the factors driving...

Why is there no user manual to run your house? Are the critical thinking skills you learn as an English literature major valuable in your work and personal life? How did Katie never study in college and become an auditory learner? What about the auditory learning skill set that Katie picked up in college lead to a career in tech? How did a summer job in Manhattan between high school and college lead to an interest in business? Why ...