Tech Nest: The Proptech Podcast

In this episode we have Clayton Collins, the Founder and CEO of HW Media. Clayton discusses the growth and vision of HW Media, the challenges of building a media powerhouse, predictions for the real estate market in 2024, and their upcoming annual event, The Gathering. Clayton shares insights on interest rates, inventory, and consumer psychology in the housing industry. He also highlights the importance of research and data in providing a full picture for housing professionals. The conversation concludes with a discussion on HW Media's plans for the future.More about Clayton and HW MediaHW Media provides mortgage, real estate and fintech professionals the news, knowledge and community they need to support decision making and business growth. Aligned with our mission to Move Markets Forward, we publish daily news and content through each of our core publishing brands including HousingWire, RealTrends, and Reverse Mortgage Daily. HW Media is based in Dallas, TX with team members across the country.  Clayton Collins is the founder and CEO of HW Media. He leads HW Media’s corporate strategy and content roadmap, while building a world-class team of business media professionals. He is also managing partner of Riomar Capital, an entrepreneurial investment firm that acquired HousingWire in 2016. Prior to founding Riomar Capital, Collins worked at RBC Capital Markets in the mergers and acquisitions group and served as vice president of national sales and marketing at Citibank. Connect with Clayton on LinkedInFollow HousingWire on TwitterFollow HousingWire on LinkedInCheck out HousingWireCheck out The GatheringAnd for those considering attending The Gathering, HousingWire is giving Tech Nest listeners 50% off the cost of VIP tickets. Just use this link when you register to get your VIP ticket at a lower cost than the standard admission. Register here: https://events.housingwire.com/the-gathering-by-housingwire?promo=NESTVIP

8 Feb 202436min

Tim Ray, CEO of VeriFast, discusses the importance of identity verification in the real estate industry and the challenges of tenant fraud. He explains how VeriFast's single-source verification platform helps verify individuals' identities and financial details, providing a more secure and flexible screening process for renters—especially for those with a non-traditional income. Tim also highlights the company's integrations with property management systems and the need for trust and transparency in data sharing. He predicts that credit checks will become less relevant in rental applications and that document processing using PDFs will fade away as technology advances.More about Tim and VeriFastVeriFast is the only single-source verification platform for identity and financial data that enables applicants to verify their data via a digital connection or document upload with OCR and fraud detection.  VeriFast provides a simple, configurable API and turnkey UI that delivers that best ROI for companies that need to validate identity, banking, payroll and/or tax data.   VeriFast claims to be a super aggregator of the best verification technology vendors into one universal platform that configures and enriches data to deliver superior decisioning with a best-in-class user experience and trusted by everyday consumers to share their data digitally.  There are a multitude of verticals from real estate to banking, insurance, government, and beyond that still rely on slow, analogue processes to share and verify identity and financial data.  VeriFast provides the most trusted verification platform in the world with the highest converting opt-in rate in the industry. Getting consumers to share their data is tough, it’s our superpower.  VeriFast has a four-star rating on TrustPilot, and we’re the only company brave enough to invite every applicant to rate their experience publicly. Tim Ray is a 4X Founder and Angel investor with a passion for building and scaling innovative businesses from ideation, and a track record of successful exits. Tim is passionate about the importance of creative "out-the-box" thinking, analytical decision-making and developing great relationships to solve complex problems and find winning outcomes. Currently Tim is Co-Founder & CEO of VeriFast, the first single-source verification platform that helps companies verify an individual's identity and financial details using consumer-permissioned data; reducing billions of dollars lost to inefficient underwriting and fraud annually. Tim plays dad to an amazing family with 3 kids and an incredible wife, and is passionate about travelling and being active with friends: skiing, golfing, cycling and more recently kite surfing.Connect with Tim on LinkedInCheck out VeriFast

30 Jan 202438min

Catrine Machi, co-founder of Swyft Cities, discusses the company's vision to transform urban real estate by improving mobility. Swyft Cities is developing an aerial transportation system that uses pods traveling along a cableway. The system offers a network of stations that provide efficient and direct routes for users. Machi emphasizes the importance of solving specific problems for cities and the need for a layered approach to transportation options. She also discusses the challenges of policy-making, procurement, and the readiness level of emerging technologies. Machi believes that the future of real estate will involve more options for transportation and a reduction in parking infrastructure.More about Catrine and Swyft CitiesSwyft CIties uses autonomous smart gondola systems to create modular, highly flexible sustainable transportation to transform urban real estate for cities and private real estate developments. Catrine Machi is co-founder of Swyft Cities, which transforms urban real estate by transforming mobility.   Catrine has dual Master’s Degrees in Urban Planning & Geography, and has been an urban planner, and mobility and transportation planner, consultant, and program manager working to develop more sustainable urban mobility. Follow Catrine on TwitterConnect with Catrine on LinkedInFollow Swyft Cities on TwitterCheck out Swyft Cities‍

24 Jan 202433min

Owen Glubiak, VP of Client Strategy for Cortex Sustainability Intelligence, discusses decarbonization in commercial real estate. They discuss the challenges and pressures faced by the industry, the role of AI in optimizing building performance, and the importance of tenant comfort. They also touch on the future of Cortex and the trends in decarbonization policies in cities like Boston, New York, California, Chicago, Denver, and Austin. The conversation explores two major trends in the sustainability and decarbonization space. The first trend is building electrification coupled with grid advances, which is seen as a key strategy to achieve decarbonization goals. The second trend is the impact of transportation emissions and the need for better infrastructure and public transportation systems to reduce emissions.More about Owen and Cortex Sustainability IntelligenceCortex was founded in 2014 by our CEO Bryan Bennett, after he realized the need for commercial buildings to run more sustainably. He grew up around the CRE industry, as his family has a history of developing commercial real estate. When working as a consultant in the energy technology space, Bryan began to understand the many data points that buildings could use to create more sustainable building operations. After realizing that he could put this data to use, Bryan dedicated his career to developing Cortex. He continues to grow with our team and develop new features within the app to better support our customers.Owen has spent his career in energy, technology, and customer success, which makes him an ideal leader of the customer success team at Cortex. He is coming from Building Robotics, a SaaS and IoT business unit within Siemens Smart Infrastructure.  He has had roles leading global Customer Success and Support teams.  Connect with Owen on LinkedInCheck out Cortex Sustainability Intelligence

15 Jan 202445min

Sarah Cipkar, shares her experience building her own backyard ADU and how that started her journey to founding Resimate. Resimate is an online tool that allows homeowners to determine if their backyard is suitable for a detached ADU based on zoning bylaws. Sarah also discusses the different construction methods for ADUs, the challenges in the prefab and modular construction industry, and the importance of awareness and education in the ADU market. She shares her vision for the future of Resimate and the ADU market in Canadian cities.More about Sarah and ResimateResimate is a tool that enables homeowners and investors to quickly analyze their residential lot in order to determine the feasibility for a backyard home (ADU), allows them to 'place' a home on their backyard lot and then connect directly with a builder for free.Sarah Cipkar is Founder and CEO of Resimate Inc. and ADUSearch, an online tool that helps Canadians discover the potential for ADUs in their own backyards in over 20 cities across Canada, including Toronto and Vancouver. In 2020, Sarah built her own 430sqft backyard home in Windsor, ON, which has informed all of her work in helping homeowners and policymakers alike. She is also a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography & Planning at the University of Toronto. In her spare time, she likes to go on nature walks and spend time with her daughter. Connect with Sarah on LinkedInCheck out Resimate

9 Jan 202435min

In this episode of Tech Nest, Jarred Kessler, CEO of EasyKnock, discusses innovative solutions in the residential real estate sector. He shares insights into Easy Knock's unique approach to helping homeowners access their equity without traditional loans. The conversation highlights the 'Sell and Stay' program, where homeowners can sell their property yet remain as renters, tackling the modern challenges of home equity and market dynamics. Discover how EasyKnock working to bring alternative financing to the consumers. More about Jarred and EasyKnockA pioneer in the real estate industry, EasyKnock is ushering in a new chapter into the real estate industry by revolutionizing the space with a new approach, addressing the trapped equity crisis head-on through innovative and accessible residential sale-leaseback programs that help customers reach their financial goals without having to increase their debt or leave the homes they know and love.Jarred is an expert in the real estate and financial space who, before founding EasyKnock, spent more than fifteen years in leadership positions at industry titans like Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Cantor Fitzgerald, and more.Connect with Jarred on LinkedInFollow EasyKnock on TwitterCheck out EasyKnock

4 Jan 202439min

Donald Davidoff, the CEO and Co-founder of REBA, discusses the limitations of using spreadsheets in the multifamily industry and the need for new tools. He highlights the challenges of trusting data and the frustration around collating and analyzing data in Excel. Donald introduces REBA Rent, a new product that aims to simplify the rental process and improve transparency. He also addresses the hesitancy of multifamily owners and managers to adopt new solutions and the importance of empathy and observation in understanding user pain points. Donald shares his predictions for the future of REBA and the industry, emphasizing the changing staffing models and the potential impact of AI.More about David and REBAReal Estate Business Analytics is a data analytics company on a mission to change how the multifamily industry uses data. REBA helps leaders ask insightful questions about their business by giving them access to all their data in one central location. We do this by offering a suite of business intelligence, budgeting and pricing & revenue management solutions that gather data & deliver insights so you can make better decisions, faster. With REBA, you can eliminate Excel hell, bad data, excess cost, and analysis paralysis with tools built by multifamily for multifamily.Donald Davidoff is the CEO and Co-founder of Real Estate Business Analytics, Inc. He is recognized throughout the rental housing industry as a thought leader in pricing, business intelligence, marketing, and leasing. Donald is best known for leading the development and implementation of the Lease Rent OptionsTM (LRO), the industry’s first automated demand forecasting and price optimization system. A former Senior Vice President at Archstone and Executive Vice President at Holiday Retirement, Donald works with C-Suite clients to assess their operational and technology platforms and implement impactful projects.Follow REBA on TwitterFollow REBA on LinkedInCheck out REBA

19 Des 202340min

In this conversation, Annie Sloan, Co-founder and CEO of TheHost Co discusses the importance of creating unique experiences in the vacation rental industry and the opportunity to increase revenue through targeted upsells. Upsells can be as simple as late checkouts or early check ins, but Annie goes further providing proof guests want one-off experiences, too. For example, did you know you could hire donkeys with saddlebags full of beer to roam around the property, providing a fun and memorable experience for guests? Yeh, you can do that. Annie emphasizes the marketing and rebooking potential of such unique offerings.More about Annie and TheHost CoThe Host Co connects local amenities and services to short-term rentals: from spa and chef to late checkout, local souvenirs, bike rentals, and beyond. Guests are delighted with the added amenities, more tourism dollars are connected to the local economy and the best part: hosts add a new revenue stream to their rentals, receiving payouts on every transaction. Annie is Co-founder & CEO of The Host Co. As she puts it, "we add the mini-bar, concierge and gift shop to your Airbnb". Prior to founding TheHost Co, she was Creative Director at Facebook and Twitter, embedded lead at Airbnb, Google, Samsung, R/GA.

13 Des 202342min