What It Takes to Modernize Commercial Real Estate Finance w/ Yaakov Zar, Lev

Season 4, Episode 11: Jack Stone and Alex Gornik sit down with Yaakov Zar, Founder & CEO of Lev, to unpack how a former tech entrepreneur is changing the way commercial real estate deals get done. Before launching Lev, Yaakov built and sold his first company, Dispatch, to Vista Equity Partners. Today, he’s at the center of CRE’s tech transformation—blending capital markets expertise with AI and automation to simplify how investors and developers secure financing. He shares the story behind Lev’s pivot from brokerage to software, what’s next for AI in real estate, and how data and design will define the next generation of real estate technology. TOPICS 00:00 – Introduction 03:00 – Startup Roots and Dispatch Exit 08:44 – How Mortgage Frustration Became Lev’s Origin 14:25 – Digitizing the Financing Experience 19:45 – AI and the Future of CRE Software 25:02 – How Lev Memo Is Changing Deal Execution 31:10 – Agentic AI and Workflow Automation 36:47 – Harnessing Data and Unstructured Information 41:00 – Brokers, Efficiency and Industry Adoption 45:18 – Building Great Software and Leading Through Change Shoutout to our sponsor, Lev. The AI-powered way to get real estate deals financed. For more episodes of No Cap by CRE Daily visit https://www.credaily.com/podcast/ Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoCapCREDaily About No Cap Podcast Commercial real estate is a $20 trillion industry and a force that shapes America’s economic fabric and culture. No Cap by CRE Daily is the commercial real estate podcast that gives you an unfiltered ”No Cap” look into the industry’s biggest trends and the money game behind them. Each week co-hosts Jack Stone and Alex Gornik break down the latest headlines with some of the most influential and entertaining figures in commercial real estate. About CRE Daily CRE Daily is a digital media company covering the business of commercial real estate. Our mission is to empower professionals with the knowledge they need to make smarter decisions and do more business. We do this through our flagship newsletter (CRE Daily) which is read by 65,000+ investors, developers, brokers, and business leaders across the country. Our smart brevity format combined with need-to-know trends has made us one of the fastest growing media brands in commercial real estate.