Cutting Through The Noise - Real Estate Technology Shark Tank. With Scottie Lee and Marco Biasiotto

Companies mentioned 

New York Communities Corp Inc 

IBM 

Deloitte  

LMRE’S 2023 Salary Report 

IPCC 

Episode Highlights 

My big advice for anyone would be that if you're passionate; follow your passion, go for the things that you want to do, or things that you can make a difference on, even on a small scale related to sustainability. – Kirby 

We provided something called ‘climate risk analytics’ which is an insight that allows companies to measure model and mitigate the financial impact of climate change – John  

It’s all about using data, improving your data, and capturing your data to make sound strategic decisions that helps you drive things forward – Kirby  

The chef scientist of NASA said to us that he’d never expected to get to this level of granularity in his lifetime – John  

Key Takeaways  

How Flagstar and CoreLogic are working together to help address the issue of climate change and housing affordability 

John explains the ‘average annual loss’ which CoreLogic provides that is a ratio of a building’s risk in terms of reconstruction costs, allowing companies to understand their financial risk 

Kirby explains how important the use of data is in making strategic decisions around climate and sustainability 

The opportunity in cities that have a high climate risk to use CoreLogic’s analytics platform 

The guests discuss the importance of educating people on the long term impact of climate change 

John discusses how the needs of CoreLogic’s customers change and how they accommodate for this 

About our guests 

John Rogers  

John Rogers holds the role of Chief Innovation Officer for CoreLogic and is responsible for the R&D. From driving new solutions that understand the impacts to the real estate economy due to climate change, to ground-breaking models that identify suitable land for affordable housing development, the R&D group tackles major housing issues and works with many clients across the housing industry to drive growth and mitigate risk on their book of business.    

Prior to joining CoreLogic, John was a Partner with IBM Global Business Services where he focused on the delivery of large multi-million transformational programs for the financial sector both in the United Kingdom and Australia. Prior to this, John worked as a consultant for Itim Consulting, a boutique management firm based in London. John’s primary role was as a program manager on a number of assignments delivering global solutions within retail, pharmaceuticals, logistics and information services industries.  

John earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Glasgow, United Kingdom in Aerospace Engineering.  

Company Summary: CoreLogic  

CoreLogic is a leading provider of property insights and innovative solutions, working to transform the property industry by putting people first. Using its network, scale, connectivity and technology, CoreLogic delivers faster, smarter, more human-centered experiences, that build better relationships, strengthen businesses, and create a more resilient societ y. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.  

Kirby Brendsel  

Kirby Brendsel is Flagstar Bank’s VP, Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Director, where he leads Flagstar's strategic sustainability and initiatives and the company's goal to be a recognized global sustainability leader.  He is coming from Welltower Inc.’s (a real estate investment trust) where he headed their award-winning strategic sustainability and ESG initiatives.  Prior to joining Welltower in 2019, Mr. Brendsel worked at Nuveen as a Director of Responsible Investing.  Before Nuveen, he served as Associate Director of Sustainability for Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide, where he supported the strategy, integration and management of Starwood’s sustainability program and worked collaboratively with the community programs/Starwood Foundation team on CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategy and reporting.  Previously, Mr. Brendsel consulted for Deloitte where he assisted in the creation of Deloitte’s Federal Sustainability practice and Diversity & Inclusion program.  Mr. Brendsel’s other past roles include active-duty service as a Military Intelligence Corps Major in the U.S. Army.   

Mr. Brendsel graduated with distinction and honors from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. in Business and the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University with an M.B.A. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED Green Associate (GA), and Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt.  Mr. Brendsel was recently recognized as an Honoree for 2020 by Environment + Energy Leader’s annual "best of" list of environment and energy professionals - the E+E 100.     

Mr. Brendsel is active in his local community, where he has served on the Board of Directors of the Aspetuck Land Trust and Lachat Town Farm Commission as well as on the Town of Weston’s Sustainability Committee, Historical Society, and Conservation and Parks & Recreation Commissions.    

Company Summary: Flagstar  

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Flagstar Bank, N.A., one of the largest regional banks in the country. The Company is headquartered in Hicksville, New York with regional headquarters in Troy, Michigan. At June 30, 2023, the Company had $118.8 billion of assets, $84.9 billion of loans, deposits of $88.5 billion, and total stockholders' equity of $11.1 billion.   

Flagstar Bank, N.A. operates 436 branches, including strong footholds in the Northeast and Midwest and exposure to high growth markets in the Southeast and West Coast. Flagstar Mortgage operates nationally through a wholesale network of approximately 3,000 third-party mortgage originators. In addition, the Bank has 132 private banking teams located in over 10 cities in the metropolitan New York City region and on the West Coast, which serve the needs of high-net worth individuals and their businesses.  

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. has market-leading positions in several national businesses, including multi-family lending, mortgage origination and servicing, and warehouse lending. The Company is the 2nd largest multi-family portfolio lender in the country and the leading multi-family portfolio lender in the New York City market area, where it specializes in rent-regulated, non-luxury apartment buildings. Flagstar Mortgage is the 8th largest bank originator of residential mortgages for the 12-months ending June 30, 2023, while we are the industry's 5th largest sub-servicer of mortgage loans nationwide, servicing 1.6 million accounts with $426 billion in unpaid principal balances. Additionally, the Company is the 2nd largest mortgage warehouse lender nationally based on total commitments.  

About Our Host   

Louisa Dickins   

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.     

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.   

In this week’s episode of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Emanuel Heisenberg, CEO and Founder of EcoWorks, and Mauricio Weiss, GP and Founding Partner of Zacua Ventures where they discuss all things renovation, regulation and innovation.  

With 40% of emissions being used on buildings and 20% on materials, the guests delve into the short- and long-term costs of going carbon neutral and whether it is a realistic goal with today’s current economic climate. The guests discuss how an increase in sustainability pressure, paired with geopolitical instability and labour scarcity are a handful of the challenges that accompany reaching net zero targets.  

Emanuel shares how the EcoWork’s product can help tackle key issues around scarcity of labour and materials from factories, whilst Mauricio discusses the trends he has seen with his portfolio companies in terms of increasing their sales. 

Companies mentioned 

MIPIM 

JLL Spark 

Shoutouts 

Vivin Hegde 

Arnaud Bouzinac 

Robert Habeck 

Josh Levy, Document Crunch 

Previous episodes mentioned 

About our guests 

Emanuel Heisenberg 

Emanuel Heisenberg studied history and economics in Munich and Cambridge. He has over 15 years of experience in setting up and developing companies for renewable energies and ESCO and has contributed to more than 50 energy projects. His international network includes numerous funds, utility companies, IPPs, entrepreneurs, and research institutions. After founding a contracting and geothermal energy company, he established ecoworks in 2019, introducing the concept of serial renovation to Germany. An initial pilot project in Hameln proved challenging but was also a significant success. The renovated buildings there have demonstrably achieved NetZero levels. In addition to his role as CEO and founder, he is also active as a speaker and expert in energy and climate policy, advising the German federal government, companies, and private equity funds in the fields of heating and energy efficiency. In 2020, together with journalist Georg Diez, he co-wrote a book on the significance of technology in reinventing democracy (Power To The People: How We Reinvent Democracy with Technology).  

Ecoworks 

ecoworks develops end-to-end software and prefabricated elements to turn apartment buildings with significant renovation backlog into attractive and climate-neutral living spaces in just a few weeks. In this way, the company is making a significant contribution to rapidly reducing emissions in the building sector and the dependence on fossil fuels. ecoworks is an innovation leader in a market that will unleash enormous investment volumes in the wake of national and European legislative initiatives and rising energy and CO2 prices. Around 45 million residential units in Europe are located in buildings with the worst energy ratings. In addition to regulation, these will be particularly burdened by high CO2 prices, which will become mandatory for the building sector soon. Comparable regulations are already planned or in effect in parts of the US and Asia. 

The Berlin-based company developed the technology in Germany and is currently bringing it to the mass market with several projects. The company is considered one of the most innovative providers of Climate Tech in the building sector worldwide. 

Mauricio Weiss 

Mauricio is GP and Founding Partner of Zacua Ventures, a global Venture Capital fund focused in the construction industry. Mauricio works closely with entrepreneurs in the industry to support the adoption of new technologies and improve productivity and sustainability on construction projects. His background working in a large construction company first and at the CVC of Cemex later taught him what is needed for a successful implementation of technology and the right approach for startups engaging large corporates. 

Zacua Ventures 

Zacua Ventures is an early stage fund focused on the Built Environment. With three GPs based in San Francisco, Madrid and Singapore, the fund has a global focus and each of the founders come with a proven track record, having led 30+ investments in the corporate funds in Cemex Ventures and HILTI.  

The fund has raise over $55m USD, to invest in Pre-Seed to Series A startups that focus on 3 main areas in the construction industry: Sustainability, Enhanced Productivity & Safety and Urbanization Solutions. 

About Our Host   

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.   

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.   

In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Arie Barendrecht, Founder & CEO at WiredScore, Bayron Lopez Pineda, Director of Operational Technology at Kilroy Realty Corporation and Richard Paine, Head of Development in Singapore at Lendlease.  

The guests help unravel the macro and micro trends, as well as the challenges that the industry is seeing in selecting and implementing technology. This episode provides a global view of PropTech from various perspectives, providing valuable insight into the opportunities as well as challenges that the industry currently faces.  

The pandemic put us in a space where a lot of people went back and looked at the technology to try and figure out what is really needed – Bayron 

You have to think a lot in the future, and you have to predict where you think the future is going with technology - Richard 

About our guests 

Arie Barendrecht   

Arie is the founder and CEO of WiredScore, the pioneer behind the international WiredScore certification system that evaluates and distinguishes best-in-class Internet connectivity in commercial buildings. Prior to founding WiredScore, Arie worked as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in New York City where he focused on the technology and media industries. Arie holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA and BS in Business and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.  

WiredScore 

At WiredScore, our mission is to make the world's buildings smarter and better connected. We believe everyone should be empowered by technology, wherever they are.  

At WiredScore, our mission is to make the world's buildings smarter and better connected. A champion of cutting-edge technology in real estate, WiredScore defines and certifies digital connectivity and smart technology in homes and offices on a global scale, ensuring that buildings provide the best-in-class infrastructure that businesses and individuals require to thrive.  

Bayron Pineda  

Bayron Lopez Pineda is the  Director of Operational Technology at Kilroy Realty responsible for managing and innovating smart buildings systems. He helps determine policies and processes from security, maintenance, and growth to increase building efficiency and tenant experience. He has over a decade in the Commercial Real Estate sector and is a Founding Fellow of the Control Systems Cyber Security Association International. He is also a Graduate Student at Georgetown University, School of Continuing Studies pursuing a Masters in Technology Management.  

Kilroy Realty Corporation  

With over 14 million square feet in our portfolio spanning five distinct regions, we have built deep experience within vibrant commercial real estate markets.  

We put our experience to service a range of dynamic industries over an ever-evolving business landscape. Our primary goal is to provide premium, adaptable, and productive work environments for a wide range of industries, including technology, media, life science, entertainment, and professional services.  

We create dynamic work environments that support our clients’ businesses, with standards that include indoor and outdoor common spaces, flexible floor plates and adaptable office plans, and of course, state-of-the-art infrastructure and amenities. Our approach is centered around our clients’ successes, and we focus on the features that increase productivity and employee retention.  

Richard Paine  

Richard has worked in the property industry for over 36 years and across multiple property sectors, geographies and in multiple functional roles. Richard has had leadership positions in Construction, Property Development and in Property Operation and Funds management.   

Richard currently leads the Lendlease development business in Singapore overseeing $5bn worth of property developments.  He is passionate about creating globally significant assets and specifically about sustainability, placemaking, health & wellbeing, digitisation and moving the industry forward.  

Lendlease  

Lendlease is a globally integrated real estate group with operations in Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States.  

Lendlease is renowned for world class developments and creating places where communities thrive.  

Lendlease is a developer, an investment manager, and a builder. The combination of these three segments provides it with a sustainable competitive advantage in delivering innovative integrated solutions for our customers. 

About Our Host   

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.   

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.   

In this bonus episode of the Propcast, Tabitha is at Blueprint in Las Vegas, where she is joined by Julieta Moradei, Managing Partner and Founder at Overlay Capital, where they explore why the construction space has been slow to adopt technology, the startups that are leading the way in digitalisation, and Julieta dives into the Women in Construction Tech community.  

Women in Construction Tech is dedicated to empowering female founders, investors, and adopters to help create opportunities, and develop relationships for women driving innovation in the construction industry. Julieta explains some of the DEI trends she predicts to take full flow in the next 18 months and how she hopes to see more and more women coming into the construction space. 

About our guest 

Julieta Moradei 

Julieta is the Managing Partner of the recently launched Overlay Capital Build. Overlay Build is part of the asset manager, Overlay Capital. Overlay Build is a consultancy working to accelerate adoption of critical digital transformation technologies in the built environment by connecting innovative technologies with adopters. We specialize in advising technology adopters with significant real estate holdings like multinational corporates, contractors and real estate developers in need of innovative digital technology solutions. We can help you identify solutions that can address their project needs, develop adoption and implementation strategies at an organizational and project level, and track financial and impact ROI of technologies.

Julieta is a structural engineer and architect, turned social entrepreneur, and venture capitalist investing in early-stage startups mitigating the biggest barriers in the built environment. Her unique path from technical design to VC, has led her to hyperfocus on innovation in the construction industry, and empowering entrepreneurs through catalytic partnerships for the past decade.

Her career path ranges from technical engineering to venture capital: from structural engineering at Disney and Arup, to creating an R&D team to mitigate the biggest barriers in the housing crisis, to then launching and managing a venture capital firm investing in construction technology. As a founding member and former Partner of Hometeam Ventures, Julieta launched, fundraised, and managed operations of the venture fund investing in early-stage start-ups bringing breakthrough technology to the world's largest - but least innovative - industries: construction and housing. This was a spin-off from New Story Homes (YCombinator) where she kickstarted and led as Head of R&D. New Story Homes built over 3,000 homes across Latin America, and in 2018, invested in ICON and built the world's first 3D printed housing technology; in 2022, ICON raised its Series B with a $2B valuation and has partnerships with NASA, HUD, etc.

Her passion is to pursue impact-driven projects through innovation and entrepreneurship to digitize the built environment. She has an M.S. in structural engineering from UC Berkeley, a bachelor’s in structural engineering and architecture, and a research assistant in Boston, Berkeley, and Switzerland. Her academic and industry research in AEC is focused on circular economy, virtual reality, automated drone inspection, resiliency, and sustainability. Julieta is passionate about bridging the gap between architecture, engineering, and construction through collaborative design to maximize innovation for social impact and climate change. If you would like to learn more, feel free to send me a message or email me at julieta@overlaycapital.com. 

Overlay Capital 

Overlay Capital is an US-based asset manager investing in venture and private equity across the sustainable technology spectrum from innovation to infrastructure, with a focus on overlooked and hard-to-access opportunities. We seek to capture the opportunity driving the mega-trend toward sustainable technologies that will reshape industries and propel our economy for decades to come, with a commitment to superior risk-adjusted returns. For more information, please visit us at www.overlaycapital.com. 

About our host  

Tabitha Francis 

Tabitha spearheads all multifamily and residential related recruitment across North America at LMRE  which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy. Tabitha has worked with clients from pre-seed to Post IPO, on searches from entry level to C Suite. Since she started 2.5 years ago, the North American Client base has gone from 25 to 100+ and they now have a successful series of 'Built Environment Bulletins' showcasing growing businesses and innovative products and platforms in the space 

A recent Deloitte report cited the Middle East real estate market is projected to expand by up to 111% in the next five years.  

In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa was joined by Anas Bataw and Prakash Senghani, Co-Founder and CEO at Navatech Group. They discuss the vast opportunities for innovation and growth through technology in the Middle East, the geographical advantage that has put the MENA region at the forefront of smart technology adoption and urban development, and the huge appetite for digitalisation that the guests have seen in the last few years.  

About Our Host  

Louisa Dickins  

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.  

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.  

In this episode of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins explores the value of drones with Mike Winn, CEO and co-founder of DroneDeploy, and David Thirlwell, Director of Operational Excellence at Stiles Construction. They explore how drones have become widely accessible in recent years, providing a bird's eye view of job sites and delivering structured, detailed data to enhance safety and efficiency.  

Mike shares how DroneDeploy has gained over 5,000 customers worldwide, revolutionising the way businesses operate in sectors like oil, gas, and construction. David emphasizes the importance of finding the right technology solution to maximize efficiency and productivity. Despite market challenges and budget cuts, this episode highlights how businesses who are embracing forward-thinking technology will thrive in the future.  

Tune in to hear how drones are shaping the digital future of smart buildings and beyond. 

About Our Host 

Louisa Dickins 

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA. 

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation. 

In this episode of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins discusses how to future proof your portfolio and nurture a robust company culture with Edi Demaj, co-founder of KODE Labs, and Ilene Goldfine, SVP and Chief Digital Strategy Officer of Hines. They explore how a change in people and culture can help address the pace of innovation and, ultimately, impact profitability, efficiency and sustainability. 

Edi shares how a small building operating system can transform the way real estate is managed and experienced. Ilene dives deep into how two very different types of businesses can facilitate a healthy, inclusive, and innovative culture, as well as a strong partnership. The episode highlights the importance of collaboration, agility, and diversity in driving change and successfully navigating the evolving landscape of the real estate industry. 

About Our Host - Louisa Dickins 

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA. 

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation. 

Did you know that office temperatures can affect cognitive performance? This episode of the Propcast explores the concept of creating smart and empathetic buildings, addressing crucial topics like gender bias, neurodiversity, and office space design. 

Host Louisa Dickins speaks with two pioneers developing innovative solutions for workplace efficiency and employee satisfaction, Dr. Ken Dooley, Chief Product Officer at Haltian, and Dan Drogman, CEO of Smart Spaces, who share insights into their companies' growth and trends in the smart building space. 

The conversation extended to the evolving preferences of the modern workforce, with Ken emphasizing the value of offering options like warmer zones or quiet spaces to create a more inclusive and productive environment, and Dan sharing how Smart Spaces uses data-driven design to address these challenges, giving people the flexibility they need while avoiding tokenism.