I attended the CRETech Conference in Los Angeles last Thursday, and it was another informative and worthwhile event. I thought I’d share some key takeaways I got from the 4 hour event:
- If you don’t know who Fifth Wall is, you should. Fifth Wall is the leading CRE Tech venture capital firm. Their first fund invested in companies such as VTS, Open Door, Clutter and Industrious. Fund I investments now generate over $100MM in revenue. They are now on to Fund II. Keep an eye on them and who they invest in. Very smart team.
- “Space” vs. User Experience- It is the experience you feel in a commercial building that really matters, and where smart owners are putting considerable effort and money. Employee satisfaction of the real estate experience really matters. Retailers have worked hard at this for a long time, but now office and even industrial owners realize that this is now a must if they want to attract and retain quality tenants.
- The distinction between retail, office, hotel, and industrial categories of real estate are blurring and merging. The customer (tenant) wants to have all these options nearby (or all in one place) and accessible in this 24/7 world.
- 5G Connectivity is coming, and every building owner needs to embrace and get in front of it, or be left behind like the horse and buggy.
- Every company is a tech company now. What I mean is that every business must have a strategy to embrace and implement technology throughout its business, or it will fail. What are the implications? What technologies should law firms, brokerage firms, manufacturing firms, etc. be fostering and embracing? Remember, these firms are who we are working for.