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The Propcast

The Propcast

Written by: Louisa Dickins
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 The Propcast, by Louisa Dickins, Co-founder of LMRE the leading Global Built Environment Recruitment Consultancy. The aim of the show is to introduce you to a PropTech innovator and discuss how their work has created a shift in focus when it comes to digitising the built environment. If you are interested in finding out more about PropTech, or applying for a job in this space or keen to know who the big players are that are moving and shaking the RE industry? We have you covered and will be bringing you an episode each week to connect you to the VCs, PropTech start-ups and real estate professionals from around the globe.Louisa Dickins Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Navigating Venture Success: Insights on Returns and Strategic Funds

    Navigating Venture Success: Insights on Returns and Strategic Funds
    Feb 14 2024
    In the final episode of season 12 of The Propcast, Louisa is joined by Jeffrey Berman, General Partner at Camber Creek, where they discuss how to set yourself on a path for the potential to create venture return, Camber Creek’s investment thesis, portfolio, their approach to investment and JB’s predictions for 2024. Jeffrey dives into the importance of a ‘less is more approach’ when it comes to investment, and how Camber Creek’s investment strategy is based around a ‘need to have’, rather than a ‘nice to have’ method, providing examples like Flex and Built whose products provide solutions to the challenges that tenants and landlords are facing in the US. Tune in to this episode to hear more about what 2024 has in store for the real estate technology space, as well as what JB’s ‘walking out’ song would be if he were to headline Coachella…   Companies mentioned Flex Notarize Bilt Measurabl Placemakr Pet Screening VTS Curbio Arcadia Jones Bowery   Shoutouts Michael Beckerman Casey Berman Shragie Lichtenstein YeTong Shao Matt Ellis   Episode Highlights We invest in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building companies that are changing how we interact with the built world – Jeffrey The way we always thought about fund size was we looked backwards. Not forwards. – Jeffrey We have this massive group of strategic limited partners, over 300 around the globe, whose reading points become the foundation layer of ‘these are the types of companies we need to look at’ – Jeffrey   Key Takeaways How Camber Creek has created its investment theses from an initial investment hypothesis, and how they continue to utilise that to invest in the best companies within the real estate technology sphere. The two main questions that sparked Camber Creek’s investment thesis idea Camber Creek’s different funds, including its opportunity fund Jeffrey shares with us a bit more about some of their fastest growing companies, like Flex and the mission behind it The massive opportunity set for climate tech and carbon tech   About our guests Jeffrey Berman Jeffrey Berman is a General Partner at Camber Creek. Jeffrey participates in all aspects of Camber Creek’s operations and portfolio management and serves on the boards of numerous Camber Creek portfolio companies. He has more than two decades of executive management experience and deeply rooted relationships in the startup, real estate, and venture capital ecosystems. Prior to Camber Creek, he was a Principal at one of the Washington, DC area’s largest privately held real estate development and management companies. Jeffrey has also been an active early-stage investor, backing more than three dozen startups, including Jackpocket, Kindbody, and Rappi.    Camber Creek Camber Creek is a venture capital firm providing strategic value and capital to operating technology companies focused on the real estate market. Camber Creek contributes in a direct and significant way to the success of its portfolio companies by leveraging the real estate expertise, operating experience and portfolio of assets of its partners, investors, and advisors. Our investment team has investing, operating, and technology experience and expertise across a range of real estate businesses, including construction, property management, development, and leasing. Our investors own, operate and manage billions of square feet of real estate in the U.S., giving us a unique competitive advantage as an investor and value-added partner in the real estate technology space. The firm has ~$1bln AUM.   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.  
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    39 mins
  • Climate Solutions in Real Estate: Tackling Risk, Affordability, and Insurance

    Climate Solutions in Real Estate: Tackling Risk, Affordability, and Insurance
    Feb 6 2024
    In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by John Rogers, Chief Innovation Officer for CoreLogic and Kirby Brendsel, Flagstar Bank’s VP, Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Director, where they discuss all things climate and housing affordability, and the solutions that are out there to help solve the issues!  John and Kirby explained the importance of providing data and analytics around climate risk to allow companies to measure the financial impact of climate change up to the year 2050, thus helping companies, cities, and governments to put in place mitigation plans.    Tune into this episode to hear more about how climate solutions can help with mitigation, housing affordability and insurance, and how our guest’s collaboration create a rising tide that lifts all ships.    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. ...
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    34 mins
  • Renovation to Regulation: Charting a Course for Sustainable Innovation

    Renovation to Regulation: Charting a Course for Sustainable Innovation
    Nov 14 2023
    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  The evolution of global construction technologies     Episode Highlights  Regulation is actually pushing for a lot of technology adoption in terms of higher requirements, and these requirements just make the processes much more complex, right? - Mauricio   So they really tackle the 80 percent renewable energy goal for 2030 and they really decarbonize the heating system with good and aggressive regulations. - Emanuel  The construction sector invests 1 percent in R&D and the housing sector 0.1%. So, they will not bring any transformation towards affordability and decarbonization. - Emanuel  You do need regulators – to start pointing the marketing to the right direction, but you also want to keep competitiveness and ensure a free environment and a secure environment to make investments and to see the return of these investments. - Mauricio  Investors and a lot of stakeholders are questioning whether this is the right moment to be investing in technologies or an economic turn that will potentially slow down the piece of adoption for technology - Mauricio    Previous episodes mentioned   The Evolution Of Global Construction Technologies    Key Takeaways   The use of circular building materials in helping companies reach net zero targets  The need for common standards across Europe, as well as the challenges that this would bring due to difference in buildings and needs for each country  The need for regulators to be very close to investors in sharing short term and long-term goals of decarbonisation and technology adoption   How to position certain aspects of ESG to pitch to create sustainable competitive advantage for that company without changing the core of your business  Emmanuel shares some advice about the German market for founders looking to expand   The lack of construction companies in Germany     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 ...
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    37 mins
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