Clayton Callander is the founder of FTL (Field Technologies), a diagnostic platform built to give commercial buildings something like a check-engine light, closing the service gap for the roughly 95% of properties that enterprise vendors like Honeywell and Siemens can't economically reach. Before founding FTL, Clayton spent seven years maintaining nuclear systems aboard a US Navy submarine, worked at SpaceX, and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He built FTL for the people fixing America's commercial buildings because he used to be one of them, and the tool he needed didn't exist yet. Clayton is based in San Francisco, CA.

(00:00) - Intro: Why Six Million Commercial Buildings Have No Real-Time Data
(01:10) - Meet Clayton Callander, Founder of Field Technologies
(02:40) - The Telephone Game: What Happens When an HVAC Unit Breaks
(05:50) - Zach's Take: Preventative Maintenance's 20-Year Elusive Goal
(07:10) - It's an Access Problem, Not a Technology Problem
(09:40) - Why Building Controls Stay Complicated and Expensive
(13:10) - What FTL Does
(16:50) - Pricing FTL at a Fraction of Traditional Controls
(20:20) - Why It's Called Facilities Triage
(22:20) - Which Asset Classes Are Ready for FTL
(25:00) - What 60 Site Deployments Taught FTL
(26:30) - Unlocking the Other Six Million Buildings
(29:30) - LoRaWAN Explained: Why Not Wi-Fi
(32:30) - Proprietary vs. Open Systems: A VC's View
(36:00) - Collaboration Superpower: Immanuel Kant (Wikipedia) and Ding Huan (Wikipedia)

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit FTL
-Clayton Callander on LinkedIn

🏙️ NYC Real Estate Week: 
-CTO Exchange & Hackathon: 3-in-1 event on Oct. 19 featuring C-suite roundtables, a hackathon and the Power AI & Tech Awards reception (invite-only). Email [email protected] for info.

🏙️ CRE Events coming up:

-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-South Florida Capital & Development Forum: in Miami on 10/15
-All upcoming events

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Justin Segal is President of Boxer Property, where he oversees operations, leasing, technology, and marketing across a national portfolio of office, retail, and hotel assets. He co-founded Brava Systems, an AI-enabled platform originally built for Boxer's own operations and now deployed across the commercial real estate industry, and Relay Human Cloud, a global staffing and team augmentation company. Justin is based in Houston.

(02:50) - Building the Data Foundation for AI
(05:10) - The Data You Have vs. What You're Missing
(06:30) - Why Data Cleanup Isn't a Massive IT Project
(09:00) - Why Most CRE Companies Aren't Data-Ready
(11:10) - The Chief Innovation Officer's Mixed Track Record
(14:10) - Avoiding Agent Sprawl and Vendor Lock-In
(17:20) - Vibe Coding: Great for Interfaces, Dangerous for Logic
(20:20) - Rethinking How We Measure AI ROI
(22:40) - What Boxer Actually Spends on Tokens and Compute
(24:30) - Putting a Number on AI-Driven Deal Flow
(27:30) - Balancing Employee Access to AI Tools With Governance
(29:00) - Treating Tokens and Compute as a Trackable Line Item
(31:50) - Where AI Adoption Creates the Need for More Humans
(34:20) - Freeing People From Being "Professional Rememberers"
(36:30) - Collaboration Superpower: Thomas Davenport (Wikipedia)

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit Boxer Property
-Visit Brava
-Justin Segal on LinkedIn

🏙️ NYC Real Estate Week: 
-CTO Exchange & Hackathon: 3-in-1 event on Oct. 19 featuring C-suite roundtables, a hackathon and the Power AI & Tech Awards reception (invite-only). Email [email protected] for info.

🏙️ CRE Events coming up:

-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-South Florida Capital & Development Forum: in Miami on 10/15
-All upcoming events

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Dan Mosher is the CEO of DealGround, an AI-native platform helping commercial real estate brokers and investors find deals faster by organizing property data, identifying opportunities, and connecting directly with property owners. A veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur, operator, and investor, Dan previously built and led the Merchant team at Postmates through its acquisition by Uber, served as President of Presto, and helped scale BrightRoll tenfold before its acquisition by Yahoo. Live from ICSC+Proptech in Las Vegas.

(01:09) AI Survey with FirstAmerican
(03:07) How DealGround Helps Brokers Find More Deals
(06:08) Why AI Adoption Outpaces Trust
(10:14) MCPs, Integrations & Fitting Into Broker Workflows

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit DealGround
-Dan Mosher on LinkedIn
-Study: First American Data & Analytics & DealGround on AI Adoption in CRE

-ICSC+Proptech

🏙️ NYC Real Estate Week: 
-CTO Exchange & Hackathon: 3-in-1 event on Oct. 19 featuring C-suite roundtables, a hackathon and the Power AI & Tech Awards reception (invite-only). Email [email protected] for info.

🏙️ CRE Events coming up:

-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-South Florida Capital & Development Forum: in Miami on 10/15
-All upcoming events

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Noah Walters is the co-founder of Tower, a custom-built AI platform for every stage of the due diligence process. He previously practiced at Dentons Canada, where he focused on tech regulatory compliance, private M&A, and venture financings as a founding member of the firm's FinTech and AI industry teams. Noah is based in Canada. Recorded live at ICSC+Proptech in Las Vegas.

(01:34) Due Diligence Bottleneck
(03:44) Execution Risk & Trust
(04:54) Tower's Approach
(07:31) Beyond Document Review
(09:39) Change Management for AI Adoption
(15:11) Future of AI Deal Rooms
(18:02) Collaboration Superpower: Kendall Jenner & Dario Amodei

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit Tower
-Noah Walters on LinkedIn

-ICSC+Proptech

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ CRE Events coming up:

-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-Data Centers Development & Infrastructure Forum: in NYC on 10/6
-South Florida Capital & Development Forum: in Miami on 10/15
-All upcoming events

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Ryan Botwinick is the founder and CEO of Fyxt, an AI operating system for commercial real estate that unifies workflows, data, and automation across enterprise portfolios. Ryan came to the problem from both sides, as a real estate broker and through building his own property management company, before founding Fyxt in 2017 to bridge the operational disconnect between owners, managers, tenants, and service providers. Fyxt has particular depth in net-lease and mixed commercial properties, with clients including Delta, Realty Income, STAG Industrial, Kite Realty, Global Net Lease, and Friedman Real Estate. Ryan is based in Los Angeles. Episode recorded live at ICSC+Proptech in Las Vegas.

(01:20) How Ops Get Complex
(02:56) Today's NOI Pressure
(05:06) Where Ops Break Down
(07:52) What Fyxt Actually Fixes
(09:28) Operating System vs Point Tools
(14:20) AI Impact on CRE Ops
(15:28) Role of the PM of the future
(17:20) AI & Automation Misconceptions
(19:07) Collaboration Superpower: the Government

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit Fyxt
-Ryan on LinkedIn

-ICSC+Proptech

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ Events coming up:

-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-Data Centers Development & Infrastructure Forum: in NYC on 10/6
-South Florida Capital & Development Forum: in Miami on 10/15
-All upcoming events

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Yaakov Zar is the founder and CEO of Lev, a software platform built to modernize the workflow of commercial real estate professionals. Yaakov started Lev after experiencing firsthand how broken the CRE financing process was, watching a $4 million loan take six months to close. What began as a tech-enabled brokerage has evolved into a purpose-built agentic workflow platform helping lenders, brokers, and investors manage deals, ingest unstructured data, and move faster. Yaakov is based in New York City.

(02:26) Bottom Up vs Top Down
(04:31) Slack Origin Tangent
(05:59) MetaProp Skills Library
(09:43) What Is Defensible AI
(11:12) MCP & Rapid Change
(12:41) Pilots Everywhere & Demo Fatigue
(17:34) Same Workflow, Turbocharged
(19:34) Real Estate's Move 37 Moment
(22:04) Why Winning Is Hard to Define
(26:07) Lev Agentic Workflows
(29:14) Leapfrogging Past Salesforce
(31:43) Data Quality Pushback
(33:49) Ingesting Email Into CRM
(35:54) Selling Software to CRE
(39:06) Overhyped AI and Security Risks
(42:50) Collaboration Superpower: Steve Jobs

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit Lev
-Yaakov on LinkedIn

-MetaProp Labs Skills Library

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ Events coming up:

-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-Data Centers Development & Infrastructure Forum: in NYC on 10/6
-South Florida Capital & Development Forum: in Miami on 10/15
-All upcoming events

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Andreas Rotenberg is Co-founder and COO of Pulley, an AI-powered permitting platform helping developers and operators move projects through approvals faster. Before Pulley, he was part of the team at Honest Buildings through its acquisition, then served as Chief of Staff at Procore through its IPO. Pulley has supported over $15 billion in projects approved across the U.S. Live from ICSC+Proptech in Las Vegas.

(0:00) - First ever ICSC+Proptech live podcast
(1:47) - Why Permitting Is a Growing Bottleneck
(2:41) - What's Happening During Permitting Timelines
(4:13) - Jurisdictional Complexity Across the U.S.
(5:08) - What CRE Teams Underestimate About Permitting
(7:35) - Why Pulley
(8:18) - The Origin Story
(10:53) - Combining Technology with Local Expertise
(14:26) - Where AI Creates Real Value in Permitting
(17:36) - Trust, Hallucinations & Accuracy
(19:07) - Municipalities & Public Sector Modernization
(20:40) - Second & Third Order Effects of Faster Permitting
(22:41) - Collaboration Superpower: Vaclav Smil

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit Pulley
-Andreas on LinkedIn

-ICSC+Proptech

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ CO Events coming up:

-Retail & Hospitality Forum: in NYC on 6/18
-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-South Florida Capital & Development Forum: in Miami on 10/15
-All upcoming events

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

James Harris built his real estate career from scratch after relocating from the UK to Los Angeles. His latest venture is Breezy, an AI tool for real estate agents designed to reduce the administrative load that eats into most agents' days. Breezy recently raised a $10 million pre-seed round led by Ribbit Capital with participation from Fifth Wall, DST Global, and others. Over the past decade he's closed more than $6 billion in luxury residential sales across Beverly Hills and the Platinum Triangle, and appeared on Bravo's Million Dollar Listing LA for seven seasons spanning over nine years before stepping away to focus on his next chapter. He also hosts Rise Above the Ranks, where he talks through the practical side of the business: negotiation, discipline, and how to build something that lasts.

(2:11) - What Proptech Gets Wrong About Real Estate Agents
(6:49) - Realtor Painpoints
(8:54) - What is Breezy
(13:32) - Why Now
(16:26) - Real Estate Agent & Founder Resiliency
(18:31) - Brand, Distribution & Early Traction
(21:42) - AI Agents Enhance and/or Replace Real Estate Agents
(24:20) - First Mover Advantage
(26:36) - What Parts of Real Estate Will Be Human-driven in 3-5 years
(28:24) - The Power of Data & Workflow Platforms
(29:16) - What Changes in Real Estate Over the Next 2-3 Years?
(30:49) - Collaboration Superpower: The Founder Entrepreneur

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit Breezy
-James on LinkedIn
-James on IG

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ Events coming up:

-Retail & Hospitality Forum: in NYC on 6/18
-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-All upcoming events

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Dillon Okner is the Founder & Partner of SiteRise, a retail development and construction platform helping brands streamline site selection, store development, and portfolio expansion. With more than 15 years of experience in retail construction and operations, Dillon previously helped support the expansion of major brands including Apple and Tesla. Today, he focuses on helping retailers, restaurants, and franchise operators eliminate development bottlenecks and open locations faster through better data, workflow management, and portfolio visibility.

(01:13) - How Retail Openings Break
(03:36) - Retail Innovation Edge
(05:00) - Store development with SiteRise
(07:38) - Apple & Tesla Lessons
(09:26) - Proprietary Data
(14:07) - Construction Influence on Deals
(15:27) - Working with Brokers
(16:33) - SiteRise's Clients
(17:44) - Getting Buy-in From Stakeholders
(20:50) - Collaboration superpower: Dillon's father and grandfather

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit SiteRise
-Dillon Okner on LinkedIn

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ Events coming up:
-AI & Innovation Forum Q2: virtual on 6/10

-Retail & Hospitality Forum: in NYC on 6/18
-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-All upcoming events

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Will Parrish is the Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer of Lula, a Kansas City-based proptech platform built to streamline property maintenance for property managers and their residents. Will co-founded Lula alongside CEO Bo Lais with a mission to make property maintenance smarter — pivoting the business during the pandemic to focus on property managers in the single-family rental space, a move that fueled rapid growth. Lula recently closed a $28 million Series A round and is expanding from 42 markets to 60, with heavy investment in AI and automation. Before co-founding Lula, Will spent nearly two decades in enterprise sales and business development, including a long tenure at Thomson Reuters. 

(00:53) - How Lula Started
(02:34) - Trading Corporate for Startup Life
(03:29) - Is Maintenance Archaic
(05:49) - Where Work Orders Fail
(07:30) - Scaling 100K Work Orders
(12:28) - Building Vendor Trust & Quality
(13:19) - Expanding Markets
(16:16) - Flat Rate Pricing Playbook
(19:15) - Ideal Rental Customers
(21:54) - Integrations
(25:47) - AI In Maintenance
(30:21) - Future of Lula
(32:14) - ROI for Property Owners & Operators
(35:49) - Hardware play ahead?
(39:12) - Collaboration Superpower: MacGyver

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit Lula
-Will Parrish on LinkedIn

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ Events coming up:

-Retail & Hospitality Forum: in NYC on 6/18
-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-All upcoming events

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Don Tepman, known as StripMallGuy, is the founder of TownCentre Capital, a private equity firm focused on buying neighborhood strip centers across the United States. With over 20 years of retail real estate investing, he has completed over 45 acquisitions and raised more than $150M in LP capital, and has built one of commercial real estate's most followed voices on X, LinkedIn, and Instagram with over half a million followers.

This episode was recorded live on the red carpet at the 4th Annual Real Estate Gala in New York City, co-hosted by Don Tepman and Bob Knakal.

(00:00) – Tangent Joins Commercial Observer
(01:40) – ICSC Vegas Panel & Live Podcasts
(03:41) – Social Media & In-person Events as a Business Tool
(03:59) – StripMallGuy's AI AHA Moment
(04:18) – Why PropTech Is Hard
(05:02) – Death of the Cold Call
(5:33) - Last Tech Solution SMG Adopted
(6:45) - Collaboration Superpower: Charlie Munger
(07:31) – Rise of Tech Founders with CRE Backgrounds

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit TownCentre Capital
-Don Tepman on LinkedIn
-StripMallGuy on X

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ Events coming up:
-Residential Forum: in NYC on 5/28
-AI & Innovation Forum Q2: virtual on 6/10

-Retail & Hospitality Forum: in NYC on 6/18
-All upcoming events

Disclaimer: Commercial Observer Tangent podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Commercial Observer, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.