99 episodes

The Propcast, by Louisa Dickins, Co-founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech Recruitment Consultancy brought to you in partnership with CREtech. 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.

The Propcast Louisa Dickins

    • Technology
    • 5.0 • 337 Ratings

The Propcast, by Louisa Dickins, Co-founder of LMRE the leading Global PropTech Recruitment Consultancy brought to you in partnership with CREtech. 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.

    Reality Capture, AI & Analytics In Construction Technology

    Reality Capture, AI & Analytics In Construction Technology

    In the fifth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Jeevan Kalanithi, CEO at OpenSpace and Parker Mundt, Vice President of Platform at Suffolk Technologies.
     
    Episode Highlights:
    OpenSpace’s founding story 
    How Jeevan and Parker initially met and started working together
    The concept behind Suffolk Technologies and the companies they invest into
    Open Space’s two products and the difference between them
    How OpenSpace overcame the challenges when scaling their products
    The broad challenges Parker sees startups facing with new products
    How product trends change based on geographical locations
    Parker’s investment predictions for 2023-24
    Current macro trends and what this will mean for those ready to innovate and be tech forward
    The firms involved in the Suffolk Boost Accelerator Program 
    Companies that are creating innovative solutions for sustainability
    What steps Open Space are taking to reduce the ‘eight waste’ on construction sites
     
    Resources:
    LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
    LMRE YouTube Interviews
    PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
    Sifteo
    3D Robotics
    Autodesk
    Suffolk Boost Accelerator Program
    Qflow
    Carbon Titles
    Shepherd Insurance
     
    Shout outs:
    Brittany Harris
    Jade Cohen
     
    Key Takeaways:
    They started a company and sold it, and sure enough, they were working on a capture technology with these new 360 cameras. When I heard about it, I was like, you know, who could really use this? Building. - Jeevan

    Suffolk has trialled over 180 different tech solutions. We pride ourselves in being a very forward thinking general contractor who has a deep desire to innovate within the construction space. - Parker
    We’re building more and more stuff upon that. It all works because we have a simple capture product and I think we've captured something like 12 billion square feet, some big number. So it's a lot of data that allows us to make the system smarter and more useful for our customers. - Jeevan
    I think today we see a lot of companies that come in and maybe are naive or maybe just a bit out of touch with what some of the tech solutions in construction in particular would charge. And that can be a showstopper immediately, because the folks that you're selling to are still very focused on price and schedule, right? Those are the two main drivers in the construction industry. - Parker
    For us we're really focused on making sure that the founders feel comfortable at the valuation that they're at and not necessarily pumping it up just for the sake of having a larger valuation. - Parker
    We're at an innovate or die kind of portion of the life cycle right now where folks who are tech forward and are looking to see how they can do things better, faster, cheaper, safer, you know, those folks will emerge as the industry leaders, as a general contractor. - Parker
    We really prioritise reliability and speed and efficiency with our technology and we hope that allows our builder customers to do the same. - Jeevan
     
    About Our Host
    Louisa Dickins
    Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
    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.

    About LMRE
    LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
    From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
    At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our cand

    • 39 min
    The Evolution Of Global Construction Technologies

    The Evolution Of Global Construction Technologies

    In the fourth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Antonia Soler, Director of Hilti Technology Office at Hilti and Vivin Hegde, GB and Founding Partner at Zacua Ventures, an early stage global VC specialised in investing in the Built Environment sector.
     
    Episode Highlights:
    How Antonia and Vivin both met whilst working at Hilti
    The Women in Construction Tech Group that Antonia has co-founded
    The events and chapters WCT are running
    How Zacua Ventures started and where the idea came from
    Vivin’s advice to founders looking to scale towards an exit
    The evolution Vivin believes early startups need to go through in order to be successful
    The challenges around digitising construction and how Antonia suggests these are addressed
    The importance of understanding what it’s actually like to work in construction when trying to build a solution 
    Where Antonia and Vivin expect to see investment being made in 2023
    The difference in investments between early stage and late stage 
    The reasons why interest in Series B is quieter in terms of investment
    How construction technologies are helping with sustainability
    The technologies being developed to address prefabrication and modular construction

    Resources:
    LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
    LMRE YouTube Interviews
    PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
    WCT
    McKinsey
    Fieldwire
    Dusty Robotics
    Built World
    Trimble
    Ecoworks
    Carbon Title
    Urban Machine
    Kit Switch

    Shout outs:
    Gregg Wallace 
    Mauricio Tessi Weiss
    Juan Nieto
    Julieta Moradei
     
    Key Takeaways:
    And this is where the seeds of Zacua Ventures  were sewn, right? We had built a network, we'd seen how hard corporate innovation is for a lot of corporates, and we are also invested in funds. - Vivin
    So a startup needs to be mindful of the exit options that they have. They shouldn't be driven by the exit itself. - Vivin
    I find that founders that spend a lot of time with customers in the field and in the office come up with the best solutions. Because they are observing workflows, testing solutions on the job site and otherwise learning how their solution can best serve their customers. - Antonia
    So women in construction tech, it's dedicated to creating opportunities and developing relationships for women driving innovation in the construction industry. We envision a construction industry where women are well networked, support each other, efforts to improve and advance in the space and otherwise. - Antonia
    We did a survey of 80 contact focused VCs and corporate VCs a couple of weeks back. Just a little bit of the industry, I would say, and it's positive. We do see more investment happening in this space. Pretty much 70% of the VCs we spoke to said they're going to increase their investment rather than decrease in this space. - Vivin
    I think everybody has a good view of how the market could look in the next 6, 12, 18 months. Even if it's not rosy, it's still more predictable than it was five months back. And therefore the deal flow should pick up slowly and the deal making should also pick up accordingly. - Vivin
     
    About Our Host
    Louisa Dickins
    Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
    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.

    About LMRE
    LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
    From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability a

    • 39 min
    How Is The Landscape Of Contech Investment Changing?

    How Is The Landscape Of Contech Investment Changing?

    In the third episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Gregg Wallace, Partner at Building Ventures, who invest in companies reshaping the way we design, build, operate and experience our built environment and Matt Wegworth, Vice President of Dawson Ventures at McKinstry, whose goal is to advance early-stage technologies and offerings and support innovative startups.
     
    Episode Highlights:
    How Gregg as part of the Hilti Group invested in Building Ventures first funding round
    How they have now launched Fund 2 and the different strategic partners this will bring onboard
    The growth they have seen in the market and what it means for their organisation
    The synergies between Building Ventures and McKinstry and why they started working together as strategic partners
    The tagline that McKinstry work by and how that benefits their clients
    Why Dawson Ventures was created
    The stage and ticket size that both companies invest in and trends they follow
    The different areas of growth they are seeing, despite the economic situation
    The importance of having a go to market plan in the construction and proptech space
    Gregg and Matt’s ideas for generating more innovation and adoption within the industry
    Their view on the best ways to attract new talent into construction technologies
    The battle the industry has between efficiencies and innovation

    Resources:
    LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
    LMRE YouTube Interviews
    PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
    ALICE Technologies
    ICON
    A/O PropTech Report
    Hilti Group
    Assemble System
    Autodesk
    Financial Times
    ENR 400
    TurboTax
    BuiltWorlds Conference

    Shout outs:
    Mayra Soto
    Vivin Hegde
     
    Key Takeaways:
    We appreciated as Hilti the ecosystem that Building Ventures brought, so we made an investment in mid 2018, alongside a whole number of strategic investors as part of Building Ventures first fund, which launched in 2018 as $53 million and placed 16 startup portfolio companies. - Gregg
    That's what we also represent as Building Ventures, looking at how do we create a fundamentally better built world? Not the transaction side of buying and selling and dividing buildings into crypto coins, but really creating a fundamentally better built world, connecting the historically disparate phases of the building lifecycle. - Gregg
    What that does for us here and certainly for our clients is it brings a suite of thinking and offering to drive that desire to how do we remove the waste and climate harm out of the environment through innovation, so that it has 60 years of operation. - Matt
    We believe by keeping really close to the industry, we can be very supportive. At the early seed stage, getting to know founders, making introductions, helping them think through strategically the problems. - Gregg
    This is not a one-time transaction. This is the start of a five to 10 year relationship through all of its ups and downs that we want to support our portfolio company. - Gregg
    So do we see a slowdown? Not at all. Are we continuing to invest in our own startups? Absolutely. - Matt


    About Our Host
    Louisa Dickins
    Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
    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.
     
    About LMRE
    LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
    From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
    At L

    • 44 min
    How To Reduce Risk & Plan, Bid & Build More Efficiently Through The Use Of Technology?

    How To Reduce Risk & Plan, Bid & Build More Efficiently Through The Use Of Technology?

    In the second episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by René Morkos, the Founder and CEO of ALICE Technologies, the world’s first construction optioneering platform and Shane Richardson, President of Lagrange, a management consulting firm providing project controls and program management services.
     
    Episode Highlights:
    The founding story behind ALICE Technologies and the problems it was designed to solve
    The difference between the two products, ‘Alice Pre-Construction’ and ‘Alice Manage’ and their capabilities
    How Rene and Shane met and how they started working together
    How to use data to make better informed decisions
    The hesitancies the construction industry have around technology
    The issues they face and potential missed opportunities if they are brought in part way through a project, rather than the beginning
    Early innovators in the space and their impact on implementation and integration
    The biggest changes they have seen within the industry and what they predict over the next 20 years
    The importance of finding the right tool when trying to digitalise data to increase productivity
    Where they believe the skill gaps currently are in construction tech
    ALICE’s sustainability pledge
     
    Resources:
    LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
    LMRE YouTube Interviews
    PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
    Bechtel
    Katerra
    Canadian Nuclear Labs
    Skanska
    Stanford University
     
    Key Takeaways:
    What resources do you need to build to perform those tasks? That's the kind of information you give the system, and then the system generates 6 million different ways of building the project for you. - Rene
    I noticed that was one of the things that wasn't being leveraged; how can we use this data to make better informed decisions? -Shane
    A lot of times you're already 20 plus percent complete with a project, and there's a certain point where you can always minimise risk, minimise costs on a project, but as you progress on a project, the further you progress, you lose out on that opportunity. - Shane
    What's happening in construction today is what happened to manufacturing in the seventies and eighties. It's really becoming digitised. It's becoming integrated across the supply chain. - Rene
    I think that's one of the reasons why construction projects were plagued with delays, for decades and decades. It's because how do we fix that problem of being able to translate accurate data in its schedule, maintain it, and so ALICE takes care of that.  - Shane
    The way that I perceive it is that one of the major skill gaps is that construction is getting converted into algorithmic terms. And so that's something that's relatively new.  - Rene
    McKinsey article: over the last 20 years the industry as a whole has only only increased 1% in productivity. And the construction spending is about 13% of the world's GDP. And so you think about that, it's over 1.3 trillion in opportunity to try to leverage. - Shane
     
    About Our Host
    Louisa Dickins
    Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
    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.
     
    About LMRE
    LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
    From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
    At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice a

    • 23 min
    60-70% Of Construction Sites Are Still Using Pen & Paper! What Else Needs To Be Done?

    60-70% Of Construction Sites Are Still Using Pen & Paper! What Else Needs To Be Done?

    In the first episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Ibrahim Imam, and Sander Van de Rijdt, joint Co-Founders and Group CEO’s of PlanRadar.
    PlanRadar is a digital platform for construction documentation, task management and communication. It is currently used in over 65 markets and has 120,000 construction professionals as users.
    Ibrahim and Sander met at University and prior to PlanRadar founded other technology businesses together.
     
    Episode Highlights:
    Why they launched PlanRadar and the industry issues they were trying to solve
    Why they believe the construction industry is so under digitalised 
    What helped them to achieve such rapid growth
    The decision making process behind why they move into certain regions
    How word of mouth is one of their most powerful business drivers
    How customer feedback dictates the development of the product
    Misunderstandings that can arise from conventional paper and pen usage
    Overcoming people’s hesitations with new technology
    Their aim to make the construction industry more ESG compliant
    The need for diversification within the industry to continue to drive growth and innovation
    Their future aspirations for PlanRadar
     
    Resources:
    LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
    LMRE YouTube Interviews
    PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
     
    Shout Outs:
    Constantin Kock
    Domagoj Dolinsek
    Clemens Hammerl
     
    Key Takeaways:
    We decided to get on that mission to try to improve the lives of all the people out there on the construction sites and in the real estate projects. - Sander
    We have around 20,000 customers, which is a lot. But when you realise that there are around 2.5 million potential customers just in Europe, then it's nothing. - Sander
    But what PlanRadar has figured out throughout the last few years is to make the customisation level that every organisation requires,  to really meet their own processes. - Ibrahim
    We hired last quarter, I think 134 new people. We plan to hire this quarter, 82 new people. So we're still growing. - Sander
    PlanRadar is a tool that everybody can now download from the App store or the Play store and just instantly use it and start adding value to their corporations. - Ibrahim
    The main lesson is if you want to build a successful company, it's all about the people that you hire. Because a good team can deliver good results. Simple as that. - Ibrahim


    About Our Host
    Louisa Dickins
    Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
    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.

    About LMRE
    LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
    From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
    At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
     
    Sponsors
    Launch Your Own Podcast
    A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch hello@apodcastcompany.com

    • 33 min
    Season 11 Of The Propcast Is Finally Here!

    Season 11 Of The Propcast Is Finally Here!

    We had an incredible response to the last season where we focused on ESG within Proptech. We wanted to follow up with something equally as exciting and we’re happy to announce a brand new focus for this season of the Propcast. 
    This season we’ll be taking a deep dive into the exciting vertical of ConTech. Our host Louisa Dickens will be speaking with some brilliant leaders in the ConTech space over the next 10 episodes, sharing their industry insights on the trends in the market and their predictions for the future of Construction Technology. 
    Make sure to subscribe to the Propcast and leave us a 5* rating for this season - you’ll not want to miss it! 

    About Our Host
    Louisa Dickins
    Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
    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.

    About LMRE
    LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
    From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
    At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

    • 1 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
337 Ratings

337 Ratings

Aaron Manuel ,

Amazing

Propcast does such a good job covering a variety of topics. The guests offer valuable insight as well. I would recommend this podcast to anyone looking to be inspired and informed!

fredolox123 ,

Unmatched

The Propcast is absolutely unmatched in the space - always entertaining and hugely insightful!

zDnW ,

Propcast Review

Great content with some of the top minds across the PropTech industry!

Top Podcasts In Technology

Lex Fridman
Tortoise Media
Jason Calacanis
Cal Newport
Jack Rhysider
Financial Times

You Might Also Like

Andreessen Horowitz
Financial Times
Jason Calacanis
CBRE
Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts
Harry Stebbings