Building Tech for CRE When You Own CRE, with Alex Taylor (Part 1)

Alex Taylor has spent 18 years building commercial real estate technology. He's been a founder or co-founder of four CRE tech companies, with three exits. He's also on the other side of the table: he owns a couple hundred thousand square feet and is an LP in about 26 active deals. In Part 1, Alex walks through how he got into CRE through relationships rather than single-family flips. He covers his time as the first head of sales at Dotloop, building a tech-enabled footprint consultancy for Fortune 500 companies, and launching Oval Room to cut the cost of raising, entitling and marketing projects. He also tells the story of a zoning hearing that went somewhere nobody expected. We end with the question that started his current company and the one answer that kept coming back: data. What You'll Learn: - How relationships, not residential deals, led Alex into CRE and to investing as an LP - Why he's become more passive as an investor as he's built more companies - The three phases of a CRE project (raise capital, get approvals, go to market) and where money gets wasted redoing work - How long it took to build his early platforms (about 9 months each) - The one question he asked CRE pros for 90 days before building his current company Chapters: - 00:00 Welcome and intro - 00:21 Alex's background: 18 years in proptech, 4 companies, and a CRE owner - 02:09 How Alex got into commercial real estate through relationships - 04:22 26 LP deals and why he's become more passive - 06:02 Three exits and a fourth company - 06:34 Dotloop and building a tech-enabled CRE footprint consultancy - 09:29 A mutual friend from the Dotloop days - 10:11 Oval Room: raise capital, get approvals, go to market - 13:17 How long it takes to build a platform from scratch - ~14:40 The psychic at the zoning board - 16:29 Ocucel and the move to Commercialize IQ - 17:09 A 90-day listening tour: "What do you do today that you hate?" - ~19:45 The number one answer: data Quote: "Billion dollar plus portfolios being run on spreadsheets." (Alex Taylor) Next Week: Part 2: what Alex built to fix the problem, why chasing a "pristine data lake" is a trap, how to get teams to use new software past the demo, and his hardest lesson as a founder. Alex's Links: Website: https://commercializeiq.com/ IG: @commercializeiq LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandertaylor86/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/commercializeiq/ Here's the link to my book: https://www.amazon.com/Value-Over-Foundation-Commercial-Investing/dp/B0DNN14NLQ Want to learn more about CRE? investbeyondmultifamily.com/course Use Code for 10% off: tanhtruong  🔋 Support My Channel 🔋 Bitcoin: bc1q2jnv9sn3efhfvc43q5cqe2leev3066cegpyyz5 Sats via Strike: https://strike.me/tanh Dollars via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tanht Dollars via Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/tanh-truong 🌍 Website: https://www.wontonwealth.com ✖️ X: http://www.x.com/tanhtruong 📷 IG: http://www.instagram.com/pro\_tanh 🤓 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tanh-truong-30a18ab0/ ❗ DISCLAIMER: This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any decisions consult a professional. This show is copyrighted by Wonton Wealth. Written permission must be granted before syndication or rebroadcasting.