Series: PropTech Chatter.
Show Notes
Summary
Special mentions
Company: OPTech, RETC, Blueprint, CREtech, Retcon, Biznow, Interface, AIM,
People: Julie Smith, Jennifer Staciokas, Toby Bozzuto, Erik Rogers, Kristy Simonette, James Hamrick.
Transcript
(Disclaimer: Please be advised that this transcript may contain unintentionally confusing, inaccurate, and/or amusing transcription errors.)
Chris Moreno Ep #34
[00:00:00]
Matt Knight: Hey guys. Matt here. I think this is our last podcast of the year. Me and Chris get together and do some reflecting on 25, and I won’t give you more preamble than that. I just hope you enjoy it. If I don’t talk to you, happy holidays, Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, whatever you celebrate. I hope it’s wonderful and restful and we’ll see you guys brighten early in 2026.
Matt Knight: All right, Chris, thanks for being here, man. I know you’re busy traveling, shutting down the air, but thought it’d be good to start our final episode of the year with OPtech. You and I just got back a few weeks ago. You were way more involved than I was thought it went well, but I’m curious to get your take on it [00:01:00] as we sort of wrap up conference season.
Chris Moreno: Yeah. Thanks Matt for having me. I always love catching these updates. I think one thing that stood out from Optech was that it, obviously there’s always ways to, try new things and get feedback, and that’s something we definitely want to get. , but. One thing is that it is, it’s like a startup, right?
It’s a tech conference, and I think all tech conferences should act like startups. So I think you did a, a fantastic job of bringing together. Robotics and hardware and unique types of startups who are, hardware’s a very difficult space and they need a lot of capital. They need a lot of support.
They need customers. And so I think that’s one thing you, do very well. And, then the second thing that stands out is obviously AI is such a massive force right now. It’s in every conversation that’s happening across. All industries, but it’s especially happening right now in real estate. And I think there was a almost like, the real estate industry was a little bit [00:02:00] behind, is what many people are admitting.
, the CEOs and CTOs are admitting that they were behind and now they’re catching up. So AI was in full force at ec and whether it was marketing, whether it was operations, whether it was financials to maintenance, AI is hitting every world. So I think one of the coolest things to see at OPTech.
You had the largest operators, the ones that have 30,000 units, 50,000, a hundred thousand, 200,000 plus. But what was interesting is to see the emerging. Managers there. So people who had 800 units, 1500 units, 2000 units, 2,500. That was really cool to see that they took the time and resources to be there and then to learn, ways for them to, to utilize centralization, right?
, To utilize new tools a lot of these firms may or may not be using that. So, I think it’s a great equalizer to bring people together. Where they can literally, for 72 hours, just look at their stack, their tech stack, and what they should be thinking about and who they should be talking [00:03:00] to and reevaluating or, even coming together with partners, maybe they haven’t pulled the trigger on.
So those are some of the key takeaways from OPTech for me. , I think one of the, the two key, speakers, whether it was Nathan from Airbnb, he went really deep on mistakes he made as a founder. Mistakes they made as a team, getting really vulnerable and then sharing, how they reevaluated and where they are as a company, but more so where they are as people and finding product market fit.
So he really went through the Y Combinator journey, feedback from Paul Graham, how they dove in with their customers and how they evaluated partnerships in the multifamily and housing world. And where they’re going, with their experiences. So that was really cool. And then obviously Kara Swisher diving in, getting really, intense.
That’s always a lot of fun. But those, those are some of the key takeaways. I, think, changing the guard, there were committee meetings, that always happen with technology emerging, emerging technology , active buildings broadband. And then of course, they had, one of the things that people don’t understand from optech.
I [00:04:00] think, definitely there’s an opportunity for marketing, but one of the great things is that Optech and the organization that runs it, Retc is a year round organization that partners with NMHC partners with many other nonprofits. So they are actively looking to engage. All types of people, and events.
So one of the great things is they had had brought in, I think it was about eight to 10 other shows that happened throughout the year to talk about their shows and share some of the things that they’re seeing , in other sectors of real estate. So that was really cool. RETC doesn’t look at other people as competitive.
They look at how do we build the industry stronger and create a better experience for residents using technology. So hopefully that kinda helps Matt.
Matt Knight: Yeah, it’s funny you say. Them not seeing other shows as competitive. ‘cause I want to go back to AI in a second, but I think you and I talked about this while I was there, is I was struck by the size and number of booths at Optech from the exact same companies I saw at other shows [00:05:00] this year that had no booth or five by five.
These companies would come with a 20 by 22 story mega booth. And I was like, why wasn’t that at Blueprint? Right. I was just like, I was thinking of these other events I go to and there’s, I’m not knocking Blueprint, but Ctech and Reccon and , apartment. I mean, there’s a lot of these events that you can set up a booth at that are also in Vegas.
Many of them and they just weren’t there. And we don’t need to talk about that. But I was just struck and maybe it’s a kudos to you guys. That everybody brought their a game booth to that show, and I think that’s, yeah, that, that is a commentary on the quality of the attendees.
Chris Moreno: Yeah, the key, what I love about all these different events, whether it’s , blueprint cre, tech reccon , many great events across the country.
You have Biznow, you have, interface and you have aim, and all these events. Are focused on different things, right? So it might be touching on technology, which they all do, but they usually are focused on a different type of person. So NAA [00:06:00] compartmentalized brings a lot more of the managers and maintenance and facilities all the way up to the CEOs, whereas.
Blueprint. What I love about Blueprint is it brings people across the board of all types of real estate, right? So, if multifamily might only be, I’m just guessing here, 40 or 50% that can be great for companies who sell across the spectrum. Whereas at Optech is really predominantly focused on housing.
The organization brings in people outside of h housing, in other sectors, and many of the decision makers there. Own other, other parts of their businesses. Right? Many people have REITs that are office REITs and multi-family REITs and storage and logistics, but predominantly they’re there to learn and discuss and advocate on behalf of housing, right?
So that is the core differentiator for optech. But again, how do we, as a nonprofit, it’s a very different focus whether it’s. , looking at the pack, but it’s, at the end of the day, it’s advocating on [00:07:00] behalf of the industry, on behalf of the resident. And so we bring together the best minds, the best speakers, the best leaders.
But, and I think one of the coolest things, Matt, is a bigger focus on venture capital and private equity. So bringing in those venture capital players who are investing in the technology and what they’re seeing , and those are a lot of people in your network.
Matt Knight: Yeah, no, that’s, I think that’s fair.
And then I’m right with you on. None of these events is good or bad, or right or wrong. They’re just different. Right. And that’s, mm-hmm. I suppose that’s the point I was making was whoever comes to ec. Apparently they’re served by booths because those were the, that was some of the best booth showing I have seen this year.
And I think your other point that was interesting to touch on, because weirdly, the only panel that I led was on emerging managers and technology. And the struggle I have was not to make it all about AI because it’s seems like every panel that I’m on or I lead or I help curate. You’re gonna have to talk about it, but you don’t want it to [00:08:00] be a panel that’s just on ai.
Right. And I don’t know if you had got involved in any of the content with Retc and ec, but it was a conscious decision for me and my crew with Kbu and Stephanie and the people that were emerging managers. Was, let’s go ahead and talk about ai, but like, let’s set a cap on it where after five to 10 minutes we’re moving on to other things.
So I don’t know, again, I don’t know if you were, you’ve experienced that, but it, it can certainly suck the air outta the room in my experience.
Chris Moreno: No, I, hear you and I, think it’s always a challenge, of thinking about , what should people be meeting up and discussing? I just came from an event in Scottsdale last week, and a lot of the, meetings were actually out in the patio because the weather was so great and Scottsdale.
And so it was kind of the joke is that obviously people go to the trade show floor, they go to some of the sessions, but they really wanna get outside. And we really wanna be out and get that air. Being in Vegas, I don’t think I left the building to go outside more than a few times.
So definitely people got their [00:09:00] meetings and I think to your point. I heard, it was cool to actually see some people sharing recaps and sharing some of the stats of the number of meetings or qualified leads or whatnot, and then, what it looks like to get to a closed deal. So you’re seeing a lot more of those people sharing their recaps very specifically on LinkedIn and other sites.
If I had to break it down, to your point. It sells the booth. The trade show floor sells out fast. So, Sarah and Melissa and Kevin, the, the team over there do a lot of hard work over the years to change it up, try new things. And I think, I think there, every year, again, it’s gonna be great to hear feedback and so people who have attended, make sure they give that feedback and then what people want to see for next year.
What’s cool too is, I’m looking, I think there’s a. The difference between that, the big shows, I would say probably a big show is anything that’s like 2000 people and above, and then the shows that are probably like 500 people and below 400 people and below a lot more intimate.
So I, I think of, a lot of times you’ll be at a show and. , [00:10:00] you’re, I think the big question is how many people can you actually meet with? So I think if you, for a lot of people who are trying to have meetings, whether it’s capital, whether it’s technology, whether it’s learning or sharing or making intros, probably a good number for two days is probably gonna be.
10 to 15 intros, right? 10 to 15 meetings , whether it’s dinners, happy hours, or going to booths. And then just, narrowing that down to maybe three to five. , for salespeople it might be more like 20 meetings and distilling it down to eight or something like that. But, I’ve always found, the great thing about being in person is you can, you can get a lot accomplished and done and you can meet people you would’ve never otherwise met. And you turn, turns out you’re one degree connection apart and I think that’s just so awesome, especially in a business that relies heavily on being in person right, and being in buildings.
Matt Knight: It’s funny how often that happens as I’m, 10 years into PropTech is I’ll run into someone at an event and you or somebody will be like, Hey, you should meet this guy. And it’s like, oh, [00:11:00] I’ve known about you for six years and we’ve run across each other and I don’t know why we’ve never met. I’m embarrassed, and so it’s just funny how serendipitous those, there really is a magic of these in-person meetings and events where you sort of just have to show up to ‘em to see that these relationships are valuable and only can happen in person. And I think that’s why these shows are so important to the industry, at least in my opinion.
Chris Moreno: I completely agree. I think. And if anything, what AI is showing us. And many people, the great Toby Buzzuto Julie Smith who is a, chair of RETC and now passing the baton onto this year we had, Jennifer Staciokas, who lives in Phoenix, Erik Rogers, they were co-chairs of the event passing the baton onto Khristy Simonette at Camden and James Hamrick or at Gamble’s.
And. They serve tirelessly. They have their full-time jobs, yet they’re also traveling to go to Washington DC or traveling into market for their own businesses [00:12:00] or to advocate on behalf of the industry. And why do you do it face to face? I think one of the core reasons is trust.
And I think that’s the challenge right now we’re seeing with. AI Hallucinates AI still has major problems. We don’t have to go too far back to remember the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise, where the , the people who can see the crime hallucinate, just like ai. And I think that’s really important to note is, AI is great at many, many things.
Only a lot of repetitive things and information, but it’s not great at making decisions. And I think that’s where the humans come in and it’s also not great at creating trust and giving us that great feeling of all of our senses. So being in real life, enjoying a great dinner , going to the sphere and seeing a great concert or a show.
The same thing as a resident. When they come to a building, they’re not just looking for the basics. They’re looking for an experience. They’re looking for safety, they’re looking for [00:13:00] trust. They’re looking for a playground for their kids or a pool to swim in, or a magnificent gym. Or a golf simulator.
So I think all these things are really important., and the most important thing is a safe place to live and raise your family. So that’s why I think I’m so passionate about this industry ‘cause we have a great privilege to do this. But we can utilize technology in a safe way and a smart way and respect the residents that it creates a better experience for them.
Matt Knight: And I’m curious, as you look back on this year. I mean, how do you reflect on events like Optech and the other events you went to? Does anything stand out or something that’s sort of remarkable or notable about 20, 25 and the in-person things We do
Chris Moreno: a hundred percent. I always go into things and this is a major change, but I go into things, try to do some homework to understand the challenges or the problems.
Because every time you create a new success you’re gonna, you’re gonna disrupt something else. And so it’s good to [00:14:00] know what are the problems that were created. Even if you think something’s going well, what do we still need to improve upon? And so I think that’s what I always look for is when I’m meeting people at these events, is knowing what can I be helpful to someone else with?
And then what are they looking for? And for some people that can be, I, I think, when we’re going out, people are looking for technology at a lot of these events, a lot of the events I’m at and you’re at, but a lot of times it’s actually to understand what their priorities are. So whether that priority is evaluating versus making a decision versus implementation and then versus making a larger investment in something.
So I think those are very different stages and very different decisions. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned and the biggest takeaway is that the best products don’t always win. They tend to rise to the top. But one of the most important things I’ve learned at these conferences is [00:15:00] that where people can actually learn from others and mistakes they’ve made on implementation.
And so the best products tend to actually be the best implementation, the best communication, the best trust created, because the largest companies don’t always win. They oftentimes may lose business to other companies who come in and treat the customers better or have a better storytelling ability or better marketing.
And I think it all comes down to an onboarding experience because that best product, whatever best means, could be great for the end user. But if it’s a horrible experience for the onboarding of the staff or the operations or the back office, it may never make it to that indie customer. So that’s what I think a lot about Matt, is that these events is, are you number one, do you have a great solution or product that I need to take a look at?
Number two, are you a team that’s proven through some kind of credentials that, that you’re. The right fit. And then number [00:16:00] three, are you gonna be there when I need help and when something goes wrong? And so that’s what I think a lot of, that’s probably the greatest takeaway for me, Matt, is always being open to seeing a new way of doing something.
I think the robotics area that we were at was so cool to see, some of this hardware and seeing, on the trade show floor, sometimes when you see a company do something different you’ve never seen before, you’re like, wait a second. Is this solving what we had talked about a couple years ago that we thought no one would ever solve.
And here it is, someone figured it out. And I, I just, I love that. I love the ingenuity, I love the entrepreneurship, and I love the creative creative ability of many builders, founders and capital partners.
Matt Knight: Yeah, I totally agree. And it’s, encouraging to me to see that I think these events get a little better and a little more sophisticated, if I can use a weird word every year where.
To your point, people are knowing more about, vendor compliance and AB testing and attribution for NOI and how do I think about seasonality, right? [00:17:00] Things that are not just please use my tech, or, Hey, please, can I buy some tech? It’s more of a, I have specific needs. I have timeframes, I have budgets, I have frameworks, I have APIs, I’m just seeing better conversations every year.
And I shouldn’t comment on the content ‘cause I almost never listened to any of the content ‘cause I’m so busy with meetings. But I, I gather that the content gets a little richer every year from what I hear. And then the quality of the conversations get better every year. So it’s encouraging to see these events become more and more.
Again, sophisticated is the only word I can think of, but you get what I’m trying to say. Right? It’s No, I get it. They’re progressing beyond just like, you have some tech, I need some tech. Let’s talk about your tech. Like, it’s becoming much more nuanced, I think.
Chris Moreno: Well, I think, I think they’re, with the feedback, Matt, as you’re saying, sophisticated also, specific , what, what EC did and what many events now do is they do a great job of creating tracks, right?[00:18:00]
So if you are an investor. You will have a different track than maybe an operation stand, right? Or a COO versus a CFO or a marketing person. And the marketing person may go between the areas. So I think that’s what’s cool is that many shows, and especially op tech, tries to have content that varies, but also takes you through a story.
The same thing with, with whether it’s, trade show or activations. And of course you’re gonna spend your time on, on the extracurricular activities like. Morning workout or breakfast or lunch or dinner. So, one of the things Matt, I think would go remiss is changing of the guard in the industry, right?
As people are looking for new careers, new jobs, there’s a lot of acquisitions dispositions. You’re seeing it happen possibly more than ever. And so I think these events are actually a great place for people to connect, media. Is incredibly powerful. It’s actually becoming more powerful.
There’s like a resurgence of media now, and, someone was speaking at one of the [00:19:00] events about how students, and the, they look to the media, they look to the power of these players. I think the same thing at these events is, those who tell a great story, those who command an audience, those who know how to lead, people will always wanna work for those people.
So I find that at some of these events, you’re actually seeing a, a lot of, discussions around mergers. You’re seeing a lot of discussions around disposition, but you’re also seeing a lot of capital discussions people who wanna be LPs or investors, and then of course people looking for their next job.
So I, I think there’s, there’s a, sometimes people do a great job of going out to these events to find their next career move.
Matt Knight: Well, it’s funny, you were talking about best a a few minutes ago and I got to thinking what’s the best conference in PropTech? And I don’t think that’s an answerable question because I think the way you said it earlier is correct.
Is it sort of. Depends, it depends on what your goal is, right? If you’re raising money mm-hmm. It’s one, if you’re looking for partners, it’s another, if you need to focus on, like you said, facilities and maintenance, [00:20:00] it’s another one. And so, if you love going to Vegas, it’s one if you hate going to Vegas, like it just really depends on who you are and what you do.
And I, I always try to have a North Star with our discussions around how can we help people that are starting in the industry? And so I’m a little. I guess I’m frustrated that I can’t give anyone a soundbite, like if you only go to one,? Yeah. It’s like, well, it really depends, right? It really depends on what you’re looking for, you know what I mean?
Chris Moreno: Like, again, I can tell you this, is that. Each, the mistake many people make with a broad stroke, especially on social media when they’re saying conferences are in trouble, I always laugh when someone says that, or, this event was a disaster or no good. And even if multiple who say it is okay, what happened and what, who is the person saying it and why?
The GR of the greatest things I’ve learned from a great VC and founder here in Atlanta is he looks to why the person is saying what they’re saying. And what I’ve found is that. Maybe that person’s at the wrong event, maybe that person did the [00:21:00] wrong homework for that event. So I would, it goes back to what I think Matt, is the size of event matters, the context of why are you there.
So for me, what I’m focused on is I’m really focused on connecting the dots between capital players, family, that means family offices, private equity, institutional venture capital two. The operators, owners, developers, and founders of real estate and real estate technology. So I want to be in the room where it happens.
I want to help with the challenges that exist. I wanna help with advocacy in Capitol Hill. Those are the things. And so for me, where it’s really being to be great and B attending those events. So generally for me, that’s gonna be a senior level., the C-suite, and I think for many people who sell, if you’re on the supplier side and you’re selling into a, a, a, a high decision maker, you’re probably gonna wanna be at [00:22:00] those types of events.
And a lot of people look at the numbers, but funny enough, Matt. A 50 person, a hundred person, a 200 person event can be very successful., I’ve been to many of those where they are, you get really great connections, bonds and friends, and then people who, who make buying decisions relatively quick. Whereas if you’re in an event with.
3000 people, you can still form some great bonds, but there’s probably gonna be more of your competitors at those events for better or worse. And that’s why if you are in a competitive market, you need to be there. You can’t just pass. And I’ll say the big events I’m looking forward to Matt, in the new year obviously are the, in h see annual meeting in January.
Which is put on by MHC in, in Vegas, and that’s, there’s a women’s event that they kick off with on the 26th of January, and then they have the 27th to 30th, which is, or 27th to 29th, which are great. Usually have some great speakers. I love that one because that gives us a real sense of where the economy is.
If properties are moving, if capital’s moving and flowing, but I think that’s roughly between like seven to [00:23:00] 9,000 people, right? All multi-family, all institutional, even to small family offices. And then, looking forward to like the spring event we’ll be at, which will be the retreat. Smaller retreat, probably 200, 250 people of owners, decision makers and top suppliers.
But then, and then we head into, I think, reccon in March. And then we start, then we go to AIM and then we go to your conference. So, that’s how I think about it, is like. There’s the core and then there’s other events that might make sense like an IBS or NAHB. But those are a little bit off kilter because those are more , developers and builders and that may not make sense for many of the technology people who don’t use or don’t focus on, on the prop tech or hardware side.
Matt Knight: Yep. Agreed. We’ll have to do another one of these ‘cause we have some stuff to talk about in 26 and some AI things, but I appreciate you hopping on and doing a bit of a retrospective on conference 2025, and hopefully we get to do another one. Like this next year.
Chris Moreno: Let’s do it again too, Matt.
‘cause I, gotta go off to Washington, [00:24:00] DC now to talk about ai for the real estate industry, which is very topical. And I, I’d love to dive in with that with you on the new year on that.
Matt Knight: Good luck. Go teach ‘em get ‘em some religion up there. Teach ‘em about ai.
Chris Moreno: Hey, I’m learning about it just as much as I’m sharing.
So thank you, Matt.
Matt Knight: See you man.
