Tangent: Conversations with Real Estate & Tech Innovators

Hosted by Edward Cohen & Zach Aarons

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126

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Aug 2026

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About the show

A podcast community for real estate and tech leaders, investors, operators and innovators. A new era is upon us. Tangent💚Proptech unites Proptech founders💡, Real Estate investors and operators🏢, Venture Capital investors, urban leaders🏙 and passionate creators🌎 who are improving our communities and cities. Join us to learn how we can solve present day challenges with innovative technology and greater collaboration. Join VC investor Zach Aarons and Proptech entrepreneur Edward Cohen, to learn about housing innovation, the future of work and climate tech. We examine these themes through interviews and conversations with Proptech CEO's, real estate owners and operators, and venture investors, and how we can leverage tech and collaboration to help solve the housing crisis, figure out the future of work and how to decarbonize the built environment. If you would like to get your company’s or organization’s mission featured on Tangent, email us at community@tangentproptech.com. Stay curious and always be learning! 🤓

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August 25, 2026Episode 8939 min

Evaluating Tenant Screening Vendors, Impact of ROAD to Housing Act to Investors, with Boom Co-founder Rob Whiting

Rob Whiting is the co-founder and CEO of Boom , a proptech company building the future of rental financial services for residential property managers across single-family rental, manufactured housing and multifamily. Boom's three products — Boom Report for rent reporting, Boom Screen for applicant underwriting, and Boom CRM for agentic leasing and self-showing — serve hundreds of thousands of doors and count American Homes 4 Rent and Manage America among their key partners. Before Boom, Rob founded ventures in healthcare and education, including Haystack Health, a telemedicine company, and a financial aid organization focused on FAFSA access. Rob is based in Austin, Texas. (02:55) Why Rob built Boom (05:44) The ROAD to Housing Act, explained (07:11) The 350-home cap & how institutions keep buying (14:01) Rent reporting as a compliance path (16:09) What Boom does & who it serves (17:44) Is screening a commodity? Data quality & hit logic (21:51) How to evaluate a tenant screening vendor (25:47) How the ManageAmerica partnership came together (30:00) Lessons from partnering with AMH Homes (32:48) Closing the leasing stack gap with Boom CRM (35:52) Coexisting with Yardi, RealPage, & AppFolio (37:40) Collaboration Superpower: Daniel Ek 🏙️ Learn more: - Visit Diald - Steven Song on LinkedIn - SFR Leasing Operating System Boom Secures $15M Series A Funding 🏙️ Virtual Events: - AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily : on 9/29 - SFR / BTR Forum : on 10/22 🏙️ In-person Events: - Institutional Investors & PE Forum : in NYC on 9/16 - South Florida Capital & Development Forum : in Miami on 10/15 - Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3 - All upcoming Commercial Observer events 🏙️ Connect with Tangent: -Edward Cohen on LinkedIn -Zach Aarons on LinkedIn -Tangent on LinkedIn

August 18, 2026Episode 8933 min

Using AI to Make Better CRE Acquisition and Underwriting Decisions, with Diald CEO Steven Song

Steven Song is the founder and CEO of Diald , an AI-powered decision intelligence platform for commercial real estate. Before founding Diald, Steven worked on both the investing and development sides of real estate, and built his career across architecture and urban planning, training at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pennsylvania. He was a founding principal at SCAAA, a global strategy, planning, and design firm, and is a partner at Axle Companies, a family office focused on real estate investment and social impact ventures. Steven is based in Los Angeles. (02:26) Why CRE Decisions Are Still Judgment-Driven (04:41) The Signal That Killed an Atlantic City Deal (07:44) Contextual Drift: The Risk Nobody Models (10:20) Diald's approach (11:59) AI Token Costs and Asking Better Questions (14:27) Tools vs. Workflows (15:52) Diald's Underwriting (17:58) Killing Bad Deals Earlier (19:18) How AI Upgrades the Analyst Role (20:44) Where General Purpose AI Fails at Underwriting (24:23) Does AI Make CRE More Efficient or More Competitive (26:02) What Underwriting Looks Like in 5 Years (27:14) Where Human Judgment Still Matters (29:06) The Local Signals Investors Miss (31:15) Collaboration Superpower: Denise Scott Brown and Reyner Banham 🏙️ Learn more: - Visit Diald - Steven Song on LinkedIn 🏙️ Virtual Events: - AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily : on 9/29 - SFR / BTR Forum : on 10/22 🏙️ In-person Events: - Institutional Investors & PE Forum : in NYC on 9/16 - South Florida Capital & Development Forum : in Miami on 10/15 - Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3 - All upcoming Commercial Observer events 🏙️ Connect with Tangent: -Edward Cohen on LinkedIn -Zach Aarons on LinkedIn -Tangent on LinkedIn

August 11, 2026Episode 8830 min

Retail | How Can Landlords Solve the Tenant Visibility Problem, with Sytes CEO Rafael Weiss

Rafael Weiss is the co-founder of Sytes , a marketplace platform that connects commercial real estate landlords, developers, and brokers with tenants actively looking for space in real time. Rafael came to the problem as a developer who lost a deal because tenant demand was invisible until it was too late, and built Sytes to fix the information asymmetry at the core of retail leasing. The platform serves nearly 350 tenants and over 35,000 active site listings across all 50 states, with clients including Kimco, InvenTrust, Church's Chicken, and Dutch Bros. Rafael is based in Boca Raton, Florida. (01:04) Retail's Demand Visibility Problem (02:44) Why Sytes (04:04) A Filtration System for Tenant Demand (06:24) Getting First Customers to Pay Upfront (07:24) Why Tenant Demand Data Was Opaque (08:34) Anonymous Tenant Expansion (10:14) How a Deal Happens on Sytes (11:24) Church's Chicken Case Study (14:54) Kimco & MyEyeDoctor Portfolio Review (16:34) REITs & Strip Centers (18:04) The Subscription Model (19:24) Retail Is Back (22:44) AI Leasing Agents & the Broker's Future (24:04) Tenant Demand Index for Developers (27:24) Bootstrapping vs. Venture Capital Backing (28:24) Collaboration Superpower: Travis Kalanick 🏙️ Learn more: - Visit Sytes - Rafael Weiss on LinkedIn 🏙️ Virtual Events: - AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily : on 9/29 - SFR / BTR Forum : on 10/22 🏙️ In-person Events: - Institutional Investors & PE Forum : in NYC on 9/16 - South Florida Capital & Development Forum : in Miami on 10/15 - Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3 - All upcoming Commercial Observer events 🏙️ Connect with Tangent: -Edward Cohen on LinkedIn -Zach Aarons on LinkedIn -Tangent on LinkedIn

August 4, 2026Episode 8743 min

Multifamily | How Renter Loyalty Programs Drive NOI & Housing Affordability, with Stake CEO Rowland Hobbs

Rowland Hobbs is CEO and co-founder of Stake , a fintech platform that rewards renters with cash back, working to make renting financially rewarding. Before Stake, he led design and innovation at Teneo and served as head of product design for Accenture North America, and he founded Post+Beam, an innovation design firm, and Linea, a computer vision driven photo sharing app. Rowland is based in Dallas, TX. (04:10) - Why Rent Was Left Out of Loyalty (06:00) - Loyalty Programs Go Multifamily (08:30) - Financial Amenities vs. Flashy Perks (12:20) - Cash back for Delinquency, Retention & Vacancy (14:40) - Rewarding Renters Instead of Punishing Them (15:50) - Bilt Rewards (24:50) - Stake's Cash back Business Model (27:10) - Cash back by Property Type (28:50) - UMoveFree Acquisition in Texas (31:10) - Vertical Integration in Multifamily (32:20) - Rising Housing Costs & Renter Churn (36:50) - Renter Loyalty's Next 25 Years (38:50) - Collaboration Superpower: Barack Obama & Loyalty Program's Inventor 🏙️ Learn more: - Visit Stake - Rowland Hobbs on LinkedIn 🏙️ Virtual Events coming up: - AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily : on 9/29 - SFR / BTR Forum : on 10/22 🏙️ In-person Events coming up: - Institutional Investors & PE Forum : in NYC on 9/16 - South Florida Capital & Development Forum : in Miami on 10/15 - Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3 - 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.

July 28, 2026Episode 8640 min

The Check Engine Light for Commercial Real Estate, with Field Technologies President Clayton Callander

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 ecohen@commercialobserver.com 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. 🏙️ Virtual Events: - AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily : on 9/29 - SFR / BTR Forum : on 10/22 🏙️ In-person Events: - Institutional Investors & PE Forum : in NYC on 9/16 - South Florida Capital & Development Forum : in Miami on 10/15 - Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3 - All upcoming Commercial Observer events 🏙️ Connect with Tangent: -Edward Cohen on LinkedIn -Zach Aarons on LinkedIn -Tangent on LinkedIn

July 21, 2026Episode 8538 min

How to Build an AI-Powered Commercial Real Estate Operation, with Boxer Property President Justin Segal

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 ecohen@commercialobserver.com 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. 🏙️ Virtual Events: - AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily : on 9/29 - SFR / BTR Forum : on 10/22 🏙️ In-person Events: - Institutional Investors & PE Forum : in NYC on 9/16 - South Florida Capital & Development Forum : in Miami on 10/15 - Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3 - All upcoming Commercial Observer events 🏙️ Connect with Tangent: -Edward Cohen on LinkedIn -Zach Aarons on LinkedIn -Tangent on LinkedIn

July 14, 2026Episode 8416 min

How CRE Brokers Are Prospecting in the AI Era, with DealGround CEO Dan Mosher | Live from ICSC+Proptech

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 ecohen@commercialobserver.com 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. 🏙️ Virtual Events: - AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily : on 9/29 - SFR / BTR Forum : on 10/22 🏙️ In-person Events: - Institutional Investors & PE Forum : in NYC on 9/16 - South Florida Capital & Development Forum : in Miami on 10/15 - Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3 - All upcoming Commercial Observer events 🏙️ Connect with Tangent: -Edward Cohen on LinkedIn -Zach Aarons on LinkedIn -Tangent on LinkedIn

July 7, 2026Episode 8520 min

AI for Commercial Real Estate Due Diligence, with Tower Co-founder Noah Walters | Live from ICSC+Proptech

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. 🏙️ Virtual Events: - AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily : on 9/29 - SFR / BTR Forum : on 10/22 🏙️ In-person Events: - Institutional Investors & PE Forum : in NYC on 9/16 - South Florida Capital & Development Forum : in Miami on 10/15 - Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3 - All upcoming Commercial Observer events 🏙️ Connect with Tangent: -Edward Cohen on LinkedIn -Zach Aarons on LinkedIn -Tangent on LinkedIn

July 1, 2026Episode 8420 min

Building the AI Operating System for Enterprise CRE, with Fyxt CEO Ryan Botwinick | Live from ICSC+Proptech

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. 🏙️ Virtual Events: - AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily : on 9/29 - SFR / BTR Forum : on 10/22 🏙️ In-person Events: - Institutional Investors & PE Forum : in NYC on 9/16 - South Florida Capital & Development Forum : in Miami on 10/15 - Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3 - All upcoming Commercial Observer events 🏙️ Connect with Tangent: -Edward Cohen on LinkedIn -Zach Aarons on LinkedIn -Tangent on LinkedIn

June 23, 2026Episode 8345 min

How CRE is Implementing Agentic Workflows, with Lev CEO Yaakov Zar

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. 🏙️ Virtual Events: - AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily : on 9/29 - SFR / BTR Forum : on 10/22 🏙️ In-person Events: - Institutional Investors & PE Forum : in NYC on 9/16 - South Florida Capital & Development Forum : in Miami on 10/15 - Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3 - All upcoming Commercial Observer events 🏙️ Connect with Tangent: -Edward Cohen on LinkedIn -Zach Aarons on LinkedIn -Tangent on LinkedIn