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Brendan Wallace Follow
printCo-Founder/Managing
I invest in technology for the built world. again. Partner, Fifth Wall. Co-
Founder/CEO IdentiBed. Co-Founder, Cabify. Princeton, Stanford MBA.
May 3 · 11 min read

The Future of the Built World

We are excited to share some of the key insights coming o4 of our Salon on
the Future of the Built World

As mentioned in our most recent Fifth Wall Newsletter, we are excited to

share some of the key insights coming o; of our <rst annual Fifth Wall LP
Conference + Salon on the Future of the Built World, held earlier this
month at our Venice headquarters. Leaders from our our Anchor LP’s
CBRE, Equity Residential, Host, Hines, Lennar, Macerich, Rialto and Pro-
logis, as well as Financial LP’s joined for an engaging two days and cov-
ered a lot of ground, including an update on Fund I deployment and key
learnings, as well as opportunities to continue the cross-collaboration
and synergy that so many of our investors have commented is a key value
di;erentiator for Fifth Wall.

To close the conference, we opened up the room to additional friends of

Fifth Wall and convened some of our most dynamic Portfolio Company
founders as well as counterparts from Sidewalk Labs, AirMap and the
City of Los Angeles for an electric series of panel conversations on the fu-
ture of the Built World, in which we analyzed everything from the future
of smart cities to the ways blockchain is poised to transform the Com-
mercial Real Estate industry. (Thanks to those who joined us from as far
as the Middle East and China to take part in the salon — if you would like
to be included in future events like these, please reach out to us!)

Our three panels were helmed by moderators Steve Levine (Axios, sub-
scribe to his Future of Work newsletter here), Cory Weinberg (The Infor-
mation, subscribe here) and Jonathan Shieber (TechCrunch, follow him
on Twitter here) who artfully steered each conversation into 45 minutes
of thought-provoking, highly-engaging discourse. Special thanks to each
of them keeping the energy in the room vibrant from start to <nish.

We kicked everything o; with the Future of Cities panel, which exam-

ined smart cities and the future of housing, energy, mobility, social ser-
vices and shared public spaces through the lens of those engineering
them and whose companies are powering the technology making these
innovations possible. Panelists included:

• Johanna Greenbaum, Director of Planning and Development at

Sidewalk Labs

• Toby Sun, Co-founder and CEO of LimeBike

• Ben Marcus, Co-founder and Chairman of AirMap

• Sari Ladin-Sienne, Chief Data O^cer, City of Los Angeles

• Claire Woo, Co-founder of Blueprint Power

Claire Woo (left), explaining how buildings of the future will become power plants, complete iwth
smart energy management systems

Visions on the future of our cities showcased a possible future where

smart cities can be sustainable and resource conscious, with a real op-
portunity for increased accessibility and participation from people of all
socioeconomic backgrounds. With the rapid pace of technology develop-
ment, smart cities are not only <nding ways to bring innovative technolo-
gies to their locales, but are also exploring governance in inventive ways
and rethinking their role in providing certain services like transporta-
tion, for example, by enabling private enterprises to provide those ser-
vices themselves.

Claire Woo spoke about the Future of Cities from the perspective of en-
ergy and how that relates to buildings. Claire believes buildings will be-
come power plants, complete with smart energy management systems,
`exible loads, onsite generation and energy storage. This will allow own-
ers to sell power to their neighbors as part of a much, much larger trans-
formation of the electric grid — something Blueprint Power is already
working toward through its mission to “accelerate the transformation of
buildings into intelligent power nodes, allowing them to participate in
transactive energy marketplaces.”

If buildings will become power plants, cities will become more like air-
ports, according to Ben Marcus, whose company AirMap builds digital
low altitude airspace management infrastructure. Marcus believes that
in 50 years we’ll all commute to work in `ying cars, presenting an inter-
esting real estate opportunity: the de-urbanization of cities. People will
be able to live much further from where they work and get there much
more quickly. In the meantime (next <ve years), people will bene<t from
drones in their daily lives, for everything from deliveries to helping in-
surance companies inspect rooftops after storms.

Ben also stressed the importance of cities themselves evolving in terms of

governance in order to keep up with the rapid pace of technology devel-
opment. AirMap will help in that e;ort by connecting aerospace authori-
ties with the drone ecosystem to unlock safe, e^cient, and scalable
drone operations in the cities of the future.

While infrastructure of airspace is a relatively new idea, Toby Sun from

LimeBike tackled the issue of infrastructure within cities and how smart
cities of the future will be powered by smart sensors and devices. In the
next <ve years, we’ll see gradual progress toward more eco-friendly,
smarter cities through the adoption of new smart devices, sensors and
data, but will not see truly transformational change for another 50 years.
Data collected from these devices, among other technologies, will drive
decision making when it comes to city planning, help to identify prob-
lems and overall make cities more responsive.

Sari Ladin-Sienne says Los Angeles is already using data to make better
decisions that proactively respond to challenges — the Los Angeles Bu-
reau of Sanitation reduced dirty streets by over 80% (300 miles of dirty
streets originally, now there are less than 100 miles), and the Great
Streets Initiative is re-imagining the city’s neighborhood centers. Since
entering o^ce in 2013, Mayor Garcetti has invested in data as a core tool
for communication, collaboration, and innovation. Garcetti’s data pro-
gram leverages its data sharing platforms — the <rst-of-its-kind GeoHub
and the Open Data Portal — to tackle multifaceted issues like gentri<ca-
tion or homelessness. Aside from being more proactive and responsive,
smart cities will be much more inclusive than today’s modern city, espe-
cially in terms of civic engagement. While some already receive informa-
tion about what is going on in and around their city via personal
assistants such Alexa, the connection will be completely seamless in 50
years. Like Claire, Sari sees future cities as an inclusive place that in-
cludes network and connectivity for vulnerable communities. In <ve
years, Sari envisions a multi-modal system that is far more e;ective than
what’s in place today. And in 50 years, procurement will be solved, and
regulations will provide signi<cantly more `exibility for both private en-
terprises as well as citizens.

Sari Ladin-Sienne (second from right), discussing the ways in which the City of Los Angeles is using
data to make better decisions that proactively respond to challenges.

Johanna from Sidewalk Labs gave a picture of what modern engineering

looks like now to better account for the many future possible technolo-
gies in cities. As she works on the Toronto initiative she sees changes al-
ready as residents change their behavior and more people are giving up
cars. Like the others, the timeline of full implementation and realization
of plans takes time, but the the city has an eye on the future. When asked
about whether buildings in the Toronto Plan include support for `ying
cars, she noted that since buildings have long life cycles , it’s important to
maintain `exibility — that way they can support `ying cars when/if they
do become the norm. Sometimes, over engineering can add long term
value to real estate assets.
A deeper question is if there is a fundamental tension in these future
cities between e^ciency/technology and the human desire (and need)
for interpersonal interaction and connection. Demographically, this gen-
eration is interested in being closer together and the panelists seemed to
agree that urban technology shouldn’t just mean being more connected
to our devices. And cities are already addressing this — the UK appointed
a “Minister of Loneliness” to address the growing problem of loneliness
as a huge, huge problem for modern cities. How do we balance e^ciency
with social interaction?

Takeaway: Cities are changing and morphing on the topics of accessibili-

ty, connectivity, and sustainability, slowly, but surely. Are they truly
“smart” now? No. Are they getting “smarter” by the month? Yes.

Real Estate-as-a-Service

A look at disruptive platforms are reimagining the meaning of real estate as

a “service” rather than an “asset”

Moderated by Cory Weinberg from The Information.

Panelists:

• Ryan Simonetti, CEO and Co-founder of Convene

• Jamie Hodari, CEO and Co-founder of Industrious

• Joe Fraiman, Co-Founder and President of Lyric

• Ari Mir, Co-founder and CEO of Clutter

There is a massive trend of companies outsourcing their workplaces and

Jamie Hodari discussed how Industrious capitalizes on this trend with
coworking spaces. Business looks very di;erent for di;erent geographies
in this space, which can prove challenging. For instance, operating space
in St. Louis compared to San Francisco or New York are two completely
di;erent scenarios. “Subscription for real estate” is Jamie’s long term
dream, but not a current reality — their product is currently not perfect
because it can’t serve every size tenant, and it will be that way for years.
As a platform, it’s unfortunate to have to tell a tenant to go somewhere
else once they’ve reached a certain stage. Referring to owning physical
real estate, Jamie doesn’t believe it would be great for their business.
They are experts at delivering the best work experience and owning the
underlying real estate asset doesn’t bolster their moat from his perspec-
tive. The dream is 10,000 square foot smaller locations in more places,
however 20,000–22,000 square feet is a starting point to include the
space and amenities needed to successfully serve tenants.

Ryan Simonetti (left), and Ari Mir (right), look on as Joe Fraiman (center) spoke about Lyric’s
expansion plans.

Ari Mir spoke about Clutter’s on demand physical storage platform oper-
ating in seven markets, with aggressive expansion plans. They provide a
full inventory management system online for customers to track their be-
longings. Owning its own industrial warehouses is something that Clut-
ter is willing to consider long-term, but not a current goal for the time
being. With the continued growth of e-commerce, Clutter plans to lever-
age physical real estate for their own supply chain as well as for others. A
retail footprint within the cities they operate in will likely be part of their
business, both for the brand equity value as well as serving as a node in
the supply chain.

A new category of accommodations, Creative Suites, will combine the

spaciousness of an apartment, the amenities of a 4-star hotel, the pro-
ductivity of your favorite work space, and the creative surroundings of
an artistic studio. Lyric is in 10 markets now, and Joe Fraiman noted they
plan to double that to 20. For landlords, Lyric mass leases blocks of
rooms (entire `oors), and handles end-to-end operations of those units.
One thing they’ve improved upon by necessity was business development
with large organizations. Early in the business, they learned quickly that
success meant selling to each stakeholder separately. It took a long time
to understand the deal structure and parties needed. The transforma-
tional opportunity for Lyric is to lead the movement to a new middle
ground of accommodations.

Like others on the various panel, a core part of Convene’s strategy is to

address where technology and humans converge, and how we can make
that better. Convene runs a workplace hospitality platform blending
meeting spaces and workplaces — in each location, square footage is gen-
erally one third workspace, one third amenities, and one third event
space. Ryan Simonetti, spoke about their focus on large (40,000 square
foot and above) class A real estate assets in dense urban markets. While
not being in every market is certainly a downside in terms of network
and scale, there is immense power in focus. The future of work is `exibil-
ity, agility (for workforce as well as the company), and human experi-
ence, according to Ryan. Rather than own real estate, Ryan would rather
in`uence design upfront as the anchor lead-in. Convene will open 24 lo-
cations next year, with many deployments being as an anchor tenant that
a redevelopment is built around. He concluded by asking: How do you
deliver an empathetic workplace and what does an operating system for
a building from a human experience look like? Those are the core ques-
tions Convene is solving.

Takeaway: With the continued rise of workplace, storage, and event

space outsourcing, Real Estate as a Service is an evolving and fast-grow-
ing category of Built World companies with enormous potential. While
the panelists were split on the importance of owning the underlying as-
sets, they agreed upon the importance of the customer experience and
creative `exibility. It’s a certainty that several category kings will emerge
from the real estate-as-a-service theme, and we’re thrilled to back such
strong players in the space.

FinTech & The Built World Economy

A look at how Bntech has disrupted almost every sector of the real estate in-
dustry, where it falls short and how it’s expected to evolve. This panel also
looked at how blockchain technology is poised to transform the commercial
real estate environment.

Moderated by Jonathan Shieber from TechCrunch.

 • Max Simko;, Founder and CEO of States Title

• Erin Collard, CFO and Founder of Blend

• Assaf Wand, Co-founder and CEO of Hippo

• Josh Stein, President and General Counsel, Harbor

Blend is building an amazing SaaS tech-enabled mortgage business, and

part of Fifth Wall’s investment was brokering a deal with Blend for
Lennar (the largest homebuilder in the U.S.). Regulatory risk isn’t a bad
thing for Erin Collard’s business, as it acts as a moat to competition in
mortgage (not unlike how the challenges obtaining MLS data act as a
moat to those who have spent the money and time to aggregate hun-
dreds of MLS’). There is a major area of opportunity in strengthening the
realtor and loan o^cer relationship, especially in markets where homes
sell in a couple days. If that relationship is not rock solid, there’s little
chance a buyer will be able to win a bidding war and close on a property.

The insurance industry has historically been focused on improving e^-

ciency, but refocusing on the customer is the way to transform the expe-
rience. Assaf Wand from tech-enabled home insurance broker Hippo
outlined the opportunity for home insurance to be much more proactive 
— monitoring roofs with drones, cleaning gutters, changing water <lters,
monitoring for leaks, etc — in order to provide more value to the home-
owner, and de-risk Hippo’s business in the process.

Assaf Wand (center) explaining the ways in which home insurance can be much more proactive.
Harbor is on a mission to bring the liquidity of public markets to private
securities. Real estate happens to be the world’s largest class of private
securities. Making trades faster, cheaper, and easier (using Harbor’s
blockchain technology) will lead to more liquidity, while remaining com-
pliant with rules and regulations speci<c to each investment. On the
topic of regulation, a mistake made by cryptocurrency players such as
Bitcoin was viewing regulatory hurdles as an impediment. Instead, Josh
Stein thinks they should (and Harbor does) view the SEC (and other reg-
ulatory bodies) as a large and important client. He’s bullish on Harbor’s
ability to enable unbundling of ownership interests, and rebundle them.
While Harbor is certainly focused on real estate for its early adoption,
they are also thinking about hedge funds as another long term category.

While it’s true municipalities across the U.S. are experimenting with
blockchain for various uses like reimagining land registries (and there
are numerous startups trying to help them do so), Max drilled down to
the exact issue when he mentioned the need to sell into 3,000 county
recording o^ces being a huge (massive) barrier.

Takeaway: Fintech continues penetrating into real estate as a result of <-

nancing being a requirement to every transaction. One opportunity play-
ing out is the strengthening of the realtor and loan o^cer relationship
from lead all the way to closing. Regulatory hurdles do slow innovation
in the sector, though act as a moat for those companies who have spent
the capital to overcome them. We’re excited to support companies tack-
ling huge challenges across the entire <nancial spectrum, from buying
and selling (Harbor) to titles (States Title) to insurance (Hippo) to mort-
gage (Blend).