It is with great pleasure that my team and I announced our acquisition of CRE // Tech this week! This is a true milestone in our young sites history.

There are many factors that went into the decision to acquire their platform, but the single most important was the opportunity to partner with my friend Pierce Neinken, the founder of the site.

When I first entered the CRE tech space in 2011, there were only a handful of folks on the scene. But the one that made the biggest impression on me was Pierce. He was like the kid in that Bruce Willis movie that said, “I see dead people,” but what he saw coming was the explosion in CRE Tech. That takes real vision! And so, he went about building an amazing event, connectivity and content platform before anyone! In my opinion, that took a lot of guts!

Just as important to me personally was the “guy” behind CRE // Tech. One of the hardest and most important lessons I have learned in 30 years of business is that it’s ALL ABOUT SURROUNDING YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE OF INTEGRITY! Unfortunately, I run into people every day that don’t share that philosophy and those are the ones I avoid at all costs. Even when the upside, the money or the gains could be huge. I personally value integrity more than anything. And in that regard, Pierce is just about the best guy I have met in the tech business (or any business for that matter)!

I am blessed that my entire team at The News Funnel shares this philosophy and that they are all people of great character, talent and passion. This includes my partners, teammates and investors!

From a business point of view, our strategy to acquire and re-invest in the CRE tech event space reflects our core belief that the real estate tech industry as a whole is only going to grow, evolve and mature. We want to be the ones that bridge the real estate industry at large with the tech community. However, the core challenge remains that the tech community and the real estate community still have great distance between them. While there has certainly been momentum and traction, so much more growth and opportunity remains. The majority of the real estate sector has still yet to embrace all of the amazing tech innovation taking place daily.

Our goal at The News Funnel, Real Estate Tech News and now, CRE // Tech is to be the ecosystem that connects it all. To be the center of innovation for the commercial real estate industry.

I remain as excited and confident about the future of real estate tech as ever before! It is exciting to be part of these extraordinary times we are living in!