I remember when my kids were little they would always ask me and their mom when driving somewhere, anywhere…”Are we there yet?”.

I think every parent can relate to that :)

But as it relates to CRE tech… “Are we there yet?”.

Unfortunately, we are not even close.

I had lunch the other day in NYC with a few of the top brokers in the country. Big firm. Big heavy hitters. We had a great chat about the market and their business. Of course, I had to ask about tech.

Me: “So what tech sites are you folks using these days?”

Them: “Just the big bad data company everyone loves to hate!”

Me: "Any others?”

Them: “Nope”.

Wow. Sometimes I think those of us in the CRE tech sector can get so caught up in the weeds of our everyday business that we lose site of the bigger picture - that we still have so much work to do and we aren't nearly making the impact we should on the commercial real estate industry!

Are they listening? Are they paying attention? Are we talking to ourselves? What will change all of this?

I love connecting with anyone that I can in the startup world. It’s what I do all day. I also really enjoy conversations with the thought leaders that are working hard to promote the sector like Howard Kline, Linda Day Harrison, Jon Schultz, Duke Long, Jeremy Neuer, Allen Buchanan, Barbi Reuter and so many more. But we are indeed a small tribe. Which is how movements start so that is a good thing.

But maybe what we really need to do to accelerate the adoption, growth and needed investment is to think beyond our own ecosystem. To focus on telling our story OUTSIDE of our own industry. To the business community at large. To reach business leaders. To reach millennials. To reach governments. Future clients and customers. The next generation of leaders. The future Elon Musks and Steve Jobs :)

As someone who is in the news, content and connectivity side of the commercial real estate tech sector, I guess I should be initiating this movement. But I need help. "It takes a village”.

Any takers? Any ideas?

I would love to hear others thoughts on how we can make this happen… let’s start something really meaningful and get the message out to the outside world! Maybe, just maybe, we will “get there soon” as a result.