Brandon Wright is the Co-founder and CEO of Tongo, the company he co-founded to help Real Estate agents address cash flow challenges by providing financial tools such as a commission line of credit and a payroll solution to help stabilize their incomes and automate savings. With a deep understanding of the challenges faced by agents and commission-based earners, Brandon has led Tongo in creating innovative solutions that provide liquidity and flexibility, empowering users to manage cash flow effectively. He began his career at Smith Barney in Seattle, Washington, working under renowned contrarian value investor Jamie Dimon, current CEO of JPMorgan Chase. He then ventured into entrepreneurship, starting a coffee shop in Seattle. Brandon then pursued an MBA at Cornell and joined private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, where he implemented best practices across their software portfolio. Leveraging his experience, he co-founded a company that used AI to build decision engines for lenders, ultimately transitioning into developing a buy now, pay later solution for e-commerce called Catapult.

(01:09) - Brandon's Journey in Financial Services

(06:28) - The Birth of Tongo

(07:48) - Challenges in the Real Estate Market

(11:09) - Tongo's Financial Solutions for Agents
(16:26) - Feature: Pacaso - Luxury vacation home ownership, elevated. Join Pacaso’s growth and become an investor of a venture-backed company at Pacaso.com/invest

(18:12) - Success Stories & Future Plans

(21:32) - Lowering risk with data availability & efficient distribution
(27:27) - Impact of NAR Lawsuit on Real Estate agents & investors
(35:07) - Feature: Blueprint - The Future of Real Estate 2025

(35:54) - NYC Housing Market & FARE Act
(40:43) - Collaboration Superpower: Jamie Dimon (Wiki)

💚 Learn more:
➡️ Visit Tongo's site
➡️ Brandon Wright on LinkedIn

💚 Feature:
➡️ Pacaso - Luxury vacation home ownership, elevated. Join Pacaso’s growth and become an investor of a venture-backed company at Pacaso.com/invest

➡️ Blueprint - The Future of Real Estate - Register for 2025: The Premier Event for Industry Executives, Real Estate & Construction Tech Startups and VCs, at The Venetian, Las Vegas on September 16th-18th, 2025.

💚 Connect with Tangent:
➡️ Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
➡️ Jeff Berman on LinkedIn
➡️ Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
➡️ Tangent on LinkedIn

Disclaimer: 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 advise. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Camber Creek, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Robert Cooper is the President and CEO of Embue. After two decades in high tech, Robert decided to follow his passion and use his experience to help solve the climate crisis and improve people's lives. He decided to focus on Multifamily after recognizing the huge opportunity to simultaneously reduce carbon emissions, improve residents' health and comfort, and make the buildings' staff’s work easier across all Multifamily classes. Previously, Robert co-founded Ithaca & NYC based startup IDS after grad school. IDS sold mission critical software used by NYSE, Swiss Exchange, semiconductor plants and telecom providers and was acquired by Stratus Computer for 24X revenue. He also co-founded energy management company Coincident. Robert holds a PhD in computer science from Cambridge University and a MA in sustainability from Harvard University, as well as two patents.

(01:27) - Robert's background & journey to Embue

(02:05) - Innovations in Multifamily

(04:59) - Opportunities from Berkadia's BeEngaged program

(07:58) - Energy Efficiency & Operational Improvements

(11:13) - Smart Building Multifamily Solutions & Technology

(17:20) - Feature | Berkadia's BeEngaged - Learn more: Ecosystem of founders, industry professionals, and capital providers dedicated to redefining the Commercial Real Estate space.

(30:15) - Future of Decarbonization & Climate Tech
(44:37) - Collaboration Superpower: Jigar Shah (Wiki)

💚 Learn more:
➡️ Visit Embue's site
➡️ Robert Cooper on LinkedIn
➡️ Bryce Nyberg on LinkedIn

💚 Feature:
➡️ Berkadia's BeEngaged - Learn more: Ecosystem of founders, industry professionals, and capital providers dedicated to redefining the commercial real estate space.

💚 Connect with Tangent:
➡️ Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
➡️ Jeff Berman on LinkedIn
➡️ Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
➡️ Tangent on LinkedIn

Disclaimer: 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 advise. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Camber Creek, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Caren Maio is the CEO and co-founder of 100, a Proptech company tackling rental fraud for Multifamily owners and operators. A staggering 93% of operators have experienced fraud in the last 12 months, and Caren and the 100 team are on a mission to stop it. Prior to this role, she led Moved, and co-founded and led Funnel (previously Nestio), a leasing and marketing platform for Multifamily properties, where she served as CEO and President for 11 years. Under her leadership, Funnel was recognized as one of Entrepreneur Magazine's "Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America." Caren's expertise has earned her features in publications like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Forbes. Caren is also a member of the Forbes Real Estate Council and, before her entrepreneurial ventures, she held sales and marketing positions at The Wall Street Journal and Nike.

(02:01) - Inman's Proptech Awards

(04:52) - Caren Maio's Journey to 100

(06:27) - Understanding Renter Fraud

(10:44) - Tech stack & Partnership with CLEAR
(14:41) - Feature: Pacaso - Luxury vacation home ownership, elevated. Join Pacaso’s growth and become an investor of a venture-backed company at Pacaso.com/invest

(17:22) - Business Model & Market Strategy

(21:53) - Unexpected Proptech Alliances

(22:52) - Proptech fundraising: challenges & advice for first-time founders
(34:04) - Feature: Blueprint - The Future of Real Estate 2025

(38:42) - Collaboration Superpower: Betty White

💚 Learn more:
➡️ Visit 100's site
➡️ Caren Maio on LinkedIn

💚 Feature:
➡️ Pacaso - Luxury vacation home ownership, elevated. Join Pacaso’s growth and become an investor of a venture-backed company at Pacaso.com/invest

➡️ Blueprint - The Future of Real Estate - Register for 2025: The Premier Event for Industry Executives, Real Estate & Construction Tech Startups and VCs, at The Venetian, Las Vegas on September 16th-18th, 2025.

💚 Connect with Tangent:
➡️ Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
➡️ Jeff Berman on LinkedIn
➡️ Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
➡️ Tangent on LinkedIn

Disclaimer: 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 advise. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Camber Creek, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Dan Wenhold is an early stage investor in built world technology and Partner at Fifth Wall, where he co-leads the Real Estate Technology Investment team. Dan has led investments in innovative CRE tech companies like Fractional, Cottage and Neighbor.com. Prior to joining Fifth Wall, Dan was the first employee and Director of Retail at The Black Tux and a growth equity investor at Battery Ventures.

(01:46) - Dan's Journey to Fifth Wall
(03:19) - Evaluating PropTech Startups
(05:26) - The Role of AI & Interoperability in PropTech
(07:19) - Challenges and Opportunities in PropTech Investment
(17:31) - Feature: Pacaso - Luxury vacation home ownership, elevated. Be part of Pacaso’s growth as an early shareholder at Pacaso.com/invest
(20:15) - Impact of Trump & Republican Administration on Proptech
(30:00) - Spotlight on Neighbor.com & Self Storage
(33:55) - Spotlight on Cottage
(37:19) - Collaboration Superpower: Michael Jordan (Wiki) & Ion Țiriac (Wiki)

💚 Learn more:
➡️ Visit Fifth Wall's site
➡️ Dan Wenhold on LinkedIn

💚 Feature:
➡️ Pacaso - Luxury vacation home ownership, elevated. Be part of Pacaso’s growth as an early shareholder at Pacaso.com/invest

💚 Connect with Tangent:
➡️ Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
➡️ Jeff Berman on LinkedIn
➡️ Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
➡️ Tangent on LinkedIn

Disclaimer: 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 advise. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Camber Creek, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Taylor Hou is the CEO and Chief Happiness Officer at APM Help, a company serving over 300,000 single family homes nationwide dedicated to professionalizing the single family property management industry by bringing clarity and efficiency for accounting and operations. A serial entrepreneur and tech investor, Taylor is passionate about applying lean startup principles to create process efficiencies in tech and startups. With a focus on streamlining products and services for an optimal user experience, Taylor thrives on improving systems and building better processes to make them more effective and impactful.

(00:56) - Taylor Hou's Background and Journey

(02:43) - Evolution of Property Management

(04:34) - Challenges in Property Management Roll-ups
(13:45) - Feature: Blueprint - The Future of Real Estate 2025

(14:35) - Institutional SFR's Impact on Housing

(18:46) - APM Help's business

(28:36) - Current Success & Future Innovations

(31:25) - Embedded Banking Opportunity

(34:23) - Unlocking Liquidity in Rental Housing

(42:34) The Future of Property Management Tech

(47:45) - Collaboration Superpower: Masayoshi Son (CEO of SoftBank, Wiki)

💚 Learn more:
➡️ Visit APM Help's site
➡️ Taylor Hou on LinkedIn

💚 Feature:
➡️ Blueprint - The Future of Real Estate - Register for 2025: The Premier Event for Industry Executives, Real Estate & Construction Tech Startups and VCs, at The Venetian, Las Vegas on September 16th-18th, 2025.

💚 Connect with Tangent:
➡️ Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
➡️ Jeff Berman on LinkedIn
➡️ Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
➡️ Tangent on LinkedIn

Disclaimer: 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 advise. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Camber Creek, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

A Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, Eli Harris is the Co-Founder and Partner at One Dream Ventures, a venture studio developing cutting-edge enterprise SaaS and AI startups for the global energy transition in real estate and construction sectors. Previously, he co-founded R-Zero, backed by investors like Mayo Clinic and John Doerr, to revolutionize disinfection with hospital-grade, UV-C technology, and served as CEO of EcoFlow, a portable power leader supported by Sequoia China and Hillhouse Capital. With a background in tech roles at DJI and FLIR Systems and fluency in Mandarin, Eli brings a global, innovative approach to real estate, energy, and technology solutions.

(01:38) - Eli's Journey: From Foreign Service to DJI

(03:10) - Founding EcoFlow: A Battery Innovation

(05:12) - Launching R0: Healthy Buildings Infrastructure

(06:29) - NewCo: AI for Construction Projects
(9:10) - Feature - Blueprint: The Future of Real Estate 2025
(09:59) - Pre-seed Strategy & Validation
(12:07) - Advice for Founders & Investors in the energy transition
(14:31) - Collaboration Superpower: Rick Rubin (Wiki - co-founder of Def Jam).

💚 Learn more:
➡️ One Dream Ventures site
➡️ Eli Harris on LinkedIn

➡️ Rick Rubin's book The Creative Act: A Way of Being

💚 Feature:
➡️ Blueprint Vegas 2025 - Register for 2025: The Premier Event for Industry Executives, Real Estate & Construction Tech Startups and VCs, at The Venetian, Las Vegas on September 16th-18th, 2025.

💚 Connect with Tangent:
➡️ Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
➡️ Jeff Berman on LinkedIn
➡️ Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
➡️ Tangent on LinkedIn

Disclaimer: 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 advise. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Camber Creek, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Connie Lee is the Founder of Reffie, a centralized leasing platform designed to help Multifamily operators streamline their leasing processes and lease units faster. Reffie helps automate the 'boring', so real estate operators can focus on closing more renters. Before launching Reffie, she served as Strategy & Operations at Mosaic.tech and also managed Finance and Business Operations at ZipRecruiter. Connie is also a Real Estate investor in Los Angeles and an angel investor in various startups.

(02:40) - Connie's entrepreneurial journey to Founding Reffie

(05:49) - Challenges in Multifamily Leasing

(07:24) - Leveraging AI in Real Estate
(15:11) - Feature | Berkadia's BeEngaged - Learn more: Ecosystem of founders, industry professionals, and capital providers dedicated to redefining the Commercial Real Estate space.

(16:47) - Reffie's Business Model

(28:50) - State of the Housing Market
(33:52) - Feature | CREtech NY Conference & Expo - Sign Up: Tangent listeners get a 20% discount using code PARTNERTANGENT20 at checkout.

(35:24) - Rental Trends & Amenities

(39:07) - Collaboration Superpower: Taylor Swift

💚 Learn more:
➡️ Reffie's site
➡️ Connie Lee on LinkedIn

💚 Feature:
➡️ Berkadia's BeEngaged - Learn more: Ecosystem of founders, industry professionals, and capital providers dedicated to redefining the commercial real estate space.
➡️ CREtech NY Conference & Expo - Register now: Tangent listeners get a 20% discount using code PARTNERTANGENT20 at checkout

💚 Connect with Tangent:
➡️ Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
➡️ Jeff Berman on LinkedIn
➡️ Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
➡️ Tangent on LinkedIn

Disclaimer: 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 advise. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Camber Creek, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.

Brendan Wallace is CEO & CIO at Fifth Wall, where he guides the firm’s strategic vision. Fifth Wall is the largest venture capital firm focused on technologies for the global real estate industry, including those which decarbonize the sector. Wallace has described the impact of the real estate industry on the environment as "the single-biggest lever we can turn on to mitigate climate change.” Prior to founding Fifth Wall in 2016, Brendan co-founded Identified, a workforce optimization data and analytics company that raised $33 million of venture funding and was acquired by Workday (NYSE: WKDY) in 2014. He also co-founded Cabify, the largest ridesharing service in Latin America, and has been an active investor, leading more than 60 angel investments including Lyft, SpaceX, Dollar Shave Club, Bonobos, Philz Coffee, and TriNet Zenefits.

(1:28) - Why Fifth Wall built a dedicated team for Climate Tech investing
(6:22) - Feature - Blueprint: The Future of Real Estate
(7:10) - Selling software vs. Climate Tech to Real Estate LP's
(9:10) - Proptech investing & adoption across different markets
(13:15) - US presidential election impact on Climate Tech
(16:10) - Fifth Wall's role and legacy in Climate Tech
(20:27) - What would Brendan do if he was a founder today
(25:00) - Collaboration Superpower: Sam Zell (Wiki)

💚 Learn more:
➡️ Fifth Wall's site
➡️ Brendan Wallace on LinkedIn

➡️ Am I Being Too Subtle - Sam Zell's Book
➡️ Cherry Lawn Capital White Paper - Transitional Finance: A New Credit Model for High-Growth Real Estate Businesses

💚 Feature:
➡️ Blueprint Vegas 2025 - Register for 2025: The Premier Event for Industry Executives, Real Estate & Construction Tech Startups and VCs, at The Venetian, Las Vegas on September 16th-18th, 2025.

💚 Connect with Tangent:
➡️ Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
➡️ Jeff Berman on LinkedIn
➡️ Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
➡️ Tangent on LinkedIn

Clarification: The number cited at the beginning of the episode $3.2 Billion refers to the amount raised, not deployed, but the VC firms.

Disclaimer: 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 advise. Nothing contained on our program constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Tangent, Camber Creek, MetaProp, or any third party guest to buy or sell any securities, public or private, other financial instruments or funds.