Blueprint 2022 Closing Thoughts
It's not the end, it's really only the beginning
After having such a great time last year at Blueprint, I was a bit skeptical that this year would repeat the success of the prior year. Was last year’s success really just a function of seeing people for the first time since the onset of COVID? Fortunately, Blueprint this year once again lived up to everything that I was hoping for. It is without a doubt THE the proptech conference to attend. If you missed it this year, just make sure you don’t miss it next year. It’s going to be even bigger and better.
Web3 made its presence known and I suspect that we will see an even bigger, more prominent contingency going forward. These weren’t real estate token projects looking to attract speculators late to the virtual real estate game. These were legitimate tech companies working on the hard problems of real estate.
Unfortunately, jugglingly meeting new people, catching up with friends & former colleagues, and attending a few sessions, I was unable to meet every web3 company attending Blueprint. As such, I’ve decided to spotlight the three I spent time with at the conference.
I got a chance to sit down and chat with Plano’s CEO & Co-Founder Brent Marsh on Tuesday. Plano has a vision for delivering global settlement, with instant and standardized settlement through the use of NFTs. Plano is also building a registry of real estate listings on the blockchain. By storing this information on-chain, Plano is looking to disrupt the MLS, putting owners in control of their information while increasing access to real estate information.
I love Plano’s approach of first helping buyers purchase real estate in Mexico. The pain in the current process will certainly attract a lot of foreign buyers looking for a better way to purchase property.
Watch the video below to learn a bit more about what Plano is up to.
While I set up a meeting with Lucy Ferguson, Parcl’s VP of Strategy, I was fortunate to have Jason Lewris, Parcl’s CDO & Co-Founder also join our conversation. Parcl is a blockchain-based platform that allows individuals to invest in a digital square foot of physical real estate in neighborhoods across the world. The Parcl team has built the Parcl Price Index which continuously tracks the underlying price movement in any given Parcl - allowing individuals to benefit from broad (or highly granular) exposure to desirable real estate.
I was in the audience for Jim’s pitch on the Innovation Stage on Wednesday. Despite being day 3 of the conference, he knocked it out of the park (great job Jim!).
What this video to learn about Parcl’s trading platform.
One of my final conversations on Wednesday was with Thomas Park, REITIUM’s CEO and Co-Founder. REITIUM is a real estate marketplace utilizing NFTs and blockchain, allowing individual’s the ability to invest in real estate, for as little as $100. Investors share the rental income and appreciation through fractional ownership.
Learn more about REITIUM by watching the video below.
I’m particularly disappointed in myself for not meeting up with the OwnProp team. Michael McGrail thank you so much for putting me in touch with Ethan Blumenthal and Justin Yoon. Ethan did his best to get me to drop by the booth but I managed to not do this even after confirming with Ethan that I would. Guys, please forgive me and I promise to do a better job next time.
To all the other awesome web3 companies that I also didn’t connect with at Blueprint, please reach out to me as I would still love to connect and learn more about how you are innovating real estate utilizing web3.