In terms of what she is seeing from how venture capitalists are choosing what to fund? She is seeing significant VC focus on determining product market fit and assessing whether a solution has a large addressable market. "During the due diligence process, VCs are looking to gain insights from commercial real estate industry experts in the field, from brokers and property managers at companies such as JLL, senior leaders at institutional real estate investment firms, to real estate decision makers at large corporations. These individuals have been exceptionally helpful in providing feedback on the technologies that VCs are vetting."

She adds that she has "observed that the most successful proptech startups are demonstrating how their platform solves a real pain point, while providing a significant ROI to users, either in terms of cost reduction, improved data accuracy, and/or time saved by users. Once a company is able to demonstrate ROI, they can quickly gain customer traction and begin to scale. For example, when we invested in Jones, a certificate of insurance (COI) automation platform for property and facility managers, we also supported a pilot in two JLL-managed buildings in San Francisco. The pilot demonstrated how property administrators can save more than eight hours each week using Jones for COI management. The pilot has fueled Jones' go-to-market strategy, and following JLL Spark introductions, Jones has been deployed in more than 150 buildings with more than 4,100 more buildings in the pipeline."

Lastly, she says she has observed that "startups with strong growth trajectories are vigilant with their pricing strategy and post-integration customer success, as these two factors are crucial for client adoption and sustained traction."

Check out the full lineup of speakers at the upcoming CREW Network Convention and Marketplace held September 25^th at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld where more than 1,200 CRE leaders are expected to attend.