Yaakov Zar is the founder and CEO of Lev, a software platform built to modernize the workflow of commercial real estate professionals. Yaakov started Lev after experiencing firsthand how broken the CRE financing process was, watching a $4 million loan take six months to close. What began as a tech-enabled brokerage has evolved into a purpose-built agentic workflow platform helping lenders, brokers, and investors manage deals, ingest unstructured data, and move faster. Yaakov is based in New York City.

(02:26) Bottom Up vs Top Down
(04:31) Slack Origin Tangent
(05:59) MetaProp Skills Library
(09:43) What Is Defensible AI
(11:12) MCP & Rapid Change
(12:41) Pilots Everywhere & Demo Fatigue
(17:34) Same Workflow, Turbocharged
(19:34) Real Estate's Move 37 Moment
(22:04) Why Winning Is Hard to Define
(26:07) Lev Agentic Workflows
(29:14) Leapfrogging Past Salesforce
(31:43) Data Quality Pushback
(33:49) Ingesting Email Into CRM
(35:54) Selling Software to CRE
(39:06) Overhyped AI and Security Risks
(42:50) Collaboration Superpower: Steve Jobs

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit Lev
-Yaakov on LinkedIn

-MetaProp Labs Skills Library

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ Events coming up:

-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-Data Centers Development & Infrastructure Forum: in NYC on 10/6
-South Florida Capital & Development Forum: in Miami on 10/15
-All upcoming events

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

Andreas Rotenberg is Co-founder and COO of Pulley, an AI-powered permitting platform helping developers and operators move projects through approvals faster. Before Pulley, he was part of the team at Honest Buildings through its acquisition, then served as Chief of Staff at Procore through its IPO. Pulley has supported over $15 billion in projects approved across the U.S. Live from ICSC+Proptech in Las Vegas.

(0:00) - First ever ICSC+Proptech live podcast
(1:47) - Why Permitting Is a Growing Bottleneck
(2:41) - What's Happening During Permitting Timelines
(4:13) - Jurisdictional Complexity Across the U.S.
(5:08) - What CRE Teams Underestimate About Permitting
(7:35) - Why Pulley
(8:18) - The Origin Story
(10:53) - Combining Technology with Local Expertise
(14:26) - Where AI Creates Real Value in Permitting
(17:36) - Trust, Hallucinations & Accuracy
(19:07) - Municipalities & Public Sector Modernization
(20:40) - Second & Third Order Effects of Faster Permitting
(22:41) - Collaboration Superpower: Vaclav Smil

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit Pulley
-Andreas on LinkedIn
-ICSC+Proptech

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ CO Events coming up:

-Retail & Hospitality Forum: in NYC on 6/18
-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-South Florida Capital & Development Forum: in Miami on 10/15
-All upcoming events

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

James Harris built his real estate career from scratch after relocating from the UK to Los Angeles. His latest venture is Breezy, an AI tool for real estate agents designed to reduce the administrative load that eats into most agents' days. Breezy recently raised a $10 million pre-seed round led by Ribbit Capital with participation from Fifth Wall, DST Global, and others. Over the past decade he's closed more than $6 billion in luxury residential sales across Beverly Hills and the Platinum Triangle, and appeared on Bravo's Million Dollar Listing LA for seven seasons spanning over nine years before stepping away to focus on his next chapter. He also hosts Rise Above the Ranks, where he talks through the practical side of the business: negotiation, discipline, and how to build something that lasts.

(2:11) - What Proptech Gets Wrong About Real Estate Agents
(6:49) - Realtor Painpoints
(8:54) - What is Breezy
(13:32) - Why Now
(16:26) - Real Estate Agent & Founder Resiliency
(18:31) - Brand, Distribution & Early Traction
(21:42) - AI Agents Enhance and/or Replace Real Estate Agents
(24:20) - First Mover Advantage
(26:36) - What Parts of Real Estate Will Be Human-driven in 3-5 years
(28:24) - The Power of Data & Workflow Platforms
(29:16) - What Changes in Real Estate Over the Next 2-3 Years?
(30:49) - Collaboration Superpower: The Founder Entrepreneur

🏙️ Learn more:
-Visit Breezy
-James on LinkedIn
-James on IG

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

🏙️ Events coming up:

-Retail & Hospitality Forum: in NYC on 6/18
-Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
-All upcoming events

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