Nikki Greenberg is Leading the PropTech Revolution with Women in PropTech

Pamela Bardhi: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Underdog Podcast. Today I have an incredible guest here with me. Nikki. How are you?

Nikki Greenberg: I’m excellent. I would say that I’m pretty cold, but my apartment’s actually very cozy during this cold spell we’re having in New York at the moment.

Pamela Bardhi: Boston is the same thing. I literally looked at my car and I looked at the temperature today. and I was like, listen, I don’t know how I feel about this’think. I need to get out of New England after. Like, single digits is not my thing. It’s not my vi. But that’s all right. That’s all right. We’re here. Right? But this is, like, one of the major complaints. Every single time, every single year, January, February, this is what hits. Oh, my goodness. It’s an east coast thing, but we’ll get over it.

Nikki Greenberg: Yeah. I mean, I live here out of choice. I left sunny Australia to be here, so I don’t complain. You know, there’s a lot of benefits.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that. I, love that. Nikki. Oh, my goodness. I can’t wait to get into your stor. Cause I know, like, you used to live in Australia. You were born and raised there. Yeah. And then moved to New York.

Nikki Greenberg: I’m, actually born in South Africa.

Pamela Bardhi: Oh, my goodness.  Okay. That’s what I. Because I was just literally about to say let’s take it all the way back. Like, young Nikki, what did you want to be when you grew up? And then I wanted to hear all about the things.

Studied architecture and commerce at the University of New South Wales

So since you just  mentioned South Africa, let’s dive into that. South Africa. That’s beautiful.

Nikki Greenberg: Yeah. So, I mean, I was born in South Africa, and I was part of this generation where as a kid, I left there when in 1997. So half of my life was during ap parte time. and then the other half was in the new South Africa with Nelson Mandela coming in. as a president and this’real transformation of our country into the rainbow nation. a very exciting time to be there and a country filled with hope. and you kind of alluded to. 

Did I always wan to be an architect? Well, my mom was actually one of the first interior designers in South Africa. so she was part of the first graduating class. So I grew up going to building sites. Our house was always A building site. We’re always renovating and extending and doing things in it. I was kind of born into it, really.

Pamela Bardhi: That’s amazing. She was one of the first interior designers in South Africa. That is incredible. Wow. So you were used to being on sites since a kid. Oh my gosh. That’s incredible. And when did you leave there for Australia?

Nikki Greenberg: so move to Australia. When I started high school, we moved over to Perth. which the claim to fame is that it’s actually the most isolated city in the world. Believe it or not, it’s on the west coast of Australia. beautiful. And when I wanted to go to university, I moved over to Sydney. because at the University of New South Wales they let you do a combined degree of architecture. and a masters of commerce, which was quite a unique thing. because usually you think of architecture, as a creative exploit. 

They actually realize, well, if you’re going to be an architect. you probably want to compareir it with something business minded. And that was quite a good thing for me because that drove the direction of my career. I knew that I was never going to be a Frank Geary or Zahaa. Did I didn’t have the talent, I didn’t have. I don’t wan to say I didn’t have the passion. but really those people exceptional. 

So for me, being able to have this dual degree meant that I could go from architecture. the design side, into the business side of the industry. And as a creative, it also meant that I was a very good translator. between the creative teams of interior designers, architects, graphic designers, film crews. whatever it might be, and the business side, you know, the project managers, the financiers, et cetera. Because I could translate the vision into business principles. And it’s something that really stayed with me.

Pamela Bardhi: Wow, that’s amazing. That’s a really interesting degree though, to have both. So commerce and architecture, kind of like a dual degree. That’s unbelievable. because you’re. I feel like you’re using both sides of the brain too. Totally. I mean, it’s beautiful. I’ve just, I haven’t heard of that. That’ incredible. Usually it’s like one thing that is so cool.

Nikki Greenberg: Well, you know, it’s about breaking the stereotypes. because there’s a tendency to say. the architect will never stick to the budget or architects never make money. were completely useless. So for me, straight away it started to put me in a category of one. There were very few business. there’s a lot of fantastic business Minded architects. I actually initially thought that I would be the more commercially minded partner in an architecture firm. But as an architect actually I started in urban design. designing mixed use master plan communities. predominantly in a house and land with retail in the center. Moved over to designing shopping centers. big projects in Australia and in China. 

Worked for Kawichi Takata who should definitely look up. He’s a very, very well regarded. and multi award winning Japanese architect based in Australia. I think he just won like a tall building award. He’s won like restaurant. Look him up. His stuff’s amazing. Kawichi Chakart is kind of like Kengok Kuma to give you a sense of style. And that was my last stop as an architect because I was employee number six. The firm I think has about 200 people now. And he bought me in because he liked my business acumen to be able to help his practice. as they were growing and still wanting to be the best in the business. which they were. So from there I actually went and worked for one of his clients. which was a company called Pace. 

So being able to be that the architect, the creative person jumping into a development team. then I actually realized, well once you become the developer. once you’re on the client side, then you get to create a lot more of your vision. because you’re the one that’s actually driving the vision. that’s something I always tell younger people when they’re thinking about their careers. and like try and move up the ladder. The further up the ladder you are, the more influence you have. And don’t forget about the financials. When you understand the financials, then you can drive the creative. So you’ve got to have the combination of business and creative. You can’t have creative without the business. or you’ll never see idea realized in this business 100%.

Pamela Bardhi: I mean real estate development is such an intricate thing. it’s like this delicate balance of like first off it creation which I love. I love being able to look at something and say, Hi. What can we create here that will be highest and greatest use, right? And not just that. but it comes down to like you’re creating places and spaces where people create memories. So it’s like that is a huge responsibility, moral responsibility that developers have that a lot of people don’t realize. It’s like there’s a lot and then I always say building is the easy part. It’s the planning and regulatory process. that’s always the trickiest. And then you get the design that needs to fit into that, that makes sense for the site.

And then like the actual building is like, oh, okay, all right. You have the contractor build it and that’s it, it’s done.

What were some of Nikki’s favorite projects that she worked on

So I’m curious to see like, what were some of your favorite projects that you worked on. and what were some of the key elements that you really enjoyed? Because that’s one of the things for me whenever I look at real estate development projects. and even small or big, I always look at certain things that they’ve done intentionally. the way that they’ve morphed a certain part of the building to open up the space. Like there’s just all these beautiful little details that are super fun. So I would love to hear your insight on that side.

Nikki Greenberg: Yeah. And I love your description. just to remember that we’re actually creating places that create memories. And I think more than anything, that’s what drove me always to do a great job. Because when I was sitting there at three in the morning going, oh, I’m so sick of this. I just want to go home, I start over. It ‘rewarding to know when you do a great job. somebody actually gets to enjoy that space. it’s rewarding because these places that you create the view and they take on this bigger life. It’s like a, no offense to people creating ad campaigns. but your ad campaign is in and out and that’s it. But you create a beautiful building or beautiful home. a beautiful place, it has this longer life.

One of her favorite projects is a mixed use development in Sydney, Australia

so for me, I have a lot of different projects for a lot. or a lot of different favorite projects for a lot of different reasons. But one that comes to mind is actually a mixed use development. that I did in Sydney, Australia called East Village. And yes, named after East Village in New York. there’s a few reasons I love it. but one is that I worked on the rightive from the start. So I worked on it when I was an architect with Kichi Takata. When we’re coming in designing the shopping centre. I brought shopping centre design capabilities to his firm. and then working on the apartments, alongside another fantastic architecture firm. then that was when I moved to work in house for the developer.

So then I moved roles within the project team from an architecture role into a development role. And I sat there overlooking the building site. So I saw it from excavation through the actual construction happening layer by layer by layer all the way through to it being sold. to move happening to having those parties. where you actually had people come in the first time. to having friends of mine move in there and saying. oh my God, this is the best AP part ever. And it’s so special. also because it was a shopping cent, it was of the, the area. It’s an area called Zetland. it had been waiting for a long time to get a soul to it. to get some shops, to get coffee shops, get bowls, bars. to get this community aspect. 

So when you actually saw the shopping center come to life, the whole community came to life. It actually gave it its heart. for me, there was the most rewarding one. Seeing it from start to finish to see what it’s actually done to the community. and how to transform things. I mean, and that’s the power of development. Some people say developers have a bad name. but I kind of say, well, what’s your favorite coffee shop? What’s your favorite bar? What’s your favorite place to go? A developer created that and when it’s done well, it’s amazing. So poo poo to the people that poo poo developers.

Pamela Bardhi: I’m totally with you. It’s like we get painted as villains and I’m like, we have such an important role. What do you mean? You know, and the whole process of creation is so beautiful. but it comes with its challenges as well.

Real estate development tends to be a little bit more male dominated

so question for you in kind of working up in your career and going into these different positions. like what were some of the challenges that you faced. and how did you overcome them? Because as we know, it’s never easy. But especially, especially in real estate development where it is tends to be a little bit more male dominated, right?

Nikki Greenberg: Yeah, 100%. And I’ll be honest, that was a challenge for me. because I would go on building sites and I’d be as a young architect. I’d be asking for something to be done. the guys on site just would give me the run around there. Like this little chicky babe doesn know what she’s talking about or in one of my jobs. I was earning half of what the guy next to me was earning. I was fixing up his drawings. They wouldn’t let me go to the construction site. because they’re like, oh, women will feel uncomfortable. And there’s reasons why I left the architecture profession.

 And I’m not shy to say it. It’s not a place that understands the way that they actually make it difficult for women. to be able to just be competent and in self Pigeonholing us. they’re like, oh, you’re a woman, you can pick out the colors. I’m like, oh come on. You know. So I mean that’s a challenge. But it’s at the same time, it’s like you’ve signed up to be in a male dominated industry. so grow a pet, quite honestly. I mean that’s the reality. That’s reality. I think the biggest challenge for me, I turned it into an opportunity. The biggest challenge was that as I said. some of the people would look at me. they’re like, oh, who’s this little chicky bay? Blah blah, blah. they’d play games with me. 

But what they didn’t realize is that I knew how to play the game. and I knew how to play the game better. So what would happen is that six months later we’d be in a project. they’d be pointing something. I was like this, that Noah. No, I’m like, yeah, I know. They’re like, oh shit, you’ve been playing us the whole time. I’m like, oops, sorry. And once you know the game, you play the game. It’s part of this kind of like rules of the jungle and who’s the top cat, who’s the big dog. whatever you play along, you’re underestimated, you’ve got to love it. 

And then it just takes on life at its own. Look, I love the industry. I love the different types of characters there are. At the end of the day, the only way you can get a great development to happen. is when people work really well together, you have a common mission. you’ve got to support each other’s goals. But sometimes, especially when you’re looking at different stakeholders, different priorities, different incentives, they don’t always align. So sometimes people try to kind of bash or one up each other. 

So if you know how to play the game effectively, which is part this. I’m a creative, I speak business, I understand your and centers and a part of it is also.  being a little bit cheeky about things, then you love it holistically. and you’re driven by getting a fantastic result for know, for the, building the community, et cetera. So isn’t that a bad answer? It’s like gameplay?

Pamela Bardhi: Well, no, because that’s one of the best things that I’ve learned too in the industry. like being a GC and being on my sites as a developer and stuff. And the guys in the beginning kind of like, you know, doing exactly what they did to too. And, then the best way to really combat that, like you said, is your stuff. When you know your stuff, then they’re like, then the respect comes. So that’s just the way to do it. You stand your ground, you do your thing. you don’t get intimidated, you don’t back down, and you just own it.

 Nikki Greenberg: Be great. That’s it. And that’s kind of life as well. If somebody underestimates you, be amazing. And if you’re not amazing, just work freaking hard to be there. then people, that’s how you gain respect, by being good at what you do. not by complaining, going, oh, poor me, poor me. It’s like, just, just be great. There’s no shortcuts to. You do that. Just work hard, have a lot of integrity and figure it out.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely. That’s exactly what I was gonna ask you next.

How did Nikki transition from development to futurism in real estate

What’s been some of your biggest mantras or you think. like the biggest attributes to your success. or things that have helped you become successful in this realm?

Nikki Greenberg: I think for me, a big one’s always been curiosity. You know, I’ve got three university degrees. I absolutely love studying, I love learning. and it’s always about lifelong learning. So I’m always looking at new things. and new ways of doing things and taking a deep dive. I’m not somebody that takes shortcuts, I always act with integrity. Your reputation is everything. I’ll do whatever I can to help people along the way. 

As I said, this is real estate development, a team sport. You’ve got to build up your allies, help people progress, help them get their wins. when they get their wins and when you can, even if it’s a way of like back channeling. to get them their wins, then you’ve got an ally that’s going to help support your vision. So, I think those are some attributes that have definitely helped me through this time. to get to where I am.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that, I love that. And the transition from development into more of the futurist stuff, which is super cool. because I’m so curious to hear all about this world. and kind of like all the innovation that’s coming. then there’s A.I. I mean, there’s a million things. So would’love to hear how you transitioned into that in the real estate space. kind of what you’re seeing kind of coming.

Nikki Greenberg: Yes. So the way that I transitioned into the future space. is that when I was looking at moving to New York. I went to a lot of networking events, I went to a lot of conferences, I called people on LinkedIn.any meeting I could get, any information I could get. And along the way I ended up going to a prop tech or real estate technology event. And I was absolutely astounded. I was like, well, why aren’t we talking about this as an industry?

 There’s so much that technology can do for us. It’s another tool in the tool belt. It’s another material on the palette. Like it can do so much for us. So when I did move to New York and I started working for a fantastic company. I said to the president or the organization. I’m really interested in this prop tech stuff. Can I make it part of my role? And he said, well yes you can. As long as you did the stuff we’re paying you to do, you can, of course you can. 

So I started using my lunchtime after hours additional. any spare time I had reading up about prop tech, attending events, networking with people. bringing in vendors, seeing how we could use their technology. and always just asking questions, probing, probing, probing, probing, probing. And that was happy because they were glad to have an ally inside in the development world. that cared about what they were doing, were advocating for what they were doing. Through that I started to earn a reputation as a traditional real estate player. that was very interested in real estate technology and innovation. understood what she was talking about. 

Fast forward. I was very fortunate, to earn a reputation in the industry as such. again, somebody that’s passionate. knows what she’s talking about. and actually means what she’s talking about. I never make things up. when the pandemic hit, I went back to Sydney, Australia to hide out. At the time there were no Covid cases. I ended up getting a fantastic job as head of technology strategy. at a, large real estate investment manager with about 22 billion in assets under management. predominantly shopping centers, some office towers. 

And what particularly attracted me to them is that they also had a $4 billion development pipeline. which essentially meant that they, well not them. but the fund that they run that they around 5 of the shopping centers. They also owned the land which was being developed into mixed use. entertainment, residential, office Transport, et ceter, etc. You name it, doing it. So me as a developer, I’m like, well this is amazing. And then me putting on the technology hat going well. how can we bring in a technology layer that is actually going to support the goals. of what we’re trying to achieve. So that was the biggest geek out a girl like me could have.

 Because it combines a whole lot of different factors. Fantastic organization, fantastic reputation, big development pipeline. and an actual need to bring technology into the portfolio. across the assets to bring value to the work that we were doing.

Pamela Bardhi: It’s incredible that you say that because tech is really  these smart cities are what’s next. I mean like I’ve been studying them, I’ve been watching them. my communities that I’m building are all sustainable. and add, I’m adding in the renewable energy piece and whatever I can do to reserve the natural resources. but then also adjust that to modern life at the same time. Right? Like what’s the programming that the people in this HOA are going to be watching? Like everything about it is conscious.

Nikki’s thoughts on smart city aspect and the integrations

So I would love to hear kind of your thoughts on like the whole smart city aspect. and the integrations and all that. Cause really this is where real estate is going. And like every developer I’ve been talking to in Boston. they’ve been watching my project cause it’s being built right now. they’re like, this is amazing. We’ve never seen anything built like it. Like, and I’m like, this is the future, guys. You know, mine’s on a much smaller scale. but would love, love, love to hear the integrations that you put in. kind of really like just all of it. I want to hear all the things. because smart cities are my jam, tech, real estate, tech.

Nikki Greenberg: Amazing, amazing, amazing. And I’m glad that you’re paying attention to that and especially from a sustainability perspective. because it doesn’t matter where you sit on the sustainability spectrum. We all like clean air, we all like a beautiful planet. we all like saving cost, energy, opex, et cetera. So look, I think we’re very much in the infancy of where we can be in terms of smart building technology. and pure smart cities or smart districts. one of the reasons is that we tend to have solutions that kind of work like this.

 We have developers going, I don’t want to invest in something. if the technology is going to be different in five or 10 years,. which does tend to happen. So we have this kind of want to need and reluctance, et cetera, et cetera. what we want to start moving towards. And it’s something you alluded to. which I respect, is that you think about, well, what is that experience for the individual. and how can you have this kind of the seamless experience. as you pass through every single Touch point of the building. or the real estate lifec cycle, whatever it might be. And that’s where digital master planning comes in. 

So we’re, as I said, we’re still very much in the infancy as an industry. It’s very, very, very rare. I’ve been looking for case studies and you don’t tend to find case studies. because they kind don’t really exist where you have an end to end solution. that is fully automated, fully autonomous, incredibly smart, delivering on the promise. of all of these technologies to completely seamless and lower costs and improve expectations. We’re not quite there yet and I don’t think we necessarily need to be there yet. a lot of people ask me like oh, what do you think of AI are going to change everything. 

AI is a fantastic tool to make us more efficient, to do things in a better way. We still do so many processes in such a manual way. So if it can be streamlined, if we can get better data set to get information out. then it can empower people to free up their time to focus on high value work. But there’s a, but there’s a bad, sometimes people think that AI is just magic. and you can start using a tool and you get the results straight away. It doesn’t really work that way. You’ve got to actually set it up properly. If you’re getting, say if you’re putting in a super smart AI enabled. building management system that’s gonna reduce your energy costs. because of blah blah blah blah blah. 

If you’re not collecting enough data about what’s actually happening in the building. at the right kind of level. if you don’t actually have sensors that are at a high enough quality to collect the data. for example, if you don’t have somewhere for that data to go, if you’re not analyzing it properly. like we can’t, it’s almost like baking a cake. You’ve got to have the right ingredients to get a quality result. So threw a few things in there for you.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that. Well it’s true because there’s so many development. Like I’ve been seeing a lot of proposals for smart cities. and a lot of governments are backing them. And I’m like, but really what, like who’s really launching these huge massive ones? I feel like overseas they’re a lot more further advanced than we are in the United States. But in the US the US is starting to catch up. But I mean what are some of the elements and the integrations that you’re seeing in the smart cities that do exist.

Nikki Greenberg: Yeah. So smart cities themselves are kind of a broader concept. because you’re starting to look at smart governments. power people, movement, transportation, et cetera, et cetera, etcetera. A lot of the Asian cities, or not a lot of the Asian cities. some of the Asian cities are doing this quite well. Singapore, Koreer, etc. But the irony is that if I have a friend, Peter. who actually runs the world’s Smart Cities Forum, he’s a. Originally from Korea, and he’s one of the top smart cities experts in the world. And when you ask him about, oh, what do you think of smart cities in Korea? He goes, no, no, no. He goes, they’re not smart cities. 

 They’re complete rubbish. So I think sometimes there’s a tendency for us to look at what we’re doing ourselves. and say, well, oh, we’re so terrible here. Everywhere else is so far ahead of us. the US Is doing all right in a few different areas. but really smart cities is trying to look at the combining of better technologies for a better outcome. Somewhere like New York, our subway is falling apart. We’ve got technology from the 1930s that is quite literally falling apart with fuses blowing up. And there was an article even saying that in order to do certain repair work. they have to custom fabricate parts because these parts don’t exist anymore.

 I mean, that’s the antithesis. But to be able to have the society where everything is beautifully integrated between your traffic lights and your, your garbage removal trucks and your snow plows and this and that, you. We’re getting there in kind of a, I don’t understand in a piecemeal way, but I am gonna say in a piecemeal way. We’re getting to have more case studies around things that work quite well. I’m waffling here, but it actually just reminded me I did some research for, for the public work sector, which is where I was looking at some smart city solutions. And it is something like, know, like garbage trucks or snow plows. 

They’re using the same kind of technology as like Wayze or, or Uber or Lyft. to be able to optimize the route that they go along. to be able to service more of the city in a more efficient way. and thinking about when they’re picking up trash or pick whatever. when’s it likely to actually fill up their truck, et cetera. So it’s like you go, wellow. Because I think us in the real estate Development industry and public works. We have so many parallels. They just have bigger trucks than we do. But there are these solutions that are being brought up by the technologists. tested out by cities, improved upon these case studies made. And then once the case studies made. then they’re able to roll it out to, to the next district to be able to do it.

 Then you start integrating different systems, different departments together. and then you start getting more data and things start working together better, etc. So we are actually doing things in the U.S. but it’s, yeah, everything is, you know, you know, crawl, war, run.

Pamela Bardhi: Love that. That’s amazing. Wow, that’s incredible. That’s incredible.

Real estate developers should be thinking about sustainability in their upcoming projects

I mean’s just there’s so much coming and like the wholegr and the whole sustainability thing. everyone’s doing like the 2030 play. I mean 2030 is really five years away and it’s like what are we doing on sustainability front. and you know, on the real estate tech front and all these things. So I know there’s a bunch of real estate developers now that are asking like. what are the things I should be thinking about? I guess bigger developers and also smaller developers in real estate should. what’s really coming next in terms of trends and what are some of the integrations. that you think will start seeing or should start thinking about incorporating into projects?

Nikki Greenberg: Yeah, great question. I’ll probably take it right back to the beginning. I think construction is a place. where we can start looking and I don’t have the stats. the exact stats on me. I can send it to you after for your show notes. but it’s something like I think it’s like 89% of projects run over budget. and over the projected time. And we’re very poor at even knowing something we’ve done a million times. to be able to predict how long it will take. even something like we order, I believe it’s 35% of materials. that we order for construction go to waste and of that 75% goes to landfill. 

So we need to get better at actually ordering the right quantity of materials that we need. because we’re spending 30% more than we need to and that’s just going to waste. if you actually want to improve. improve the bottom line for your development, look at your material quantities and try not to over order. And I know there’s reasons that we over orderer. because we don’t want to be caught short. but let’s actually get smarter what we’re using and even looking at the types of materials. that we’re using or whether it’s doing more off site fabrication, et cetera, so that we can have more certainty.

 I think there’s a whole, there’s not a whole, there’s a huge saving there. because we’re so terrible at that side of things. And then when it comes to the building itself, an area, well, I’d say there’s probably two areas. I’d say you want to look at, depending on the size of the development. When it comes to technology itself, when you’re thinking about hard wiring something in. make sure that you have really good fiber because at the end of the day. whatever smart devices you want to have, you need good connectivity. So if you want to invest in something that’s not going away. that’s like the number one thing that you want to do. 

And secondly, understand that you can’ot have a degrade product and expect a AAA result. And that kind of comes back to what I was saying about oh, AI does everything. Invest in good tech, invest in good hardware and then you’ll get the data that you need. if you have a fuzzy camera for the 1980s that you’re reusing. don’t expect that it can work on 2025 technology. You’re going to get a fuzzy result. So think about that, in your capex planning. think about it that you’re actually going to want to future proof your buildings by investing in good tech. Now to future proof and lower your opex and building efficiency 100%.

Pamela Bardhi: And on the sustainability front, what trends are you seeing right now? Because we’re on my end, we’re working on battery energy storage systems. we’re working on solar, we’re working on let’s see’s the other one, wind turbines. and trying to get into the hydrogen because I know hydrogen is a really big one. But for residential use we’ve been able to get wind turbine machines. that are for residential use and then same thing with battery energy storage systems. So I’m like, oh man, these are all. And then solar of course, all kinds of new tech on the solar front. which is super cool and like microgrids and all of that stuff. So I’m curious to see what you’ve been seeing on your. kind of what’s next on the sustainability front that developers should be thinking about. Big or small.

Nikki Greenberg: Yeah, look, the first thing is you have to have good design, that’s the first thing. Make sure that it is oriented well. You look at the size of your Windows circulation et Cetera. if you can get that right, then you shouldn’t be having to do a lot in terms of active systems. looking at planting, whether you’re using evergreen or deciduous trees, things like that. This is Sustainability Design 101, which I definitely did my first, second and third years of architecture school. That’s the first thing you want to do. again, lowers your OPEX 2, looking at thermal mass, et cetera.

 And then if you want to get into more active systems. if you’re thinking about things as batteries, such as batteries. there are some pretty amazing new things coming out. One of which I saw when I was actually a judge last year at this was the ULI Germany Prop Tech challenge. then that group went into the finals for Theli, Europe, Prop Tech challenge. And there was a company there that was actually looking at reusing car batteries. repurposing them and using them as a battery source. I believe they’re actually storing energy if I’m not mistaken. 

So Europe’s pretty good at looking at circular economy and reuse. we obviously want to take as much material that’s not going to landfall. if we can repurpose it and reuse it, that’s pretty great. We do have a lot of challenges with a lot of this new and emerging technology in terms of building code. and fire code and approvals, etc. That red tape again. But if you, I was going to say put on your thinking hat. or put on your rose colored glasses or put on your view. where you think of opportunities rather than oh, this is too difficult. There’s so much stuff out there that has been invented. or is been tested out that really provides great opportunities. 

Moss is another one that I kind of geeked out on for a while. Even, you know, if you have like Moss as a building cladding. it can do pretty amazing things because of the thermal properties of it. It can absorb heat and it actually creates a microclimate and of course it’s sustainable, low maintenance, et cetera. There’s amazing materials, there’s amazing things like active and passive. You just have to be brave enough to willing to test it out. and know that it’s not just for the long term benefit of your organization. but also long term benefit of your planet. So Moss, there you go. There’s an eas.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that. and Nikki and this one can be business, this could be whatever, whatever. But it’s literally my favorite question.

What would Nikki older self tell her younger self based on what she know now

So what would your older self tell your younger self based on what you know now like. what piece of advice?

Nikki Greenberg: Oh, gosh. Older self, tell my younger self. Jeez. Probably what my present self would have told my younger self, which is invest in property. Now it’s only going to go up. So What’s your standard response? Or does it change by the day?

Pamela Bardhi: It changes. Yeah. No, it certainly does. I know. I’m like, oh, man, when I was in high school. I should have boug this and now it would be worth X. Yeah.

Nikki Greenberg: It’s like Back to the Future by AppleAct.

Pamela Bardhi: right. And just go back in time and then come back. and just have all the stocks and be a gazillionaire.

Nikki Greenberg: Yeah, yeah. And we’re just. We’re not going to say anything about crypto right now or Bitcoin. because who knows what”s going to happen in 20 years time versus 20 months ago. or two days into the future.

Pamela Bardhi: Right, Exactly. I mean, there’s just so much. It’s just fascinating to see how it all kind of, like, shakes out. and trying to get ahead of the curve as much as possible. So, I mean, hearing all this development insight. and what’s coming in real estate and on the property tech side. there’s so many exciting things. I mean, everyone’s finding ways to monetize properties like it’s nobody’s business. It’s insane. I mean, people are able to rent their backyards. There’s Airbnb, obviously, there’s coal living. where they rent by the room. I mean, like, real estate, really.

 I mean, the tech and real estate’s gonna continue to, I think, blow up. and optimize properties for highest and best use. which is really exciting. You know, even commissary kitchens and stuff like that. Like, now restauranteurs don’t have to open up a restaurant to and basically mitigate their risk. and go into something like that and be able to grow. So there’s just all kinds of magic, really, coming up in the future.

Nikki Reinberg talks about upcoming travel and upcoming projects

And speaking of what’s happening soon and in the future. what’s coming up in your world in the next few months? Like, what’ what’s new? What are you focusing on? Any new projects?

Nikki Greenberg: yeah. what are we in. We’re in January at the moment, so upcoming months, I have a fair bit of travel. I’m very fortunate to speak at conferences around the world. So I’ll be in a few different places. Aspen, Carolina, North Carolina, South Carolina. One of the Carolina, Charlotte Charlon. That’s the one. Charlleson. I’ll also be in Sweden, which will be Great. I’m very fortunate that I’ve also recently been appointed to the advisory board for Prop Tech Sweden. so I’m looking forward to supporting their efforts. 

So, yeah, so the next few months are going to be a lot of advisory work for real estate firms. and for prop tech firms that are interested in expanding what they’re doing in the real estate space. and real estate firms that are looking at what they’re doing today. how they can be doing it better. So, yeah, business as usual. It’s going to be a fun few months.

Pamela Bardhi: I think that’s so amazing. Oh, my goodness. And we’ve definitely. I mean, are you going to be posting any clips or anything from those?

Nikki Greenberg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I’m always posting stuff on my social media. LinkedIn’s always a good place to find me and connect with me. I think I still look like myself in my photos. If I don’t. It’s been a hard. It’s been a hard few months, to your point. I do also have a podcast that I’ve been working on in the background called the Visionaries Podcast. so you can look it up. There’s some really fantastic, guests telling great stories about innovation and how they bring big projects to life. Visit my website, nikyreeeenberg.com. there’s always stuff out there or attend one of my talks, so. And if you’re on LinkedIn, reach out to me. Let me know what you’re thinking about. Let me know what inspires you. always love hearing from people.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that. Nikki. That’s literally what I was going to ask. I wasn to say, where can everyone connect with you and your magic? I’m sure they’ve been wondering. So this, this is amazing. Thank you so much for all the magic today and all the insight. I learned so much and I’m so, so grateful for you, Nikki. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Nikki Greenberg: Yeah. Thank you for having me here today and for the great work that you’re doing. especially with that focus on people creating memories and sustainability. And for the great work that you’re doing with your podcast, too. Kudos to you.

Pamela Bardhi: Thank you so much.

Underdog is a weekly podcast featuring advice from underdogs

So that’s it for today’s episode of Underdog. Catch us next week. Always dropping on Thursdays. And remember, if you’re interested in real estate or want to learn how to create more money and magic in your life. check out meetwithpmela.com and let’s chat. Sending you so, so much love.