The Diligent Observer Podcast Episode 30: "You Need 500 Site Walks" | B2B Sales Leader Henry Talamantes on The Competitive Advantage of Ridiculous Customer Discovery, Post-Mall America, and the Next Chapter for Urban Office Space
Insights from a PropTech growth veteran who's scaled multiple startups to $175M+ in venture funding while driving innovation in commercial real estate
Today's episode explores 3 ideas that caught my attention:
- Ridiculous customer discovery is what it takes – The “in” doesn’t matter. What matters is being ready to make the most of that “in”. His first enterprise pitch came about because the buyer liked his logo. But the capacity to close was predicated on a stupid deep understanding of the problem.
- Entertainment could save retail – The anchor mall tenant is changing. The TopGolf comparison suggests that destination experiences may replace traditional retail anchors in malls.
- From office building to urban microcosm - Henry envisions mixed-use transformations where office spaces evolve into self-contained neighborhoods, blending apartments, offices, and amenities. This shift challenges traditional concepts of commercial real estate and our experience of urban living. Fascinating.
I explore these ideas and more with Henry Talamantes, PropTech Growth Expert. He guided numerous seed to Series B startups at the intersection of real estate and technology, driving over $175M in venture capital and creating thousands of jobs. He blends real estate operations experience with B2B technology expertise and is committed to community service through organizations like the Knights of Columbus and Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, as well as serving as President of the Dallas A&M Club.
During our conversation, Henry shares:
- A counterintuitive framework for evaluating real estate technology that focuses on understanding incentive structures before examining the actual innovation
- How return-to-office trends are creating unexpected opportunities in urban real estate transformation
- Why technical solutions often fail in real estate - illustrated through examples of misaligned incentives and market misunderstanding
Connect with Henry
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All opinions are personal and may not reflect the views of The Diligent Observer. Not investment advice.