Proptech Pulse

Proptech Pulse: Building Data-Driven Brokerage Success with York Bauer

• Lone Wolf Technologies • Season 1 • Episode 10

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In this episode of PropTech Pulse, host Jake Hamilton welcomes York Bauer, Chief Industry Relations Officer at Lone Wolf Technologies. With four decades of technology leadership including time at Microsoft during pivotal platform transitions, York brings grounded perspective on what separates meaningful technology from industry hype. The conversation explores genuine platform openness, strategic AI evaluation, data quality requirements, broker dashboard applications, and frameworks for technology decisions that serve business objectives rather than vendor interests.

Topics Covered

  • What makes platforms genuinely "open" beyond marketing claims
  • How business objectives should drive technology decisions
  • Why data quality determines AI effectiveness
  • Strategic applications for broker dashboards beyond operational monitoring
  • The measurement discipline required for effective management
  • Partnership strategies for technology vendors
  • Training approaches that drive sustained adoption
  • Separating substance from hype in technology evaluation

Key Quotes

  • "You can't be kind of, sort of, maybe part of the time when I feel like an open platform. You're either open or you're not open."
  • "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. I know that's a trite ism, but it also happens to be absolutely true."
  • "The best technology is the one you actually use. And the only way that's really going to happen is if you tie it back to the business objectives that you're driving."
  • "Don't do it alone. It's partnerships that allow you to skip to the front of the line, to short circuit the development process."
  • "You can't just focus on how to do something, how to use the tool. You have to teach the agents why they need to use the tool and where and when to implement it."
  • "We tend to downplay or worst case, even ignore data. We either don't look for it at all or it's flashing red lights telling us something which we then ignore because we somehow think we know better."

About York Bauer

York Bauer serves as Chief Industry Relations Officer at Lone Wolf Technologies, bringing 40+ years of technology leadership experience to advocacy for strategic approaches that serve brokerage businesses. He founded Moxie, competed successfully in the real estate technology space, and learned platform principles at Microsoft during the 1990s. His perspective combines technical depth, including computer science training and early AI language study, with entrepreneurial experience building and scaling software companies. York champions genuine platform openness, measurement-driven management, and technology decisions grounded in clear business objectives rather than impressive demonstrations.

Resources Mentioned

  • Open platform architecture principles
  • Broker dashboard applications for strategy
  • AI evaluation framework for real estate
  • Data quality requirements for analytics
  • Technology adoption best practices

Connect With York Bauer

PropTech Pulse: From the entrepreneur's desk to the industry front lines and into real-world operations—taking the pulse of real estate technology in just 20 minutes.

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SPEAKER_02:

From the entrepreneur's desk to the industry frontline and into real-world operations.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm Aaron Cardell, joined by Kyle Hunter and Jake Hamilton. And we're here to take the pulse of real estate technology in just 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to this week's episode of PropTech Pulse. We're excited to have York Bauer here with us. Those of you who know York know that he is an industry veteran and an expert in the PropTech space, having been the founder of Moxie, and then now more recently joining Lone Wolf as our chief industry relations officer. So, York, want to jump right in, get a bunch of insights from you for our listeners today. But I want to kick things off. York, a little bit of your background and really why Lone Wolf. Why have you uh chosen to join us at this time in the industry?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, sure. Well, thanks for having me, Jake. It's a pleasure, and I'm excited to be a part of the gang here at Lone Wolf. Um I, for those that don't know my background, I'm uh a serial entrepreneur. I've spent my entire career in tech. I have a computer science degree, even from way back, so I can still geek out with the best of them. Uh and I came to found and run Moxie uh in 2012. So that's been the time I spent in real estate uh tech, and now I'm excited to be at Lone Wolf. And I think what what Lone Wolf represents for me is really a couple things. One is a great culture, and I don't think that's something in tech companies we don't talk about enough, to be honest. Um Jimmy uh and I, Jimmy Kelly, CEO of Lone Wolf and I have developed a rapport over the years, even though we competed, which probably tells you something about how we view uh cooperation. But I think I think Lone Wolf enjoys a great culture. And Jimmy and I also share, as I know you and I do, Jake, uh a strong view on the importance of an open platform approach to the industry. And I'm sure that's something we'll be talking about today. But those really are the two things that attracted me to Lone Wolf.

SPEAKER_02:

That's awesome. So you talked a little bit about the vision about open platform. I would love your perspective on how real estate technology has evolved over the last, call it three years, five years, 10 years, and you know what the value of an open ecosystem and of systems that talk together, work together, integrate together really is for a broker.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I don't want to be in any way, you know, Debbie Downer, but I'm not sure that we've evolved as much as I had hoped and planned. If you you know, if you'd asked me the same question, you know, five or ten years ago, what I foresaw, uh, I'm not sure we've made as much progress toward it, to be honest, as I I wish we had. There's still a lot of shiny object chasing that goes on in our industry. Uh, and I think a lot of tech companies unfortunately contribute to that. It's it's uh a lot of feature selling as opposed to strategy selling. And I think if if the last several years of our industry have taught us anything, it's that you need to be prepared for the unexpected and you need to have a durable long-term strategy to make it through. And I feel like having an open platform for your technology is part and parcel of that. If you can't bring together what today might be the best of breed things to meet your objectives, uh that's already a problem. But the bigger problem is if you can't continue to offer your agents and your own staff best of be best of breed products in the future, because this all changes, right? That's what we've learned. Companies come and go, products get old, all these things happen. So having a having a uh an open platform that allows you a plug-and-play ability to swap technology out, uh, I think is is more important today than it's ever been, but we have not gotten there uh as quickly as an industry as I I would like. Lone Wolf is, in my opinion, one of the big exceptions to that. We have more than 100 partners, as you know, but for the audience, we have more than 100 partners plugged into our foundation platform. And I think that that's a great start, and there's more to do.

SPEAKER_02:

So, York, I'm gonna throw you a little bit of a curveball here. You and I have talked, you know, both today and then in a number of our conversations about an open platform, about being integration first. But if you look across the industry, a lot of people say, oh, we're open, oh, we integrate, we want to work with other products. But what does it actually mean? Like what do you need to look for from a technology perspective to truly know you're getting an open platform products that work well together?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's a great question. And as we'll come to the shock to know when I have an opinion about that. Um, one of the things I've observed, I learned this a long time ago early in my career. I was very fortunate to learn it at Microsoft. I was at Microsoft in the early 90s. And I think what what you there's a there's a whole technical set of things that have to happen to be a platform, you know, robust APIs and so on. And that's what everyone points to, but that's actually not what defines, in my opinion, an open platform. It's all of the soft factors and and programs that you place around that. So what I like to say is you can't be a kind of sort of maybe part of the time when I feel like an open platform. You have to, you're either open or you're not open. And what I've seen, and I'm very disappointed in in this industry, is uh, in particular from some of the larger players, is playing favorites, not allowing overlapping or even competing technology onto your supposed platform. Because if you don't allow them on, you're not open, in my opinion. All the APIs in the world are useless if you don't actually let someone use them. Um and so I feel like that's something that that we at Lone Wolf have done right, not just the data, which is formidable, and we'll talk about, I'm sure, but the the approach, the attitude with which we welcome all comers to provide the best possible solution for any given customer.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's that's a great point. I even think back to some of the conversations we've had with brokers, like when we launch a new category of integrations, and maybe there's only one initially. And more often than not, the conversation comes back to well, why are you picking for me? Yeah. That's a key there. Is it one thing to be integrated with a provider? It's another to truly give your customers the freedom and choice to integrate what brings value to them.

SPEAKER_01:

That's it. Yeah. And as we said, what that is today will not be the same tomorrow and you know, a year from now and what have you. So having an adaptable program that that allows that choice is crucial.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So you you mentioned the pace of change, um, that over the last five years, yeah, the industry's changed a lot, but maybe tech hasn't evolved as quickly as you would have hoped to see, as you would have liked to see as kind of the vision that you've had for real estate technology for a while now. Um, but with the advent of artificial intelligence and with the pace of change today, what's your view on how a broker should be evaluating AI and where they should be plugging it into their workflows and their systems?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. AI, and I can say this because I'm a geezer, right? I've been in this industry now for 40 years, which is frightening to say, meaning not real estate, but the technology industry. And if you stand back from technology for all the whiz-bang stuff that gets said and hyped, it's just automation, right? This the steam locomotive was a form of automation last I checked. So it's just automation, and AI is simply the latest form of computer-aided automation. So I feel like um, as usual, our industry, the technology part of our industry, overhypes these things and tries to turn them into something more than what they are. And by the way, I'm a huge proponent, right? I I studied Lisp 40 years ago, which is an AI-based language from that period. So I'm a believer. But I think what the mistake they've made is that any business, but brokers in particular, if you don't have a clear view of what your business objectives are, what are you trying to accomplish in your business? And if you can't write them down on you know one piece of paper, they probably aren't your objectives. But the point is, if you're not clear on that, you're gonna make very poor technology choices, I believe. And you're gonna get sucked into the latest, greatest shiny whiz-bang thing that you or your agents get sold on and now you feel pressured to have. So I really feel like thoughtful AI is is critical. Uh, I know that's something that we are very focused on. We're not focused on headlines, we're focused on functionality that actually works. And that's what I think this industry needs. So that's been my disappointment, um, not just with AI, but generally in this industry, not enough focus on on things that actually drive productivity versus things that are shiny. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I think that's a great point. I think AI for AI's sake is where a lot of things are right now, where oh, I have to be doing this because it's the next big thing. When really, if that's not embedded in a workflow and actually taking work off of your agents or your admins or your TCs or you as a broker, it's just incremental spend at that point. It's not actually the efficiency gain it could be.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. And I think one of the other things that isn't a big enough discussion, in fact, it's really not a discussion at all at the moment in real estate tech, is we uh we tend to think of AI as a somehow magic. And what what isn't being discussed is the role, the crucial role of data. Because again, it's just computational. That's all these models and AI things are, it's just a sophisticated form of computation that relies on data. And yes, it relies on language models, which are a form of data, but to actually add value in this space, particularly at the brokerage level, it needs to be the data about your business. So data about your agents and what they're doing, but critically, the data about the transactions you have, the market share that you have, the financial aspects of your business. No one is talking about that. If you don't have your act together, if you don't have that data in a common, normalized, open platform, you can't take advantage of the meaningful parts that are coming with AI. And we've all seen how AI can be way off if it doesn't have the right data, right? So for it to truly add value at the brokerage level, you've got to get your data act together. And in particular on the transaction and financial aspects of your business. If that data is not in your platform, you're gonna struggle to make good use of AI. Yeah, I think that's a great point.

SPEAKER_02:

And I think that step of getting your data together, one, it's helped out when you have an open ecosystem and an open platform that's actually letting data pass to and from different systems and can consolidating it in one place. Uh, but two, I'd love your thoughts on once you have your data in that spot where it's useful, what does business intelligence look like for the brokerage and leveraging that data to make better decisions about how you run your business?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah, it's a great question. Because and I I do think just to close off on the AI thing, uh I do feel like AI products, not just from any one vendor, right? We have our own AI capabilities and we'll continue to evolve those at loanwill, but it's really going to be a plethora of AI capabilities that you'll need. And you said it a minute ago. I want to emphasize this. It's not only to draw data from the platform, but to contribute data to the platform. And I think AI tools from us and others will do that in a richer way than it's been possible before. The reason I circle back on that is to answer your question, you know, I've long believed as a business leader and a CEO, and I've started my own businesses, et cetera. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. And I know that's a trite ism, but it also happens to be absolutely true. And I think one of the things that's a challenge in a people-driven industry, which let's face it, that's what we are in real estate, right? We we value relationships and we're doing things for our customers, whether that be the the broker to their agent or the agent to the consumer, we're it's a highly emotive process. And so I think that the the downside to that, because this industry does that very well, right? We are relationship-based as people. But the downside to it is we tend to uh downplay or worst case even ignore data. We either don't look for it at all or it's flashing, you know, red lights telling us something, which we then ignore because we somehow think we know better. And I think I think what what good brokerage data, because we're running businesses as brokerage leaders, right? We're running businesses in one of the most challenged times that have existed in this industry. And frankly, there's a lot of uncertainty around us in the economy and the world anyway. So it's probably a good time to really be well dialed in and having great brokerage data in the form of dashboards and other insights that can either help you make a really good proactive decision, or frankly, just test the gut level decision that you think you you may be confident in and make sure that the data actually supports. So I think it's both those things. And I feel like we as an industry could do a better job of that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think that's a great point. And and ultimately, you know, first agree with everything you said there, but I think that understanding of the value of the data is what's driven us to this next evolution of foundation, which is moving beyond a connected platform to a platform that's truly delivering you insights about your business. You know, we've launched the agent dashboard over the summer where it brings together the different software, the different technology, the different tools you use into a single view. We've launched the deal tracker, which connects with either Lone Wolf's relationships product or outside CRMs to bring that into a single view. Uh, but even on the broker side, the broker dashboard that lets you understand how your agents are performing, what's going on in your market, what's going on in your business in that single view really is intended to be that spot where you can on a daily basis get that quick, quick understanding of what's going on in your business. And to your point, gut check your intuition and gut check the things that you're thinking about from a business strategy standpoint.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I think I totally agree with that. Two things I would add that I see also as value in a broker dashboard. The there are great uh marketing insights that be can be gleaned. So it's not just how's my business doing, how are my agents doing? It's also how am I stacking it competitively, not just what's my market share, obviously, that's important. But you know, what part of the market am I succeeding in? And can I amplify that through through doing some marketing around that? So I think there's a whole aspect of marketing that's crucial in that. Because otherwise, it's the whole you're wasting half your marketing dollars, you just don't know which half, right? Um, but the the final thing I'll say about that is, and I found this over and over to be the case, by the way, it's true in a lot of technology companies, not just in brokerage companies. We are we are in a in a period of consolidation in our space. Period. And it's for a variety of reasons, and we won't need to debate those because it's just happening. So I feel like what a good broker dashboard does is also give you a sense of hey, are there opportunities for me to consolidate someone? Or is it time for me to contemplate being consolidated for whatever succession or life reasons I may have? And having a fingertip feel for the data and being able to assess who are the possible players. And frankly, just being able to competently tell your story if you do get approached off the top of your head, as opposed to I need to get back in on that and grind Excel spreadsheets for three weeks, right? So the ability to just be able to respond as well as be proactive about pursuing uh either an acquisition or being acquired, I think that's that's a critical part of what these dashboards will allow people to do. And it's and it's high time because it's happening around us now.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, absolutely. So I want to pivot just a little bit. We've talked a lot about what technology means for the broker, um, the value of a connected ecosystem, what you can actually achieve when you've got your data in one place in a way that's digestible. Um, but for anyone from the real estate tech side that's listening, what are the most important things that technology vendors should be thinking about right now as they're designing for the future of real estate in this time of consolidation and in this time of rapid technical advancement that we're in today?

SPEAKER_01:

Don't do it alone. I've been an entrepreneur over and over and over again in technology. Don't do it alone. It's partnerships that allow you to skip to the front of the line, to short circuit the development process. One of the things that I feel is is, and we all as technologists do this, by the way. We love building stuff and we think we're smart, and hopefully we are. It's it's the I can build it. And rebuilding an MLS ingestion and and uh use infrastructure for the 97th time, a lot of value there. So the point is concentrate on the things that truly differentiate you. That's your core, outsource everything else. And a platform like ours is the perfect way to do that. We we process more than a trillion dollars worth of transactions every year through our systems. You don't think we have the best data? You don't need to try to recreate that. And especially as a small company, you can't. So just like you say, partner with whether it's us or others, but I I would make a strong pitch for Lone Wolf as the best choice for partnering because we already have done all this. We already have all the data. Don't reinvent the wheel. Just concentrate on the piece that you know you can differentiate with.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think that's a great point. And we welcome companies to come to us and say, how can we work together? How can we bring data? How can we help centralize contacts? How can we connect you to the rest of the transaction and the work that's going on with agents and brokers today? I think that's that's what's exciting about the way we've invested in our technology is it's positioned us to truly be that industry partner, not just for our customers, but for the tech the technology vendors out there as well. Absolutely. Awesome. Well, we are coming up on time. Uh, York, I think the last thing I've got for you is there's one thing you want people to take away about their products, their platforms, uh, the way that they're thinking about their technology. What's what's that one most important thing in your your opinion?

SPEAKER_01:

I I will go back. I'll tie back to something I said earlier. The the the best technology is the one you actually use. And the only way that that's really going to happen is if you tie it back to the business objectives that you're driving. Why? Because your your teams and your agents, they'll listen to you. When you say as a leader, when you say this is important to us now for these reasons, people will listen. But the technology has to support and come alongside that for people to actually use it because otherwise you're asking them to concentrate over here and you've got technology that does something over there. They're not going to use it. So just get clear on your objectives and align your technology to support your business objectives. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, York, big thank you for joining us today on Prop Tech Pulse. I really want to thank everyone for tuning in as well. Um really appreciate the insights you're able to bring and hope it's valuable for everyone who's been listening in. So thank you and hope you have a great rest of your week.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, thanks, Jake. Really appreciate being on here. And thanks to everybody that's listening. Take care. That's our pulse for today.

SPEAKER_00:

Keep innovating, keep implementing, and keep moving real estate forward.

Contributor

svalerin@lwolf.com

Producer