Tech platform Airtable is taking the guessworkout of technology for real estate companies. With it, companies cancreate bespoke apps and tools tailored to any sector within theindustry—from property management to investment to brokerage—allwithout hiring an IT team or knowing anything about coding. Theconcept has already sold many companies, like SRSand Newmark Knight Frank, and is backed by $70million in funding.

Howie Liu, the co-founder and CEO of Airtableand an experienced tech developer, recognized that most customsoftware in the real estate industry has more commonalities thandifferences and actually often uses the same set of buildingblocks. “It occurred to him that if you were to create a lego-kitmade up of those various parts—and got rid of all the coding—youcould make it possible for anyone to create their own powerfulbusiness solutions, without needing to hire an external developer,or bring in the entire IT team,” David Peterson,growth manager at Airtable, tells GlobeSt.com. “Many CREprofessionals today simply don't have the option to hire thosedevelopers and IT teams, so they are using spreadsheets in lieu ofapps designed for their needs.”