MINNEAPOLIS—Tech may have come to commercial real estate a little more gradually than it has in some other industries, such as residential real estate, but it has made its presence felt across this industry. To cite one example, the search for office space has given rise to no fewer than four distinct Web- and mobile-based platforms, each distinct from the other three. Over the next few days, GlobeSt.com will put the spotlight on each of these platforms, via one-on-one interviews with the respective company's founders. Today, it's Jim Simpson, CEO and co-founder of Minneapolis-based Crelow, launched in 2015 and said to be the industry's first demand-driven marketplace.
GlobeSt.com: How would you describe Crelow's approach?
Jim Simpson: What we are is a demand-driven matchmaker for office space. We're the only one of our kind. What we do is empower tenants and tenant reps to control the process of finding office space. Tenants and tenant reps post RFPs—we call them bid requests—on our website, and we provide a lot of guidance for the best fit, which includes location, style of the building, amenities and size. They can do that any time they want on any device—tablet, phone or computer.
They submit the RFP to our deal board, and what we do then is attract bids from landlord reps for those tenants and tenant reps on those requirements. They submit bids through our website and they're emailed directly to the tenant or tenant rep, and then they schedule tours. So we're a matchmaker for tenants and office space, and so we call it demand-driven or requirement-driven. It's really the opposite of listing-oriented sites.
GlobeSt.com: This service isn't intended to eliminate the need for leasing brokerages, and in fact Crelow has established good relationships with them in cities where it has rolled out the platform.
Simpson: Yes, that's exactly right. We allow tenant reps to post requirements, and landlords to submit bids against those requirements—it's absolutely free to them; there's no fee involved. It's being used in all the markets that we're in. We're excited that brokers from over 300 brokerages are now participating in Crelow.
GlobeSt.com: Tell us about the underlying philosophy in the approach you're taking.
Simpson: We're designed with small tenants in mind. This segment of the market is underserved by the industry in general. They deserve great space and they want more control of the process. Six out of 10, by our estimate, go online first now. We have found that they would prefer to have the market come to them rather than search through piles of questionable listings that sort of fit their needs.
The listings sites online are robust and they have a tremendous number of listings, but what tenants find is that they're not always accurate. Whereas all of the requirements posted by tenants and tenant reps on our site are 100% accurate, 100% fresh. That's why we call ourselves a listener rather than a listings site
GlobeSt.com: The fact that they're smaller should in theory mean that there are more space options available to them. But quantity does not always equal quality, does it?
Simpson: Yes, their requirements are smaller, but at the same time the commissions don't pay as well. That's why they don't get the same level of attention from the brokerage community. So what we wanted to do was make it really easy for brokers to handle small tenants. A tenant rep can post a tenant requirement on Crelow in 90 seconds, and it takes about the same amount of time to submit a bid.
That's how we've made it easier to service small tenants—and by the way, about 80% of office transactions are 5,000 square feet or less. And landlords love the fact that they're able to fill the sand in the jar—that is, the small spaces between the large tenants. In maximizing the value of a property, every square foot counts.
GlobeSt.com: You recently rolled out a new feature that allows users to do a blast on their requirements. Can you tell us about that?
Simpson: Our BLAST! Pro Bid Request is for professionals only; it's the very high-level information that brokers need to determine if there's a fit. A tenant rep can go onto Crelow and fill out a blast bid request. It includes the square footage, the rough price range that they're willing to pay, the move-in date and lease term, and that's it. The landlord reps with accounts on Crelow get an instant notification via text or email, and then it's also posted on our deal board.
If a landlord has a space that looks right, they're able to reply within about a minute and a half, and then we connect the two parties together. We've had tenant reps tell us that they've discovered spaces they didn't know about, even though they've been working in the market for years.
MINNEAPOLIS—Tech may have come to commercial real estate a little more gradually than it has in some other industries, such as residential real estate, but it has made its presence felt across this industry. To cite one example, the search for office space has given rise to no fewer than four distinct Web- and mobile-based platforms, each distinct from the other three. Over the next few days, GlobeSt.com will put the spotlight on each of these platforms, via one-on-one interviews with the respective company's founders. Today, it's Jim Simpson, CEO and co-founder of Minneapolis-based Crelow, launched in 2015 and said to be the industry's first demand-driven marketplace.
GlobeSt.com: How would you describe Crelow's approach?
Jim Simpson: What we are is a demand-driven matchmaker for office space. We're the only one of our kind. What we do is empower tenants and tenant reps to control the process of finding office space. Tenants and tenant reps post RFPs—we call them bid requests—on our website, and we provide a lot of guidance for the best fit, which includes location, style of the building, amenities and size. They can do that any time they want on any device—tablet, phone or computer.
They submit the RFP to our deal board, and what we do then is attract bids from landlord reps for those tenants and tenant reps on those requirements. They submit bids through our website and they're emailed directly to the tenant or tenant rep, and then they schedule tours. So we're a matchmaker for tenants and office space, and so we call it demand-driven or requirement-driven. It's really the opposite of listing-oriented sites.
GlobeSt.com: This service isn't intended to eliminate the need for leasing brokerages, and in fact Crelow has established good relationships with them in cities where it has rolled out the platform.
Simpson: Yes, that's exactly right. We allow tenant reps to post requirements, and landlords to submit bids against those requirements—it's absolutely free to them; there's no fee involved. It's being used in all the markets that we're in. We're excited that brokers from over 300 brokerages are now participating in Crelow.
GlobeSt.com: Tell us about the underlying philosophy in the approach you're taking.
Simpson: We're designed with small tenants in mind. This segment of the market is underserved by the industry in general. They deserve great space and they want more control of the process. Six out of 10, by our estimate, go online first now. We have found that they would prefer to have the market come to them rather than search through piles of questionable listings that sort of fit their needs.
The listings sites online are robust and they have a tremendous number of listings, but what tenants find is that they're not always accurate. Whereas all of the requirements posted by tenants and tenant reps on our site are 100% accurate, 100% fresh. That's why we call ourselves a listener rather than a listings site
GlobeSt.com: The fact that they're smaller should in theory mean that there are more space options available to them. But quantity does not always equal quality, does it?
Simpson: Yes, their requirements are smaller, but at the same time the commissions don't pay as well. That's why they don't get the same level of attention from the brokerage community. So what we wanted to do was make it really easy for brokers to handle small tenants. A tenant rep can post a tenant requirement on Crelow in 90 seconds, and it takes about the same amount of time to submit a bid.
That's how we've made it easier to service small tenants—and by the way, about 80% of office transactions are 5,000 square feet or less. And landlords love the fact that they're able to fill the sand in the jar—that is, the small spaces between the large tenants. In maximizing the value of a property, every square foot counts.
GlobeSt.com: You recently rolled out a new feature that allows users to do a blast on their requirements. Can you tell us about that?
Simpson: Our BLAST! Pro Bid Request is for professionals only; it's the very high-level information that brokers need to determine if there's a fit. A tenant rep can go onto Crelow and fill out a blast bid request. It includes the square footage, the rough price range that they're willing to pay, the move-in date and lease term, and that's it. The landlord reps with accounts on Crelow get an instant notification via text or email, and then it's also posted on our deal board.
If a landlord has a space that looks right, they're able to reply within about a minute and a half, and then we connect the two parties together. We've had tenant reps tell us that they've discovered spaces they didn't know about, even though they've been working in the market for years.
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