Weekly Radar #363: Opendoor Upheaval, Drone Infrastructure FTW, Proptech Index Up 1.75%
In this Weekly Radar, we cover:
- Hear from past participants on why you should walk the Camino with GEM in 2026.
- Opendoor's CEO, Carrie Wheeler, exited with a paid advisory role amongst Opendoor’s strategy shift toward a standard lead-generation portal.
- A new built world startup, Zipline, is advancing drone launchpad infrastructure for CRE developments.
- The GEM Proptech Index increased 1.75% from the previous week.
Geek Estate’s Proptech Getaway, an intimate (founders and C-suite) retreat for the brightest minds in proptech, is back for the 3rd year running…taking place in beautiful Central Oregon at Juniper Preserve April 28-30th, 2026. An exclusive gathering for GEM Diamond members. Are you coming?
Latest from Geek Estate Blog:
Geek Estate Team
Geek Estate Team
As always, links surrounded by the ❇️ emoji indicate exclusive GEM Diamond content. If you would like to have access to all links or attend our curated gatherings (lunch and breakfast this week in San Diego during Inman, dinner in Vegas during Blueprint, NYC dinner during CREtech in October), please consider GEM Diamond membership.
Transmission Recap:
It was an AI week, with a two part Transmission. In Part I, Seth Siegler shares pros, cons, and use cases for a range of AI tools used across the eXp org (in your inbox tomorrow). In Part II, Jered Dennis reflects on ❇️how he went from a non-coder to someone who can independently build a near-complete native mobile app❇️. Most recently, Drew Meyers argued ❇️that consumer real estate startups pivot to B2B because the challenge lies not in technology but in winning consumer trust❇️.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
WHY WALK THE CAMINO IN 2026?
By: Drew Meyers
In case ❇️you missed it ❇️, we're embarking on an international adventure/pilgrimage once again in 2026...tentative dates for GEM Walks the Camino (Part II) are set: May 13th-20th, starting in Tui (Spain). ❇️RSVP if you want more information ❇️.
Not sure if walking 100+ kilometers is a worthwhile experience? Don't take it from me, take it from last year's adventurers...
Michael Barnes from Viva:
To live a life with no regrets sometimes simply means to say "Yes."
To not allow the voices of reasonable doubt intervene.
Many of us have families, an infinite workload, and scarce free time or even financial resources. (All of these apply to me)
However, I am grateful I said "Yes" to Drew and GEM in the Fall, and kept my commitment.
For seven days and 114km since stepping off a train in Sarria, we only traveled by foot. It was refreshing and pure.
Having the group, pre-arranged logistics, and a wonderful guide were key.
Without this structure, distractions might have taken away from the capacity for reflection.
Without each other, it might have been harder to get up at the break of dawn each day. (To be honest, pride helps keep me from bitching too much in front of respected peers)
But also in 114km, there is enough time to hear layers of stories, between periods of silent reflection.
To see people as people, more than any conference or retreat.It is also so refreshing to step outside the U.S. and to see people simply living life.
It is not so much that I took away memories, but engaged a way of being (richer, purer) that waits for me now.
To quote Yoda: "Do or do not."
And I say do.
Karen K Burns from Fyma:
Great trip, fantastic crew of people and good accommodation with amazing food. Reall great way to spend a week :)
Jane Hood from Foxy AI:
A lovely trip! I had a blast! Guide was fantastic, accommodations were clean and nice, food was good, and company and conversations were absolutely perfect. I would do it again in a heartbeat-far exceeded my expectations!
Interested? Shoot us an email at community@geekestate.com...
BIZ INTEL
PROPTECH INDEX WEEKLY
By: Community Relations
Consisting of 25 stocks, the GEM Proptech Index had a combined market cap of $258.093B, an increase of 1.75% from the previous week.
Opendoor CEO and Chair of the Board, Carrie Wheeler, resigned this week amid outside pressure including that of Co-founder Keith Rabois who criticized her leadership on X after a weak Q2 earnings call. CTO & Chief Product Officer Shrisha Radhakrishna, who joined the company in November 2024, and has overseen product, engineering, and data science was named as the interim President, and Lennar’s Eric Feder was appointed as Lead Independent Director and will conduct and lead a CEO search.
This week, we removed Meridian Link from the index as they entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $2B by funds advised by affiliates of Centerbridge Partners, L.P, a global investment firm. The deal was announced on August 11th and is expected to close in late 2025.
GEM DIAMOND MEMBER NEWS
- MRED led the national relaunch of Broker Public Portal. – Dan Troup
- NextHome announced an initiative to include a floor plan on every listing by July 1st, 2026 with full support from CubiCasa. – Jeff Allen, Kenon Chen, and Amanda Governale
- San Francisco Association of REALTORS® launched new SSO dashboard powered by Solid Earth’s identity platform. – Eric Stegemann and Scott Lockhart
- Earnnest partnered with Lone Wolf. – York Baur
- Listen to Dan Troup talk about how a non-profit portal can take on Zillow on the Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered podcast.
- Inspectify announced the launch of Appraisify. – Rabih Elawar & Josh Jensen
- Restb.ai partnered with True Footage and was deployed by Metrolist as an integration across the Rapattoni MLS platform. – Antoni Costa and Nathan Brannen
- Proterra acquired AcreTrader from Acres.com. – Carter Malloy
- Maverick Systems launched in the Charleston MLS. – Diana Zaya
REAL ESTATE
OPENDOOR UPHEAVAL
By: Drew Meyers
It appears the pressure from the Opendoor board worked: CEO Carrie Wheeler has resigned. She announced the change on Linkedin.
ChatGPT was able to pull the details of the advisory agreement she entered into. August 15th through December 31st, 20025. $62,500 per month plus Cobra premiums reimbursed. Her existing equity continues to vest. Even if the company terminates the agreement, she still receives her full compensation. Not quite her approximately $750k base salary as CEO, but that's a nice, cushy severance....to do basically nothing it seems, as she's not running the company anymore.
Robert Hahn shared updated thoughts on the company earlier this week (subscription required). In short, he states the focus on Key Connections and Cash Plus (basically, a version of Archie), Opendoor is now an undifferentiated seller lead generation portal. I don't disagree.
I'm with Rob when he says "I hope someone somewhere can pull Opendoor out of its death spiral." But who? and when?
BUILT WORLD
DRONE INFRASTRUCTURE FTW
By: Drew Meyers