It's hard to believe we are halfway through 2026. It's a great stopping point to reflect on the first half of the year and start to prepare for the latter half, with a jam packed events calendar in the fall. One big highlight was the inaugural GEM Symposium, with Ben Kinney (co-founder at PLACE). The impact was very real for those in the room. Again and again, we hear that GEM provides space to foster and deepen relationships: over 200 members who have attended a GEM event this year, along with the 80 members who've attended a virtual event.

We decided to have a little fun with AI this weekend. We asked Gemini to write a counter take to Pierre Calzadilla's breakdown of pricing models when selling to brokerages. Boy did Gemini deliver laughs...

A few great lines:
- Outcome Based: Take 50% of their commission. If they complain, tell them you’re “disrupting” the industry.
- If a broker asks what the AI actually does, just tell them it “hallucinates leads.” They won’t know what it means, but they’ll be terrified their competitors are already doing it.
- Price Protection: Assure them their price is protected from ever going down. Build in a mandatory 25% year-over-year increase, labeled as an “Innovation Tax.”

Read the entire AI-written counter take at Geek Estate Blog.

On the serious side, this week's Radar includes an excellent earned media playbook for founders, written by Katherine Winston at Equity Angels. Plus thoughts on the Bed Bath & Beyond acquisition of Fathom. Those are both included below for subscribers.

And finally. If this summer is one of transition for you, Peer Passage Colorado (Aug 30-Sept 1) is a private retreat in the Rocky Mountains for founders at a genuine inflection point. This is not a conference. There are no panels, no speakers, and no networking agenda. It's something harder to find: three days of structured time, in a small group, to think clearly about what you actually want — and what you're willing to change to get there. You'll spend three days with 8 other founders who are asking the same kinds of questions. No audience, no performance. Attendance is private.

Without further ado, on to regular scheduled programming below...

— Jesse Wright

EVENTS

• Sign up for GEM Primer, which gives you access to our app to view all upcoming GEM events.

NEW MEMBERS

• Austin Allison from Pacaso
• Vera Shokina from UP2HOMES

MEMBER NEWS

• RentEdge by RentSpree is available to New Jersey MLS members for a simplified all-in-one rental dashboard — Michael Lucarelli and Lauren Martin
• Placemakr CEO Jason Fudin was a guest on the Stuf podcast talking about Hilton's latest brand and how apartments can be hotels for a night: Watch the interview.
• PreMarket acquired Marklare AI and brings Olivia Wenner on as COO — Brett Helberg

As always, links surrounded by the ❇️ indicate exclusive GEM content. If you would like to have access to all links or attend our curated gatherings, please consider GEM membership.

TRANSMISSION RECAP
This week, in Part I, Pierre Calzadilla unpacks pricing models when selling to brokerages (we posted an AI written counter take over on the blog, that is SURE to make you laugh). In Part II, Drew Meyers discusses ❇️hotels on the moon❇️. Last week, Drew Meyers talked about losing and finding yourself when your startup is no longer.

BIZ INTEL

PROPTECH EARNINGS RADAR - Q1 2026
Read full summaries for all ten companies in Part I. Read the full summary and see the table view in Part II.

PROPTECH INDEX WEEKLY - AS OF 6/26/2026
Consisting of 25 stocks, the GEM Proptech Index had a combined market cap of $229.289B, an increase of 2.91% from the previous week.

CONSTRUCTION

SMALL SCALE CONSTRUCTION KIT
By: Drew Meyers

There's LEGOs, which I rediscovered my love of during Covid. And then there's Bylt, "real construction using real practices. From architect drawn blueprints to finished product... on a tiny scale." The kit includes:

• Foundation plans
• Framing plans
• Roof plans
• Electrical layouts
• Elevations
• Building sections
• Construction details
• Material schedules

I absolutely love the idea as a way to expose kids to construction at an early age. However, the whole project is AI created. If you trust the Kickstarter creator to turn this into a physical product, feel free to support the project. If you don't trust that the AI campaign will be executed, consider yourselves warned and invest at your own risk.

STARTUPS

SCALING FROM 0 TO 10 CUSTOMERS
By: Drew Meyers

YC Startup School's newest video covers a topic relevant to those still early in your customer acquisition efforts: getting your first ten customers:

It's worth highlighting a few tips based on the feedback Max Kolysh received from YC founders…

First, the value of founder dinners (especially if you are selling to founders, but founders have massive networks and can refer you to customers). Given that GEM curates dozens of dinners annually, I'll reiterate…just get in the room and all it takes is one to make it all worth it. Second, the effectiveness of small or micro conferences/events. An example of this type of event on the construction side of proptech would be Dennis Steigerwalt's Housing Innovation Summit. Third, find where your customers are complaining online and meet them there. I often tell founders, if your customers are not seeking the solution to a problem they have somewhere that you can find them, customer acquisition costs are likely going to be too high to make the business pencil.

What's worked for you to attract your earliest customers?

THE PR PLAYBOOK FOR EARNED MEDIA
By: Katherine Winston

No longer at the margins writing press releases, communications chiefs are making millions as they drive product strategy, according to a recent The Wall Street Journal report, noting that companies are finally recognizing communications as a core leadership function rather than a downstream support role.

The takeaway for founders? Narrative is not something to hand off after the strategy is set; it needs to be part of the strategy...