Dallas Proptech Founder: Industrial Assets Are More Than 'Just a Box'

While many real estate-related firms struggled in the pandemic, Dallas proptech startup Dottid doubled its team.

Last year, the company saw an opportunity to fill a major gap in the market for industrial property owners. The startup extended its software-as-a-service platform for the commercial real estate industry with custom technology, calling it Dottid Industrial. Then they set out to develop the first asset and lease management platform specific to the industrial sector, which officially unveiled this week.

“The development was incredibly well timed,” says CEO Kyle Waldrep.

The rise of e-commerce and logistics, accelerated by COVID-19, led to a record-setting year in industrial real estate. The asset class didn’t have technology tailored to its use case, the CEO said. “We moved incredibly fast to capitalize on the opportunity.”

“[In 2021], there will be 30 million square feet of industrial space built in Dallas-Fort Worth alone,” the founder notes. He thinks more opportunities will blossom.

Industrial assets are more than “just a box”

Dottid pushed forward with a focus on both product and people last year. The efforts have put Dottid in a position to fundamentally change industrial leasing through the platform’s technology, according to the founder.

Industrial assets are more than “just a box,” he says.

It’s a narrative Waldrep wants to shift. How? Dottid’s data collection and visualization of properties gives owners and brokers “a new perspective on their portfolios.”

$3.85 million in seed funding set the stage in 2020

Proptech Dottid started 2020 strong with $3.85 million in seed funding from investors who included David Ridley, founder and former CEO of Invesco Real Estate; Laurie Dotter, a current investment board member for two public Texas pension funds; and David Farmer, a former COO of Invesco Real Estate.

Founded in 2016 by Waldrep, Dottid wants to transform commercial real estate by its process to help owners, brokers, and tenants close deals faster with lower costs. The early-stage startup launched its original SaaS platform for the CRE industry in Jan. 2020.

The startup’s tools such as asset visualization allow its clients to have a bird’s eye view on their upcoming lease expirations and vacancies, Waldrep says.

Dottid targets property owners that own office, industrial and retail space for its tools that allow them to better manage the process around leases. That can help get tenants in their spaces faster and generate revenue for their assets, Waldrep said in a Venture Dallas pitch last fall.

“Early traction has been great,” he said, acknowledging the power of the startup’s fleet of investors and advisors. “We’ve also garnered interest from some of the world’s largest institutional property owners.”

Humility is crucial; excellence is expected, Waldrep says

Team culture is huge, the founder says. As with all organizations, “the parts make up the whole,” Waldrep says.

“Dottid is strong because each member is not just committed to the company vision, but also to each other.” It’s how the company stays focused on achieving its collective success.

Waldrep points to two fundamentals: “Humility is crucial. Excellence is expected.”

Last year no one was unaffected by COVID, and “thus everyone has a similar perspective,” he says of the resilient spirit at the startup: It helps to have a focus around vision.

For Waldrep’s part, he’s “grateful to work with people who want to work with each other, every day.”

Dottid’s long-term vision includes smarter CRE tools and point solutions in multiple areas

What’s the end game? Dottid aims to use new technology to improve the CRE process while not getting in the way of relationships that continue to drive deals, he says.

“Covid forced many firms to reevaluate their technology assets, and Dottid is seeing the industry shift toward smarter tools that enable people to do more from wherever,” Waldrep says.

Long term, Dottid is building a tool that will help alleviate the problem most all property owners face: the need for point solutions in multiple areas of their business, Waldrep says. The founder sees Dottid as a place where many commercial real estate processes connect to streamline efficiencies for its customers.

That vision will continue to unfold in 2021, he says.

A version of this story was originally published in Dallas Innovates 2021: The Resilience Issue.

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Our fourth annual magazine, Dallas Innovates 2021: The Resilience Issue, highlights Dallas-Fort Worth as a hub for innovation. The collective strength of the innovation ecosystem and intellectual capital in Dallas-Fort Worth is a force to be reckoned with.