New Kids on the Block at Inman: What We Learned About the Future of Real Estate Tech
Mar 12, 2026
Every year, Inman Connect brings together the people shaping the future of real estate brokers, developers, founders, investors, and the operators building the tools that power the industry.
This year, PATH had the opportunity to take the stage during the “New Kids on the Block” session, a rapid-fire showcase of emerging companies pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in real estate.
It’s a format that forces clarity.
Each founder gets roughly 90 seconds to explain what they’re building, why it matters, and how it helps the industry move forward.
And the result was something powerful: a snapshot of where real estate is headed.
A Wave of AI-Native Companies
One thing was immediately clear, the next generation of proptech companies is being built AI-first, not AI as an add-on.
Across the companies on stage, a pattern emerged. These tools weren’t just automating tasks. They were fundamentally changing how professionals interact with data, buyers, and transactions.
We saw:
Platforms augmenting property data to help investors find better deals
AI training environments that simulate real conversations and decisions
Tools that help agents practice sales scenarios and improve confidence
Systems designed to connect every participant in a transaction into one intelligent workflow
AI-driven content creation tools for marketing listings
Each product attacked a different friction point in the industry.
But they all shared the same goal:
Make the real estate workflow smarter, faster, and more informed.
The Problem We Talked About on Stage
When PATH took the stage, we focused on a problem we’ve seen across hundreds of developers and sales teams:
The silent buyer problem.
The industry has spent billions on technology that shows properties beautifully — renderings, Matterport tours, digital twins, listing media.
But none of those tools answer the most important question:
What are buyers actually thinking while they’re exploring the property?
People can spend 10–15 minutes walking through a virtual tour.
They look at the kitchen.
They check out the views.
They imagine redesigning the living room.
And then they leave.
No contact form.
No signal.
No context.
Just silence.
Turning Virtual Tours Into Intelligence
That’s the gap PATH was built to solve.
Instead of treating a virtual tour as a passive marketing asset, PATH treats it like a live sales environment.
Inside the experience, our AI concierge engages the buyer, answers questions, guides exploration, and captures behavioral signals that reveal intent.
Questions like:
What are the HOA fees?
Can the cabinets or flooring be changed?
How far is the nearest gym or coffee shop?
What’s the noise level from the street?
These are decision-stage questions, the signals that separate casual browsers from serious buyers.
By capturing that interaction data, PATH gives sales teams something they’ve never had before:
Real intelligence about what buyers care about before the first phone call.
As we shared on stage, PATH acts as the eyes and ears inside your listings, helping teams understand how buyers move through digital spaces and what drives them toward a purchase decision.
What Events Like Inman Actually Show You
The most valuable part of conferences like Inman isn’t just the networking or the panels.
It’s seeing patterns across dozens of founders building in the same industry.
What we saw this year:
AI is moving from novelty to infrastructure.
It’s becoming embedded in the daily workflows of agents, developers, and operators.Data is becoming the new competitive advantage.
Not just more data — better signals about what buyers actually want.The sales process is becoming more predictive.
Instead of chasing leads blindly, teams are starting to prioritize based on behavior and intent.
In other words:
Real estate is shifting from marketing-driven sales to intelligence-driven sales.
The Next Chapter for Real Estate Technology
The tools on stage weren’t just features.
They were hints at what the next decade of real estate might look like.
A world where:
Listings don’t just attract traffic — they generate intelligence.
Agents don’t just market properties — they interpret buyer behavior.
Developers don’t just hope for demand — they see signals forming in real time.
That’s the future we’re building toward with PATH.
And being part of the New Kids on the Block session at Inman was a reminder that the industry is moving faster than ever.
The companies building today’s tools aren’t just improving workflows.
They’re redefining how real estate gets sold.