Future of Construction

Pillar’s Dylan Goren on Automating Land Acquisition in Minutes Not Weeks

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The traditional approach to land acquisition is undergoing a dramatic transformation thanks to technology pioneers like Dylan Goren, Co-founder & CEO of Pillar. In this episode of The Future of Construction, Dylan walks Chloe through how Pillar's platform is automating site selection and land acquisition for residential developers, turning what used to be weeks of manual work into minutes of efficient processing. 

 

With a few clicks, users can identify sub-markets using points of interest like grocery stores or comparable properties, define their exact criteria for parcels and assemblages, and even execute bulk mailing campaigns to landowners — all within a single workflow. 

 

Dylan also explains their ingenious paragraph interface that makes complex queries accessible to anyone, describing how one customer praised it as "idiot-proof in the best way possible." Unlike traditional data aggregators who lock information behind paywalls, Pillar is building an open architecture platform that empowers users to leverage public data in increasingly sophisticated ways, fundamentally shifting where competitive advantage comes from in real estate development.

 

Topics discussed:

 

  • The evolution of land acquisition from a manual, relationship-driven process to an automated, data-driven workflow that identifies thousands of precisely qualified parcels in minutes.
  • How real estate's competitive landscape is shifting from information opacity to strategic data interpretation as 99% of relevant information becomes digital and publicly accessible.
  • The architectural approach of building modular, open software tools that enable users to construct their own queries rather than forcing them into rigid, predefined workflows.
  • Strategies for translating complex technical capabilities into "kindergarten-simple" interfaces, including Pillar's paragraph-based query system that allows non-technical users to execute sophisticated data operations.
  • The growing specialization trend in real estate development, from vanilla multifamily to targeted niches like senior housing or micro-units, and how data tools must evolve to support increasingly specific market approaches.
  • Challenges in communicating new technological paradigms to an industry accustomed to traditional tools, and how demonstration-based education creates breakthrough aha moments. 
  • The technical infrastructure behind processing petabytes of public data, including using AI as a translation layer to standardize inconsistent information from volatile sources.
  • How bootstrapping a technology company with a small team forces discipline and customer-centricity, resulting in highly focused solutions to real market problems.
  • The future vision of real estate technology as personalized tools that adapt to individual workflows rather than forcing users to conform to standardized processes.
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    Future of ConstructionBy Mercator.ai