Glimpse Group’s Lyron Bentovim on CRE’s Startup Outlook
These days, startups in the commercial real estate space are a dime a dozen. The business model has exploded in popularity in recent years, with thousands of entrepreneurs clambering to be the next big thing since WeWork. But the pursuit of startup success is not one that hopefuls need embark on their own—or at least, such is the philosophy of The Glimpse Group.
A platform company that prides itself on embodying the best aspects of an incubator and an accelerator for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) startups, the team at Glimpse Group knows what makes a successful startup tick. More importantly, they know how to make a startup tick a bit faster.
The foundation of a quality startup, according to Glimpse Group, is its ability to identify a problem in the real world that is not being solved—something that doesn’t exist and is not being sold effectively by anyone else. By offering solutions to these problems, startups can begin to build their larger business. However, a great idea alone is not enough to sustain a burgeoning business.
“There are two more essential tenants you need for any startup,” said Lyron Bentovim, CEO of Glimpse Group. “The first is funding, and this is where many startups fail. Raising capital is hard, and most entrepreneurs understand their objective, but can’t raise the capital. The second is building a company, which usually requires a great deal of operating experience and know-how.”
Glimpse Group prides itself on solving these two tricky tenants for its startups. That way, entrepreneurs can focus on the problems that they are equipped to solve, rather than those that they are not—the difficult problems being funding and operations.
Currently, The Glimpse Group is providing these services for ten startups. And by having all of the companies in the same place, everyone benefits—companies can give each other access to technology, know-how, and life experience, creating a powerful ecosystem of entrepreneurs.
“One of the unique things about us is that we are giving investors a diversified investment in the industry,” said Bentovim. “As an investor, you have access to all of our companies, as well as those that we will add over time. We’re not one company focusing on one technology, but many companies focusing on many different solutions in the same area—that’s an important distinction.”
Glimpse Group is selective when it comes to the startups they take on, as well. And with hundreds of applications from around the world wanting to be a part of the company’s ecosystem, Bentovim and his team have to be.
“When we meet startups and entrepreneurs, we look for something special—in the people, or in their unique solution to a problem,” Bentovim noted. “We spend a lot of time talking and getting to know them. Above all, we need team players who would work well in the team environment here at Glimpse.”
In order for startups to be truly successful, they firstly need a team of creative, out-of-the-box thinkers—thinkers that can come up with a concept that is different from everyone else’s. But strong technologists are important as well, as is the financial runway to invest a great deal of time and resources into a project. Giving these creative people the platform to succeed, as is Glimpse Group’s philosophy, is a winning formula.
“Cool is not enough,” said Bentovim. “It’s nice if something is cool, but if people aren’t paying for it, you aren’t solving a problem that people have right now. A need must exist, even if customers don’t even know what they’re missing yet.”
Glimpse Group’s particular focus within the startup space is on companies specializing in VR and AR innovation. Bentovim and his team believe that VR and AR are part of a second technology cycle, the first of which was Internet and mobile in the 80s through the 2000s. Given that these cycles last approximately 25 to 35 years, the industry is due for another, in this case the prospect of commercial VR and AR use.
“I’m very passionate about this technology, because it’s exciting to see how it opens up the ability to imagine new worlds and go and live in them,” said Bentovim. “As we look across our portfolio, our companies are solving so many different needs using VR and AR, in real estate and beyond. For instance, one brings children with cancer into homes and communities using the technology, so that they can feel as though they are at school or at dinner with their family, essentially stimulating experiences in a time of need.”
So while the hardware for AR and VR is still in its early stages, the ability to be transported from one place to another is one that will completely change our lives. Bentovim and Glimpse Group estimate that in ten years, the technology will be such that virtual offices will be commonplace—a space where workers can actually see each other and virtually interact as if they were there, rather than phone calls, emails, and other modes of communication that plague remote and freelance workers. Obviously, this virtualization of office space will have deep long-term impacts on the larger commercial real estate sphere.
“One of the biggest challenges in real estate is showing people the space and giving them access,” Bentovim added. “It’s a geographical challenge of location, or sometimes it’s an issue of a building not even being complete yet. However, VR and AR can bring people in and make them feel as though they are in the space.”
Therefore, at the end of the day, Glimpse Group’s handholding and strong portfolio of startup players are working to not only succeed personally; they’re looking to impact a much larger industry. And as we approach the next ten years, Glimpse Group’s startups may find that they are VR and AR’s most promising innovators.
“There are a lot of different opportunities,” Bentovim concluded. “We’re trying to push the limitations of hardware and technology so that we are in a position to leverage them. It’s an exciting time.”
Add Comment