Over the past two years, venture capital investors have favored startups with AI in their pitch decks, often driving company valuations up by 20%. This enthusiasm is now shaping commercial real estate decisions in ways that concern Mandi Wedin, Founder and CEO of Feroce Real Estate Advisors. Wedin, who advises institutional investors and operators on technology adoption, sees a growing trend of executives focusing on AI implementation before clarifying which business problems need to be solved.
“AI is not a strategy. AI is a tool that supports your strategy execution,” Wedin says. She argues that when companies focus on technology first, rather than identifying pain points, they risk investing in solutions that fail to deliver real value.
The Problem-First Framework
Wedin emphasizes that organizations realizing measurable returns from technology investments begin by pinpointing specific, critical business problems. “We’re looking for a targeted, tangible application. We’re not looking for the big solve-it-all solution to transform the business. We’re looking for a critical business pain point, a problem that actually needs to be solved,” she explains.
This approach shifts how technology is evaluated. For example, a real estate operator struggling with manual reporting, slow data collection, or inefficient scenario modeling faces clear challenges that technology could address. However, the right solution may not involve generative AI at all.
“When we’re identifying the problems, and the solution is just an automation tool, that’s a huge win. We celebrate that,” Wedin says. “That’s not, ‘Oh, we didn’t use AI.’ You solved a business problem, created value, and once you’ve automated, you can layer an AI tool on top if needed.”
This distinction is especially relevant because most real estate organizations are still early in their technology adoption journey. “Most of the real estate industry is early in that journey of deploying AI,” Wedin observes. Many firms are still learning which applications deliver meaningful outcomes versus which create impressive demonstrations without improving operations.
Where Technology Delivers Returns
Wedin identifies several areas where her clients have seen clear benefits: automating manual reporting, streamlining lease data extraction, generating underwriting scenarios, and supporting operations teams with work order management. In each case, the technology reduces friction and saves time.
“Where do humans spend time just moving data within your team?” Wedin asks. “That’s where you attack a problem. Who are the humans doing this? Do they want to attack the problem? Then, how do you support them in doing so?”
Her framework focuses on eliminating repetitive, low-value tasks—such as analysts reformatting data for reports or manually creating multiple underwriting scenarios in spreadsheets. Automating these processes frees up staff to focus on higher-value work.
“I’m invested in the solution and the outcome working, whether you call it AI or not,” Wedin says. By focusing on results rather than technology labels, she helps clients avoid hype-driven decisions that often lead to disappointing outcomes.
Requirements for Success
When AI is the appropriate solution, Wedin says it requires three critical elements: clean data, clear goals, and strong human oversight. “It needs to come with clean data, clear goals, and some strong human oversight,” she says. “When we do that, AI actually moves the needle on performance. It’s not just a fun or a frustrating thing—it can move the needle, but it takes some work to get there.”
This work includes establishing robust data governance, standardizing data collection and cleaning processes, and building organizational capacity to act on AI-generated insights. Skipping these steps often results in costly technology that fails to improve workflows.
The Advisory Approach
Feroce Real Estate Advisors supports clients through fractional executive roles, strategic advisory focused on investment performance, and advisory board positions for proptech companies. Wedin’s role with proptech firms centers on ensuring high return on investment for real-world problems. “I bring an owner, a customer solution perspective. I need a high ROI solution to solve my problem. I’m solving a problem, I’m not buying technology,” she explains.
Adopting a problem-first framework may determine which real estate technology investments provide a competitive edge and which become costly missteps. For Wedin, the key question is not whether to use AI, but whether it is being used to address real business needs.
