A European PropTech View with Guillermo Preckler, Brickbro

Welcome back to ‘A European PropTech View, by Dilan Omari-Clark’ our Q&A focused on European PropTech’s.

Our Q&A series is an opportunity for our European team, headed up by Dilan Omari-Clark to discuss all things PropTech, Start-ups, and Career with different founders from across the continent. Each week we will ask PropTech innovators burning questions and quiz them about their product, we hope you find it insightful and enjoy getting to know the founders as much as we have.

This week we have been in touch with Guillermo Preckler, CEO and Co-Founder of Brickbro.

Brickbro is the first digital platform in Europe which is digitalising the way we sell and buy commercial properties. We connect sellers, buyers and third parties while we offer a much quicker, flexible and digital alternative to the traditional commercial real estate market. We are the bridge between sellers and those buyers who are waiting for profitable opportunities. That’s why our specialisation is in distressed assets which we convert into fresh newly refurbished properties. The company is based in Barcelona, Spain and was founded in 2019.

How did you find yourself working in the PropTech sector?

I started when I was 16 years old founding a company that bought and sold parking spaces in Barcelona and that gave me the basic knowledge I needed to start in real estate. Thanks to this experience I discovered that I am passionate about the sector.

I saw the need to create a project of my own in which I could put 100% of my efforts and develop to the maximum all the ideas that I had. In 2019, I detected a big opportunity in the commercial real estate market. The e-commerce boom had left many empty and useless premises behind. Two of the main problems in this niche were liquidity and transaction complexity. Many players had tried to find a solution to these problems. However, it was impossible to find a platform where the actual transaction could be done quickly and easily and that is why I decided to create Brickbro.

What does your role entail at Brickbro?

I’m the CEO and Co-founder of Brickbro. So, with my teammate Carolina Santa Cruz (CPO and co-founder) we try to connect all the pieces together to make Brickbro grow and develop as fast as we can.

You claim you can help your customer sell their commercial property in less than 57 days, how do you achieve this?

Brickbro has now more than 500 assets on sale in its platform worth 100 million euros and the average term per operation is 57 days, offering a wide variety of products and services related to the transaction such as technical licenses or refurbishing. How do we do that? We follow four steps to sell the property in 57 days. We start with a free valuation: the entire database that the algorithm gathers allows us to make an estimate of the property and get the most out of its price.

Then we analyze the property and its potential uses: Big Data allows us to collect all the necessary information to carry out an exhaustive analysis of the possible uses of a property. Next, we create the maximum diffusion in 24hrs thanks to the combination of our CRM, marketing actions and investor portfolio where we reach millions of people in minutes.

And finally, the client receives all the offers and decides the one that interests him the most. That’s how we manage to close the sale in less than 57 days.

How has the last year impacted your business?

The first few months of the pandemic were tough, but we recovered quickly and have been growing ever since. There are more and more empty commercial premises due to the rise of e-commerce and, following the arrival of the pandemic, their availability has not stopped growing. For example, in Barcelona there are 70,000 commercial premises, of which 30,000 are currently available. In Madrid this figure has doubled, and these numbers are similar in practically all cities around the world.

What advice would you give to someone looking to enter the Proptech industry?

The best thing would be to find something that differentiates them from others and see in which way they can enter the market. First, you have to be very specialized in the real estate sector as it is a sector with many verticals and you have to know them very well to find your place in the market.

Also, the best thing someone that wants to enter the Entrepreneur world needs is to have patience because, no matter how much you want to do it at the beginning, everything is achieved step by step. As much as it may seem a challenging path and something like living in a constant roller coaster, it is necessary to have that patience to be able to see which is the best way.

What does the next year hold for Brickbro?

We are working on our international expansion for 2022. First, we want to continue operating through other cities in Spain, and then our idea is to enter the Italy, France and Portugal markets, among others.

With that expansion, we will be able to become the future commercial real estate market leader in Southern Europe in 2022.