Founder Series #3 ft. Michael Brown: "Never allow anyone to tell you that you can't get it done"
Welcome to the third episode of the PropTech Talks - Founder Series. In this episode, we turned our attention to a visionary leader, Michael Brown , who is currently leading Skyline Robotics as the company’s chairman and CEO.
Michael's journey is nothing short of extraordinary. Since the age of 12, Michael followed his father’s business closely by helping with invoicing and attending board meetings. From working on a project for Al Gore straight after his degree in Information Technology, to capitalising on emerging trends in the coffee industry, acquiring about 60 companies, and building the largest privately held independent firm for office supplies, Michael is a living example of the advantages of “never allowing anyone to tell you that you can't get it done” and “surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you and trusting them to make your business better”.
Today, Michael is the CEO of Skyline Robotics, the world's first at-heights industrial automation company. Originally founded in Israel, Skyline Robotics grew a presence in the US when Michael was driving in New York looking at the window cleaners asking himself, “why don’t we put robots on the sides of these buildings?”. Now, Skyline is focused on expanding to the UK, starting with London.
In this episode, Michael uncovered the strategies to propel companies to the forefront of the industry, competing with established firms, and effectively reinventing your business while recognising the opportunities of the future.
You can access the full interview through the link below:
https://proptechtalks.buzzsprout.com/share
Interview Highlights
Matthew: How did you first enter the world of business?
Michael: "My dad and I would separate all the paperwork and the invoices of his business at home. On my vacations, I would be in the warehouse or working in purchasing. So I really got an education and I was very lucky. From when I was around 12 years old, my father would take me with him to meetings when he was buying a company and ask me to sit down next to him, listen, and not open my mouth. My father and I really hit it off on the business front and I've been in love with business ever since."
Matthew: How did the idea of growing skyline robotics come about?
Michael: "I was actually looking into robotics for assisted living, and then one day I was driving down the West Side Highway in Manhattan and I looked up at Hudson Yards and I could not believe that windows were still getting cleaned by hand. I did a global search and looked for technology that could work to address this opportunity, and this is how I came across Skyline Robotics. I flew to Israel in 2019 and I was with all New York real estate people, and I called Skyline Robotics and said “listen, I'm here with some of the biggest real estate people in New York. If you guys are really serious about your business, you'll come meet me.” Then they did come meet me, and we ended up being able to consummate a deal through which myself and Ross Blum , who's our President and COO and partner, joined the company. At that time, they were eight employees and they had a prototype and that was it."
Matthew: It is very impressive to see how quickly Skyline Robotics has grown internationally since then. Can you tell us more about how distributing your products through those who already have clients has fueled your growth trajectory?
Michael: "Absolutely. The contracts are important, but what's the most important is having the local knowledge of the marketplace. One of the most incredible things that I found about technology companies is that people don’t bring the industry into the discussion when launching a product that is supposed to be revolutionising for the industry. They don’t call up the people that are working in the industry and ask them about the biggest issues that need to be looked into. For us as a tech company, it is actually want to work with the industry leaders. They can be union or non-union, but they are happy to work with us because we're engaging the ecosystem rather than just breaking windows and saying “here's what we're going to do”.
Matthew: How is the opportunity in London unique for real estate technology players?
Michael: "I have found that London walks the walk and others just talk the talk. I was blow away by how advanced London is in what it comes to sustainability and green. It seems like the adoption has been real in London, and the city is on the curing edge of PropTech and experimentation, and we're very excited about that. New York, it is slower, but they'll get there."
Matthew: Additionally to your geographic expansion, what other future plans do you have for Skyline Robotics?
Michael: "Similarly to what I found when selling commodity office supplies, there are other business lines that we have found that will create more stickiness to our products. We found out through interacting with customers that we can actually use our technology to do a facade health profile and look at what's going on with your materials. What's amazing is that no one has the data yet for outside on the facade and for the first time, we're going to be able to provide people with the bigger picture of what is happening with their asset. Everyone has gotten very behind this and we're very excited to leverage this opportunity."
It was a pleasure interviewing Michael and learning about his trajectory to date. Stay tuned for the upcoming Investor and Founder Series interviews, as well as for the launch of the Executive Series!