The data center industry is losing the public narrative, and CENSAI has the survey numbers to prove it.

In this Founder Series episode, Ryan Elazari sits down with Devin Boesen, Director of Population and Migration Products, and Jon Liggett, Head of Data and Partnerships at CENSAI, to dig into what population intelligence actually reveals about how Americans move, where they avoid, and why the stories being told about climate migration and data center opposition don't always match the data.

CENSAI was built during COVID, when census data was stale, U-Haul surveys were passing as market intelligence, and nobody could answer basic questions about where people were actually going, at the income level, the building level, or the zip code level. Devin and Jon explain how individual-level address history going back to 2009 became the foundation of a platform now used for multifamily diligence, student housing underwriting, and Snowbird market analysis across South Florida.

The conversation covers climate migration in detail: why the prediction of a great Midwest exodus isn't showing up in the data, what is actually happening along the Gulf Coast and in markets like Tampa and Orlando, and how insurance cycles interact with, but don't fully explain, where people move. They also address AI, specifically what has changed inside CENSAI in the last three months and why the real advantage isn't the chat layer everyone is bolting onto their products. And they share fresh survey data on data center sentiment: 44 percent of respondents oppose a data center near their home, a more negative reaction than they have to power plants, gas lines, battery storage facilities, or nuclear reactors.

Small businesses aren't credit risks. They're cash flow timing risks. And the commercial real estate industry has been treating them like the same problem for decades.

In this episode of the CRE Unplugged Founder Series, Ryan Elazari sits down with Alix Maurin and Joseph Thalinjan, Co-Founders of RentFlow, a Y Combinator-backed platform giving small business tenants flexible, cash flow-aligned rent payment solutions while ensuring landlords still get paid on the first of the month. Two former McKinsey consultants who discovered that nearly 50% of small businesses are late on rent, not because they can't pay, but because of a structural mismatch between when money comes in and when rent is due.

The conversation covers how RentFlow uses bank transaction data and AI to analyze actual payment behavior rather than outdated credit proxies, what landlords miss when they rely on traditional underwriting, and why the rigid monthly rent cycle built for 1950 is quietly damaging commercial portfolios today. Alix and Joseph also open up about product-market fit, navigating the transition from corporate to founder life, and what it really means to build through doubt.

Ryan closes with his Moneyball take: the landlords who adopt a data-driven approach to tenant relationships early will have the same competitive edge the Oakland A's had. This is that inflection point for commercial real estate.

How a founder with no real estate experience built a vertically integrated platform now powering the future of multifamily living. A conversation on bootstrapping, resident expectations, and why the best PropTech founders stay close to customers.

In this Founder Series episode, Ryan Elazari sits down with Konrad Koczwara, Founder and CEO of ElevateOS, to explore how he went from complete industry outsider to building the vertically integrated resident experience platform in multifamily real estate.

Konrad shares why he bootstrapped ElevateOS without outside capital, how his Polish roots shaped his relentless work ethic, and why he stays deeply involved in sales and customer relationships as the company scales.

The discussion covers the evolution of resident expectations, why today's renters demand hotel-like experiences, how AI is transforming multifamily technology, and strategies for generating revenue beyond rent. Konrad also reflects on co-chairing the Emerging Leaders program at RETTC and why integrated tech stacks matter for onsite teams managing disconnected platforms.