Rafael Weiss is the co-founder of Sytes, a marketplace platform that connects commercial real estate landlords, developers, and brokers with tenants actively looking for space in real time. Rafael came to the problem as a developer who lost a deal because tenant demand was invisible until it was too late, and built Sytes to fix the information asymmetry at the core of retail leasing. The platform serves nearly 350 tenants and over 35,000 active site listings across all 50 states, with clients including Kimco, InvenTrust, Church's Chicken, and Dutch Bros. Rafael is based in Boca Raton, Florida.

(01:04) Retail’s Demand Visibility Problem
(02:44) Why Sytes
(04:04) A Filtration System for Tenant Demand
(06:24) Getting First Customers to Pay Upfront
(07:24) Why Tenant Demand Data Was Opaque
(08:34) Anonymous Tenant Expansion
(10:14) How a Deal Happens on Sytes
(11:24) Church’s Chicken Case Study
(14:54) Kimco & MyEyeDoctor Portfolio Review
(16:34) REITs & Strip Centers
(18:04) The Subscription Model
(19:24) Retail Is Back
(22:44) AI Leasing Agents & the Broker’s Future
(24:04) Tenant Demand Index for Developers
(27:24) Bootstrapping vs. Venture Capital Backing
(28:24) Collaboration Superpower: Travis Kalanick

🏙️ Learn more:
–Visit Sytes
–Rafael Weiss on LinkedIn

🏙️ Virtual Events:
–AI & Innovation Forum: Multifamily: on 9/29
–SFR / BTR Forum: on 10/22

🏙️ In-person Events:
–Institutional Investors & PE Forum: in NYC on 9/16
–South Florida Capital & Development Forum: in Miami on 10/15
–Finance Forum: in NYC on 11/3
–All upcoming Commercial Observer events

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn

• Articles: Unlimited access to Commercial Observer
• Power Lists: Exclusive access to Power Lists and People Rankings
• Events: Member-only ticket pricing and priority registration