Today, I’m excited to introduce MetaProp Labs and to share that my longtime friend and business partner, Jeff Schacher, joined as co-founder and Chief AI Officer.

Over the years, I’ve sat with dozens of CEOs of REITs, brokerages, construction firms, and asset managers. I’ve listened to functional leaders in operations, asset management, leasing, and development describe their biggest challenges. Again and again, the message has been consistent: “We know technology is coming, we know artificial intelligence will reshape our workflows, but we don’t know how to get from pilot to performance.”

The AI implementation gap is one of the biggest structural problems in the industry today. Technology is not the bottleneck. Leadership is.

Why a Fractional Chief AI Officer

Over the past several months, we incubated MetaProp Labs because hiring a Chief AI Officer is out of reach for most mid-market real estate firms. Even the largest developers and managers are struggling to define the role. Moreover, recruiting an entire AI leadership team is virtually impossible in today’s competitive talent market. You need to combine deep real estate expertise with AI strategy, product design, transformation, and operational execution. Meanwhile, leaders like Blackstone, Brookfield, CBRE, and others are already exploring AI strategies at scale. The gap between leaders and laggards is widening.

Enter Jeff and his team. Together, they operate as a fractional Chief AI Officer for the underserved middle market, bringing the leadership, discipline, and execution capacity that most real estate firms cannot build in-house.

Meet the Labs Team

Jeff has been part of the MetaProp family for years, serving as both an investor and Venture Partner. Over the years, he’s advised dozens of our portfolio companies and limited partners on AI implementation. Previously, Jeff built and sold technology companies, including PeachWorks, and has become one of the most credible voices at the intersection of artificial intelligence and the built world. I’ve known Jeff personally and professionally for nearly two decades, and I can say without hesitation that he is one of the rare operators who can move from whiteboard to working product and from prototype to scale. In addition to his work successes, Jeff is teaching AI-assisted coding strategies to NYU engineering students and will soon release a book on enterprise vibe coding.

We matched Jeff with two other exceptional co-founders. Marko Pavlovic is a seasoned transformation executive with deep experience in both European and U.S. real estate modernization projects. He previously built and sold a PropTech consultancy focused on AI solutions and has spent his career driving organizational change in complex environments. Rob Raux brings technical chops and operational firepower, with a background in venture capital, finance, and scaling growth-stage businesses.

How MetaProp Labs Works

Labs clients get access to strategy, transformation, and execution under one roof. AI roadmaps are built with an understanding of how real estate actually works: the quirks of MLS data, the messy spreadsheets, the complexities of property management platforms, the compliance burdens of regulated assets, and the operational rhythms of leasing, development, and asset management. Rather than delivering abstract slide decks, MetaProp Labs delivers working solutions tied to measurable NOI growth, productivity gains, and competitive differentiation. Jeff and team are changing industry executive mindsets via a series of leadership workshops, guiding broader transformation initiatives, and even developing custom AI applications where off-the-shelf options don’t exist.

MetaProp has been, and will continue to be, known as a top-tier built environment venture capital investor. Importantly, our new Labs subsidiary extends MetaProp’s VC mission. By helping mid-market real estate operators adopt artificial intelligence more effectively, Labs expands the addressable market for our portfolio companies, while seeding new venture creation and investment opportunities for our funds.

Why Now

When I look across the industry, I am convinced that the winners in real estate AI will not be the firms with the flashiest demos or the most sophisticated algorithms. They will be the firms that integrate AI into their leasing desks, construction sites, compliance workflows, and tenant engagement strategies. They will be the ones who move beyond pilots and vanity projects to real operational impact.

That requires leadership. MetaProp Labs is designed to provide exactly that: a fractional Chief AI Officer for real estate, backed by the global leader in PropTech investing. With Jeff, Marko, and Rob at the helm, and the full weight of MetaProp’s ecosystem behind them, real estate firms finally have a way to bridge the gap between AI ambition and AI execution.

Mid-sized real estate firms that win with AI will be those that act decisively today. With Jeff leading MetaProp Labs, you now have a seasoned Chief AI Officer on call.

Ready to lead with AI? Visit our website to learn how AI can drive NOI for your business.