‘Mr Proptech’ steps down from day-to-day running of platform he co-founded

UK real estate proptech pioneer and Unissu founder James Dearsley has stepped back from its day-to-day running and taken up the role of Non-Executive Chairman.

Fellow founder Eddie Holmes announced the news in a letter to Unissu supporters.

“After four years of unflinching dedication and enormous effort, my partner James Dearsley has moved on to become Non-Executive Chairman of the company.

PASSION

“James’ passion is to drive change in the real estate industry. It is that motivation which has got him out of bed every day and helped build Unissu into the unique community that it is.

“It is that same motivation that will mean he keeps getting out of bed every day as he continues his work as the pre-eminent speaker on the topic at global conferences around the world, freed from the often difficult task of building a startup.”

Dearsley (main picture) told The Neg: “I’m leaving the operational day-to-day leadership. The business needs to go through a restructure – to look at the journey and focus on digital acquisition.

“I’ve spent nearly a decade working on digital transformation and needed to take a step back. I’m going to be focussing on academia and supporting the grass roots of the industry through an academic university framework.”

CONCERNS

Dearsley says he has concerns that the industry doesn’t understand some of the broader changes that are happening and events that are starting to shape its future which he hopes to address in his forthcoming book.

He adds: “The industry thinks proptech is a silver bullet – it’s not. The genuine answer is much broader than that, addressing the culture of the sector – innovation and leadership.

“The residential broker culture is short-term but we need to be looking at what is going to be happening over the next 20 years.”