‘Too few proptech ideas have been road tested with agents before being launched’

Estate agents are becoming bored of proptech companies trying to sell them services which haven’t been road tested within branches before they are launched nationally, a leading industry figures has claimed. Ed Mead, CEO of viewings service Viewber (pictured, below) and a former executive director at London agency Douglas & Gordon, says that 85% of the UK industry is a “longtail of pretty technologically unsavvy people” who have still got to get their heads around the wave of proptech being launched into the market. “I saw a lot of them when I was at D&G, but I hadn’t twigged how annoying it can be,” he says, “For the independents who are approaching retirement, it’s too much of a risk to invest heavily in tech, and they leave it to the big chains.” Ed says like him his business partner and former Marsh & Parsons CEO Peter Rollings has also become concerned about too many clever but non-property people touring around the industry talking about great tech but who “haven’t talked to an agent before developing their ideas”. “There’s a lot of stuff out there which would be lovely to have but at £200 a month for them or whatever they…