Welcome Chase Garbarino, Co-Founder & CEO at HqO on this episode of 🔥The Lantern 🔥
HqO is the operating system for commercial real estate.
Founded in 2018, HqO has raised over $200M and now powers properties across 30+ countries.
Most commercial real estate firms are starting their AI journey without years of legacy SaaS debt to unwind, but still face the same change management challenges.
🔍 Why is commercial real estate well positioned for AI? 🔎
A lot of people interact with commercial buildings, but not many know how they actually operate.
Commercial real estate is sophisticated on hard tech, but it missed the cloud from an IT perspective. The harder part is helping a customer base that isn’t the most tech-savvy walk through AI adoption incrementally before committing to a top-down transformation.
💡 What is HqO doing differently in 2026? 💡
Chase has spent the last year rebuilding from the foundation up – database, architecture, the whole stack – to leverage highly specialized agents for a complex, regulated industry.
The other half of the equation is the people side, helping customers who are wary of AI and giving them an incremental on-ramp.
🤔 Advice for founders building today? 🤔
Lean Startup principles still apply on the product side, but founders also need to think about leverage in the org from day one.
The architecture of what you’re building should mirror the architecture of the org, like how Linear has executed.
Get that central knowledge base right, early, and investors will notice.
🤝 How can we help HqO? 🤝
HqO is hiring! They’re looking for talented builders with an “infinite learning motor” who have high aptitude, are passionate about cities and buildings, and are comfortable trying and failing fast.
Tenure on the resume matters less than appetite for learning on the frontier. Check them out!
The Lantern is brought to you by MGMT Boston, Rise73 & Invest Northern Ireland – Americas this month