UpWind Real Estate Partners sat down with U-Rite founder: Stephen Paek to discuss his journey from Hines Acquisitions to Proptech Entrepreneurship.
Why did you start U-Rite?
I spent over a decade working across various commercial real estate verticals and witnessed first-hand the pain points of using outdated software. The constant switching between Excel and legacy cash flow tools was not only time-consuming but also highly prone to errors. The industry was long overdue for technological innovation, and I knew that with the right approach, we could transform the underwriting process.
What were you doing before?
Before founding U-Rite, I was with Hines, based out of Chicago and Toronto. I worked on various marquee developments and was actively involved in deploying capital for Hines Canada's flagship investment fund. My experience there provided me with deep insights into the challenges faced by the industry, which ultimately fueled the creation of U-Rite.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Creating a software that could successfully compete with an incumbent solution built over 40 years ago was not an easy feat. When you consider how intricate and robust those legacy systems are, it's a significant achievement to not only have a competing product from a functionality standing, but one that is more powerful, compatible with how industry practitioners actually analyze deals, and user-friendly. It took us a few years, but the result is something I'm incredibly proud of. Today U-Rite is trusted by over 100 commercial real estate firms across North America to run their business.
What is the biggest challenge today, and how are you addressing it?
The underwriting process is fragmented and broken. The incumbent software is the industry standard, but it’s also viewed as a necessary evil. Our challenge has been to introduce innovative technology without disrupting our clients’ existing workflows. To gain penetration, we had to focus our efforts on solutions that allow for business continuity, ensuring that users can adopt our features from day one without fear of disrupting their operations and allowing for information sharing across different organizations.
How has the company evolved since launching?
We started with a software-only solution, but it quickly became clear that there was a need for a services component. While technology is crucial, there’s no substitute for an experienced analyst who can handle complex issues. To address this, we introduced U-Rite Plus, our fractional analyst service. This allows clients to hire top-tier analysts on an adhoc basis, providing access to world-class talent at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.
How does U-Rite fit into the proptech ecosystem?
Underwriting and financial analysis are critical first steps in any commercial real estate transaction. They serve as the foundation for everything that follows, including data analytics, pipeline management, asset management, and accounting. U-Rite is focused on being a pivotal part of this ecosystem by streamlining the underwriting process and partnering with best-in-class companies in related fields to enhance the entire workflow.
What are U-Rite’s growth goals?
Our goal is to become the leading provider of underwriting solutions for the CRE industry. We’ve experienced tremendous growth over the past few years, but there’s still a lot of untapped potential. I’m thrilled that our value proposition—combining expert analyst services with cutting-edge software solutions—is resonating so strongly within the industry. We’re committed to building CRE solutions specifically tailored for the CRE industry.
Where is U-Rite in its funding, and what are your near-term capital priorities?
We’ve always been mindful of capital efficiency. We’ve raised a limited amount of capital from pre-seed investors and industry peers who understand and believe in the mission that U-Rite is pursuing. From there, we’ve bootstrapped our way to where we are today—a profitable company lead by an amazing team of sales, engineering and real estate experts. Our near-term capital priorities include continuing to lead the charge on introducing innovative underwriting solutions for the CRE industry.
What is the most popular feature of the platform?
We recently launched a promote calculator that’s proving to be a game changer—and surprisingly, it’s a tool that doesn’t exist with other providers. Many of our clients have struggled with this aspect when negotiating partnerships, so we introduced this feature to help investors quickly and accurately determine profit splits based on deal performance. This feature complements another powerful addition to our platform—modeling intricate debt products. Together, these tools are instrumental in helping our users navigate the complexities of CRE underwriting with greater ease and precision.