SXSW Pitch Finalist: Deepblocks
The Forrest Four-Cast: February 13, 2020
Is it possible to bring down the cost of optimizing housing to zero? That’s the goal of Deepblocks, one of the 50 finalists for SXSW Pitch 2020.
Based in Miami, Florida, Deepblocks is an Artificial Intelligence company building a centralized global platform for analyzing real estate development. It integrates financial analysis, zoning limits, and market data into a single formula that enables instant modeling of development potential in any city around the world. Now working in the imperial and metric systems, Deepblocks addresses inefficiencies and costs of planning for housing.
Olivia Ramos, Deepblocks’ Founder and CEO, is a graduate of all three Singularity University startup programs, GSP, Incubator, and Accelerator, and was the only woman participant in the DARPA Innovation House program. She holds a Master’s of Architecture from Columbia University, a Master’s of Real Estate Development from the University of Miami, and a Bachelor’s in Architecture from the University of Florida.
She spent a decade working in architecture and real estate development before she realized the potential for software that could combine demographic, zoning, financial, and market data. With Deepblocks, developers and brokers can produce a feasibility analysis for a property in 20 minutes vs. two to four weeks. The platform has been adopted by real estate professionals in well over 1,000 U.S. cities, and the savings realized should ultimately benefit renters and buyers.
Ramos, who Inc. magazine named one of 10 Innovative Women Building Mega-Successful Businesses, will pitch Deepblocks in the category of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics & Voice Technology (11 am to noon Sunday, March 15), before a live audience and a panel of expert judges.
Winners in each of the 10 categories will be announced at the Pitch Awards Ceremony, at 6:30 pm Sunday, March 15. SXSW attendees are also invited to Meet the Finalists from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Monday, March 16. All SXSW Pitch events take place at the Hilton Austin Downtown.
Ramos talked about having patience, the motto she lives by and what she hopes for in 2020.
What is your top goal for Deepblocks in 2020?
Reduce the cost of planning for a building by 50%.
Tell us your favorite thing about Miami.
It is a young city with very little history.
With the exception of Deepblocks, what tech trend is your team most excited about?
Faster internet.
What is the most over-hyped tech trend of 2020?
TikTok.
If you weren’t working for Deepblocks, what would you be doing?
Getting a computer science degree.
What has the startup experience taught you about life?
Very little is under my control.
Which living person do you most admire and why?
Eckhart Tolle, because he has managed to spread a beautiful message.
What do you think is the most overrated virtue?
Self-will.
Which talent would you most like to have?
The talent of surrendering to life.
What’s your actual super power?
The power of waiting.
What motto or quote do you live by?
Principles before personalities.
Tell us about some things you love.
Meditation and writing.
What do you do when you are low on energy?
Yoga.
If you were offered the opportunity to colonize Mars (but with no guarantee that you would ever return to earth), would you go?
It depends on where I would be of most service.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten — or given?
Sometimes no action is the best action.
Look for more interviews with other finalists in this space between now and the start of SXSW Pitch on Saturday, March 14. Visit this page to see all previous interviews in this series as well as a list of all finalists.
If you are an entrepreneur, check out the SXSW 2020 Startups Track, which runs March 13–17. This track brings together founders and funders and showcases exciting new companies, products, services, and business models across different verticals and industries.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
