The night before Inman Connect New York 2026 officially kicked off, I decided to do something a little different.
Instead of another cocktail reception or polite panel chat, HomeCode hosted its first-ever Pitch Battle in NYC: 15 real estate tech companies, three rounds, a championship belt and a room full of operators, brokers and agents who weren’t there to clap politely. They were there to decide who actually delivered.
This wasn’t a demo day. It wasn’t founders reading word-for-word from their slide deck. And it definitely wasn’t a parade of people saying “Have you heard about our AI-powered solution?”
Instead, the night was predicated on one simple question: Can you show us what your product actually does — and why it matters — while the clock is ticking?
3 rounds and nowhere to hide
We structured the event in three competitive rounds. Head-to-head matchups. Tight time limits with no wandering and no filler.
Fifteen companies stepped in. Each round produced a winner. Those three winners went into a final showdown to determine first, second and third overall.
By the end of the night, RealScout took the championship. Founder Andrew Flachner walked away with the belt, the trophy — and a Times Square billboard spotlight.
It was that kind of night.
At one point, we had a tie in Round Two that couldn’t be broken. So yes, we settled it with a dance-off and let the crowd decide. Democracy, but make it chaotic.
The full list of winners:
The real prize that these companies earned was attention and real-time feedback from people who actually run teams, brokerages and businesses.
The perfect setting
We hosted the event at OS NYC Gaming Lounge for a reason. If you’re going to call it a battle, it shouldn’t feel like a breakout room.
The massive LED video wall meant founders weren’t just talking about their platforms — they were showing interfaces, workflows, actual products.
Less “just trust me” and more “just watch this.”
That format forces clarity: If your product works, it shows. If it doesn’t, the whole room knows.
Sponsors who understood the assignment
Constant Contact and Scout didn’t just put their logos on a slide and call it a day. They leaned in.
Stephanie Alfonso and Drew Fabrikant, who emceed the night, kept the pacing tight without killing the energy — which is harder than it sounds when you’ve got competitive founders, live voting and a crowd that’s fully invested.
What made the night work wasn’t just the format. It was that the people involved understood what we’re building with HomeCode: a place where technology isn’t just promoted — it’s pressure-tested in front of the people who have to live and work with it every day.
And of course, there was pizza
It’s still HomeCode, and it’s still NYC.
There was excellent pizza from some of the city’s best dough-slingers, with custom cocktails courtesy of MAXA Designs. The vibe felt less like a conference side event and more like a collision between founders, operators and tech people who actually care about execution.
(Which, frankly, was the whole point.)
So what did we learn?
There’s a lot of experimentation happening right now. AI demos. Vibe-coded app prototypes. Big promises. All of that is exciting.
But the tools brokerages depend on aren’t built on vibes. They’re built on infrastructure, discipline and teams who understand scale.
The companies that rose to the top didn’t win because they were flashy. They won because they were clear. They articulated the problem. They showed the solution. They made it obvious why it mattered.
What I find time and time again at events like this is that clarity wins. It makes a better product, a better service and better promotion.
This is just the beginning
This was the first HomeCode Pitch Battle, but it won’t be the last.
Thank you to every company leader who stepped into the arena, every sponsor who supported the vision and every operator who showed up ready to engage instead of just network.
If the night proved anything, it’s that the real estate tech community wants and needs better conversations and better formats for having them.
That’s what we’re building at HomeCode.
And we’re just getting started.