Cat Smith, Co-Founder of Pixel, has gone from being the only women on her course to the director of a cutting edge prop tech start up. She spoke to us about breaking the bias.
What inspired you to enter the prop tech space?
“Before pursuing a career within PropTech, I always had a love for buildings and technology. As a child I would attempt to build windmills in the garden, rig up home-made remote door closers and repurpose my Lego motors to see if I could speed up window cleaning.
“The same interest and drive was true when I started my career. Technology in property was almost non-existent, especially when compared to the seamless tech world we live in today. CAD, for example, was in its infancy and we were still reliant on drafting house designs with drawing boards.
“Soon after graduating, I went on to do a far more detailed CAD course along with Stephen, my business partner. We got through the main part of the course in record time and went on to do further modules in 3d and customisation. Both of us took to this new tech coming into our industry and recognised the vast potential it could have.
“Stephen and I were aware that housebuilder and developer marketing departments were still using watercolour images to illustrate how a new build property would look once built.
“Capitalising on this gap in the market, we started Pixel in 1996, the first 3d production house dedicated to the property industry in Scotland, providing services to visualise buildings off plan.
“What started as early computer-generated house images has now developed into online property sales systems. Since then, we’ve spent the last 25 years pushing our technology to continue digitising and optimising the new-home buyer journey.
“My drive comes from the desire to make sure home buyers have as much information as possible to help them reach the biggest buying decision of their lives.”
How diverse would you say the prop tech sector is?
“Housebuilding in general is male-dominated, to my knowledge just 15% of the industry are women. PropTech is all the more so, with women making up just 5% of the industry.
“But it’s changing. Looking back to when I was a student, I was the only female on my course among 30 men so while the industry is still not considerably diverse, there has been encouraging progress over the last couple of decades.
“As the industry continues to grow, we must continue encouraging women to take up careers within the property and technology sectors individually – which will then result in more diversity within the PropTech niche.
“At Pixel, our workforce is split 50% women and 50% men, and I think this has been a significant influence in our success at Pixel in both our deliverability and company culture.
How do you think it compares to the real estate/housebuilding sector in general, which remains a male-dominated industry?
“PropTech is a niche crossover of two sectors already male-dominated, property and technology. Because PropTech careers tend to require a unique combination of skills, it’s harder to get into. So Progress within the property and tech sectors individually is crucial to affecting change within PropTech as well.
“But to be a successful women within the industry, you must have:
- Experience within the property sector to understand what processes can be improved
- The ability to quickly pick-up technology and apply it to solve or improve issues
- The ability sell your vision (often to men) and endure the countless challenges of bringing a product first-to-market.
“Combine these factors with the usual challenges that women face in the workplace and you can see that it’s no mean feat.”
What positive changes can be made in the prop tech sector to ensure a diverse talent pool?
“Inspirational, affirmative action and articles like this are all useful tactics in changing attitudes and we can all benefit from more diversity in the industry, it is not just a case of political box ticking. While stereotypes aren’t to be given much attention, there are differences between how men and women work, and fresh approaches bring fresh ideas.
“I remember once being literally laughed out of the boardroom of a big developer for talking about the potential of reserving a property online. This was a few years ago, but now that is a standard feature of our sales system.
“Therefore, it’s crucial that the industry actively takes an interest in diversifying the workforce. Not only will this pay dividends in the long-run, but it will encourage a new standard in PropTech.”
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