A few months ago I read a book by venture capitalist Ben Horowitz called “The Hard Thing About Hard Things.“ It was a great read and I recommend it to anyone who currently or plans to one day manage and lead people. But on a side to that, one of the things I found really interesting is the shift he talks about in the venture capitalist business.

Over the span of a decade, venture capitalists went from being ivory tower professionals to incredibly open and transparent. And they did that primarily through blogging. Just yesterday, I saw somebody tweet out that the key to becoming a venture capitalist in 1994 was to get an MBA. Today, it’s to start a blog.

The reason I find that interesting is because I predict that the same transformation is going to happen in the real estate development business. Today, most developers are pretty opaque. The people and personalities behind the projects are still generally concealed (save for a few developers) and my sense is that there’s still very much a fear of exposing and sharing too much.

But the lesson to be learned from the VC business is that blogs have become one of, if not their most important customer acquisition tool. I read somewhere that entrepreneurs—which are the customers of VCs—are most heavily influenced by blogs over any other medium. That is how they decide who they will allow to invest in their business.

Which is why I think it’s only a matter of time before the same sort of dynamic plays out in the real estate business. In fact, one of the most common questions I get from readers of ATC is about the reputation of developers and builders. Customers—before they decide who they will allow to build their future home—not surprisingly want to know something about the developer.

So if you’re a developer looking to sell more homes or lease more space,   I suggest giving blogging a try. It’s hard work, but I think you’ll be surprised at how effective a tool it can be.

Some of you might know that I’ve recently started using a mobile app called Strava. It’s a platform that allows you to track your runs and bike rides, as well as those of your friends. It tells you your speed, elevation changes, and it also maps your trips–among many other things. Here’s what my 50 km ‘Ride for Heart’ looks like from last Sunday.

But what’s even more interesting is how cities are starting to use the data this app collects:

For $20,000 a year, transportation planners and others can access Strava Metro, which provides an unprecedented look at where and how people are biking. It can tell them where they speed up and slow down, for example, or where they might stay in the street or ride on a crosswalk. That information can reveal where bike lanes or traffic calming measures would be useful, and if those already installed are effective.

It’s a perfect example of how “tech” is infiltrating so many other sectors. Mobile technology and networks are generating huge amounts of data and it’s happening at an increasing rate. We’re gaining insights into the way people live that simply wasn’t possible before. Some of this information will inevitably be misused, but a lot of it will be used to improve the way we live our lives.

I know that the City of Toronto also has its own proprietary cycling app and is hoping to collect similar sorts of data from it. But intuitively, I don’t think they’ll be able to compete with the scale of a platform like Strava. Though I certainly applaud the initiative.

The information age is an exciting time.

Image: Strava via Wired

Earlier this week it was announced that home remodeling site Houzz raised a $150 million Series D round, which would value the company at around $2.3 billion, post-money. Meaning, that’s the value of the company including the money it just raised.

If you’ve never used Houzz before, it’s a platform that offers design inspiration for remodeling projects, products for sale, and a directory of home professionals. The company makes money by selling products through its online storefront and through premium accounts for the pros.

The perceived value of Houzz likely stems from the fact that it provides a platform to address the estimated $300 billion home improvement market. But what I see as really exciting is the potential for Houzz to bring even greater transparency to the whole renovation and construction marketplace.

Already Houzz has started to aggregate data on average renovation costs throughout the US. But there’s a lot more they could do. Professional reviews and design inspirations are great, but I can imagine them “moving up the stack” to start acting as a king of virtual general contractor that manages more of the actual renovation process.

And that would be pretty powerful.