DC Tech Meetup Recap
Conversations that turn into real opportunities
This past Wednesday, December 10, I attended the DC Tech Meetup, and it turned into one of those nights that reminds you why showing up matters.
The meet and greet itself went well, even if my intro did not feel perfect in the moment. That happens. What mattered was what came after. The real value of the evening came from the conversations, the follow-ups, and the clarity that emerged around where our technology fits outside the spaces people usually expect.
When problems are clearly defined, solutions become obvious
One of the most meaningful conversations of the night was with Jeffery Englander, an investor and VP at Vannadium. His background is primarily in property and real estate development, and he described a challenge they have been trying to solve for some time.
They want an interactive application for real estate and property development projects. Not just static renders or fly-throughs, but something teams can actually use together. Their current pipeline relies on tools like CAD, Revit, and Unreal. Unreal works for visualization and renders, but it falls short when collaboration is required. Moving data cleanly from CAD or Revit into Unreal is difficult, and once teams are inside Unreal, there is no real collaborative workflow.
What they want instead is something adjustable, interactive, and shared. An application where multiple people can work together, explore a space, and make decisions in real time. In other words, they want to gamify the experience, without turning it into a game.
This is exactly the kind of problem Apex Engine was built to solve.
From introductions to real demonstrations
DC Tech Meetup was not just about introductions. It opened the door to something more concrete.
We will be moving beyond conversations and into demonstrations. Early next year, we plan to run live demos that show how teams can work together in real time inside the same environment. Not a pre-recorded walkthrough, but an actual collaborative session where multiple people can join, interact, and make changes together.
For us, demos are not about showing perfect visuals. They are about showing how people actually work. How teams collaborate, test ideas, and iterate in real time. That is where the value becomes obvious, especially for industries like real estate, architecture, and development, where decisions are made by groups, not individuals.
A different kind of partnership conversation
What stood out most was not just interest in the technology, but the structure of the conversation itself. Rather than jumping straight to equity, the focus was on partnership, pilots, and real-world demos.
The initial plan is to move forward with a demo and pilot program. If that goes well, there is interest in deeper collaboration and support. We are also planning a follow-up conversation in early January to discuss potential investment as well, including equity, using a term sheet structure they already reviewed and responded positively to.
This kind of progression feels right. Build trust through real usage. Let the technology speak for itself. Then talk about investment from a position of shared understanding.
A reminder that realism is not always the goal
One detail I found especially encouraging was that photorealism was not a requirement for them right now. They were impressed by the video alone. What mattered was not perfect visuals, but functionality, collaboration, and flexibility.
That aligns closely with how we think about development. Real-time collaboration, shared context, and speed of iteration often matter more than visual polish in the early stages, especially when teams are trying to make decisions together.
What comes next
We are planning an in-office demo early next year, with the goal of having everyone working together in the same environment. This will not be a passive presentation. It will be a hands-on session where collaboration is the point. If they can all get in and work together live, that will be the real test, and the real proof point.
Overall, the night was a good reminder that DC Tech Meetup continues to be a space where real conversations happen. Not just networking for the sake of it, but builders, operators, and investors talking honestly about problems they are trying to solve.
That is where momentum starts.