Steven Song is the Founder & CEO of Diald AI, a Los Angeles–based startup redefining how property decisions are made through its AI-powered real estate platform. With a background in architecture and development, Steven has led projects across the U.S. and Asia, ranging from Seoul’s RYSE Hotel and Montrea Hannam to CJ ENM’s Culver City HQ and the historic Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. Before Diald, he worked at architecture firms SOM and Arquitectonica on large-scale urban projects including the IFC Seoul and the International Gem Tower in New York.

Every chapter of his career has led to Diald’s mission: delivering deeper, faster, and smarter real estate intelligence through AI.

Can you share a bit about your background and what inspired you to found Diald AI here in Los Angeles?

I’ve spent the past two decades in architecture and real estate, founding an international design practice (SCAAA) and a family office (Axle Companies) that owns and operates hotels across the U.S. So I’ve experienced the challenges of underwriting, from both sides. Too often, I saw nine-figure decisions made using generic analysis, while critical local-level nuance surfaced too late—if at all. Los Angeles, with its fast-moving market and regulatory complexity, was the right place to build a platform that captures those details early, turning them into real advantages for investors and developers.

How would you describe Diald’s core mission and key product offerings?

The real estate industry still struggles with incomplete data, manual workflows, and disconnected tools. Even experienced teams can spend weeks on site or conducting property due diligence and still uncover key issues too late in the process.

Diald was built to change that. Our mission is to help teams make faster, more confident decisions by automating underwriting end-to-end—without cutting corners. We’ve developed a vertical AI platform that draws from millions of data points, including zoning and permit filings, market comps, local news, and neighborhood dynamics, to produce tailored investment memos in hours instead of weeks.

Teams rely on Diald for one-click site screening, full investment memos, and portfolio monitoring—they can move quickly and spend more time on strategy instead of spreadsheets.

What sets Diald apart in the CREtech space?

Diald is the first true vertical AI platform built specifically for commercial real estate professionals. It replaces the fragmented stack of legacy PropTech tools with a single, integrated solution that delivers clear guidance at the push of a button. Rather than having analysts jump between multiple data sources and piece together incomplete information, Diald’s multi-agent AI architecture automates the heavy lifting and provides transparent, source-linked explanations for every insight.

At the core of Diald is a proprietary benchmarking repository that grows with every property analyzed. When clients choose to share their historical deals, this data further sharpens our ability to understand local market context, identify risk factors, and recognize patterns—the platform becomes smarter and more precise with every use.

How do you see the Los Angeles commercial real estate and tech scenes evolving, and where does Diald fit in?

Los Angeles’ CRE environment is a market of contrasts; zoning processes are more complex than ever, retail is evolving with new consumer behaviors emerging, and capital has become more selective. At the same time, Los Angeles has emerged as a global hub for AI innovation, bringing fresh tools and perspectives to the industry.

Diald sits right where these forces converge. We translate shifting civic and regulatory landscapes, neighborhood dynamics, and market signals into actionable analysis. This enables lenders, equity sponsors, and developers to move with confidence, knowing their decisions reflect the unique character of each local community, because in Los Angeles, no two neighborhoods are alike.

What specific opportunities do you see unique to the Los Angeles market that Diald aims to address?

There are three main challenges in Los Angeles that Diald is uniquely positioned to tackle.

First, the city’s entitlement and zoning landscape is notoriously complex, with layers like Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC), adaptive-reuse regulations, rent stabilization laws, and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) all impacting development timelines and feasibility. Diald simplifies this by analyzing these layers at scale, so users can quickly identify opportunities that align with local regulations and are more likely to move forward.

Second, national datasets often miss the nuances that make or break hyper-local retail and mixed-use projects. Diald’s platform digs deeper to capture these granular details, helping investors and developers understand the true viability of sites that don’t fit neatly into broad market trends.

Finally, neighborhood sentiment and safety dynamics play a critical role in lease-up risk and tenant retention, yet these factors are rarely quantified in traditional due diligence and underwriting. By embedding these insights into our solutions, Diald provides a more complete picture of risk and opportunity that reflects what’s really happening on the ground.

For local businesses or investors curious about Diald, what’s one thing you want them to understand about your approach?

We’re trying to take the slowest, most manual part of the real estate process and make it a lot more efficient. Right now, a ton of time goes into just getting the full picture on a site—pulling comps, figuring out what’s been built nearby, and what’s possible. That early research phase can stretch on for days or weeks, and even then, you might still be missing pieces.

Diald gives you that foundational context right away. It’s not about replacing your judgment or doing the thinking for you—it’s about helping you get to that point faster.

Our team has spent years in the trenches of real estate—as investors, analysts, and more—and we’ve built the product we always wished we had. Now, clients use it to shift their time away from data wrangling and toward higher-value work.

What have been some of Diald’s most significant milestones or successes since launching?

Since launching, we’ve seen Diald really start to find its footing with institutional users, across equity, debt, and owner-operators. We rolled out daily market monitoring specifically for hospitality portfolios, which has been a game-changer for teams managing fast-moving assets. We’ve also helped cross-border investors get comfortable with underwriting U.S. properties. And right now, we’re piloting with large lenders and expanding our international partnerships. The platform’s value is resonating far beyond Los Angeles and even the U.S.

Looking ahead, what are Diald’s priorities and goals for the next year?

Looking ahead, Diald is focused on deepening our relationships with lenders and equity partners, making the platform a seamless part of their daily workflows. At the same time, we want to continue expanding internationally, partnering with local experts to adapt and tailor our tools for new markets.

Behind the scenes, we’re constantly growing our benchmarking data and improving how we communicate insights so users not only get answers faster but truly understand the reasoning behind them. All of this is about helping clients move confidently and make smarter decisions in an ever-changing market.

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