Diald AI is an AI-powered investment analysis platform used by teams making real estate and site selection decisions. The platform acts as an automated analyst, scanning over 1.7 million data sources–including zoning filings, market comps, public records, and local news–to generate comprehensive, institutional-grade due diligence and underwriting reports in just hours rather than weeks. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Diald AI’s COO Samantha Um to learn more.
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Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for Diald so far? Um said:
“My favorite memory working at Diald has been the moment when the product stopped being something we were building and started being something people genuinely trusted.”
“After countless iterations refining the underwriting logic and pressure-testing our AI agents, we began to see a real shift in how users engaged with the platform. Customers weren’t just reviewing the memos—they were trusting the outputs, asking deeper questions, and using Diald to inform real decisions. Watching that trust in AI grow as the quality of the product spoke for itself was incredibly meaningful.”
“What made it especially meaningful was seeing how cross-functional the journey had been—engineering, data, product, and partnerships all coming together. That feeling was crystallized the evening the first purchase of Diald v5.0 came through while the team was all at dinner together. Being able to share and celebrate that milestone in real time made it especially real. It captured why I love working at Diald: we’re building something ambitious, but we’re doing it with rigor, humility, and a team that genuinely cares about getting it right.”
Samantha Um’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Um shared:
“My professional journey really began during my freshman year at Harvard College, when I co-founded üBAR (now uVedas), a biotech startup focused on creating personalized nutrition bars tailored to an individual’s genetic nutritional needs.”
“Taking on the responsibilities of entrepreneurship at that stage gave me an early introduction to startup life. I was learning how to balance coursework with venture building in real time, which quickly sharpened my ability to prioritize, problem-solve, and operate under pressure.”
“After college, I joined Goldman Sachs as a Public Equity Analyst. In that role, I conducted due diligence on more than 50 equity funds across regions, market capitalizations, and investment strategies, supporting client investment decisions with rigorous research and analysis.”
“Looking for a different opportunity with more ownership and leadership responsibility, I later joined SCAAA, a global design and strategy consulting firm, as an Architecture + Strategy Researcher. There, I helped support the launch of the firm’s satellite office in Seoul by contributing to a new mission statement, advancing digital transformation efforts, and helping reposition the firm alongside its principals and an external PR team.”
“That experience is also where I met Steven Song, then a Founding Principal at SCAAA. Through our work together, he introduced me to the early concept behind Diald AI and invited me to join the company at the ground floor to help bring the platform to market.”
“From there, the rest was history.”
Primary Responsibilities
What are your primary responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Diald AI? Um pointed out:
“As COO, I oversee Product, Marketing, Sales, and Finance, essentially everything tied to how we build, position, and deliver value through the Diald platform. Like most early-stage startups, we operate in a fast-paced environment where everyone wears multiple hats. My role is to connect the dots across functions, ensuring we stay aligned on priorities and execute with clarity as we scale.”
“I work closely with Diald’s CEO, Steven Song, to define and drive the company’s strategic goals and OKRs. This includes market research across real estate and AI trends, as well as taking on high-impact, often undefined initiatives as the business grows, ranging from partnerships and new product exploration.”
“I also spend a lot of time on the ground at industry events across the U.S., building relationships with prospective clients and partners and keeping a close pulse on how the market is evolving.”
Core Products
What are Diald’s core products and features? Um explained:
“Our main product is an AI-generated property investment report that’s built to feel like it was written by an expert analyst, but delivered in just a fraction of the time (a couple of hours versus weeks). It equips investment teams with a full-picture view of a property, combining hard data with local intelligence you wouldn’t have on a neighborhood unless you lived there. Each report includes local rent and sales comps, pro forma suggestions, and market positioning, as well as a qualitative read on the neighborhood and nearby activity.”
“Recently, we launched Diald v5.0, introducing a pay-as-you-go model that expands access beyond enterprise users. This milestone marked an important step in making real estate analysis and research more accessible to a broader segment of the market.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Diald from its competition? Um affirmed:
“Most investment platforms that focus on real estate focus solely on quantitative data, with things like rent comps and sale prices. But that information is widely available and, on its own, doesn’t give prospective users very many meaningful insights on a location’s likelihood of success.”
“Diald goes several layers deeper.”
“We combine structured data with qualitative research to produce analysis that’s specific to the site and grounded in real-world context. The platform pulls from a wide range of sources, including public data, market reports, neighborhood sentiment, local media, and street-level signals, to build a clearer picture of a property and its surroundings.”
“The result is a report that’s clear enough for early screening and detailed enough to support full underwriting, which is something most tools can’t offer when they stop at just the numbers.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has Diald’s technology evolved since launching? Um noted:
“Diald has changed a lot in a relatively short span of time, and most of the improvements we’ve implemented have been in direct response to user feedback. Initially, we focused on a narrower set of asset types and use cases. However, as more stakeholders started using the platform, we expanded support across asset classes, deal structures, and geographies, including international markets.”
“We’ve also established several key data-exchange partnerships—most notably with Moody’s Analytics—to enhance the depth and rigor of the quantitative analysis within our memos. These partnerships are intentionally symbiotic: every third-party data point is cross-referenced against our proprietary aggregation framework to ensure accuracy, freshness, and consistency. Any discrepancies are flagged back to our partners, creating a continuous feedback loop that not only strengthens our analysis but also helps improve data quality across the broader industry.”
“As I mentioned earlier, the launch of Diald v5.0 has also helped democratize access to the platform by expanding beyond enterprise users. With this new pay-as-you-go model, investment teams of all sizes can generate a Diald Memo for $250 per memo.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Diald’s most significant milestones? Um cited:
“One of the biggest milestones for us has been seeing Diald adopted by large institutional players, lenders and investment funds managing over $100 billion in assets, who’ve described the platform as “impressive” and told us it solves a pain point they face daily. That kind of direct feedback from seasoned professionals has been both exciting and reaffirming of the work we’ve put in.”
“Another key moment was when we announced our $3.75 million early-stage funding round, which included participation from international investors such as Feedback Ventures in Singapore and The Invention LAB in South Korea.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Um highlighted:
“While many of our clients prefer to stay under the radar, we’ve seen Diald make a measurable impact across a range of use cases. Malcolm Davies, Founder & CEO of WAY Capital Inc., credited the platform with saving his team hundreds of hours on a recent project in Southern California. Meanwhile, Kevin Ratner, Co-founder & Managing Partner at The Max Collaborative, has pointed to its role in helping his team stay focused on core site fundamentals in a market that’s become increasingly difficult to navigate.”
“We’ve also seen this play out across other teams.”
“One is a multinational conglomerate based in Asia with a U.S. acquisitions team that regularly screens $50+ million commercial real estate investments. Before Diald, their deal-making process involved long delays and constant back-and-forth between the local team and HQ. Now, they’re able to align more quickly using a shared memo that speeds up decision-making and brings consistency across teams.”
“Another client is a U.S. lender that reviews more than 25 deals each week. That kind of volume can be overwhelming to assess accurately, especially when the data they’re using is incomplete. For them, Diald acts as a fact-checking layer that surfaces red flags, validates assumptions, and helps the team focus on deals that actually hold up.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of Diald’s future goals? Um concluded:
“When it comes to Diald’s future, our focus is on continuing to be a go-to resource for investment and real estate teams navigating site selection. Whether through our interface, underlying data, or overall business model, we’re committed to evolving the platform in ways that better reflect how teams actually work and make decisions.”
“Longer term, the vision is for Diald to mirror how each organization approaches site selection. By learning from the decisions teams have made in the past, we can tailor analysis to align with a firm’s specific investment thesis. This enables teams to evaluate more opportunities with greater consistency, while still preserving the nuance and judgment that define their strategy. Over time, we see Diald powering an “auto-pilot” for site selection, allowing institutions to scale decision-making more like quant funds, without sacrificing precision.”
