Retail | How to Scale Store Expansion with the Construction Tech Behind Apple & Tesla, With...

Tangent – Proptech
Tangent – ProptechJun 2, 2026

Why It Matters

By delivering end‑to‑end visibility and clean data, Siterise accelerates revenue capture and protects margins, making large‑scale retail expansion viable amid volatile supply‑chain conditions.

Key Takeaways

  • Visibility across teams prevents costly store opening delays
  • Single source of truth centralizes data, nomenclature, and files
  • Early procurement and bulk ordering mitigate supply chain volatility
  • Integrated platform replaces fragmented spreadsheets and siloed tools
  • AI tagging enhances searchable assets, supporting investors and underwriters

Summary

The discussion centers on the complexities of scaling retail store rollouts and introduces Siterise, a construction‑tech platform born from Dylan Oner’s experience at Apple and Tesla.

Oner explains that fragmented spreadsheets, inconsistent naming, and siloed teams erode visibility, causing schedule slips and budget overruns. A single source of truth, early procurement, and bulk ordering are presented as antidotes to labor shortages and rising material costs.

He stresses that “visibility brings accountability,” citing Tesla’s internal tool—built while the company was still a handful of showrooms—as a prototype that still drives its expansions. Unlike niche solutions such as Procore or generic task managers like Asana, Siterise unifies real‑estate, design, construction, and operations in one workflow.

Adopting such an integrated platform can shave weeks off opening timelines, improve ROI, and generate clean, AI‑ready data for investors, insurers, and other stakeholders, fundamentally reshaping the economics of brick‑and‑mortar growth.

Original Description

Dillon Okner is the Founder & Partner of SiteRise (https://www.siterise.app/), a retail development and construction platform helping brands streamline site selection, store development, and portfolio expansion. With more than 15 years of experience in retail construction and operations, Dillon previously helped support the expansion of major brands including Apple and Tesla. Today, he focuses on helping retailers, restaurants, and franchise operators eliminate development bottlenecks and open locations faster through better data, workflow management, and portfolio visibility.
(01:13) - How Retail Openings Break
(03:36) - Retail Innovation Edge
(05:00) - Store development with SiteRise
(07:38) - Apple & Tesla Lessons
(09:26) - Proprietary Data
(14:07) - Construction Influence on Deals
(15:27) - Working with Brokers
(16:33) - SiteRise's Clients
(17:44) - Getting Buy-in From Stakeholders
(20:50) - Collaboration superpower: Dillon's father and grandfather
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