This interview is with Brooke Colglazier, Marketing Manager at Spacebase.

Brooke Colglazier, Marketing Manager, Spacebase

Can you tell us about your background and how you came to specialize in lease management and accounting software for commercial real estate?

I started my career in marketing on the multi-family side of real estate, specifically with marketing luxury apartment complexes in Los Angeles. This led my career deeper into the real estate world when a job opportunity came my way in Santa Barbara for a lease management software. It turned out to be a great fit for my knowledge and expertise.

What inspired you to start Spacebase, and how has your journey as an entrepreneur in the SaaS space evolved since then?

I’m not the founder of Spacebase, but I joined early in its growth phase because I saw a clear vision and a real opportunity to build something meaningful. What inspired me was the team’s focus on solving a complex problem in a way that felt modern, practical, and genuinely helpful for the people doing the work.

Joining a company in its growth stages is always a bit of a leap, but the chance to help shape the direction of a product and brand from the ground up was something I couldn’t pass up. Since then, it’s been a fast-moving and rewarding journey, and it’s exciting to see how far we’ve come and how much potential still lies ahead.

Based on your experience with Spacebase, how has digital marketing evolved in the B2B SaaS sector, particularly for products serving the commercial real estate industry?

Digital marketing in the commercial real-estate space has evolved significantly, especially for B2B SaaS companies. There’s been a noticeable increase in remarketing campaigns through social media, aimed at reaching business leaders and key stakeholders where they already spend time online.

LinkedIn has long been a core platform for B2B marketing, particularly when targeting decision-makers in finance and real estate. What’s changing now is the use of other social platforms like Facebook and Instagram to create more personal, human touchpoints. This approach is still relatively new in commercial real estate, but it’s helping brands build familiarity and trust beyond traditional channels.

For companies like Spacebase, this shift opens up more opportunities to stay top-of-mind throughout a longer sales cycle, especially as buyers become more self-directed and digitally informed.

You’ve mentioned the importance of centralized lease data. Can you share a specific example of how this has helped one of your clients make a strategic decision about their real estate portfolio?

The commercial real estate team at a Fortune 500 company uses Spacebase to stay ahead of critical lease dates across their portfolio. By centralizing their lease data, they have full visibility into upcoming renewals and termination options, which allows them to plan proactively rather than react at the last minute.

In one case, having that visibility helped them avoid renewing a lease for an office space they no longer needed. Because they had enough lead time, they were able to prepare for the move, notify the landlord on time, and avoid unnecessary overhead. It’s a simple example, but it shows how centralized data can directly impact cost savings and smarter portfolio decisions.

How do you see the intersection of SaaS and commercial real estate evolving, especially in light of changing work environments and the rise of remote work?

The relationship between SaaS and commercial real estate is becoming more dynamic as companies adapt to hybrid and remote work. Businesses are rethinking how much space they need, where it’s located, and how flexible their commitments should be. That shift puts more pressure on teams to understand their lease obligations and make decisions quickly, especially as financial reporting standards like ASC 842 remain in place.

Lease accounting standards like ASC 842 have significantly impacted many businesses. What’s been the most challenging aspect for your clients in adapting to these changes, and how has Spacebase helped address those challenges?

One of the biggest challenges our clients have faced with ASC 842 is the shift from treating leases as simple operating expenses to recognizing them as assets and liabilities on the balance sheet. That change introduced a new level of complexity, especially for companies with large or decentralized lease portfolios.

What’s often most difficult is pulling together accurate, complete lease data in a format that supports the required calculations and disclosures. Many teams are working across multiple departments, dealing with inconsistent documentation, and trying to manage everything in spreadsheets that weren’t designed for this level of precision.

At Spacebase, we’ve focused on helping companies centralize their lease data, automate calculations, and stay audit-ready with less manual effort. By giving finance teams more control over the process and clearer visibility into their reporting, we’ve helped reduce both the technical workload and the risk of errors.

In short, the challenge isn’t just compliance; it’s building a process that’s sustainable, reliable, and easy to maintain over time.

You’ve talked about the importance of API-driven platforms. Can you share a real-world example of how a client has leveraged Spacebase’s API to create an innovative workflow or solution?

One real-world example comes from a client managing hundreds of leases across multiple business units and accounting systems. Their challenge was syncing lease accounting data from Spacebase into their ERP on a monthly basis, while also managing user permissions and access across a large, distributed team.

Using our API, they built a workflow that automatically pulls journal entries from Spacebase at month-end and posts them directly into their ERP, eliminating the need for manual downloads and uploads. They also integrated user provisioning with their internal access control tools, so when someone joins or leaves the finance team, their Spacebase access updates automatically.

This setup not only saved them several hours per month, it also reduced the risk of version-control issues and helped them maintain better audit trails. It’s a good example of how even a relatively straightforward integration can create real value by tightening up critical processes and letting teams focus on review and strategy, rather than data wrangling.

In your experience, what’s the most common misconception about lease administration that you encounter, and how do you help clients overcome it?

One of the most common misconceptions we hear is that lease administration is just about tracking dates and documents—essentially, a filing task. In reality, it’s much more strategic. Lease administration is deeply connected to financial reporting, risk management, compliance, and long-term real estate planning. When it’s not handled properly, the impact shows up everywhere from inaccurate disclosures to missed renewals and budget overruns.

At Spacebase, we help shift that mindset by giving clients a clearer, more connected view of their lease portfolio. Instead of treating lease data as static information, we structure it in a way that supports accounting workflows, key approvals, and real-time decision-making. That helps teams understand the true cost and complexity of their leases, and gives them the tools to stay proactive, not reactive.

Once clients see how much value lease administration can unlock, they start to treat it as a core operational function, not just a back-office process.

Looking ahead, what emerging trend or technology do you think will have the biggest impact on lease management and accounting in the next five years, and how is Spacebase preparing for that future?

One of the biggest trends we see shaping the future of lease management and accounting is the push toward greater integration and automation across financial systems. As organizations manage more leases across different regions, currencies, and business units, there’s growing demand for platforms that don’t just store lease data, but actively connect it to ERPs, reporting tools, and internal workflows in real time.

This shift is being driven by the need for faster close cycles, more accurate reporting, and reduced risk, especially as compliance requirements evolve. We expect automation around disclosures, renewals, approvals, and audit prep to become the standard rather than the exception.

At Spacebase, we’re preparing for that future by continuing to invest in our API infrastructure, building deeper integration capabilities, and working closely with clients to streamline complex processes. We’re also developing technology to help optimize lease abstraction, which is often one of the most time-consuming and error-prone parts of the lease lifecycle. As AI capabilities continue to improve, we see a lot of opportunity to make this process faster, more accurate, and easier to manage at scale.

As the industry matures, the focus will shift from just managing leases to using lease data to drive smarter, more strategic business decisions.