How Robotics Are Revolutionizing Commercial Spaces
Show summary
In this episode, Stephen Schmidt interviews Jeremiah Sitterson, founder of World Class Robotics, discussing the intersection of robotics and real estate. Jeremiah shares his entrepreneurial journey, the vision for his robotics dealership chain, and the innovative ways he plans to transform commercial spaces. He also addresses the future of robotics and AI safety, the importance of building a strong team, and the search for investment to bring his ideas to fruition.
Key takeaways
- Leasing a hostess-style robot instead of hiring staff can save a business around $1,200 a month on payroll and allows coverage from open to close rather than a typical five-hour shift.
- World Class Robotics plans to open 491 servicing outposts nationwide to cover the U.S., Hawaii, and Alaska, since lack of assembly, programming, and servicing infrastructure is the main barrier to robotics adoption.
- The company's planned flagship dealership is a former AMC theater in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, reusing the 33-foot-high individual screening rooms as themed showrooms (e.g., hospitality/restaurant, landscaping) instead of a costly full gutting and whitewashing renovation.
- The St. Petersburg flagship lease is estimated at roughly $70,000 to $71,000 per month, and the company projects it will take about eight to nine months to become operational once funded.
- Jeremiah is raising $4.5 million to fund operations through the start of 2027, with the deal structured so investor funds sit in escrow and aren't touched until 50% of the raise is secured.
- He is separately pursuing a 'Time USA' concept: acquiring land near a major interstate to build a themed tourist town progressing from 1776 to a robot-filled future, including hotels, an amusement park, water park, golf course, and a man-made lake, with infrastructure (sewage, roads) estimated at $40-50 million.
- His current team is three people after downsizing twice last year due to a hurricane and financial setbacks; he has a 57-page PPM and both standard and extended pitch decks, and is seeking investors and land development partners.
In this episode
- 00:02Intro and welcome to Jeremiah Sitterson
- 01:16From cleaning services to founding World Class Robotics
- 03:34The vision: 491 robot servicing outposts nationwide
- 06:01Flagship dealership in a former AMC theater, St. Petersburg, FL
- 07:56The 'Time USA' tourist town concept and land near a major interstate
- 09:17Why robots? Risk, oversight, and the International Robotics and AI Safety Council
- 11:35Raising $4.5 million and the team behind World Class Robotics
- 12:59Where to connect and what kind of investors/partners he's looking for
About the guest
Jeremiah Sitterson is a serial entrepreneur who previously started a cleaning services company operating in several cities. He is the founder of World Class Robotics, a pre-revenue company he describes as a planned global robotics dealership chain with servicing outposts, and he is also involved in launching an International Robotics and AI Safety Council.
Listen to the audio
“So think robot hospitals.”
Jeremiah Sitterson
“Without that critical infrastructure, widespread adoption of robotics is not possible.”
Jeremiah Sitterson
“Movie theaters are a distressed segment of the commercial real estate market. So this is providing solutions for them.”
Jeremiah Sitterson
“Personally, I don't want to adopt robotics... because with it comes a lot of risk. There needs to be oversight.”
Jeremiah Sitterson
Questions answered in this episode
What is World Class Robotics and what problem does it solve?
It's a company Jeremiah Sitterson founded to become a global robotics dealership chain with a network of servicing outposts, essentially 'robot hospitals.' He says one of the biggest barriers to widespread robotics adoption is the light assembly, programming, and ongoing servicing robots need after purchase, and his company aims to fill that gap.
How much money can a business save by leasing a robot instead of hiring an employee?
Jeremiah states that leasing a hostess robot from his company could save a business around $1,200 a month on payroll, plus the robot can work from open to close rather than a typical five-hour shift, eliminating scheduling issues and employee no-shows.
Why is commercial real estate, specifically movie theaters, relevant to this business?
Jeremiah points out that movie theaters are a distressed segment of the commercial real estate market. He identified a former AMC theater in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida with 33-foot ceilings and individual screening rooms that he plans to convert into themed robotics showrooms for different sectors like hospitality and landscaping, reusing the existing floor plan instead of a costly gut renovation.
How much capital is Jeremiah raising and how is it structured?
He is raising $4.5 million to get runway to the beginning of 2027. The raise is structured so funds aren't accessed until 50% of the raise is obtained, and investor money goes into escrow until that threshold is hit. He has a 57-page PPM (private placement memorandum) and both a standard and extended pitch deck.
What is the 'Time USA' concept he describes?
It's a planned tourist attraction town on a tract of land near one of the largest interstates in the world, which he believes could be designated as a town. Visitors would start feeling like they're in 1776 and progress through different historical eras, ending in a future section full of robots, with plans for hotels, an amusement park, water park, golf course, and a man-made lake.
What kind of partners or investors is Jeremiah looking for?
He's looking for investors, ideally people with experience in retail syndication or structuring private retail products. For the Time USA land deal, he specifically wants people with land development experience, since infrastructure costs like sewage and road work are estimated at $40 to $50 million before the land can be sold off in plots to hotels, a casino, an airport, or a studio.
Resources and links
- Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
- Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
- Mike on Facebook
- Mike on Instagram
- Mike on LinkedIn
- Authority Builder: Join the FREE 5-Day Challenge
- Jeremiah Sitterson on LinkedIn
Full transcript
Stephen Schmidt (00:02.846)
Welcome back to the show where we interview the nation’s leading real estate entrepreneurs It’s your host Stephen Schmidt if you’re joining us for the second third or hundredth time Welcome back and now you’re about to get a ton of value and if it’s your first time you’re ready to add this to your regularly listened to podcast Docket because you’re gonna get a bunch of value today. I got Jeremiah Sitterson in the house He’s the founder of world-class robotics and we’re gonna be talking about the future of the world today at the end of the day That’s what it’s pretty much gonna be about. So
Just remember before we get started into our conversation here at investor fuel We help real estate investors service providers and real estate entrepreneurs 2 to 5x their businesses in order to build the businesses They’ve always wanted so that way they can live the lives. They’ve always dreamed of that being said Jeremiah. Welcome to the show today
Jeremiah Sitterson (00:48.16)
Thank you, Stephen. How are you doing today?
Stephen Schmidt (00:50.186)
I’m fantastic man if I was any better I’d be donuts. Give us a little background on you man. What got you into what you’re doing now and how does it relate to real estate and what are you looking at building? You have a real visionary bit from our pre-show conversation where we got to chat a little bit and you’ve got some big stuff in the works so tell us how it all came to this point.
Jeremiah Sitterson (01:16.026)
So I’m a serial entrepreneur and that’s probably failed more times than I want to remember. I started a company H which evolved into and clean services in several cities currently. But with that comes lot of unreliability from my employees.
So I started thinking about cleaning bots. I started looking into that and that is I put a significant amount of hours doing meetings. A lot of the manufacturers and kind of getting a feel for the robotics market. During that time, I really identified a few holes where my where I decided to take action. I founded a company called World Class Robotics.
The vision for World Cost Robotics, Inc. We’re currently pre-revenue. We’re working out deals. How we should be up and running as far as sales go in the next 90 days for a limited number of products. But with World Cost Robotics, Inc., the idea is it’s a global robotics dealership chain with a vast network of servicing outposts. So think robot hospitals.
And really that’s one of the major hurdles in widespread adoption of robotics is, you know, right now you can go, if you’re a business owner, can go get a hostess robot and it’ll perform all the job capabilities just like the real thing. You’ll save, if you were to lease one from me, you’re going to save around $1,200 a month just on your payroll.
Now you’re going to have an employee from open to close, not just five hours a day. Your manager is now not seating people in the off hours. Your manager is not having to schedule people, people calling out, teenagers having nervous breakdowns, all this other stuff. So economically, it does make sense. The issue is the light assembly and the programming that is required when it arrives. And then it needs regular servicing. So without that critical infrastructure, widespread adoption,
Jeremiah Sitterson (03:34.166)
robotics is not possible. So we’re looking to fill those gaps by offering different sectors, robots with the servicing aspect. We plan to open 491 servicing outposts nationwide, which would adequately cover the United States, Hawaii and Alaska. And that’s a lot of real estate that needs to be attained and maintained. there’s, you know, real estate is going to be a massive part of this company.
So with that being said, I started looking for a flagship location. I identified a location downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. It’s a former AMC theater. And as a former theater, you know, they originally planned on gutting it and whitewashing it. It’s very expensive process. I said, hold on. Each of these individual showrooms, I could use each of these individual former screening rooms.
we could keep most of the floor plan. And these are 33 foot high ceilings. can transition these spaces into real life. Like when you walk into the area for hospitality and restaurant robots, you’re going to feel like you just walked into a restaurant. You might think you walked into Bubba Gump’s if I can convince them to come decked out. And your robot, know, from in their capabilities in real time. it’s
very interactive. plan to incorporate AR and VR augmented reality. So like in the landscaping room, in that showroom, you’re going to think you’re on a golf course or in a solar field. We’re going to have the units on display, but it wouldn’t be practical to showcase them mowing grass and orbs. What we’ll do is we’ll use augmented reality like stuff, Zuckerberg is helping.
virtual reality and actual real footage of these products in real life working to showcase that. So the idea is to make these dealerships so interactive that the public is demanding paid tours. They want to come in and see it because a lot of the technology is new. So that’s the idea with that transforming the former screening room, which by the way, if you want to talk real estate,
Jeremiah Sitterson (06:01.258)
movie theaters are a distressed segment of the commercial real estate market. So this is providing solutions for them and this could potentially alleviate pressure that’s currently on publicly traded. A lot of them are held by them. It is a win-win across the board. But with that being said, so that’s the idea for that, right? Across my research, I happen to come across, and this is a deal that’s actually
I came across a track of land that I’m not going to be too specific on yet, but it’s very close to one of the largest interstates in the world. Being told that it is possible to actually get it designated as a town, but I’m being told that it’s definitely possible to get the re-tonation on and to make it what I want to call time.
which is gonna be a tourist attraction town where when you first enter the town, you’re gonna think you’re in 1976. I mean, 1776. And as you progress through the town, you’ll go through different eras and it’ll be a fun, educational, interactive experience. And when you get to the end of the town, you’re gonna be in the future where there’ll be robots everywhere. But the idea is, because the price is right on this property,
could have this thing under contract in two days if possible. This property, just selling a portion of it to the major hotels that are going to want to be in there. There’s going to be a amusement park in there, a water park in there.
They could bring and perhaps all little, you know, music.
Jeremiah Sitterson (07:56.905)
off the ground on the ground in DC by selling some of the land to government.
Jeremiah Sitterson (08:06.593)
there the land is accommodating all of these things. The airport, know, just down the track of land for the airport we will most
Jeremiah Sitterson (08:20.713)
you know, with that being said, first person to call me was $100,000 on the deal.
whatever I’m-
But, some of the things.
Jeremiah Sitterson (08:42.062)
That’s gonna slide.
Jeremiah Sitterson (08:49.448)
A golf course there’s going to be a lake even if we have to man make the lake in the river, but you have access to water.
Stephen Schmidt (08:57.942)
So Jeremiah not to cut you off but why why robots man? Like how’d you get into that? Because we’re going off into like complete everything right now. So why robots? What made what made you see that piece of the market and why did you decide like this is where I got to go even though you know that’s where the world’s heading.
Jeremiah Sitterson (09:17.609)
Oh, personally, I don’t to adopt robotics. I know that that probably sounds crazy. I don’t want it because with it comes a lot of risk. There needs to be oversight. I’m not one that’s over regular company. But at the same time, if I’m successful, world class robotics, I’m going to
on robots. I sell 10 robots. I’m not the government. don’t know. I started programming them and make something bad. That’s completely not good. So that I stole. I stole the opening economically, but I also stole that it was coming whether we like it or not. maybe having to try to where it’s it’s.
Positive thing and not a negative thing because a lot of ways that robotics and AI could go south. So right now I’m currently trying to give away international robotics and AI safety counsel. I’m going through the appropriate channels right now trying to give that away. Really it needs a government involved because it needs a federal charter. I’ve basically taken that about as far as I can take it and I’m trying to give that to somebody that
with it with regards to world-class robotics it’s full steam ahead we’re raising 4.5 million dollars to get us runway to the end of 2027. I’m sorry I believe this is the beginning of 2027 and that would be so the way that that deal is structured is we don’t access the funds until 50 percent of the raises are obtained because if we’re unable to do the full get the full 4.5
The guys on the real estate and properties that are that that can we can make it work at a less budget St. Petersburg for hotspot. Very expensive. we’re looking at 70,000, 71,000 dollar lease payment every month for that property.
Stephen Schmidt (11:35.8)
Sure. So now, how big is your team that you’re currently working with? mean, I know it’s a startup. How big is your total team?
Jeremiah Sitterson (11:40.047)
All right.
Right now my team is three people. Andy partners, US had downsized twice last year. It was a rough year. We got hit with the hurricane that was devastating. I ended up having to move. So we moved. then there was a reason to add up the blue like unexpected.
Jeremiah Sitterson (12:11.656)
financial. So right now that’s very small. We’re looking for partners. There were actively there. We do have a 57 page PPM, private placement memorandum, and there’s two versions of Pitch Deck. We have a standard version. We have an extended version. In the extended version, it really gets into the nuts and bolts of the flagship, which we’re ready to move on. Contractors, they’ve been spoken to.
Like the timeline for us to be up and running that location about eight to nine months. So, you know, we’re still in the beginning phases and, you know, it’s all steam ahead at this point. We’re just getting our name out there. And I really do appreciate you having me on the show.
Stephen Schmidt (12:59.758)
You bet man. So if people want to connect with you and learn more about what you’re working on, maybe partners are going to find you from this. Like where should they go for that?
Jeremiah Sitterson (13:07.879)
If you want to connect with me to worldclass robotics calm was five we A lot of things have changed. So we gotten published. It was like three four weeks Being overhauled right now. So International robotics and AI Safety Council go there. That’s I in e rs org where I can be read Andy partners.com
Either one of those resources.com.
Stephen Schmidt (13:44.236)
And who are you looking for?
Jeremiah Sitterson (13:46.596)
I’m looking for investors. would like to get somebody on board that knows what to do as far as if you have any experience in a retail or a syndication, really a syndication yourself into a private retail product, the way that you know. If you have any experience in that, always, you know, I’ve said what I really need to say, but yeah, it’s, so this deal,
This time USA deal really truly does look promising and if you’re looking to get in on a deal where you don’t necessarily need to do much, although if you are a big base, I would ask that for guidance and mentorship. But as far as getting the work, as far as this is a complex project and that’s what I specialize in is putting together complex projects, getting it on paper and getting in front of the city.
happen. But I don’t foresee based off the conversations I’ve had with this idea. I mean, this is a no brainer. It really truly hits the money. We can start recovering that the money for the wholesale of the property very quickly once things are underway in the sewage. Really the sewage and the road infrastructure is the biggest thing. How cheap can we get that done? Some estimates are like 40 to 50 million dollars. So
It’s going to need overall, the property is cheap, but the investment to get it to that point where we can sell the plots to the hotels and to the casino, to the airport, to the studio, because they will buy it. But it’s a matter of getting that infrastructure. So anybody with land development experience, I’m always, I love to talk to you. If you’re an accredited investor and you’re interested in investing,
our pre-seed round, your money will go into escrow and it won’t be touched until 50 % of the money is obtained. And we’re not locked in yet on a location, we are looking at other.
Jeremiah Sitterson (16:02.499)
Things are still in the early stages.
Stephen Schmidt (16:10.184)
Awesome. Jeremiah, thanks for being here, man. Go ahead and go show them some love y’all from the real estate pros and we will see everybody in the next episode. Thanks again, brother.
Jeremiah Sitterson (16:19.855)
Have a great day this evening. Thank you.