A weekly series on the AI tools and workflows reshaping real estate capital raising — starting with how to build an investor database in hours, not weeks.
As most Thesis Driven readers know, Paul Stanton and I teach several programs that help real estate operators raise capital for their projects.
But one segment of the market faces distinct challenges and opportunities: operators developing novel housing products such as coliving, micro-apartments, flex rentals, and innovative single-family equity models. So we're offering a dedicated capital-raising workshopspecifically for those building these new and innovative solutions.
Sponsors of unconventional housing models encounter issues that traditional developers—say, those buying value-add multifamily assets—typically don’t. They often face tighter debt constraints and must articulate not only their core business plan but also credible fallback scenarios if things don’t go as planned. And many institutional equity partners may still view these models as too early or unproven.
On the other hand, these sponsors also hold unique advantages. They frequently deliver outsized yields, appealing to yield-hungry investors. Their projects tend to be more differentiated and less exposed to oversupply risk, a growing problem in conventional multifamily. And they can tell distinctive stories that resonate with investors emotionally as well as financially—critical when raising capital from family offices or high-net-worth individuals.
I know this well because I used to run such a company. I scaled Common—once the largest coliving operator in the US—to more than 7,000 units under management. Reaching that scale required educating capital markets, addressing objections, and often getting creative with structure. I’ll be teaching this workshop personally, with ample time for Q&A and discussion of participant challenges.
A two-day interactive workshop designed for real estate sponsors, developers, and operators building and financing new, innovative housing models.
Tuesday, October 28: 12:00pm–1:30pm EDT
Wednesday, October 29: 12:00pm–1:30pm EDT
Both sessions will be recorded.
Over two 90-minute live sessions, you’ll explore the evolving landscape of new housing products—from coliving and micro-apartments to ADUs, sale-leasebacks, and home-equity models—and learn how to position, structure, and fund these opportunities.
Participants will receive course materials, including case studies and frameworks, and gain post-course access to Circle, where we’ll share recorded videos, sample decks, capitalization templates, and investor lists.
Position niche housing for scale: communicate the thesis, market data, and risk profile to different investor audiences
Identify capital partners: understand and choose the right investors for your model across family offices, real estate private equity, retail capital, and more
Structure deals for flexibility: align incentives using OpCo/PropCo models, joint ventures, single-asset syndicates, fund structures, and other creative approaches
Capitalize the OpCo: learn how to finance operating companies in a world where traditional venture capital is increasingly off the table
Address investor objections: develop practical strategies to mitigate concerns around debt financeability, fallback (“Day Two”) scenarios, and exit or liquidity
Create your capital-raising playbook: use frameworks and templates to bring unconventional housing concepts to market confidently
You’ll leave with actionable insight into how to fund next-generation housing models and how to get investors to believe in your thesis.
The Workshop Will Cover:
The New Housing Landscape
Micro-apartments, coliving, ADUs, live-work, sale-leasebacks, home equity structures, and more
Market drivers behind demographic, economic, and cultural shifts
Case studies on how these concepts achieved (or struggled to achieve) institutional backing
Positioning Niche Housing for Scale
Communicating the “why now” to different investor types
Leveraging data, comps, and narratives to overcome skepticism
Framing the opportunity relative to traditional multifamily and SFR
Investor Targeting & Capital Partners
When to approach family offices vs. real estate private equity
Tapping into retail, crowdfunding, and platform partnerships
Building the right investor stack for early-stage housing operators
Structuring for Flexibility
Using OpCo/PropCo, co-GPs, and revenue-share models
Aligning incentives when the model is still evolving
Balancing growth capital with asset-level financing
OpCo Capitalization Strategies
Alternative sources of growth capital beyond venture funding
Brad is the founder and editor of Thesis Driven (www.thesisdriven.com), a publication covering innovation in the built world. Over the past decade he has co-founded General Assembly and Common which generated a combined $500M+ in enterprise value.
