The highlight? A Shark Tank-style capstone project where you’ll pitch your development project to Brad Hargreaves, Paul Stanton and three other seasoned real estate investors. From sourcing the deal to crafting investor pitches, you’ll use everything you’ve learned in the course to build and present a complete development business plan. It’s the perfect opportunity to test your skills, refine your ideas, and gain the confidence to make your development project a reality.
Our case-based course prepares you for the capstone project, walking you through the experience of developing a local real estate project from the perspective of Dana, a first-time developer. Alongside Dana, you’ll gain the tools, confidence, and insight to move your own projects forward. And the course’s interactive exercises and collaborative capstone project ensure you leave with not only knowledge but also hands-on experience and connections.
The course will cover:
Market Analysis: How does a developer assess opportunities in a local market, and what are the key factors to consider when choosing the right development project
Project Underwriting: How to evaluate the financial feasibility of a development project, including costs, revenue projections, and expected returns
Raising Debt & Equity: Understand the strategies for securing debt and raising equity from investors, and how to structure deals that attract capital
Deal Negotiations: Master the art of negotiating purchase terms, financing, and leases to get the best outcomes for your project
Hiring Architects & General Contractors: Dive into the process of selecting and managing the right architects and contractors to bring your vision to life on time and on budget
Delivering the Property: Explore the final steps in development, from construction oversight to lease-up and turning over the finished property to tenants
Through Dana’s POV experience, the course provides students with a step-by-step playbook to do it themselves, with interactive individual and group exercises to enhance learning along the way.
Dana is stuck. She’s sunk two years into law school (and student loans). And while she’s made Law Review and has two six-figure job offers, she wants to quit and become a developer.
Every morning she drives to school down Berrett Street, the main retail strip in a gentrifying neighborhood in Big Apple City. On one corner, a cafe & speakeasy has just opened in an old gas station. And across the street, a former church is being converted to loft-style condos.
Dana wants to be part of this change. She wants to be creative and in-charge. She imagines spending her days on her feet–touring properties and meeting with retailers, architects and contractors. Then spending her nights on the computer–underwriting projects, reviewing agreements and plowing through her inbox.
But that dream feels impossible.
She doesn’t have enough savings for a down payment on a 1-bedroom condo, let alone a commercial property. Plus, her family and friends would think she was insane to walk away from her law career at this point. And even if she did, how would she survive without a salary?
We’ll walk with Dana through every step of the deal–helping her put together her business plan, team, and investors to successfully close on her first property.
The Shark Tank-Style Capstone Project
At the end of the course, students will design and present their own business plans for a live or fictional project. The Shark Tank-style presentation brings the excitement and pressure of pitching a real development deal. This capstone experience ties together everything you’ve learned and is the perfect launchpad for your development career.
Participants will also gain access to an ongoing online community for continued networking, exchanging notes, and sharing wins as they pursue their development journeys.
Why do this and who is it for?
Taking the leap into real estate development requires a unique combination of sales, marketing, legal and general entrepreneurship skills–plus the confidence to navigate the unknown.
But unfortunately there is no guidebook to develop these hard and soft skill sets, leaving budding real estate developers in the dark and on their own.
We’ve personally been there and know the challenges!
So we created this course to help students take their first steps of their journey with confidence, providing fundamental skills, knowledge and exercises that don’t exist in the market today for new real estate developers.
We expect this knowledge will be broadly applicable to anyone seeking a real estate development career, but specifically to new & aspiring real estate entrepreneurs and those real estate agents, architects, lawyers and contractors looking to move to the principal side of the table.
What does it cost?
The live bootcamp in NYC is $1,500 (and limited to 25 students). Spots are mostly filled, but we’re still accepting applications for the live cohort and next online cohort. Sign up now.
Paul Stanton is a Partner at PTB, a boutique investment bank focused on joint ventures, capital raising, and M&A transactions. Paul is a Teacher and Writer at Thesis Driven, developing and growing next-gen real estate & proptech concepts.
