Announcing Thesis Driven’s First Course: Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate

A two-day bootcamp for proptech employees to get up to speed on the commercial real estate industry and how it works.

On March 2-3, Thesis Driven is launching its first industry course, a live two-day bootcamp: Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate. The bootcamp’s aim is to help proptech employees quickly get up to speed on the fundamentals of the industry by providing an insider's view of “a day in the life” of key industry stakeholders, with real-world insights and applications.

The bootcamp consists of six 1-hour lectures, each followed by group discussion:

• CRE Stakeholder Ecosystem: Who are the major stakeholders in real estate and how do they work together?

• Property Management: What role do property managers play in the ecosystem, and who are the key stakeholders within those firms?

• Leasing & Marketing: What is the role of leasing and sales across commercial real estate asset classes including office, multifamily, and retail? 

• Asset Management: How do asset managers work with other key players to maximize asset value? How does the asset manager role vary across types of investors and owners?

• The Role of GPs: An analysis of the key role General Partners (GPs) play in the real estate ecosystem, including types of GPs and GPs' incentives across different investment structures.

• The Role of LPs: An analysis of the key role Limited Partners (LPs)  play in the real estate ecosystem, including types of LPs and LPs' typical incentives and structures.

It will be held in-person in NYC at Industrious’s training center at 3 World Trade Center, and we (Thesis Driven contributors Paul Stanton and Brad Hargreaves) will personally teach it.

Together, we’ve spent decades in education and commercial real estate, and we’ve seen the need for this course firsthand. Paul has spent over 15 years in commercial real estate in acquisitions, asset management and leasing, and as a proptech founder and investment banker.  Brad is a writer and repeat founder of brick-and-mortar businesses: General Assembly, a global school for technology and design, and Common, the largest US operator of coliving and micro-apartments. 

In developing this course we’ve been advised by executives at the great companies on our educational advisory committee, including Industrious, Kasa, Common, VTS, WiredScore, and Regus.

You can go here to sign up and learn more about the course.

Why do this and who is it for?

Often, the people who join real estate technology and services companies bring a wealth of experience from other industries, but they don't always know the real estate industry. On Day 1, it’s difficult for them to effectively market or sell to owners, design and build products for the real estate industry, or understand the industry’s challenges and opportunities.

So this course is designed to get those people up to speed—and quickly—with an understanding of the fundamentals of the real estate industry including key roles, players, and trends.

Participants of the bootcamp will walk away with a strong understanding of the key industry stakeholders—property managers, leasing agents, asset managers, GPs and LPs—including how they spend their days, what they care about, and how they each interact with proptech products and services. 

We’ll also cover essentials like how to read a building budget, the key components of a lease, and general industry lingo (e.g., NOI, cap rates, occupancy rates, etc.).  Ultimately, we want participants to be able to have a fluent conversation with other real estate professionals and feel confident in their ability to relate and collaborate. 

We anticipate that this will be applicable to a wide variety of roles at companies building for or selling into the real estate industry, including sales, marketing, product, design, account management, and even executive roles.

What does it cost?

The first live bootcamp is $1,500 and limited to 35 attendees. 

We’ve found this pricing fits neatly into the learning & developments budget that most proptech companies allocate for onboarding new employees—and is competitive with similar virtual programs.

We have no immediate plans to offer this course online, although we’ll certainly let all Thesis Driven subscribers know if and when that changes.

So you’re a course guy now?

People selling courses don’t have the best reputation in the real estate industry and for good reason. In most cases, real estate courses target retail investors who hope to make big, easy money flipping houses until they’re the next Grant Cardone. And in many cases, tuition for these courses runs well into the five figures—the vast majority of which is paid out of aspiring investors’ own pockets.

We’re not doing that here, and we’re not going to do it in the future.

Most “real estate” courses are bad because they send students down a high-risk, low success rate path. They’re bad for students because most of them won’t become the next Cardone, and they’re bad for the industry because they churn aspiring operators who would be better off buying a REIT ETF or working for a GP for a decade to build real-world experience.

This course is for people who are already in their first role at a real estate tech company and will help them be successful in that role. And we anticipate that employers will pay for most—if not all—of our students.

And for real estate veterans, this is only a good thing: the people across the table from us will have a better grasp of our industry and be able to build and sell products we actually need.

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While this is the first course we’re launching at Thesis Driven, it won’t be the last. We believe strongly that the real estate industry is in need of better education tools, especially as technology and new built world needs continue to reshape the industry. Much more to come.

–Paul Stanton and Brad Hargreaves