Feb 6Thoughts on the Real Estate CycleWhen studying economics in college, I assumed that investing and economics were sciences, where getting the right discount rate[1] allowed for the accurate valuation of anything. That turns out to be dramatically wrong. Instead, those seeking to become great investors would be better served in taking classes in evolutionary biology…Real Estate5 min readReal Estate5 min read
Dec 12, 2022Real Estate NichesI have been listening to this podcast “60 songs that explain the ‘90s”, which is fun. An episode on Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” got me thinking. “Jagged Little Pill” sold a crazy 30 million copies. Was she the “best” singer? …3 min read3 min read
Jul 28, 2022Old Industries + Technology: Starting & ScalingIf there has been a single theme to the last decade it has been “disruption”: Existing industries altered by the introduction of new technology. As Marc Andreeson wrote more than a decade ago, Software is Eating the World. …Real Estate3 min readReal Estate3 min read
Mar 1, 2022Three Ways to Be as Creative as Don DraperLists of the “Best Books”, “Best Music” or the “Best Art” suggest that the best of everything was made long ago. Not just decades, but hundreds of years. Were there more geniuses in the 1700s than today? Or are today’s geniuses simply spinning up new memes on Twitter? This question…4 min read4 min read
Published inDataDrivenInvestor·Dec 19, 20215 Undervalued Urban AmenitiesIn a post-Covid, “work from anywhere” world, cities (not companies) are the forefront of the war for talent. The game today is not offering tax breaks to draw Amazon HQ2, but instead to draw the next Jeff Bezos to start it in your town. If Economic Development 1.0 was Foxconn…Cities8 min readCities8 min read
Dec 10, 2020Getting Sticky with TenantsThe venture world takes fearless moonshots, while real estate is more practical and risk-averse. But both fundamentally rely on customers, and real estate investors and landlords can learn from VC in this area. The Cost of Customers building is just a product — like an iPad or Amazon Prime — that requires customers to…4 min read4 min read
Sep 30, 2020Putting the FUN in Real Estate FundamentalsConsider how (and more importantly, WHERE) you spent today, compared to one year ago. Very different, right? It is for most of us. By the numbers: - People are moving from cities into less densely populated areas. Redfin data shows that prices in rural areas are up 11.3% yoy[1]. …5 min read5 min read
Sep 4, 2020Why Can’t We Fix Cities and Cure Cancer?Why Can’t We Fix Cities and Cure Cancer? Watching how people approach big, complex problems is revealing. Some start big, looking for a top-down solution. Others start at the bottom, moving small pieces, iterating and creating a feedback loop. I used to be a top-down person, with a belief in…Cities5 min readCities5 min read
May 9, 2020Networks, Goldilocks and the Future of Cities in the 2020sOne good thing about crises is that they cause us to collectively stop and ponder how, where and with whom we want to spend our time. Most of us live in or very near large cities. Why? The point of a city is to effectively produce and distribute goods and…5 min read5 min read
Apr 24, 2020Who Would Win a “Battle of the States”?Recently there has been some tension amongst the various states of our Union, due to competition for ventilators and other scarce resources. This made me wonder what a Hunger Games-style tournament amongst the states would look like. Have you wondered the same? If so, read on! Round 1 New York v. Massachusetts …8 min read8 min read
