I'm a semi-active user here so this is not my primary account. I've always been someone deeply interested in both the real estate and the technology sector. I'm currently a few years out of school (real estate finance major) working as a senior analyst/associate on the debt side of the capital stack. I'm located in a primary market and have been active in building my network within the real estate industry (from college and in my market professionally)
I'm at a crossroads in my career. There are two "finish points" I want to achieve personally at a later stage in life: 1) operating a real estate platform (i.e. a family office ) and 2) providing venture investments as an individual. Of course, both of those require sufficient capital, but I would like to gain the experience that ties directly in with those goals that will lead me down the right path.
I've been thinking about making the transition to a REPE LP or REPE/GP/Developer soon, where I would learn the things needed to run my own shop. However, there are a few venture capital firms out there investing in real estate related companies. I wouldn't be interested in going to a traditional VC firm that's investing more broadly, but the ones investing in RE are very focused on exactly what I'm interested in. I'm consistently asking, why hasn't "this problem I see" been tackled with technology/software.
I've come to realize RE is an industry ripe for further disruption. However, I'm concerned that if I transition to a VC-job, it'll make it tough to transition back to a REPE/Development type of job down the road. But if a position opens up on the VC side with a few of the firms I've had my sights out on, how could I not pass up an exciting opportunity like that?
Could anyone offer any advice?
Yes, leaving real estate and working in a different field while your peers who remain in real estate continue to gain experience will set your real estate career back.
There are a lot of people that are focusing on the 'RE disruption' story, but one thing I'd keep in mind that many users on here have alluded to in different threads/comments (and which I would agree with) is that CRE as a whole is generally very slow to incorporate/accept new technology. So while you might have a great idea or platform for 25+ different softwares/concepts that would change the industry, you might not be able to monetize on it for quite some time. Look at the roll-out of Argus Enterprise if you want an example. Yes, the roll-out / initial versions sucked, and Argus completely screwed the pooch on that front, but notice how many people were so vehemently opposed to switching over to it (myself included). And this was on a software 'improvement' from a company that basically has a monopoly on the market, and people in the industry were (and still are) kicking and screaming/refusing to use the new software several years after the conversion was first announced. Now take all of that and add on the fact that you'll have to convince these same people to try out the software in the first place. There's definitely an opportunity to make a lot of money in this space, but just be prepared to wait a much longer period for a payday than in other 'disrupt-able' industries.
EDIT: Sorry I realized I completely forgot to answer your initial question - but yes, if you leave a traditional CRE role to pursue this, which is only tangentially related, it will be tough to climb back into it down the road if it doesn't pan out.
If I Made the Transition To VC, Will The Make It Tough To Transition To Back To REPE? (Originally Posted: 04/30/2018)
I'm a semi-active user here so I'm not using my primary account. I've always been someone deeply interested in both real estate and the technology sector. I'm currently a few years out of school (real estate finance major) working as a senior analyst/associate on the debt side of the capital stack. I'm located in a primary market and have been active in building my network within the real estate industry (from college and in my market professionally)
I'm at a crossroads in my career. There are two "finish points" I want to achieve personally at a later stage in life: 1) operating a real estate platform (i.e. a family office on ) and 2) providing venture investments as an individual. Of course, both of those require sufficient capital, but I would like to gain the experience that ties directly in with those goals that will help lead me down the right path.
I've been thinking about making the transition to a REPE LP or REPE/GP/Developer soon, where I would learn the things needed to run my own shop. However, there are a few venture capital firms out there investing in real estate related companies. I wouldn't be interested in going to a traditional VC firm that's investing more broadly, but the ones investing in RE are very focused on exactly what I'm interested in. I'm consistently asking, why hasn't "this problem I see" been tackled with technology/software.
I've come to realize RE is an industry ripe for further disruption. However, I'm concerned that if I transition to a VC-job, it'll make it tough to transition back to a REPE/Development type of job down the road. But if a position opens up on the VC side with a few of the firms I've had my sights out on, how could I not pass up an exciting opportunity like that?
Could anyone offer any advice? I tried to keep this short so if anyone else has other questions I'll be happy to answer.
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