Rock Greetings, Rock Yard family!

We’re back with the second edition of our monthly newsletter - The Yard Call! We’re gonna try a few new things with this newsletter so let us know your thoughts below!

And most importantly, if you’re building something great, we want to hear from you.

Here’s the high-level breakdown of this month’s newsletter:

• Our First Austin Event: Thanks to everyone who came out! If you couldn’t make it, don’t worry. We got more cooking!

• In The News: Daniel spoke about his story and why the built environment is the best place to invest on the CRETech Climate Cast.

• Let’s Talk CRE!: If you’re working in or around commercial real estate, please drop us a note; we would love to interview you for some research we’re doing.

• Share Your Thoughts on Yard Call: As we begin to build this newsletter, we would love your thoughts. At the bottom, we have a few questions we’d love you to answer. (They’re super easy to answer multiple-choice! It will take ten seconds!)

Our First Austin Event!

We hosted our first event on the 18th - our “It’s Hot as Hell!” Summer Hang at the Cosmic Pickle in Austin! Thanks to those of you who made it out! It was great to see old friends and meet some of Austin’s up-and-coming founders and investors!

And for those unable to make it, don’t worry. There will be more in the future. We’ve already got a few cities in mind.

We’ll use this newsletter to get the word out, so stay tuned for news on upcoming events and details for priority subscriber access.

CRETech Speaker Spotlight Interview

Last week, Daniel had the opportunity to join Michael Beckerman on the CREtech Climate Cast to share how we at Rock Yard are investing in badass founders redefining core industries, particularly in the built environment, and why climate improvements are table stakes when thinking about the world. 

Some fun takeaways from the conversation:

• Active learning is crucial to investing and ensuring you are the best prepared when entering any room.

• Discipline and being a fierce competitor are important traits in a challenging industry like venture and startups.

• Giving back and helping others has been a crucial part of Daniel’s journey, and he believes it is a vital practice for everyone.

You can check out the full interview here ➡️Daniel Dart - From Prison to PropTech: Investing in Badass Founders - CREtech Climate Podcast - CREtech+

You can also see Daniel speak at CRETech in New York on November 13-14!

You can buy discounted tickets here ➡️ CREtech New York 2024 - CREtech New York 2024

See you there!

Let’s Talk CRE! | Research from the Rock

Our Summer Associate, Lavina, is researching the opportunity for venture-backed businesses tackling the commercial real estate market and we want to talk to the people who understand the space better than anyone.

If you are a founder, investor, or professional with insight on the CRE space, we’d love to meet you and get your thoughts on the space.

If you want to chat, you can fill out this form ➡️ https://forms.gle/ow8bbQkkK1uu4HMH8

And feel free to share the link!

We’d love your thoughts!

We are new to the newsletter game and are still trying to figure out what works best for us and our audience. We’d love your thoughts on where we can improve and what you enjoy about the current format. So let us know what you think.

If you have any additional thoughts, please feel free to reach out to Ryan directly via LinkedIn or at his email: [email protected]

Rock Yard People Update

Your weekly glimpse into the lives of Rock Yard’s team…

Klicia’s Golden Pipes

Our very own Klicia will have her first singing recital in the beginning of August. After weeks of classes and an infinite loop of Elton John and Billy Paul renditions of "Your Song", she is ready to sing live for her husband in DC and her parents and brother attending remotely from the safety of their home in Brazil.

Stay tuned. Maybe we’ll have a recording for next month 🤞🤞

Ryan Does More Exercise

Ryan got out of the city and went upstate for the day to hike Breakneck Ridge and visit Beacon, NY.

Definitely reach out to Ryan if you have any other recommendations, want info on these spots, or want to meet for an early AM run.

Where You Can Find Us

Here’s the latest info on where members of our team will be traveling in the coming months.

• New York, NY | August 11-14: Daniel will be in town for meetings and so let us know if you’re around.

• Richmond, VA | September 17-18: Daniel will be speaking at the HUGO 2024 Fall Forum.

• Charlote, NC | September 26: Daniel will be emceeing the RFK TeK Alliance Summit.

• New York | November 13-14: Daniel will be speaking at CRETech New York 2024.

Thank you again for tuning into another edition of Yard Call! We appreciate your thoughts and feedback as we improve our newsletter.

As always, if you or someone you know is building something cool, we want to hear from you!

Reach out to Daniel, Ryan, Lavina, or Klicia - we’d love to chat!

That’s it for now! ‘til next time.

- Rock Yard