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- Yard Call | Oct '24
Yard Call | Oct '24
Our First Award, Emerging Manager Dinners, and Run Club!
Ryan Mitchell & Daniel Dart
October 01, 2024
Friends of Rock Yard!
We got a long one for you this month, so buckle up and dig in…
Here are the headlines - more info down below:
Rock Yard Roundup Update: The invites are out for our crown jewel annual gathering, and we’re excited to welcome an amazing group of attendees who collectively manage over $100B in AUM and lead companies with market cap values exceeding $200B.
Award season came early!: We’re pumped to share that Daniel was awarded the Impact Entrepreneur of the Year for the 2024 Real Estate Tech Awards (RETAs) and will receive his award at CRETech New York in November!
Daniel’s favorite week of the year, and he gets to speak: As the saying goes, ‘Party in the city where the heat is on!’ Daniel will be a featured speaker at next year’s Global Alts/iConnections conference in Miami - the world’s largest LP/GP summit! (And, as the title says, iConnections is Daniel’s favorite week!)
The future is urban - and we’ll tell you why: Daniel joined the CREXI Commercial Real Estate Podcast to answer BIG questions about the future of urbanization and multifamily migration. What’s driving renters to cities? Where is the white space for tech in the urban environment? Where is the opportunity for alpha in CRE?
Big HUGE news - we’re launching a badass dinner series: Rock Yard Emerging Manager Roundtables: Calling all NYC, Austin, Chicago, and San Fran emerging managers! We know how hard it is to build a fund and get to the first close, so we’re trying to change that. See below for more info, and hope to see you in your city soon!
More BIG huge news - we’re launching a no-rules Rock Yard Run Club. As you should know by now, Ryan loves to run. And Daniel loves to put together crazy ass ultramarathon excursions. Well, now we have something else coming, and we invite you to come along!
The kids call it ‘DRIP’: Check out what Lavina’s been up to in her free time - and although she’s doing her MBA, it’s not studying.
Team travel & events: We have so much happening—the full list is at the bottom of the newsletter! But here are a few to wet your beak!
Sept 30-Oct 6 - San Francisco, CA:
HOSTING: Oct 4 - We’re hosting our first Rock Yard Emerging Manager Roundtable dinner! Are you an emerging manager looking to meet others like you? If so, we would love for you to join us for an evening of discussion and knowledge sharing — register your interest to attend here.
Oct 6-10 - Chicago, IL:
HOSTING: Oct 7 - Industrial & Transportation Tech Hangout in Chicago — sign up here.
Oct 15-16 - Austin, TX:
HOSTING: Oct 15-16 - We’re hosting the 1st Annual Rock Yard Roundup! Woohoo! [Sign-ups are over. We’re at total capacity.]
Oct 29-30 - Austin, TX (Tech Week)
HOSTING: Oct 29 - We’re hosting an evening event for Founders and Funders at Industrious in downtown Austin - sign up here.
Nov 13-18 / New York, NY:
SPEAKING: Nov 13 - Daniel will be speaking at CRETech New York 2024.
The Rock Yard Roundup | ATX OCT 15-16
In two weeks, the 'who's who' of the Rock Yard universe will come together for our 1st Annual Rock Yard Roundup. This event isn’t some stuffy AGM, it’s an opportunity for our Rock Yard people to meet, mingle, and enjoy catered meals, talks, and activities.
The invite-only event will feature over 50 of today's most influential and awesome investors, allocators, corporates, media members, and cultural changemakers — collectively managing over $100B in AUM and representing companies with market caps exceeding $200B.
Joining us will be leading individuals from top institutions, companies, and brands including:
Verizon
University of Iowa
Texas Municipal Retirement System
Checkr
Maersk
Sequoia Capital
ServiceNow
The Guardian News
Texas Teachers
The Speed Project
Figure Markets
Republic
Pitchbook
and more…
Stay tuned next month for more info and key takeaways from the event.
Impact Entrepreneur of the Year!
Another big announcement — Daniel was just named Impact Entrepreneur of the Year by the Real Estate Tech Awards (RETAs)! This award is given to the most innovative and transformational leaders in the real estate tech ecosystem.
He’ll be recognized on the CRETech — where he will also be speaking — in November.
If you’re interested in attending, you can buy discounted tickets here ➡️CREtech New York 2024 - CREtech New York 2024
Party in the City When the Heat is On!
We’re pumped to share with you all that Daniel was selected to speak at Global Alts ‘25 — the biggest LP-GP event in the alternatives space! This event has been huge for Rock Yard in recent years and super catalytic for our firm-building process.
Now we get to be more than attendees, taking the same stage that has featured the likes of Peter Thiel, Alexis Ohanian, and Bill Gurley.
If you’re gonna be in attendance, let us know!
If you’re interested in attending you can get in touch with the iConnections team here ➡️iConnections | Get in Touch With Our Team | iConnections
Daniel Talks CRE with Crexi
Daniel recently joined Crexi’s Jessica LaRusso on the Crexi Podcast to talk about his story, his experience in CRE, and how he sees the space.
In the conversation, Daniel discusses a bunch of topics, including the growing appeal of urban areas, changes he’s seen in the multi-family segment, and the rise of the adult renter, highlighting the role of innovation and investment opportunities in the changing CRE space.
As always, if you’re building something cool in this space — reach out. We want to talk.
You can listen to or watch the podcast at the following links: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
Rock Yard Roundtables
Calling all emerging managers! New York, San Fran, Austin, Chicago — we’ll be there.
If you’re an emerging manager slogging it out like us, trying to get your fund up and running, we want you to join us and other emerging managers for dinner and discussions to talk fundraising, ops, deal flow, and firm building.
We’re still getting our dates and cities sorted, but if you’re an emerging manager and are interested in attending one of these events, please register your interest HERE.
We got our first one coming up in San Francisco this week. If you’re around, sign up here.
COMING SOON — Rock Yard Run Club
Hey, New York people! Our Chief of Staff, Ryan, loves to run. Not only does he run in races all over the US, but he also runs daily in NYC. And starting soon, we are partnering with [a secret dope brand we can’t announce yet] and YOU, to launch The Rock Yard Run Club. We figure hell, the more, the better, and then go big! That’s what we’re going to do, and we hope you join us!
This won’t be your co-worker’s run club. it’s not a 10-minute jog to a coffee shop. Working in tech means shitty, long, irregular hours. So we’re putting this group together for the early-risers and late-night-runners, the people with crazy schedules who wanna get their runs in. It’s not about pace or PBs; it’s about getting out there (but lowkey, some of it is about PBs, too, and we are gonna push you on that!).
Founder, operator, VC — it doesn’t matter. If you want to run, come on out.
We have a lot of connections in the NYC running community and from our time with the people at The Speed Project, so we’ve already got some stuff cooking — merch, giveaways, races, events, etc.
It’s still early days, but if you’re in New York and interested in being a part of it, fill out this form.
Lavina Kalwani, Fashion Icon
We recently introduced our Associate Lavina, who is doing her MBA at Rice University. But what we didn’t tell you is that when she isn’t helping us get shit done, Lavina is designing clothes and participating in fashion shows!
She was recently one of 10 designers who showcased their work at the Slow Fashion Fest, an event focused on promoting innovation, sustainability, and ethical practices in the fashion industry. When we talk about bringing diverse viewpoints to the table, creativity is definitely something we love. So if you ever wonder why Rock Yard has that swag, thank Lavina!
Where You Can Find Us
Here’s the latest info on events and where the team will be traveling in the coming months.
Team Travel & Events: Hit us up if you’re around:
Sept 30-Oct 6 / San Francisco:
HOSTING: We’re hosting our first Rock Yard Emerging Manager Roundtable dinner! Are you an emerging manager looking to meet others like you? If so, we would love for you to join us for an evening of discussion and knowledge sharing — register your interest to attend here.
Oct 6-10 / Chicago:
HOSTING: the National Fair Chance Hiring Conference.
HOSTING: an Industrial & Transportation Tech Hangout in Chicago on October 7th — sign up here.
Oct 15-16 / Austin:
HOSTING: We’re hosting the 1st Annual Rock Yard Roundup! Woohoo! [Sign-ups are over. We’re at total capacity.]
Oct 29-30 / Austin Tech Week!
Nov 13-18 / NYC
SPEAKING: Daniel will be speaking at CRETech New York 2024.
And as always, if you’re building something cool - let’s talk!
That’s it for now! ‘til next time.
- Rock Yard