Learn the Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate

The next virtual course starts on May 12th!
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Hear it from our students

Thesis Driven’s programs have helped hundreds learn the fundamentals of real estate
A great to way to get an inside look at the commercial real esate (CRE) industry and learn directly from top-tier CRE insiders. Highly recommend.
– Clark P, Stuga Homes
The single most effective way to fast track your success in CRE.
– Tiana Z, Level Home

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Your Instructors

Our instructors bring over 30 years of experience in real estate capital raising and entrepreneurship.

Brad Hargreaves

Brad Hargreaves is a writer and repeat founder of brick-and-mortar businesses. He previously started General Assembly, a global school for technology and design, and Common, the largest US operator of coliving and micro-apartments. Brad currently writes Thesis Driven, a newsletter covering real estate and innovation in the built world.
Brad’s expertise
Operations
Real Estate Finance
Venture Capital

Paul Stanton

Paul Stanton has spent over 15 years in commercial real estate in acquisitions, asset management and leasing, and as a proptech founder. Paul currently runs PTB, an investment banking boutique that services innovative real estate sponsors and technology companies.
Paul’s expertise:
Asset Management
Deal Structuring
Real Estate Finance

Paul Stanton

Paul Stanton has spent over 15 years in commercial real estate in acquisitions, asset management and leasing, and as a proptech founder. Paul currently runs PTB, an investment banking boutique that services innovative real estate sponsors and technology companies.
Paul’s expertise:
Asset Management
Deal Structuring
Real Estate Finance
Paul and Brad did an amazing job at going through the complexity of a CRE deal through a well detailed use case: I particularly found relevant the sections on the pro forma analysis, capital stack and budgets but they also went through the dynamic of the relations between each characters which is quite important to understand what benefits each. They also took the time to answer all our questions and was impressed by their knowledge.
– Yoann P, RXR

Why We’re Offering This Course

Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate helps students get up to speed quickly on the real estate industry
Industry Gaps.
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.
Accelerated Learning
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.
Targeted for CRE
This program is designed for employees of companies in CRE sectors, including office, multifamily, retail, and hospitality.

The Curriculum

Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate provides a practical understanding of the real estate industry from both financial and operational perspectives
Property Management
What role do property managers play in the ecosystem, and who are the key stakeholders within those firms?
Leasing and Sales
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 and LPs
An analysis of the key roles General Partners (GPs) and Limited Partners (LPs) play in the real estate ecosystem, including types of GPs/LPs and their incentives in real estate projects
UYOC, IRR, and Key Metrics
We’ll dive into the key metrics that real estate operators and investors use to evaluate real estate projects, including Yield on Cost, IRR, MOIC, OpEx Ratio, and more.
CRE Stakeholder Ecosystem
Who are the major stakeholders in real estate and how do they work together?

Course Program

Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate helps students get up to speed quickly on the real estate industry
As a marketer looking to better understand the ins and outs of the commercial real estate industry, this course was invaluable. I’m confident that the quality of my work will improve now that I know the industry lingo and have a fundamental understanding of the various players and their job functions. I highly recommend this course to anyone who works even tangentially to real estate — especially marketers in proptech.
– Johanna, Level Home

Our Advisory Committee

We didn’t do this alone. Thesis Driven’s courses were shaped and advised by executives who have worked at top real estate and proptech companies including:

Price & Logistics

Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate takes place live in New York City as well as virtually through an online program featuring interactive content and group discussion sections
Online
Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate
This course will run online over five weeks. Each week will feature videos and interactive content as well as an hour-long discussion and Q&A section. The course ends with a capstone project.
Next cohort starts May 12th, 2025
2:00PM Eastern time on Friday
Online
Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate
This course will run online over five weeks. Each week will feature videos and interactive content as well as an hour-long discussion and Q&A section. The course ends with a capstone project.
Next cohort starts July 21st, 2025
2:00PM Eastern time on Friday