Learn the Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate
Hear it from our students
Thesis Driven’s programs have helped hundreds learn the fundamentals of real estate
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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.
The single most effective way to fast track your success in CRE.
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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
Chapter 1
Welcome to Harbor Yards – Deal & Key Stakeholders
Introducing our case study project (Harbor Yards), developer (Elevated Properties) and the key stakeholders involved in the project.
Chapter 6
Marketing & Leasing Harbor Yards – Marketing Plans & Dealmaking
Leasing teams are the primary drivers of revenue for real estate projects. We’ll introduce the role of the tenant rep broker, the dealmaking process, key lease terms, and how commissions get distributed.
Chapter 2
The Harbor Yards Business Plan – P&L and UYOC
Understanding commercial real estate requires a fundamental grasp of the property-level P&L. We’ll cover major revenue and expense lines and the basics of underwriting.
Chapter 7
Operating Harbor Yards – Tenant Relations, Operations and Property Technology
The day-to-day life of the property management and other onsite teams is a whirlwind of activity. We’ll walk you through what happens in the “front of house”, “back of house” and the growing role technology is playing to tie it all together.
Chapter 3
Getting Capital from Investors – Debt, LP Equity and IRRs
Most developers raise money, both debt and equity. This section covers the typical “cap stack” of a project and how IRR – the key return metric – is calculated.
Chapter 8
Selling Harbor Yards – Scenarios and Stakeholder Outcomes
After a successful redevelopment, Elevated Properties takes Harbor Yards to market. This section will cover the sale process, buyers’ considerations, and the motivations of everyone involved in the sale.
Chapter 4
Building the Team – Contracts and People
Asset Management, Leasing, and Property Management are the three most important roles in asset operations. We’ll cover each function, its incentives, and typical traits and motivations of the people in these roles.
Chapter 9
Capstone Project: The Parking Garage Next Door
In the course’s capstone project, students use the tools and strategies they’ve learned in the course to program and underwrite a new redevelopment project. Students will present their plans to the class and discuss different approaches.
Chapter 5
Building the Budget – Process and Budget Walk-Thru
The building budget acts as the “Master KPI” list for any asset management team. We’ll break down how a budget gets built, walking you through a real-life building budget and discussing how these assumptions translate to a team’s daily activities.
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 July 21st, 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 September 29th, 2025
2:00PM Eastern time on Friday
