Academia
Strengthening the connection between higher education and industry.
Through our initiatives, we connect emerging operators with experienced executives, innovators with owners and developers, students with industry leaders, and organizations with talent they would never have otherwise encountered.
Your support expands the relationships, programs, and opportunities that move real estate innovation forward—for today’s leaders and the next generation.
FIRE creates opportunities for ideas, people, and technologies to grow and thrive across the real estate industry.
Strengthening the connection between higher education and industry.
FIRE’s community for growth-minded owners, operators, and sponsors.
The cornerstone of the FIRE community, designed for trust, candor, and meaningful connection.
Physical built-environment innovation brought directly to industry events.
Education, awareness, and confidential resources supporting the people driving innovation.
Connecting innovative organizations with emerging and established talent.
FIRE connects students, universities, and industry through educational programming, mentorship, and opportunities to explore real estate innovation.
Our support for the student-led Intercollegiate PropTech Club is one part of that broader work, helping students build relationships with the people shaping the built world.
FIRE has connections with more than 15 campuses, including several Ivy League universities.
ICPTC brings students across universities and disciplines together to explore technology, entrepreneurship, and the built environment. Its programming includes conversations with investors, founders, and operators, student demo days, and cross-university build sprints.

Larry Liu is a Master's candidate in Civil Engineering at Stanford with a focused interest in venture, startups, and the intersection of technology and the built environment. He previously spent 3+ years as an architectural engineer at Stantec — an experience that showed him firsthand how much of the industry still runs on decades-old tools, and set him on a path toward proptech. Larry earned his Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Waterloo. He founded the Intercollegiate PropTech Club in 2025.

Hayley Carter is an MBA candidate at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business (Class of 2027) with a focused interest in real estate and the intersection of innovation and the built environment. She previously worked in project management and business operations, most recently at WeWork — an experience that deepened a longstanding interest in the built environment and hospitality, and set her on a path toward a career in real estate. Hayley earned her undergraduate degree in American Studies from UC Berkeley, where her thesis on the history of post-WWII American suburbs offered an early lens into the forces that shape how and where Americans live. She is a ULI Chamberlin Fellow, and currently serves on the boards of the Berkeley Real Estate Club and the Berkeley Female Founders and Funders Club at Haas.





Interested in speaking, mentoring, supporting student programming, or connecting your university with FIRE? Connect with Stephanie to explore how you can contribute.
Get involved in AcademiaThe Emerging Manager Tech Council is FIRE’s community for growth-minded owners, operators, and sponsors.
Members gain access to trusted peer relationships, industry leaders, emerging technologies, and practical insights that help them navigate growth, evaluate innovation, and scale with confidence.
Peer relationships, industry leaders, and practical insights.









FIRE Summit is the cornerstone of the FIRE community.
Designed to foster trust, candor, and meaningful connection, the Summit creates space for the conversations and relationships that often shape the future direction of organizations, partnerships, and the industry itself.





Leaders from across real estate, technology, investment, and operations.

































The Innovation Showcase, known as the Petting Zoo, brings physical innovation to industry conferences and events.
By showcasing hardware, robotics, materials, and other physical built-environment solutions, FIRE creates opportunities for industry leaders to engage directly with the technologies shaping the future of real estate.
Companies selected for FIRE’s Innovation Showcase.
Hardware, robotics, materials, and other physical real estate solutions.





FIRE’s Mental Health Initiative supports the well-being of the people driving innovation.
Through education, awareness, and access to confidential resources, the program helps founders, operators, and industry professionals prioritize mental health while fostering a stronger and more resilient community.





TherapyLab offers structured therapy plans designed around specific needs, including anxiety, mood, and cognitive behavioral therapy.
Explore TherapyLab →
CoFounder Clarity supports founders navigating the emotional and relational realities of building a company.
Explore CoFounder Clarity →
Conscious Ambition provides emotional health and wellbeing tools for purpose-driven, audaciously ambitious entrepreneurs.
Explore Conscious Ambition →
Founder-focused support for stress, clarity, resilience, and the personal demands of leadership.
Explore Sonya’s services →FIRE connects innovative organizations with emerging and established talent across real estate.
A committed team connecting the people, programs, and ideas advancing innovation across real estate.

Executive Director
Matt Knight is an early-stage investor specializing in technology for the built environment, with deep experience in commercial real estate. Most active at the pre-seed and seed stages in PropTech, Matt has helped build two separate PropTech venture capital funds in the past ten years.

Director
Stephanie Gubiotti is a real estate operations and technology executive, advisor, and community builder with deep experience across multifamily, PropTech, and investment platforms. She has led operational transformation, portfolio strategy, and technology adoption for owner-operators, while also advising early-stage companies shaping the future of the built environment.

Advisor
inJaja Jackson is a Senior Vice President at ICONIQ Capital on the Real Assets team, with a career spanning institutional investing, real estate operations, and platform innovation. Before ICONIQ, he held senior leadership roles at Airbnb and spent over a decade operating and managing multifamily portfolios. Jaja brings a long-term investor lens to the evolving overlap between short-term rentals, multifamily housing, hospitality, and flexible living.

Advisor
inDoug Holte is a business-builder, leader, advisor, and investor in real estate and venture sectors across four decades and three platforms – Hines, Irvine Company and Agile Workweek Investments. Doug is focused on innovative property strategies that harness the venture mindset, address dysfunctional systems, and integrate sustainable communities.
FIRE’s work grows through donors and mission-aligned partners who invest in stronger connections and practical innovation across real estate.
News, program updates, field notes, and ideas shaping innovation across real estate.
Progress happens when the right people bring their experience, curiosity, resources, and willingness to collaborate.