Finally, philanthropy has an important role to play. I am very proud that I helped launch the nonprofit MethaneSAT, an organization that will police methane leaks from oil and gas operations globally through satellite imaging. Though clearly impactful, the initiative’s role as an open and objective policy enforcement tool does not align properly with a for-profit endeavor. There are numerous other important nonprofit interventions to fund and pursue.
It has been a great privilege to have supported
from an early stage some of the most iconic and important companies and
technologies in clean tech. But enabling these technologies and the startups
around them remains only one ingredient in our fight against climate change. We
cannot let the excitement about new technology distract us from the monumental
infrastructure tasks needed in the near future. A substantial portion of the
world’s financial capital needs to turn its attention to this space, and other
forms of capital — social, political, philanthropic — must also be deployed if
we are to secure a more stable future for generations to come.
This past week, I wrote about the launch of
Fractional, a startup that wants to make it easier for friends (and strangers)
to co-own real estate together. The co-founders, Stella Han and Carlos Treviño,
bonded over their shared background of growing up in real estate families while
working at Affirm, the buy now, pay later giant. However, the mission of “pay
at your own pace” at Affirm clashed with the duo’s firsthand experience of the
taxing time commitment and high costs that come with owning real estate; a contrast
that eventually seeded the idea for Fractional.
I get more into the specifics of Fractional’s
product and its recent fundraise in my story, but today I want
to focus on a bit of my interview with Han, the co-founder, that has stuck with
me. During our phone call, we chatted about how the future of alternative
investing is built on on-ramping folks into a long-exclusionary asset class;
we’re seeing it with private equity, art ownership and, now, real estate. While
lowering the check size for entry matters — it’s one of Fractional’s hooks — so
does the social aspect. Can you meaningfully educate a cohort of people to
understand the value that they’re going to get from putting money into a home
versus an index fund? Can you “disrupt” hesitation to get into business with
friends? Can you plan for the unplanned twists and turns of life and someone in
your investment group wanting liquidation sooner rather than later? These
questions are all far more interesting, and thorny, than the logistical
argument of making home ownership accessible. Fractional, I hope, will make it
collaborative as well.
The way that Fractional has been preparing for the unexpected, so far, looks
like some classic curation. Han explained that they’re building investment
communities around specific properties, with the goal of putting together
like-minded folks. “It doesn’t make sense for someone who’s thinking about
flipping a property in a year versus someone who wants to hold for like five
years,” she said. By eliminating major core differences upfront, and then
getting lawyers involved, the startup is beginning to pacify early concerns.
Still, the startup’s heaviest lift — like any business promising to bring
access to a new asset — will be governance and transparently establishing
expectations.
