Big Ideas: 1Sharpe Ventures' Ginny Miller on Critical Solutions, Early Stage Ventures, and Connecting People
By Julia Gamolina
Ginny is a Principal on the 1Sharpe Ventures team. Ginny oversees investment strategy and execution — including leading new investments, supporting founder and LP relationships, and managing fund operations to grow and strengthen the 1Sharpe Ventures platform. Prior to 1Sharpe, Ginny led technology ventures and innovation at Jamestown, a $12Bn vertically integrated real estate investor and manager, where she managed startup investments, portfolio pilots, and technology relationships. She has also worked on real estate technology initiatives at Apple, Fifth Wall Ventures, and Harvard University. Ginny received her MBA from Harvard Business School and studied Engineering at Dartmouth College. In her interview, Ginny talks about identifying and supporting impactful new solutions to the world’s current critical problems, advising those just starting their careers to understand what you love and what your strengths are.
JG: Tell me about your foundational years - where did you grow up and what did you like to do as a kid?
GM: My brothers and I were always reinventing the spaces around us. We were three ADD kids that lived to be tactile: constructing forts, strapping lawn chairs to skateboards, trying to nail the art of the homemade zipline. As the youngest, I was the de facto guinea pig. Once, they had me test out a “tree plunge”, which entailed scaling a tree to a little ledge we built, then launching myself off onto a trampoline we had placed below. Needless to say, it did not end well.
This physicality was at odds with the fact that we grew up in what now would be called “Silicon Valley”. But everyone in our family had a bias for the built world — my mom had been running real estate businesses and side hustles since her 20s, with parents in real estate and design — and my dad grew up in a family of architects and artists and loved nothing more than rebuilding a fence on a Saturday.
I think it laid a foundation of being, at the very least, aware of the importance of the physical spaces around us. And paired with the constant innovation-techy buzz of Silicon Valley, it was impossible to not be thinking about how to manipulate physical space to be more interesting and impactful.
What did you learn about yourself in studying engineering and sustainability, and then in your MBA?
I always loved math — the aha moment of solving a problem was addicting. When math met the opportunity to shape outcomes in the real world, it became engineering and engineering felt like magic. I had grown obsessed with the looming risk of climate change, so I was excited to spend college studying ways to apply math and physics towards sustainable design and technology. I quickly learned that I liked people and grounding things in the context of human interactions too much to spend all my time in an engineering lab or computer room over the long run. I ended up pairing my engineering studies with a focus on public policy — where I could spend time thinking about how to apply technology to human-centered solutions. It sounds silly, but one project we did building bridges for a school playground was so fulfilling that I knew I wanted to do something tangible moving forward!
Getting an MBA took that one step further in helping to frame commercial opportunities around big problems. As cliche as it is, business school is all about the people, and it was amazing to be surrounded by such thoughtful peers and professors connecting dots between problems and business-building opportunities. I think I learned the power generated when a big idea can be paired with sound economics and business fundamentals. In particular, I found this to be true in solving built world problems; I learned a bit more about how to ground innovation in the realities of real estate business models and market dynamics. The most fascinating project I got to work on was a trip to China to study senior living models and technology — a powerful look at ways buildings, technology and healthcare could intersect for impact.
Engineering lab days.
Photo from Ginny’s trip to China to study senior living models and technology.
How did you get your start in the field?
I think my original foray into “proptech” was the attempt to start a company called “Popshop” in 2014. Popshop’s goal was to connect events to storefronts and underutilized spaces — then create the business backbone for small independent shops, chefs, and groups looking for flexible space. I was fascinated by how digital experiences and the “Uber and Airbnb for everything” economy was rewiring our expectations for urban living. I wanted to pair the demand for more local, grassroots experiences with spaces that were affordable and underutilized.
I ended up dropping the idea to join a product and service design consulting practice, and many of course went on to try similar things, but it got my wheels turning on how to reimagine the physical footprints around us with technology. At the design firm, I ended up focusing largely on the role that physical interventions and real estate could have on health and wellness — especially around aging. This deepened my conviction in the need for innovation in the built world.
Tell me how your work evolved, and you with it.
Getting an MBA and spending more time in the venture community definitely commercialized my perspectives on bringing transformation to real estate — for better or worse! I found I loved spending time with entrepreneurs dreaming-up ways to modernize the world’s largest global asset class — to be more accessible, sustainable, and flexible– through big, big ideas. Many of these focused less on physical form, and more on the transformation of the “picks and shovels” of real estate: data, financial infrastructure, transactions, and user experiences. I came to believe that if we change the plumbing of real estate, then we might have a foundation that enables more localized creativity in how we design, build, and use space.
I joined Jamestown — known for its hyper-local creative use of space — to help invest in businesses and partnerships that could introduce such “plumbing” to our organization and the industry. One example project was a platform we built for small business tenants, where we aggregated technology partnerships and deals using our scale to provide more of a backbone to small businesses during COVID.
“I loved spending time with entrepreneurs dreaming-up ways to modernize the world’s largest global asset class...Many of these focused less on physical form, and more on the transformation of the “picks and shovels” of real estate: data, financial infrastructure, transactions, and user experiences. I came to believe that if we change the plumbing of real estate, then we might have a foundation that enables more localized creativity in how we design, build, and use space. ”
Where are you in your career today? What is on your mind most at the moment?
I met Gregor Watson and Rob Bloemker, the Managing Partners and Co-Founders of 1Sharpe Capital, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, where the fundamentals of real estate were being put into question. Gregor and Rob are inspiring in their twenty-plus year track records of pioneering new asset classes like the Single Family Rental industry; new technologies and digital investing in real estate like Roofstock; and credit strategies like writing the first lines of credit into startups such as Divvy Homes, Opendoor, Ribbon. Gregor and Rob had been in the mix of venture investing, advising, and incubations — they were ready to launch a formal fund to support the founder community they knew well. I felt extremely lucky to team up with them, and the rest of the 1Sharpe family, to help lead the charge on an early-stage venture fund focused on the future of real estate.
Today, we have made several investments into businesses where our backgrounds in building businesses, running real estate operations, lending, and connecting dots between tech, real estate, and finance, can be critical to a business in its earliest days. We are excited to be ramping-up with new team members, partners, and a fund to support one of the fastest growing sectors in technology.
Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges? How did you manage through a disappointment or a perceived setback?
Real estate is an industry that takes rightful pride in a track record of actually building — bringing structures and designs into the world. I have none of that, really! I am not an architect nor a developer; building credibility as a result is trickier. I found that surrounding myself with mentors and colleagues who do come with that experience has been incredible. I like to bring a curious mind to these relationships, and ask, ask, ask — always! One of the coolest parts of working for both Jamestown and 1Sharpe is the ability to turn to the desk next to you — virtually or literally — and pick the brain of someone driving investments, building models, and management. And to have real tenants – people – across real estate properties to learn from in their experiences and frustrations.
1Sharpe Ventures event.
Ginny Miller with 1Sharpe Ventures’ Managing Partner, Gregor Watson.
What are you most excited about right now?
The amount of entrepreneurship happening in and around real estate is staggering. “Proptech” intersects organically with many of the greatest challenges of our time: affordability, sustainability, and the future of work. I think the next wave of great founders and businesses will have a strong north star around these generation-defining problems. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to meet with so many people building from a place of conviction and passion.
Who are you admiring now and why?
I meet so many people that are running head-first into big, sticky problems, versus taking the path of least resistance. One of the biggest pushbacks to investment in real estate technology is that it’s “hard” — hard to scale, hard to sell, hard to change old ways. I am so inspired by founders I meet, and many women in particular, who say “I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t hard.” They see how impactful and durable change can be when you breakthrough in an industry like real estate. Especially in challenging the existing power structures, which frankly have a strong incentive to uphold an often broken and biased status quo.
“...for any given big problem, there are so many different roles needed to build better systems. Understanding what you love and what your strengths are, then mapping that to where you might play a part, is more important than trying to squeeze yourself into a role just because it seems like the best way to solve something.”
What is the impact you’d like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And, what does success in that look like to you?
As evidenced by my short-lived attempts to start things like Popshop or a senior living business in grad school, I don’t see myself taking the entrepreneurship route in the nearterm. Rather, having the chance to invest, support, and partner with teams who are taking that route is my core mission at the moment. As cheesy as it is, I love connecting dots! People to people, ideas to impact, visions to customers — I aspire to bring worlds together by being curious and scrappy.
One thing I’m struggling with right now is balancing the day-to-day dot-connecting and hustling with the longer-arc perspective on the macro and socio-political challenges we face as a globe, and how those challenges also impact the immediate environments I occupy. I think it’s important to take more time grounding myself in the things that will be most critical to our communities — and getting to know the activists, policy-makers, and local leaders embedded in that world. Ultimately, I believe that maps back to making decisions that come from an informed and convicted gut.
Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?
I think something I’ve come to realize is that for any given big problem, there are so many different roles needed to build better systems. Understanding what you love and what your strengths are, then mapping that to where you might play a part, is more important than trying to squeeze yourself into a role just because it seems like the best way to solve something. I feel beyond lucky to have been surrounded by teams of creatives, quants, lawyers, architects, engineers, sales teams and more, all running towards shared visions of improving the built world. Those I admire most have honed their strengths and are honest with their shortcomings. Often as women, we are taught to strive for perfection across the board — and we can work three times as hard to fill many roles. I think celebrating a culture of collaboration, and learning early-on how to ask questions and find partners who can help answer questions is key! I am still working on it!