Leading Voices In Real Estate

Clara Brenner is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of the Urban Innovation Fund, a venture capital firm that provides seed capital and regulatory support to the tech startups addressing the challenges facing urban dwellers. Clara and I had a wide-ranging discussion about her career, business, and the startups and technologies in which her firm has invested.Real Estate and GovernmentGrowing up in Washington, D.C., Clara was surrounded by real estate and government, and found herself drawn to both. Her undergrad thesis explored the historic relationship between real estate developers and local government in Lower Manhattan.“Ultimately, I decided to go down the real estate development path because it seemed like you were equally influential and you got to have more fun, be more creative, and make more money.”After four years of working in real estate, Clara realized she wanted to be her own boss. She returned to school at MIT Sloan with a vision to start her own real estate development firm.Shaping the Future