Chase Garbarino

Work: Sold a media biz now building the Real Estate Experience platform @hqoapp
Fam: @jesscascio, Dash, Gray, Frankie
Startups, Boston Sports, Cities, Freedom

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

I spoke with @Computerworld about #QuantumCities this summer. America must embrace technology and revitalize its cities to secure its future. #AmericanDynamism

https://t.co/sOGIcv1U8u

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

I keep asking @AnthropicAI to reference @elonmusk in something I am building and it keeps removing him. Feel like we're in the middle school pettiness phase of AI development.

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

@Jason I'm in

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

We need Trump Accounts for data centers.

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

@JTLonsdale Atomic Habits does an excellent job of explaining how environment subtly but strongly dictates our behavior and habits. This is a much bigger deal than people probably realize.

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

@pmarca Luddite Fallacy. In early 1800's english textile workers worried about displacement by textile machines broke the machines. 45k textile workers in England at the time. 10-20 years later there were 450k textile workers because of the machines. More people will be making software.

[Mindset Machine  @mindsetmachine]

The smartest move in business often looks wrong at the start.

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

@harsh_abhonkar @HqOapp Cool, sent to our marketing team

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

The REX Effect #2: Cities are economic operating system

Daily Signal
Every great city in history functioned as a platform: it concentrated talent, capital and exchange: ideas, interaction, currency.

Modern cities added more sophisticated infrastructure - but many do not realize the the design of computing platforms can greatly enhance city design: we can more deliberately design positive exchange with certain system-level coordination.

AI doesn't fix this automatically. It amplifies whatever system already exists.

If the system is fragmented or misaligned, AI will accelerate that.

Reframe
Cities don't become "smart" by adding sensors or dashboards.

They become competitive by aligning physical infrastructure, data and incentives around healthy demand outcomes.

Commercial real estate isn't adjacent to this problem. It is the physical layer of economic exchange in the city's operating system.

The cities that win will treat buildings as coordinated nodes (yes, with privacy design from Day 1) - not isolated assets.

Operator Takeaway
If I were a mayor (my wife often reminds me I am not) - or a major landlord - I'd stop asking, "What tech should we add?" And start asking, "What shared outcomes should buildings and systems enable?"

That's where leverage lives and where cities and CRE can coordinate.

Close
The next generation of city winners won't just digitize services.

They'll design experiences people actively choose to participate in.

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

“Twin” - love this concept

[Hugo Mercier @hugomercierooo]

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝗻 — 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿.
No setup. Secure. Infinitely scalable.

We just raised a $𝟭𝟬𝗠 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱.
After a beta with 𝟭𝟬𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬+ 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱, we’re now opening to everyone.

RT and comment “Twin” — first agents on us. 👇

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

The REX Effect #4: Areté & Leadership
Leadership compounds through identity alignment to daily habits.

Motivation is a depreciating asset in many cases.

What remains is identity - how leaders see themselves and what that identity permits under pressure.

The most effective leaders don't rely on energy or inspiration overwhelmingly. They rely on standards and the habits of meeting those standards.

Reframe
This is one of the many ideas I've taken from the book Arete. Arete is an ancient word that essentially means excellence of character expressed through action.

In other words, it is living up to your highest potential - consistently.

In practice, I think for leaders it shows up quietly:

Telling the truth when it's uncomfortable

Taking ownership without theatrics

Doing the things you may not want to, and serving others when it isn't easy, every day

Personally, the book has had a big impact on me. I received it as a gift from a close family friend who was the first woman to achieve one of the highest levels of military achievement (I'm not saying what level or branch because I'm not sure what's allowed..). Since I graduated from Hamilton College in 2007, I've been developing my own type of personal operating system from a collection of readings (Extreme Ownership, Atomic Habits, Grit, a litany of startup and technology books, biographies, etc.) and Arete is the first that truly pulled it all together for me.

They have also built an app that helps you implement their system (Heroic App) and have created a network of certified coaches. The company's mission is to get 51% of planet earth living up to their full potential by the year 2050. What a profoundly awesome mission.

Operator Takeaway
I can't emphasize how much I have loved the Arete book and Heroic app. They have helped provide me with clarity on every decision I make throughout my day and build habits that I hope will enable me to be who I'm trying to be in life. It has also opened my eyes to where I was falling down as a leader. I'm someone who can be maniacally focused on goal achievement and forget that the greatest accomplishments are ultimately about the ride and the people you are on it with.

Close
Progress isn't built by heroics - it is built by identity-consistent days, stacked patiently.

Every Friday I will try to share something I have learned from implementing the system and the journey it is taking me on.

Disclaimer: I do not pretend to have it figured out, but I love the process of trying to figure it out.

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

The REX Effect #3: Execution breaks down where Tenant Lifecycle ownership is unclear

Daily Signal
Most CRE Experience strategies aren't failing because they are wrong.

They aren't driving easily measurable value because CRE teams are siloed and there is no shared definition of success across the Tenant Lifecycle.

CRE is especially vulnerable as an industry because of the distance between suppliers (landlords) and customers (tenants): 1) Brokers sit between decision-makers 2) Gatekeepers sit between landlords and daily users and 3) No one owns the full relationship or specific stages of the relationship end-to-end.

Reframe
This is why an operating system mapped to the Tenant Lifecycle matters more than any individual product or feature (yes, AI included).

A lifecycle-oriented operating model creates shared truth:

What Tenant Health actually means?

Who owns each stage?

How progress is measured?

Without this, even great teams are grasping at smoke - trying to drive outcomes without a common frame.

Operator Takeaway
Start with three questions:

How do we define and measure tenant "health"?

Who owns the different stages of the Tenant Lifecycle and how do we measure this progress?

Where is this reviewed and is it reviewed regularly?

Close
Experience strategy is too focused on amenities and not enough on outcomes.

Clear ownership at defined Tenant Lifecycle milestones is how positive tenant outcomes are actually delivered.

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

The REX Effect #1 - Demand in CRE no longer follows space. It follows Experience.

Daily Signal #1
In 1998 Joe Pine presciently described the arc every major industry would go through: commodity --> packaged good --> service --> Experience.

Commercial Real Estate is mostly stalled out somewhere between goods and services - with COVID and the interest rate cycle moving organizations back down the Experiential evolution graph in many ways.

Tenants and employees have moved on anyways.

Reframe
Demand hasn't disappeared from office or cities more largely. It simply has shifted up the value curve.

People no longer choose places based on location and availability alone. They choose based on how those places make work, life and their identity feel.

Retail is learning this 15+ years into its evolution. Hospitality has mastered it. Media was disrupted and rebuilt by it.

CRE is now accelerating the exact same curve. Just later.

The Operator's Take
If you're still competing primarily on space, you are pricing a commodity. If you're designing Experiences, you're building a relationship with the tenant.

Those two paths lead to very different outcomes.

Close
The question isn't whether CRE becomes an Experiential industry. It's who makes the transition, holistically as a platform, early enough to own demand when it does.

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

Demand no longer follows space. It follows Experience.

Daily Signal #1
In 1998 Joe Pine presciently described the arc every major industry would go through: commodity --> packaged good --> service --> Experience.

Commercial Real Estate is mostly stalled out somewhere between goods and services - with COVID and the interest rate cycle moving organizations back down the Experiential evolution graph in many ways.

Tenants and employees have moved on anyways.

Reframe
Demand hasn't disappeared from office or cities more largely. It simply has shifted up the value curve.

People no longer choose places based on location and availability alone. They choose based on how those places make work, life and their identity feel.

Retail is learning this 15+ years into its evolution. Hospitality has mastered it. Media was disrupted and rebuilt by it.

CRE is now accelerating the exact same curve. Just later.

The CRE Takeaway
If you're still competing primarily on space, you are pricing a commodity. If you're designing Experiences, you're building a relationship with the tenant.

Those two paths lead to very different outcomes.

Close
The question isn't whether CRE becomes an Experiential industry. It's who makes the transition, holistically as a platform, early enough to own demand when it does.

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

@jasonlk @hnshah

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

@bhalligan Dear… anyone?

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

@bhalligan My old man has a sign in his office that says “clarify, simplify, routinize”

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

@bhalligan Great post. As a close spectator of the Inbound category creation it really was a Herculean effort. Interested to read a deep dive on the nitty gritty work of that journey.

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

@KTmBoyle Immediately books ticket

[Chase Garbarino @cgarb]

@bhalligan Were these mostly Hubspot folks or also BOD and outsiders?