The Next Episode — Bridgette Farrer Muir

I know, I know – long time no blog.

A lot has happened in the last few months: I graduated from business school, moved to New York City, and embarked on a new adventure (more on that soon).

In my last post, I wrote about why I wanted to work in venture capital. I was in the thick of recruiting, and laser focused on landing in VC post-grad. I was fortunate enough to work on projects with two VCs I really admire – one a deep dive on blockchain technology (a humbling exercise, I might add), and the other, customer interviews with startup founders. As graduation neared, I decided to broaden my scope, and given my background in commercial real estate and interest in technology, I met with several awesome, venture-backed CRE tech startups.

And then something funny happened. After much job-related research and planning, I found myself in the right place at the right time. Brad Hargreaves and his wife, Amanda Moskowitz – both serial entrepreneurs – came to SOM to give a talk about startup marketing. I missed the actual talk, but had a chance to catch up with them on campus later. Jen McFadden, my good friend and mentor who had invited them to come, casually mentioned that Brad was starting a new real estate venture.

Suffice it to say that one thing led to another – Brad and I kept in touch, continued to meet, and in May, I signed on as his second hire. Common is building flexible, community-driven housing by offering furnished, month-to-month memberships, starting in New York City. Just like he helped address the digital skills gap as a founder of General Assembly, Brad is passionate about solving another big problem: creating a better user experience around housing.

I couldn’t be happier to be a member of the Common team. I’m surrounded by people who come to work each day excited about what we’re doing, and I feel honored to have the chance to help build this company. Our first properties open in Brooklyn this fall, and while I don’t know what the future holds, I can’t wait to find out.