Dave Garland
Managing Partner · Second Century Ventures & REACH · San Francisco
I am passionate about
people and what’s possible.
I’m Dave Garland. At my core, I’m a community builder — everything I do is in service of the people and missions I believe in. That thread runs through my work as a venture investor, an accelerator operator, a keynote speaker, a real estate practitioner, a nonprofit co-founder, and a father.
I grew up believing that constraints weren’t walls — they were invitations. The best builders I know don’t wait for perfect conditions. They push for the constraint, find the tool that breaks through it, and move. That belief has shaped every decision I’ve made, and it’s the lens I bring to everything.
I’ve blessed to speak on stages across six continents. I’ve sat on boards, backed founders, launched companies, and built a global platform from the ground up. But, none of that matters as much as the relationships behind it.
I work at the intersection of
capital, technology, and community.
My life’s work is accelerating what real estate can become — and helping the people building it find each other, grow faster, and go further than they thought possible.
I speak on stages around the world about innovation in real estate, the future of the industry, and my Push for Constraints framework — the idea that the right constraint, met with the right tool, is the fastest path to a breakthrough. I’m developing that framework into a larger, more holistic talk because I believe it applies far beyond real estate.
I invest across the global real estate industry. I own, operate, and develop real assets locally in the Bay Area and around the world. On the side, I work to build organizations that solve global problems, like ChatWithGod.ai. I serve on boards of SCV companies. And I co-founded the FIRE Foundation — a philanthropic endeavor focused on the mental health of innovators, and inspiring the next generation of brilliant minds who will be impacting the future of the world's largest industry.
The platform
behind the work.
Second Century Ventures is the world’s most active real estate innovation venture fund — operating across 8 global markets with over 400 portfolio companies spanning residential, commercial, mortgage, construction, and beyond. I serve as a Managing Partner.
REACH is SCV’s wholly owned accelerator and the leading real estate acceleration program in the world. Since 2013, REACH has taken early-stage companies and given them something no other program can — direct access to the most powerful distribution network in real estate, alongside the capital, curriculum, and community to scale.
Together, SCV and REACH represent something I’m genuinely proud of: a global platform built on the belief that the right founders, backed the right way, can change how billions of people experience property.
The Foundation for
Innovation in Real Estate.
FIRE — the Foundation for Innovation in Real Estate — exists to advance the industry beyond any single company or fund: through research, education, and philanthropy that make the future of real estate more open, more informed, and more inclusive.
It is where the lessons of the portfolio become public good — funding the work, the people, and the ideas that push the entire industry forward.
Let’s talk.
Whether you’re a founder building something real, an organization looking to bring me to your stage, or an investor thinking about where real estate is going — I want to hear from you.
Prefer a form? Every message sent through the contact page comes straight to me.