In an industry often defined by incremental change and siloed decision-making, a new initiative is aiming to shift the paradigm. It's called The Inner Circle, and it's quietly becoming one of the most compelling experiments in multifamily innovation.

Access a digital download of The Inner Circle Magazine: Volume 1

Founded in early 2025, The Inner Circle is not a traditional conference, a networking group, or a vendor showcase. Instead, it's a curated, action-oriented forum that brings together property owners, operators, and technology leaders—three often-disconnected voices in the multifamily ecosystem—into one conversation.

The idea is simple but ambitious: get the right people in a room, strip away the pretense, and confront the industry's biggest challenges together. The result is part think tank, part roundtable, and entirely focused on impact.

A New Kind of Collaboration

The Inner Circle lives at the intersection of three perspectives. Imagine a Venn diagram with one circle each for owners, operators, and tech creators. Where they overlap—that's the Inner Circle. And it's where, according to its founding members, "barriers come down and meaningful change begins."

On February 25, 2025, the group convened for the first time in a sunlit loft in New York City. The atmosphere was intentionally informal. No panels. No keynotes. Just candid conversation among decision-makers who rarely get to speak honestly and directly to each other.

Led by Stephanie Fuhrman—former Managing Director of Global Innovation at Greystar and now SVP at Entrata—the group dug into the gritty realities of tech adoption. Real stories were shared. Hard truths surfaced. And from that, three core challenges emerged:

1. The Cost of Innovation: How do we fund new technology in a margin-constrained industry, and what happens when the resident becomes the business model?
   
   
2. The RFP & Pilot Process: Why are good ideas so often strangled by bad processes, and how do we build a better way to test and scale innovation?
   
   
3. 1+1=11: What leverage do operators really have against legacy systems—and what happens when we act together instead of alone?
   
   

Each of these themes is now being explored through working groups, open-source toolkits, and ongoing cross-functional collaboration.

What Makes The Inner Circle Different?

Part of what sets The Inner Circle apart is what it refuses to be. There are no sales pitches. No passive listening. And no patience for vague talk about "innovation" without execution. The group focuses instead on real-world impact: How are residents affected? How do onsite teams manage change? How do we measure success?

And perhaps most notably, it’s inclusive by design. While curated, the Circle is always expanding. Industry professionals can nominate themselves or others to join future sessions.

What Next for The Inner Circle?

The Inner Circle is already producing tangible outputs. Volume 1 of their print magazine, styled like a high-art design and architecture publication, captures stories, frameworks, and insights from that first gathering. It's part recap, part manifesto—capturing not just what happened, but why it matters and where we go from here.

Access a digital download of The Inner Circle Magazine: Volume 1‍

The long-term goal? To create standards, playbooks, and coalitions that accelerate real progress across multifamily.

Want to add your voice to The Inner Circle? Read to build what’s next? Nominate yourself or another industry visonarly here the-inner-circle.co