From Cold Calling Billionaires to Decarbonizing NYC - Sarah Mae Selnick | 55

At 22, Sarah Mae Selnick was cold calling billionaire real estate developers from a boutique brokerage in Manhattan with zero experience and no idea what she was doing. By 24, she had put together the largest single transaction in Brooklyn's history: a deal worth over a billion dollars.

Now she's the founder of Source Forward, a company using AI and building data to help commercial real estate owners in New York City tap into energy incentives and sustainability technologies they're leaving on the table. She also leads a decarbonization task force alongside major utilities and technology providers, drafting policy recommendations for NYSERDA.

In this episode of Horizon Search, Sarah Mae talks about what NYC brokerage taught her about persistence, why "no" really means "not right now," the shiny object trap that nearly derailed her startup, and why energy costs are about to hit real estate owners harder than most of them realize.

Source Forward: https://sourceforward.org

Sarah Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sarahmayselnick

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Horizon Search is a podcast by Horizon Search Institute exploring how leaders, founders, and researchers are navigating the forces reshaping industries and institutions.

Subscribe for new episodes. Learn more at https://horizonsearch.org

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0:00 Cold calling Jonathan Gray at 22

0:50 How she got into NYC commercial real estate

2:07 Persistence and goldfish memory

4:17 The Vonnegut rule: New York vs. California

5:30 Why phone calls still beat email

6:15 The blind spot in commercial real estate

8:12 How Source Forward uses AI for building owners

8:55 Shiny object syndrome and founder focus

10:30 How her co-founder snapped them back on track

11:55 Scaling a small team with AI

14:06 The billion-dollar Brooklyn deal at 24

15:40 Leading a decarbonization task force

17:05 NYC's climate goals and the UN SDGs

17:43 Moonshot: becoming the household name in building energy

19:13 Green tech trend: big building data for everyone

20:25 What real estate owners underestimate about energy costs

21:15 Favorite NYC spot for inspiration

21:57 Where to find Sarah Mae