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Ground-Up Development · Urban Infill · San Diego

We don't chase deals.

We engineer them.

Mankind Investment Group is a San Diego family office that develops, builds, and invests in ground-up multifamily real estate. We are operators first — relentlessly focused on efficiency, execution, and value.

Get In Touch Our Approach

Our Approach

Operators first.
Always.

We are active builders and developers — not passive allocators. Mankind Investment Group was founded by operators who spent 15 years building and scaling businesses from the ground up. That same relentless focus on execution, cost efficiency, and value creation now drives everything we do in real estate.

100% By-Right Development

Every project we pursue is by-right — meaning it requires no discretionary approvals, no variance hearings, no political risk. We only build what the zoning already allows. This single discipline eliminates the most common source of schedule slippage and cost overrun in development, and it's non-negotiable for us.

"We are relentlessly passionate about efficiency and value engineering. We are not building the Taj Mahal — we are building value for all stakeholders involved."
Jake Risman & Steven Maman · Co-Founders

As trusted stewards of our own capital, we operate with skin in the game on every project. We don't manage other people's money from a distance — we invest alongside our partners, sharing every upside and every risk. Our projects reflect a balance of creativity and execution, delivering lasting value to both our portfolio and the San Diego community.

How we operate
01

Acquire Right

The margin is made at acquisition. We target by-right, execution-ready sites priced to deliver the return we need — no optionality games, no hope underwriting.

02

Move Fast

Sub-three-year project cycles are our standard. We avoid entitlement risk entirely — every project is shovel-ready or near-ready before we commit capital.

03

Engineer Value

We are relentless optimizers. Every line item — design, materials, subs, schedule — is interrogated. We cut where we must and value-engineer everywhere possible.

04

Stay Disciplined

No ego, no overbuilding. We protect capital before we chase yield. If a deal doesn't underwrite to our return threshold, we walk — every time.

05

Invest Alongside You

We act as GP on our own projects and invest our own capital as LP alongside our partners. Where we can add operational value as Co-GP, we will — and if conviction is high, we'll invest as LP in others' deals too. Alignment isn't a talking point. It's how we're structured.

How we structure
General Partner Our Primary Role

We develop and operate our own projects end-to-end — from site acquisition through design, permitting, construction, and disposition. As GP, we bring the full operator stack.

Co-GP Where We Add Value

Where alignment is strong and our operational expertise creates a clear edge, we partner as Co-GP — contributing network, execution capability, and capital alongside a lead sponsor.

LP Investor Select Opportunities

When underwriting meets our standards and we believe in the operator, we invest as LP. We look for the same discipline in others that we apply to ourselves: by-right, short cycle, acquire right.

Portfolio

Our work in
San Diego.

We build in the neighborhoods we know best — primarily the 92115 corridor and surrounding urban infill submarkets. Our projects range from 2 to 20+ units, averaging 15. Below is a selection of our work.

All Multifamily Ground-Up Remodel + ADU
Saranac
20 Units · Multifamily

Saranac Street

San Diego, 92115
Mohawk
10 Units · Ground-Up

Mohawk Street

San Diego, 92115
46th
8 Units · Multifamily

S. 46th Street

San Diego, 92115
Cotton
7 Units · Ground-Up

Cotton Street

San Diego, 92115
Richard
4 Units · Infill

Richard Street

San Diego, 92115
Alumni
2 Units + ADU · Remodel

Alumni Place

San Diego, 92115
6Projects
51Total Units
92115Primary Submarket
2–20Unit Range

Our Story

Born operators.
Built for this.

Jake Risman and Steven Maman have been building companies together for 15 years. They have launched, scaled, and successfully exited multiple businesses — each time applying the same obsessive focus on efficiency, optimization, and execution that now defines Mankind Investment Group.

Real estate was always part of their portfolio. After their last exit, they decided to go deeper — to become operators in the space they had long invested in passively. The family office was founded with a simple thesis: build the right projects, in the right market, with the right discipline.

J

Jake Risman

Co-Founder & Principal

Jake is a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record of building businesses from zero to acquisition. He co-founded 10DollarMall and ModDeals, growing the operation to over 10 million units sold annually before a 2015 exit. He then co-founded Upstream — a reverse logistics platform serving Amazon, Macy's, and Foot Locker — which was acquired by a private equity firm in 2020. Jake brings a founder's relentlessness and an operator's execution to every Mankind project.

S

Steven Maman

Co-Founder & Principal

Steven has partnered with Jake across every venture for 15 years, focused on strategic vision, systems thinking, and operational excellence. After their e-commerce and logistics exits, Steven and Jake were brought on to build software and supply chain infrastructure for the nation's largest VC-backed cannabis wholesale platform. His cross-industry depth now informs Mankind's forward-thinking, efficiency-driven approach to development.

2010

E-Commerce

Founded 10DollarMall & ModDeals. Scaled to 10M+ units sold annually.

2015

First Exit

E-commerce portfolio acquired. Identified the next gap: reverse logistics inefficiency.

2020

Second Exit

Upstream — serving Amazon, Macy's & Foot Locker — acquired by private equity.

Now

Family Office

Mankind Investment Group. Ground-up multifamily development in San Diego's urban core.

Get In Touch

Let's build
together.

We invite partners who share our vision — operators, co-sponsors, and capital partners aligned on disciplined, by-right development and long-term value creation in San Diego.

San Diego, California
[email protected]
[email protected]