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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

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. Before capital is committed, every project is fully diligenced and signed off across all internal disciplines — so when we pull the trigger, we hit the ground running.

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 only develop projects where we invest our own capital — no exceptions. On our own deals, we act as GP and deploy family office capital alongside our partners. Where we have strong conviction in other operators, we'll back them as LP. And where we can add real operational value, we step in as Co-GP — always with our own capital in the deal. Alignment isn't a talking point. It's built into how we operate.

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. Everyone has a different box — we stick to ours, but we'll back others when we believe in their vision.

Portfolio

Our work in
San Diego.

We build across San Diego — targeting urban infill submarkets throughout the city. Our projects range from 2 to 30+ units. Below is a selection of a few projects from our portfolio.

Some of Our Work

Saranac
4 Units · Residential Homes

Saranac Street

San Diego, 92115
Akins
20 Units · Ground-Up

Akins Ave

San Diego, 92114
46th
8 Units · Multifamily

S. 46th Street

San Diego, 92115
Cotton
7 Units · Ground-Up

Cotton Street

San Diego, 92115
Richard
4 Units · Residential Homes

Richard Street

San Diego, 92115
Alumni
2 Units + ADU · Remodel

Alumni Place

San Diego, 92115
60+Projects
100K+SqFt Under Development
2–30Unit 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.

Jake Risman

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 Upstrem — a reverse logistics platform serving Macy's, Amazon, Foot Locker, and many other nationwide retailers — which was acquired by a private equity firm in 2020. A graduate of San Diego State University with a degree in Business, Jake brings a founder's relentlessness and an operator's execution to every Mankind project.

Steven Maman

Steven Maman

Co-Founder & Principal

Steven Maman is a San Diego-based entrepreneur, real estate developer, and former retail and e-commerce executive whose career bridges technology and logistics. A graduate of San Diego State University with a BA in Economics, he built his foundation as President & CEO across retail and reverse-logistics — leading large-scale operations, e-commerce growth, and partnerships with major national brands. Alongside Jake, he co-founded and scaled multiple ventures including Upstrem, a reverse logistics platform serving national retailers, acquired by private equity in 2020. Steven applies his cross-disciplinary expertise in negotiation, business planning, and execution to create efficient, high-quality housing across San Diego.

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
inquiries@mankindig.com
partner@mankindig.com