Derrick Barker is the co-founder and CEO of Nectar, a real estate tech financing company that provides liquidity to commercial real estate sponsors across the country. Nectar has completed more than 140 deals across 29 states, deploying over $40 million to lower middle market and middle market operators who need access to equity trapped in their existing assets.

After leaving Goldman Sachs, Derrick built his real estate portfolio to more than 4,700 units and $400 million in asset value across multiple brands, including Civitas Communities, a multifamily platform focused on transforming distressed assets into quality housing, and DOMOS Co-Living, a co-living concept renting larger units by the room.

Derrick began buying real estate from his dorm room at Harvard, where he also founded a student organization connected to Wall Street that became his first major business success. After graduating, he spent three years trading complex securities at Goldman Sachs while simultaneously building a 500-unit portfolio in his hometown of Atlanta before leaving to focus on real estate full time.

Derrick Barker on Multifamily Growth and Tech-First Lending

When Derrick Barker was four days from his earnest money going non-contingent on a Koreatown property, his lender came back short. He had equity sitting across his portfolio at 40% and 50% leverage. He didn't want to refinance. There was no clean way to access it without tripping a covenant. That's the problem Nectar exists to solve.

Building Nectar meant becoming a technology company first. Derrick went through Techstars, built AI-native processes from the ground up, and created tools his borrowers use to run their businesses more efficiently. The platform is built to provide both data and liquidity to commercial real estate operators.

In this episode of The Dealmakers' Edge, Aaron Strauss and Derrick Barker discuss how he built a multifamily portfolio while trading at Goldman, how Nectar is structured to give sponsors access to trapped equity without tripping existing loan covenants, and why relationships matter more in the age of AI than they ever have.

1:44 - Starting his first business at Harvard and how it connected to Wall Street

3:14 - What it felt like walking onto Goldman's trading floor right after the crisis

5:37 - Why rebuilding the community he grew up in drove his early real estate bets

6:59 - What the Civitas model was built on and why distressed assets were hiding demand

8:07 - How DOMOS Co-Living came out of watching single people navigate shared apartments

11:29 - Being four days from non-contingent earnest money when his lender came back short

13:01 - Why Nectar had to be a technology company

15:39 - Running businesses with his wife since college and what makes it work

17:54 - Why he anchors his identity outside of the next success

19:52 - Keeping his personal life low leverage and cash flowing while taking big swings

21:26 - Why relationships matter more in the age of AI and advice for anyone starting out

Nectar | Nectar LinkedIn

Derrick Barker on LinkedIn

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