GroundUp
Build wealth. Build legacy. Build home. 30+ years and $6B underwritten, taught by the developer who did it — and you get access to her, not just her courses.
The Deal, Start to Finish — Taught by Someone Who Closed It
GroundUp is an online school and community for anyone who needs to understand development. The core curriculum follows one real arc — the seven stages a deal moves through, from the first site you evaluate to the building you own — with focused deep dives added on top over time.
Every lesson comes out of Dr. Merritt's own files — the deals that closed, the ones that died, the negotiations she walked into underestimated. That is the value: not general theory, but 30+ years and $6B in underwritten transactions, written down.
And it isn't a library you work through alone. Membership puts you in the room with her — live Lunch & Learns, group office hours, discounted one-on-one time, and at the top tier, direct messages and private advisory calls.
"You got to pick a project that you love so much that you can get up and work your ass off when the shit gets hard."
You Get Her, Not Just the Curriculum
Plenty of places will sell you videos. GroundUp is built around access — the sessions, the office hours, and the direct line that turn a curriculum into a mentor.
Live Lunch & Learns
Quarterly interactive sessions with Dr. Merritt — bring your deal, ask your question, get an unvarnished answer. Free invites at every membership tier.
Group office hours
Regular open sessions where she works through the room's actual problems, plus priority booking when you need a slot.
Message her directly
Direct messages to Dr. Merritt and her team, with replies inside two business days — not a ticket queue.
One-on-one advisory calls
Three private calls a year with Dr. Merritt, and you bring your own deal to them. Plus the Elite Lounge and small-group advisory sessions.
Discounted 1:1 sessions
10% off her consultations at Premium, 30% off at Elite — on top of everything the membership already includes.
Her, on your project
Senior Advisor puts Dr. Merritt inside your active deal every month — reviewing it as it moves, building the capital stack strategy, prepping you before the meetings that matter.
Wherever You're Stuck, Start There
Most people in GroundUp can already execute. They need one or two pieces — the financing, the joint venture, the capital stack — or they have a site and no map. Others are starting out, or funding the work. All of it is here.
You can execute — you're stuck on a piece
You have the skills and the instincts. What you need is the part nobody walks you through: the financing, the JV terms, the capital stack, where the funding actually comes from.
You have a site, or a shot at one
Something under contract, a lot you're watching, a purchase opportunity, or a family property you've inherited and don't know what to do with. The site isn't the hard part — the first ten moves are.
You're flipping, and ready to scale
You've renovated and resold, or built two-, four-, six-unit buildings. Going bigger means ground-up, subsidy, partners and a capital stack that works differently than anything you've done.
You're new to development
You're learning how a deal actually gets built — the sequence, the money, the language — and you'd rather learn it from someone who has closed them than from a webinar.
Nonprofits & faith-based owners
You own land or a building and want to develop it without handing control to a partner who knows more than you do.
CDFIs, banks, agencies & teams
You fund, underwrite or regulate this work — or you run a developer program and want a curriculum your whole cohort can work through together.
The Core Seven
The backbone of the curriculum: seven stages that follow a deal from the first site you evaluate to the building you own. Each is a self-contained course — lessons, case studies and worksheets you can take straight into your own project.
Predevelopment: How to Find, Evaluate & Control a Deal
Everything that happens before you spend real money — site selection, early diligence, and how to control a site without overpaying for the privilege.
Building Your Team: JVs, Partners & Keeping the Lights On
You can't do this alone. What value you actually bring to a joint venture, how to structure one, and how to keep the company running while a deal takes years.
Financing the Deal: Capital Stacks, Subsidy & Closing the Gap
Where most deals die. LIHTC, bonds, soft money, and how to build a capital stack that actually closes.
Design & Entitlements
Managing architects and engineers, community engagement, and getting through the approvals that decide whether a project is real.
Buy the opening stages outright, or take a membership and get the whole curriculum — every stage, plus everything added later.
Deep Dives on Top of the Core
The Core Seven is the spine. Deep dives are standalone series on the one thing a developer is actually stuck on — built one at a time on top of the core, and included in every membership as they're released. The topics on the table:
Underwriting
Running the numbers on a deal — sources and uses, sizing debt and equity, and what a return actually has to look like before a deal is worth chasing.
Community Engagement
Earning the room: resident meetings, neighborhood commissions, letters of support, and how opposition gets turned into partnership before it turns into delay.
Nonprofit Structure
When a 501(c)(3) belongs in the deal, how to partner with one without losing control, and what funders and agencies expect from a nonprofit sponsor.
Business Structure
LLCs, single-purpose entities, the operating company versus the deal, and how ownership is actually held so it survives a partner, a lender, and a refinance.
Public-Private Partnerships
Working with cities, housing authorities, and agencies — what government actually needs from a developer, and how to win the RFP and the land that comes with it.
LIHTC Applications
The tax-credit application itself: 9% versus 4%, how scoring works, the calendar, and what separates a competitive submission from one that gets a polite letter.
From Flipping to Ownership
The jump from house flips and small multifamily into holding buildings — the financing, the team, and the balance sheet that has to exist before the first real deal.
The Workforce Pipeline
Building employment into the project from day one — the Project Community Capital model: hiring goals lenders reward, local hiring that actually sticks, and the reporting behind it.
Invest in Yourself
Launch pricing. Buy a single course if that’s all you need, or become a member for the whole library and the room. The waitlist opens October 1.
One-Time Course Passes
Pay once, no subscription. Go deep on the one stage you need, or move quickly across all of them.
60 days of every written lesson in one course of your choice — read it all, at your pace.
30 days of every written lesson across the entire GroundUp curriculum.
Memberships
Where a pass is a read-through, membership is the ongoing relationship: every course as it's added, every new series, the community, and time with Dr. Merritt herself. The lower tiers build the foundation; the higher tiers add deal-specific support, with Dr. Merritt on your project.
Constant access to every course — including new ones as we add them — plus a seat in the community.
- ✓Every course, plus each new one we add
- ✓All written lessons, case studies & worksheets
- ✓Free invites to every live Lunch & Learn
- ✓Resource lists & reading guides
- ✓Community access — read every channel
Everything in Member — plus a voice in the community and the Lunch & Learn recording library.
- ✓Everything in Member
- ✓Post, reply & network in the community
- ✓The Lunch & Learn recording library
- ✓View-only: every guide, template & the Developer's Playbook
Everything in Builder — plus deal tools, the Opportunity Board, and group office hours.
- ✓Everything in Builder
- ✓Download 3 guides or templates every month
- ✓The Opportunity Board — RFPs, funding windows & deals
- ✓JV & Partnerships channel
- ✓Development timeline templates
- ✓Group office hours with Dr. Merritt + priority booking
- ✓10% off 1:1 sessions with Dr. Merritt
Direct access to Dr. Merritt, and your own deal on the table. For developers ready to move at the highest level.
- ✓Everything in Premium
- ✓Deal support — bring YOUR deal to your advisory calls
- ✓Direct messages to Dr. Merritt & her team — replies within 2 business days
- ✓Elite Lounge — private channel
- ✓3 one-on-one advisory calls a year — unlock after 4 months
- ✓30% off 1:1 sessions with Dr. Merritt
- ✓Unlimited downloads, including the Developer's Playbook
- ✓Priority Q&A and 1–2 small-group advisory sessions a year
Senior Advisor & Institutional Partners
Senior Advisor — from $3,025/mo. Dr. Merritt embedded on your active project: deal and site review, capital stack strategy, lender prep, and negotiation prep, with a direct line between sessions. 5, 10, or 15 hours a month, plus a $1,500 full project intake — credited against your first month if you continue into the retainer.
Partner — custom. Sponsor a year of GroundUp for a cohort of developers at a group rate; afterwards they continue as individual members. Personalized course access and dedicated onboarding, built for agencies, CDFIs, and nonprofit developer programs.
Lunch & Learns
Live, interactive sessions with Dr. Merritt — four times a year, included with every paid plan. Bring your deal, ask your question, get an unvarnished answer. Premium members and above get the recordings.
Create an Account to RSVPWant to know when the next stage opens?
Drop your email and we'll tell you the moment a new course goes live — plus Lunch & Learn dates and the occasional note from Dr. Merritt. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
You already have what it takes.
Now learn what you need to execute.
One course. One deal. One building at a time.