Lara Cumberland is leaving her role at Meta to join real estate startup Pacaso as the running COO. Pacaso, founded by Zillow executives Austin Allison and Spencer Rascoff, is in the business of co-owning luxury vacation homes.
The company was founded in 2020 and launched later that year, raising $75 million in funding with a $1 billion valuation in March of 2021 with another $125 million with a $1.5 billion valuation in September 2021. The company sets up an LLC for up to 8 members to be equal shareholders. Pacaso holds no shares in the LLC or ownership of the property, but takes on the task of scheduling customers as well as maintaining the property. It is an absolutely brilliant idea, if you ask me, especially seeing how much vacation rentals have blown up in the last 3 years in Miami. Instead of buying a $200,000 property, 8 people can come together and buy a $1.6 million property with a much better return on your investment.
Cumberland decided to leave her role at Meta because she believes Pacaso is “is at a really exciting space in their trajectory.” She also believes her experience will be a great addition to the team! “My technology experience – matched with my track record of leading, scaling and integrating teams – positions me well to guide Pacaso, alongside Austin and top-tier company leaders, in this exciting next phase,” she told website TechCrunch. She is just one of many who announced they would be leaving Facebook due to their vision of transitioning their branding and structure to a metaverse future.