Episodes
289
June 15, 2023
#289 - Brett Hagler - CEO of New Story Homes - Pioneering Solutions to End Global Homelessness
Brett is the CEO and Co-Founder of New Story, an organization pioneering market-driven solutions to end global homelessness. Brett is a Y Combinator graduate, and New Story was named among Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in the World” four times in the last five years. New Story aims to bring life-changing housing solutions to 1M people by 2030. Brett is also a Co-Founder of Hometeam Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on housing innovation. On this episode, Chris and Brett discu...
288
June 13, 2023
#288 - Wilkie Colyer - CEO of Contango Resources
Wilkie has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Contango Oil & Gas since 2018. Prior to Contango, he was employed by Goff Capital, the family office of John C. Goff, from 2007 until August 2018. Mr. Colyer was responsible for the firms’ energy investing and has held a material role in public and private investments in sectors including financial services and real estate, among others. On this episode, Chris & Wilkie discuss: ➡️ lessons learned working for John Goff ➡️ story of buying and ...
286
June 6, 2023
#287 - Scott Everett - Founder & CEO of S2 Capital - On MF Outlook, FED, Banking Crisis, Capital Markets
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Scott Everett founded S2 Capital in 2012 to acquire multifamily Real Estate. In the past 11 years as CEO of S2 Capital, he has built a Real Estate investment company that has transacted on $10B of multifamily assets totaling 45,000 units and 3 operating companies that generate annual revenues in excess of $400M with over 600 employee...
286
June 1, 2023
#286 - Joe Pohlen - Co-Founder of Cardinal Senior Living - Building a Better Future For Seniors in Assisted Living
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Joe Pohlen is the Founder and Partner of Cardinal Senior Management, an assisted living company operating facilities in Michigan and Pennsylvania. This is Joe's second appearance on The Fort, if you'd like to hear round 1, you can do so here. On this episode, Chris and Joe discuss: ➡️ Family dynamics and American culture towards ho...
285
May 30, 2023
#285 - Gabe Bodhi - CEO of Tekton Group - Expert in Sub-Institutional Multi-family investments
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Gabe is responsible for all aspects of the investment process including deal origination, due diligence, financing, investor relations, dispositions, and refinancings. Gabe works closely with the Head of Renovations on building repositioning and the Chief Operating Officer on asset management and property management. Gabe believes th...
284
May 23, 2023
#284 - Kelcey Lehrich - Co-Founder of 365 Holdings - Buying Niche E-Comm Businesses in a Hold-Co Structure
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Kelcey Lehrich is the Co-Founder and CEO of 365 Holdings. 365 Is a vertically integrated owner and operator of consumer product brands focused on eCommerce. On this episode, Chris & Kelcey discuss: ➡️ How they look at investing in niche e-commerce businesses ➡️ Why they've chosen shared services hold-co structure ➡️ The current e...
283
May 18, 2023
#283 - Levi Benkert - Founder & CEO of Harbor Capital - Building a Class B Industrial Empire in Texas
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Levi Benkert is a proven innovative business leader with 20 years of experience in strategic real estate-related business development. Levi founded Harbor Capital, a private equity firm focused on industrial real estate in Texas. Levi has leveraged his skills to identify unique opportunities, maximize growth, raise capital, and creat...
282
May 16, 2023
#282 - Matt Doka - Co-Founder & CTO of Fivestars
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Matt began as a top consultant at McKinsey, where he witnessed the power of customer loyalty programs and immediately understood why large companies pay millions of dollars to create them. His vision for Fivestars was to make the power of a Fortune 500 customer loyalty program accessible to local businesses. Fivestars has gone from t...
281
May 9, 2023
#281 - Kyle Matthews - Founder of Matthews REIS - The Blueprint For Becoming a Successful Broker
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Kyle Matthews is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Matthews Real Estate Investment Services™ and has served in this role since the company’s founding in 2015. Matthews™ is the parent company of a diversified group of real estate service, investment, debt, leasing, and asset management firms. Through Kyle’s leadership, Matthe...
280
May 4, 2023
#280 - Robert Bryce - Power Hungry, Energy, Politics, Nuclear, and Fossil Fuels
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Robert Bryce is an author, podcaster, and film producer. He is the acclaimed author of six books on energy and innovation, including most recently, A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations. Bryce has given more than 400 invited or keynote lectures to groups ranging from the Marines Corps War College to the Sydney In...
279
May 2, 2023
#279 - John Andrew Entwistle - Founder & CEO of Wander - Vertically Integrating The STR Industry
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey John Andrew is a Thiel Fellow, recipient of the Forbes 30 Under 30 award and he was recently named to Business Insider’s Rising Stars of Real Estate. He started his first internet company at age 13, and at age 17 he co-founded Coder.com (“Coder”) - a platform that moves the development environment (where software engineers write code...
278
April 25, 2023
#278 - Moses Kagan & Rhett Bennett - Co-Founders of ReSeed Partners - Building the Y-Combinator for Real Estate Operators
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Moses Kagan is co-founder and partner at Adaptive Realty, a Los Angeles-based real estate development and property management company with $200MM in AUM and more than 1,000 apartments under management. He is also a co-founder of Re-convene, a real estate private equity un-conference, and ReSeed, which provides mentorship and capital ...
277
April 20, 2023
#277 - Liberty RPF - Exploration As a Service, Creator Value, Constellation Software, AI/ChatGPT
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Liberty writes about business & investing, science & technology, and the arts. He allows others to leverage his curiosity by sharing the most interesting things that he finds and thinks about in his newsletter and podcast, Liberty’s Highlights. It’s a Serendipity Engine to add some exploration in your life. On this episode, Chris & ...
276
April 18, 2023
#276 - Jake Wurzak - Founder & CEO of DoveHill Capital Management & President of Wurzak Hotel Group - Building a Hotel Empire
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/survey Jake Wurzak is the Founder and CEO of DoveHill Capital Management, LLC. Jake also serves as the President of Wurzak Hotel Group. Since founding DoveHill in 2011, he has led the investment in over $1.5B of hospitality projects across the United States. Jake aims to differentiate DoveHill by focusing on distinct hospitality assets that...
275
April 11, 2023
#275 - Andy Dunn - Co-Founder of Bonobos - Building an Apparel Co, Future of EComm, and Bipolar Disorder
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey Andy Dunn co-founded the menswear brand Bonobos and served as CEO until its 2017 acquisition by Walmart. As an investor, he has backed more than eighty startups, including Warby Parker, Coinbase, Away, Glossier, Real, Parade, SeatGeek, and Alula. In May, Dunn will release a memoir, titled Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My ...
274
April 6, 2023
#274 - Paul Yancich - Co-Founder of Arcadea Group - Acquiring VSaas Businesses w/ Permanent Capital
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey Paul oversees the strategic direction and development of Arcadea across all areas of the firm alongside his partner, Daniel. Paul began his career as a member of the Citigroup Global Analyst program, where he gained exposure to a number of divisions before landing on the high yield and investment grade credit research desk. After Citi...
273
April 4, 2023
#273 - Bill D'Alessandro - CEO of Natural Dog Company - The Great Pivot!
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. Responses received by 05/11/23 will be entered in a drawing for $500 cash. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey Bill D’Alessandro is the Founder and CEO of Elements Brands, one of the original holding companies for direct-to-consumer brands. He has acquired or founded more than a dozen businesses with over $100M of revenue and has realized seven exits in both DTC and Saa...
272
March 28, 2023
#272 - Michael Girdley - Chairman of Girdley Enterprises - Becoming a Creator, Building a HoldCo, Going from Idea to Business Launch
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. Responses received by 05/11/23 will be entered in a drawing for $500 cash. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey Michael is CEO of Girdley Enterprises, LLC, a diversified holding company of 11 businesses. In this episode Chris & Michael discuss: ➡️ Becoming a creator and the business of creating ➡️ How he has built a hold-co and keeps everyone accountable ➡️ How he ta...
271
March 23, 2023
#271 - Peter Askew - Founder of Deep South Ventures - Investing in Domain Names
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. Responses received by 05/11/23 will be entered in a drawing for $500 cash. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey Peter Askew runs a bootstrapped, .com domain development business (often solo). He typically sources domains from the expired aftermarket and uses their descriptive nature as inspiration for each venture. Current projects: VidaliaOnions.com | RanchWork.com | D...
270
March 21, 2023
#270 - Charlie Light - Founder of Alpha Social - How to use Twitter to build your business & brand
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. Responses received by 05/11/23 will be entered in a drawing for $500 cash. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey Charlie started the John W. Rich parody account, which became the springboard for his content agency, Alpha Social. Charlie has helped dozens of clients build up their personal brands with Twitter content, amassing millions of followers for his clients and 190,...
269
March 16, 2023
#269 - Brandon Sedloff Interviews Chris: Reflections On My Career, Fort, Raising Capital, & Lessons Learned
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. Responses received by 05/11/23 will be entered in a drawing for $500 cash. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey Brandon Sedloff is Managing Director and Founding SVP of Sales at Juniper Square where he focuses on business development, and strategy and serves some of the world's largest institutional investment managers. Juniper Square empowers GPs and LPs to focus on bui...
268
March 14, 2023
#268 - Chad Cook - Founder of Quadrant Investment Properties - Placemaking & Developing Urban Office Properties
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. Responses received by 05/11/23 will be entered in a drawing for $500 cash. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey In today’s episode, Chris is joined by Chad Cook, founder of Quadrant Investment Properties, a Dallas-based real estate investment company specializing in urban office opportunities. Before founding QIP, Chad was Vice President of Acquisitions at Hillwood Inve...
267
March 7, 2023
#267 - Collin McLelland - Co-Founder of Digital Wildcatters - Making Energy Great Again
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. Responses received by 05/11/23 will be entered in a drawing for $500 cash. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey EPISODE #267 In today’s episode, Chris is joined by Collin McLelland, co-founder of Digital Wildcatters, a community of energy professionals who are changing the way that we think about energy. After leaving high school, Collin knew that he wanted to be an ent...
266
Feb. 28, 2023
#266 - Billy McFarland - Fyre Festival Founder - Story Details, Lessons Learned, How to Go Viral, and His New Venture
We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. Responses received by 05/11/23 will be entered in a drawing for $500 cash. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey EPISODE #266 In today’s episode, Chris is joined by Billy McFarland, the founder of the controversial Fyre Festival event. The Fyre Festival dominated headlines in April 2017 when videos surfaced online promoting the festival featuring celebrities such as Kend...