Episodes

Don Tepman runs a real estate fund that focuses on buying neighborhood strip centers throughout the United States and also runs the 'StripMallGuy' account on X and LinkedIn. Mr. Tepman started his career in 2002 and led his first strip center purchase in 2006. He has completed 40 purchases and raised over $150M in LP capital. We discuss: Don’s career and mentors What makes a successful strip mall acquisition Building @stripmallguy and the future of the brand We'd appreciate you filling out our a...

I couldn’t be more excited to release today’s episode that shares in great detail how Fort is thinking about and using AI. Jason and I discuss our proprietary operating system, FOS, and how we’re leveraging AI to build Fort's next chapter. We’ve been building this technology for years and now the fun really begins. Jason Baxter joined Fort in 2015, bringing more than 25 years of real estate industry experience, an acute passion for entrepreneurship, and a vision for transforming big ideas into r...

Ryan Delk is the CEO and Founder of Primer — a platform that helps the top 1% of teachers launch Microschools in their communities. He’s spent the last decade building tech companies (like Square, Gumroad, and Omni) and was homeschooled K - 8th grade, which served as the early inspiration for Primer. We discuss: - The state of education in America - Building Primer - Ryan’s mission to save San Francisco We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing...

Preston Holland is the Chief Commercial Officer of FLYING Finance, which is an aircraft financing company. Before taking over the finance business, Preston ran FLYING Media Group (now known as Firecrown) as Chief Operating Officer. We discuss: When folks should consider flying privately Costs of owning a plane Chartering, jet cards, and fractional ownership A walkthrough of how to purchase an aircraft We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing r...

Mike Beckham is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Simple Modern, a leading producer of premium drinkware and lifestyle products. Founded in 2015 and based in Oklahoma, SimpleModern currently generates a nine-figure annual revenue and is committed to generosity, donating at least 10% of annual profits to nonprofit organizations. Under Mike’s leadership, the company has grown into a category leader for Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Sam’s Club. We discuss: Building Simple Modern during the p...

Mark Hart is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Corriente Advisors and an active investor in private technology companies. Throughout his career, Mark has developed a unique process and reputation for identifying potentially powerful macro and investment trends and opportunities ahead of consensus. Mark’s contributions and concepts have been widely showcased across various popular media platforms, earning him invitations to speak at prestigious gatherings of investment professionals in the ...

Omar Morales is an investment sales broker at Berkadia that sells land & multifamily properties across South Florida. He has sold over $3.3 billion worth of real estate ranging from $130M land deals to $355M multifamily properties, even though his average deal size is roughly $50M. In this episode, Chris and Omar discuss: - The state of the Miami RE market - Building a world-class network - The importance of building an online brand We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can ...

Elaine Agather is Chairman of the Dallas Region for JPMorgan Chase & Co. She also serves as the Central Region Head and Managing Director of The Private Bank at J.P. Morgan. Elaine joined Chemical Bank of New York in 1979, working in London, San Francisco, and New York until she relocated to Dallas in 1984. After the 1986 merger of Chemical Bank and Texas Commerce Bank, Elaine was promoted to Chairman of Texas Commerce Bank in Fort Worth in 1992 and joined the Private Bank to manage client advis...

David Perell is a writer, teacher, and podcaster. He believes writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. David seeks to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. More than 1,500 people from more than 70 countries have participated in David’s Write of Passage programs. The five-week bootcamp draws on David’s experience writing online, building an audi...

Charles Anderson founded Bandera Ventures with Pryor Blackwell and Thomas Leiser in May 2003. The Partners have over 140 years’ of experience in commercial real estate development, encompassing more than 62 million square feet of development and acquisitions throughout the United States and Canada. Bandera’s real estate development expertise includes office, industrial, retail, medical, data centers, and build-to-suit projects. We discuss: How Trammell Crow was able to produce so many successful...

Rusty Reid was named president and CEO of Higginbotham in 1989 at the age of 27. At that time, he implemented the firm’s defining “single source” service model whereby customers can obtain all their insurance and financial services under one roof. He also had the foresight to establish Higginbotham’s employee ownership structure, aligning all employees’ interests in the success of the firm. Under Rusty’s leadership, Higginbotham has grown to become the nation’s 21st-largest independent insurance...

Car Dealership Guy is currently the fastest-growing automotive media brand in the U.S and has captivated audiences with its top-rated podcast, weekly newsletter, and viral social channels, boasting a combined 80+ million impressions per month. On this episode, Chris and Yossi discuss: Yossi’s early career that lead to CDG How he grew the brand into a full-time business What it takes to drive meaningful growth on social media The state of the car industry in 2024 We'd appreciate you filling out o...

Dean Macfarlan is the founder of Macfarlan Capital Partners, a real estate investment sponsor based in Dallas, TX. He has 40 years of industry experience in the development, acquisition, repositioning, and sale of investment properties exceeding the $1.5 billion mark. On this episode, Chris and Dean discuss: Marriage philosophy Life over living Dean’s 10 Life Lessons We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. h...

George Young is the CEO of Pegasus Resources, a mineral and royalty company based in Fort Worth, Texas, focused on the acquisition and management of properties primarily located in the Permian Basin. Pegasus is financially backed by a $600 million equity commitment from EnCap Investments L.P. On this episode, Chris and George discuss: George’s career in Oil and Minerals The history of the Texas Oil Fields Leadership stories and philosophies We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so...

Chris, aka @Gas_biz , is the owner of Vi-Mac, Atlanta’s hometown gasoline transportation company, which services approximately 1000+ gas stations throughout the State of Georgia. We discuss: The economics of the gas station business Chris’ career: the rise, the fall, and the comeback How to flip gas stations Where gas stations stand in an EV world We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpo...

Simon Wagner is the Founder and Managing Partner of Granite Oak, a private investment firm with over $250mm of assets across Real Estate and Venture Capital. His career spans more than 20 years of investing and entrepreneurship in financial markets and alternative investments. On this episode, Chris and Simon discuss: Working in mortgage-backed securities at Morgan Stanley in 2006 Developing his commercial mortgage thesis The Irish real estate market Planning & Entitlements We'd appreciate you f...

Jamie Winship has decades of experience bringing peaceful solutions to some of the world’s highest conflict areas. After a distinguished career in law enforcement in the metro Washington D.C. area, Jamie earned an M.A. in English and developed a unique process of resolving inner conflict that results in the ability to lead and innovate from a position of authenticity and freedom. His unconventional efforts to bring about societal and racial reconciliation led him to Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Pale...

Ian is the founder of MicroCapClub.com, a global community of microcap investors. He is also the founder of Intelligent Fanatics Capital Management LLC, where his team works with private wealth clients to help give them exposure to the smallest public companies in the world. We discuss: The world of microcap investing Why the greatest investors started in microcap Building MicroCap Club Ian’s process for investing in a company We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can contin...

Bill Cawley is the brand and vision behind Cawley Partners, a full-service, Dallas-based real estate company historically focused on commercial office product. Over the course of his career, Bill has owned all classes of commercial real estate in multiple markets across the country. He is continually recognized as one of the most influential business leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth. Cawley Partners has been the premier office developer along the Dallas North Tollway, developing more than $500 milli...

Barry Sternlicht is Chairman & CEO of Starwood Capital Group, the private alternative investment firm he formed in 1991 that is focused on global real estate. He also serves as Chairman & CEO of Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), a leading diversified finance company. For the past 32 years, Barry has structured investments with an asset value of $240B+. Starwood Capital’s investment vehicles have invested in approximately 290,000 residential units, 4,000 hotels, 103M SF of office properties, ...

In this conversation, I sit down with my partner and Fort Capital CEO Jason Baxter to talk about our current fundraise, company wins, building out Fort’s custom AI, deal pipelines, profitability, how the team has grown, and an outlook for 2024. Past 'Year in Review' episodes: 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 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 Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:04:1...

Devon Eriksen grew up with images of the galaxy and the imagined worlds of the golden age of science fiction. Now a retired software engineer, he writes with one purpose in mind: to give the reader something to love. On this episode, Chris and Devon discuss: Why culture is upstream of law The era of whining being over Property Rights Why we need to push back on bad ideas Artificial Intelligence Rent-Seekers Links: Devon on X Devon's Book: Theft of Fire We'd appreciate you filling out our audienc...

Chris Hoffmann currently serves as the CEO at Deutschmann Lane Holdings (DLH), which operates a family of companies including Hoffmann Brothers, Ferguson Roofing & Exteriors, Deutschmann Lane Real Estate, and HBH Investment Company. Before joining DLH, Chris served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, leaving active duty in 2014. On this episode, we discuss: Chris' experience in the Marine Corps Taking over the family business Scaling the business Retaining and training labor The fut...

David Moore is the founder and Managing Partner at Knightvest. Under David’s leadership, Knightvest has acquired over 55,000 units at a total capitalization of approximately $10.0 billion. Since inception, Knightvest has sold over 15,000 units with an average IRR and multiple of over 30% and 2.2x, respectively. On this episode, Chris and David discuss: Making key hires to grow the company The explosion of the Class B multifamily market A walkthrough of a typical deal The American renter in 2024 ...