Episodes

Billy is the founder and Managing Partner of Pearl Energy Investments and manages the firm. He currently sits on the board of most Pearl portfolio companies including Permian Resources, SLANT Energy, Infinity Natural Resources, and Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. Before founding Pearl, Billy served as Co-Managing Partner of Natural Gas Partners (NGP) for almost 20 years. As Managing Partner, he co-managed NGP’s investment portfolio and played an active role in the full range of NGP’s investment ...

Marc is Chief Executive Officer at DigitalBridge and has been an investor and operator in the digital infrastructure sector for over 25 years. He has led DigitalBridge’s transformation to become a premier platform for digital infrastructure and real estate investment. Marc founded Digital Bridge Holdings in 2013 and, as its CEO, built the firm into a leading global manager of digital infrastructure assets with more than 20 billion in AUM, until its merger in July 2019 into the current public com...

Herb is Executive Chairman of Weitzman. In 1990, after nearly 30 years in the real estate business, Weitzman founded the company, a full‐service commercial real estate brokerage firm that now ranks as one of the largest retail‐focused real estate services firms based in Texas. On the brokerage side, Weitzman leases a retail portfolio of approximately 44 million square feet in Austin, Dallas‐Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. As a property manager, Weitzman is responsible for managing a statew...

Micah is the President and Founder of Anchor Investments, which is on a mission to Build America’s Most Generous Real Estate Company. Micah focuses on identifying real estate investment opportunities for Anchor, raising capital, and leading the team. He is also the founder of Mission Hotels, the only hotel brand in America that gives away the majority of its profits to support underserved communities. On this episode, Chris and Micah discuss: Growing up in urban Memphis The need for great school...

Edward Pitoniak is the founding Chief Executive Officer of VICI Properties, one of America’s largest real estate investment trusts and the first American REIT to go from IPO to S&P 500 inclusion in less than 5 years. Since its inception in late 2017, VICI has carried out over $30 billion of transactions. VICI is the largest real estate owner on the Las Vegas Strip, the most economically productive street in America, where VICI owns such iconic assets as The Venetian, Caesars Palace Las Vegas, MG...

Craig Fuller is the founder and CEO of FreightWaves, the leading provider of global supply chain market intelligence and news. Before FreightWaves, Craig was the founder of TransCard, a major provider of fleet fuel and debit cards. He is also the CEO of FLYING Magazine, the world’s most widely read aviation magazine. Previously, Fuller founded the Xpress Direct division of US Xpress, the leading provider of on-demand expedited truckload services. On this episode, Chris and Craig discuss: What Cr...

Kaes has worked at Diamondback Energy since July 2016 in various roles and as President and CFO since February 2022. Prior to that, he was CEO of Bison Drilling and Field Services in Midland, TX from September 2012 to June 2016. He began his career at Citigroup as an investment banking analyst, and worked for Wexford Capital prior to joining Bison. On this episode, Chris and Kaes discuss: Learning the Oil & Gas business A timeline of Diamondback Energy The Permian Basin How to get people to love...

Nancy is the Founder and Managing Partner of Park Madison Partners. As a leading real estate capital markets firm, Park Madison is an advisor to investment managers and operators and provides capital placement services for institutional investors. The firm has placed over $25 billion of equity in PMP-sponsored vehicles and maintains relationships with over 2500 real estate investors and managers. On this episode, Chris and Nancy discuss: - Nancy’s perspective on the capital markets - Capital all...

Reg is the founder and CEO of CaneKast, a privately-owned company focused on revolutionizing and rolling up small manufacturing in the US, with a current focus on non-ferrous foundries. We discuss: - The world of foundries - Offshoring & onshoring - How Reg rolls up foundries - Due diligence - Training - The process of closing on a business Links: Reg on Twitter - https://twitter.com/RegZeller CaneKast - https://canekast.com/ Topics: (00:00:00)- Intro (00:00:47) - The world of Foundries (00:05:5...

Casey Mericle is a real estate investor out of Missouri who specializes in deal structuring, negotiating, and putting people and resources together to solve real estate puzzles. He's been in real estate for about 15 years now and has done hundreds of deals. We discuss: How to find out what a seller wants Note structures Walkable debt Nontraditional negotiating Creative ways to finalize deals We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant co...

Artem Tepler sadly passed away on November 2nd, 2023. He visited me in Fort Worth and I'll never forget it. He was funny, and kind, and had a servant's heart. His story was infectious. I know he loved his daughter more than anything. That made up most of our conversation at lunch. Pray for Artem and his family. If you're able to give, there is a GoFundMe set up for his daughter, which can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/artem-tepler On this episode, I am joined by Andrew Kirsh and Zack...

John Marsh is the Co-Founder of Marsh Collective, host of the Redemptification Podcast, and investor helping steward over $1.5b in redemptive real estate in 12 small towns (with populations of 800-180k) around America. Over the last 25 years, John and Ashely have guided over 60 startup businesses in various industries, such as Hospitality, Construction, Real Estate Investing, Advertising, and multiple Restaurants. John and his wife have renovated 280+ buildings within ten blocks of downtown Opel...

Jillian Murrish is Co-founder and CEO of Pier Asset Management, where she manages the firm and heads business development. Before founding Pier, Jillian was EVP of Capital Markets at Patch of Land and an investment banker at Houlihan Lokey. On this episode, Chris and Jillian discuss: Senior Credit Facilities Litigation Finance Underwriting risk Consumer Loan defaults Why private credit firms should not be regulated like banks We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continu...

David Gibson is the Minister of Trinity Church, in Aberdeen, Scotland, where he has lived for the last 19 years. David is passionate about reaching the city where he lives with the gospel, and the Trinity congregation is preparing to restore Aberdeen's largest church building (built in 1904) after decades of neglect. Most recently, he has published in academic and more popular contexts on the beauty of the Wisdom literature in everyday life: Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches us to L...

John C. Goff is an investor based in Fort Worth, Texas. His family office, Goff Capital, invests across multiple sectors including wellness, aerospace, energy, gaming, entertainment, and real estate. Among his holdings are Canyon Ranch – the world’s recognized leader in health and wellness, and Crescent Energy (NYSE:CRGY), where he serves as Chairman of both companies. John is also Chairman and principal owner of Crescent Real Estate which has assets under management, development, and investment...

Dean S. Adler is CEO and Co-Founder of Lubert-Adler Partners, L.P., a real estate equity firm with over $9 billion in equity raised. Dean is the Head of the Investment Committee and is responsible for leading the strategic direction of the team. He is also an Executive Committee Member and Research Sponsor for the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center of The Wharton School and a member of the Board of Directors of the Dominion Real Estate Company. On this episode, Chris & Dean discuss: Analyzing the cur...

Sieva is a founder and Managing Partner at Enduring Ventures. Enduring Ventures is a long-term holding company that buys beautiful businesses and holds them forever. Enduring owns a portfolio of 20+ companies across HVAC, B2B Maintenance, Plumbing, Swimming Pool Construction, and Software. Chris and Sieva discuss: Enduring’s structure and how they source opportunities Setting incentives for leaders in companies they acquire How an industry-agnostic HoldCo quickly assesses deals The story of acqu...

Sean Dalfen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Dalfen Industrial and leads the firm’s investment committees and management committees across its platforms. Under Sean’s leadership, Dalfen Industrial’s portfolio has grown to over 50 million square feet of industrial properties from coast to coast, making it one of the nation’s largest owners and developers of industrial real estate and a leader in the last-mile sector. Over his career, Sean has transacted on in excess of $10 billion ...

Alex Bridgeman is the host of Think Like an Owner, a podcast focused on how the most ambitious CEOs grow great companies. He started the podcast in 2018 while still in college, and the show has led to exciting opportunities like becoming Chief of Staff at HW Media in March 2022 which evolved into a Director of Data Strategy role at Altos Research, a data company acquired by HW Media in December 2022. Alex has a deep passion for content and data and how each can propel a creator into amazing oppo...

Susan Miller Gruppi is the founder and co-president of M2G Ventures, a commercial real estate private equity and advisory development company based in Fort Worth, Texas. Guided by the leadership of Susan and her partner, Jessica Miller Essl, the fast-growing company carefully invests in mixed-use and industrial development projects located in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and the Austin Central Texas region. On this episode, Chris & Susan discuss: - Fundraising in today's market - Trends in wh...

Isaac French designed and built Live Oak Lake, a breathtaking 7-unit nature-immersive retreat located just outside Waco, Texas. In its first year, the property grossed $1 million, with a net profit of $550,000. Thanks to his cultivation of the brand’s social media following of 150K, over 80% of all bookings are direct. Isaac thrives on continuously expanding his repertoire of skills and sharing candidly from his experiences. On this episode, Chris and Isaac discuss: The process of designing and ...

Nick and Chris come together for an intimate conversation that goes beyond their normal public or online discussions. This is Nick's 9th appearance on The Fort. They discuss: Nick's upbringing & his relationship with his father A deep dive into the impact money has on people Chris reads an email his father sent him 3 days before passing Parenting & marriage philosophies The pressure on men in today's world and what it means to be influential We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, s...

As the founder of Creek Development, Shiloe has completed 63 commercial redevelopment projects and 5 land entitlement plays in the San Francisco Bay Area. Leveraging her deep construction expertise, she challenges project assumptions and incorporates impactful design to achieve remarkable outcomes for her clients and investors. On this episode, Chris and Shiloe discuss: - How Shiloe built Creek as an outsourced developer - How Creek converts Industrial space for biotech labs - A deep dive into t...

Ana Lorena Fábrega is an edupreneur, writer, and Chief Evangelist at Synthesis. Growing up, she attended ten schools in seven different countries. She then earned her BS in Childhood Education and Special Education from New York University and taught elementary school in New York, Boston, and Panama. Today, Ana Lorena writes online to over 200,000 readers about the promise of alternative education. On this episode, Chris and Ana discuss: The current state of education Teaching children in a digi...