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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) to an organization’s cloud infrastructure. Coder is backed by Redpoint, GGV, Founders Fund, and Bessemer, with large enterprise customers such as Goldman Sachs and Palantir. After co-founding and running Coder as CEO for six years, he stepped down in 2021 and began his next venture, Wander.com which enjoys the support of QED Investments and Redpoint among others.

On this episode, Chris & John discuss:

➡️ Starting his first business at 13 and eventually becoming a Thiel Fellow

➡️ How Wander works and what they're looking to accomplish going forward

➡️ Wander's STR REIT and how the capital markets work in STR

➡️ What travel and hospitality will look like in 10 years

Chapters

(00:02:40) - John’s upbringing and early career

(00:07:02) - The impact John’s father had on him

(00:10:56) - The experience of being a Thiel Fellow

(00:15:22) - John’s skillset as a Founder

(00:19:36) - Wander

(00:27:41) - Are you able to capitalize this with Debt?

(00:30:05) - What is a great yield on a well-performing STR?

(00:30:31) - What makes a great home for Wander?

(00:34:28) - How are your homes outfitted to make them stand out?

(00:37:52) - How do you work with vendors?

(00:40:31) - What are some member benefits?

(00:43:48) - What needs to die off in this industry?

(00:47:19) - What does the typical customer look like?

(00:49:44) - Is there room in your market for hotel-sized homes?

(00:51:56) - Do you ever worry about zoning or STR regulations?

(00:55:32) - Is there concentration risk?

(00:57:39) - How would one value a business like Wander?

(01:02:04) - Where will you be in 5 years?

(01:07:24) - Where is your favorite Wander?

Additional Resources

👉 Follow John on Twitter

👉 Wander

👉 Thiel Fellowship

👉 Bandon Beach, OR

➡️ Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com

➡️ Follow Fort Capital on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/fort-capital/

➡️ Follow Chris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/FortWorthChris

➡️ Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/

➡️ Sign Up for our Newsletter: https://newsletter.thefortpod.com/

➡️ Subscribe to The FORT on YouTube

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The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.

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The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts