The Fort

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/surveyBrandon 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 building enduring relationships and exceptional investment opportunities. Our partnership enablement solutions empower investment partners to connect and communicate seamlessly across every interaction, freeing teams from the disjointed and siloed systems, operations, and processes holding organizations back from realizing their full potential today. On this episode Chris & Brandon discuss: Chris' story and timeline of career Lessons learned and unique strategy at Fort Capital Discussion on raising capital and why Fort is considering institutional capital Topics(3:02) - Chris’ journey into commercial Real Estate and early career(6:23) - Why do you think Real Estate was your calling?(9:05) - Did your studies at TCU play into your eventual career?(12:24) - When did Fort Capital come into existence?(20:08) - Who’s Jason Baxter and what’s his role?(21:47) - How did you transition out of housing development and into industrial?(26:02) - When you got into industrial, how did you find your niche within this asset class?(34:54) - What are the headline stats on Fort Capital today?(37:05) - What is the process of finding a deal and the syndication model you pursue?(45:20) - How have you become so skilled at raising capital?(51:38) - The power of social media & Twitter(59:43) - What do the next 5 years for FC look like?(1:06:00) - How do you think about transitioning from building trust with non institutional capital to raising from institutional capital?(1:09:42) - How has technology played a role in the success of Fort Capital?(1:20:54) - What are 3 reasons investors should care about Class B Industrial in the Sun Belt?Additional Resources👉 Brandon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsedloff/👉 Working Backwards by Bill Carr: https://bit.ly/3FpKQ1I➡️ Learn more about Juniper Square➡️ Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com➡️ CRE Daily➡️ 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--The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

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/surveyIn 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 Investment Properties, where from 2004 to 2012 he focused on development and acquisition opportunities in numerous markets nationally. In addition to helping lead the company’s acquisition team, Chad also coordinated over $1 billion in dispositions and played an integral role in the sourcing and structuring of numerous institutional joint ventures and development partnerships.Prior to joining Hillwood, Chad was the Director of Leasing and Disposition at Emerson Partners, a Dallas-based owner, and operator of office and industrial properties. Today, Chad and Chris talk about their edge in developing urban office properties, how to create places where people want to be, what's happening in the capital markets, converting offices into apartments, Hudson Yards, and what happens to offices that aren't in demand.Key Takeaways:Intro (00:00)Chad’s background (02:46)What happened when Chad left Hillwood (14:40)What Chad is doing today (19:14)The Design District in Dallas (28:38)On offices (37:03)The impact of COVID-19 on the real estate market (42:48)Considering the halo effect when planning (51:34)Office-to-residential conversions (53:38)The secret sauce to creating likable places (1:03:45)On Hudson Yards (1:07:57)Developments that inspire Chad (1:12:35)Outro (1:15:14)Additional Resources: Quadrant Investment Properties: https://quadrantinvestments.com/ Chad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-cook-9a151a/ Fulton Market Chicago: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/fulton-randolph-market-land-use-plan.html Hudson Yards New York: https://www.hudsonyardsnewyork.com/ Learn more about Relay Human Cloud: https://www.relayhumancloud.com/  Learn more about Oshman Aviation: https://www.oshmanaviation.com/ 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 with Chris Powers  on YouTube —The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

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/surveyEPISODE #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 entrepreneur and decided to learn about the oil and gas industry. He worked on roughnecking oil rigs in West Texas.Collin spent the next 10 years working on every major oilfield across the country, from Alaska all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.In 2018, Collin decided that millennial engineers needed a new way to think about oil and gas, and realizing that there was no way for people to get more information about the industry, and started The Oil and Gas Podcast. Just before the pandemic in 2020, Collin decided to go full-time on Digital Wildcatters, which tries to educate society and raise their awareness of the energy industry.Today, Collin speaks with Chris about his views on different energy types, why Bitcoin mining is actually good for the environment, and how he thinks about building a community.Key Takeaways:Intro (00:00)Collin’s background (02:55)What Digital Wildcatters is trying to achieve (05:49)Why do oil and gas have such a bad reputation? (12:20)The US energy policy (19:01)What’s interesting about geothermal energy (36:50) The impact of bitcoin mining around the world (40:23)The future of energy (49:43)Are oil and gas the most prolific energy source? (55:06)Additional Resources👉 Digital Wildcatters: https://digitalwildcatters.com/👉 Collin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/collin-mclelland/👉 Collin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FracSlap👉 DW Podcasts: https://digitalwildcatters.com/podcasts/👉 Collin McLelland on The Convergence of Energy and Bitcoin Mining: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1ctGsfluRs👉 Collide by DW: https://appadvice.com/app/collide-by-digital-wildcatters/1569044309➡️ Learn more about Relay Human Cloud➡️ 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--The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

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/surveyEPISODE #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 Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and others.However, after suffering a series of management and administration problems, the festival was canceled after some guests had arrived, leading to a number of lawsuits and US federal investigations.Just six weeks later, Billy was the subject of an FBI search in his apartment and soon handcuffed and taken to jail, where he was eventually sentenced to 6 years imprisonment before being released early in 2022.Since then, Billy has started his newest venture, PYRT, which he describes as a “virtual immersive decentralized reality.”In today’s episode, Billy and Chris sit down to discuss what happened at the Fyre Festival, stories from his time in prison, why things go viral, and what he’s working on now.Make sure to check it out! Key Takeaways:Intro (00:00)How Fyre App began (01:38)What actually happened at Fyre Festival (07:36)What did Billy learn from the event? (14:32)The aftermath (17:38)First day in prison (26:39)How Billy got in trouble in jail (31:47)What did Billy do there? (44:05)Getting a second chance (54:25)The power of virality (59:19)Billy’s new venture (1:05:03)Additional Resources👉 Check Billy out on Twitter👉 Check out Billy's latest project: PYRT➡️ Learn more about Relay Human Cloud➡️ 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--The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

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/surveyEPISODE #265 In today’s episode, Chris is joined by the founder of ConvertKit, Nathan Barry.Nathan’s journey to helping creators all around the world began when he was doing web design in high school before expanding into freelance blogging and content creation.But after deciding to launch a book to promote his web design service, Nathan racked up more than $19,000 in sales in just the first week, at which point he decided to go all-in on digital products and building an audience.After a friend introduced him to the power of email marketing in the content creation space, Nathan decided he wanted to start his own software business, ConvertKit, in January 2013.In today’s episode, Nathan sits down with Chris to discuss why email is still king, leveraging AI technology for content creators, and what the most successful creators are doing now.Make sure to check it out!Key Takeaways:Intro (00:00)Nathan’s backstory (02:11)Is email making a resurgence? (11:00)Does everyone need a newsletter? (17:04)The limitations of email (23:34)The dark side of newsletters (28:32)Building trust at scale (36:12)What’s ahead for creators? (46:17)Sticking to one platform (59:17)The power of AI (1:15:09)Additional Resources:👉 See more about ConvertKit👉 Follow Nathan on Twitter👉 See Nathan's Books👉 Nathan's Website👉 Founder of Basecamp Jason Fried Keynote👉 Sparkloop👉 The Billion Dollar Creator by Nathan Barry👉 Sahil Bloom on Twitter👉 Lex Website➡️ Learn more about Relay Human Cloud ➡️ 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--The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

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/surveyEPISODE #264 In today’s episode, Chris sits down with Mitchell Baldridge and Nick Huber to discuss the current real estate market, how Twitter changed their lives, and cost segregation.Nick has been a small business owner since his final year of college when he started a student storage business with his friend, and after expanding to 25 towns over 10 years, he exited for $7 million.Nick has also acquired 42 self-storage facilities with over 1,000,000 square feet under management while raising over $20 million in capital.Mitchell is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Financial Planner with vast experience in financial planning and corporate accounting. In 2014 he founded Baldridge Financial to achieve his dream of helping other business owners achieve their financial goals.Make sure to listen in!Key Takeaways:Intro (00:00)The problem with the real estate business right now (01:52)What’s happening in the market right now? (04:44)The impact of supply on rental rates (11:55)The difference between Class A, B, and C buildings (22:19)What’s going on with interest rates? (30:09)Why is cost segregation taking off now? (44:41)How Twitter changes lives (58:28)Building trust with Twitter (1:05:32)Advice on online networking (1:15:50)Additional Resources:➡️ See Nick's podcast 'The Sweaty Startup'➡️ See more about the work Mitchell does here: https://baldridgefinancial.com/➡️ Learn more about Relay Human Cloud ➡️ 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--The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

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/surveyEPISODE #263 In today’s episode, Chris is joined by the co-founder of the Firestone & Robertson Distilling Company, Troy Robertson.Troy grew up in West Texas in a family that was heavily involved in the oil and gas industry. He studied business at Texas Tech University before going on to spend 10 years in the finance side of oil and gas.Troy took the responsibility of fundraising, structuring, strategy, and operations evaluation for more than 20 portfolio companies, some even reaching a size of $1 billion.But Troy decided to follow his creative entrepreneurial spirit and carved his own path in the business he is passionate about, the whiskey business.In today’s episode, Chris and Troy sit down to discuss behind-the-scenes in the whiskey business, how to build a world-class brand, and the details of building (and exiting) a successful business.Make sure to check it out!Key Takeaways:Intro (00:00)How Troy got started in whiskey (01:11)Why was nobody making whiskey in Texas before? (07:41)Pursuing whiskey full-time (11:09)Coming up with a name (18:03)Making a unique pitch (35:12)Troy’s big influence (39:12)Purchasing a golf course (1:01:11)Mistakes made along the way (1:04:53)Deciding to sell (1:14:16)Did Troy want to sell? (1:20:09)Additional Resources:➡️ Learn more about Relay Human Cloud ➡️ 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--The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

EPISODE #261 In today’s episode, we are joined by Alex Olshansky, Principal, and Head of Investments at Zenith IOS. Zenith is one of the largest institutional owners of industrial outdoor storage assets in the US.Alex’s well-decorated CV began with a B.A. in Economics from Claremont McKenna College, and he received an M.B.A. from NYU’s Stern School of Business. After graduating, Alex worked in acquisitions and asset management for IDS Real Estate Group, with a focus on industrial, office, and retail assets in Southern California and San Francisco.He later joined Abingdon Square Partners in 2017 and was primarily responsible for sourcing and evaluating new investment opportunities.In today’s episode, Chris and Alex go through what IOS is, how Zenith underwrites IOS deals, and how exactly they decided to go all in on IOS.Make sure to listen in!Key Takeaways: Intro (00:00) What is IOS? (01:02)  How did Alex get here? (02:14)  How has IOS been maturing? (04:36) What makes a great IOS deal? (11:00) How property management looks (14:10) How is the market developing (15:50) Zenith’s process for new markets (25:05) How Zenith is approaching 2023 (32:56) Driving value (40:07) Episode wrap-up (47:32) Additional Resources:➡️ Learn more about Juniper Square here➡️ 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--The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

EPISODE #260 In today’s episode, we are joined by Brian Good, the co-founder and CEO of iBorrow. iBorrow is a nationwide real estate lender made by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, with an impressive track record of over $1 billion.Brian also founded TenantDirect, the first web-based property management software. Brian has moderated and served on a number of panels during his career, including panels for UCLA, YPO, Bisnow, and IMN. Currently, he sits on the Board of Advisors for the Ziman Center for Real Estate as part of the Anderson School of Business at UCLA.In this episode, we’ll be covering everything from Brian’s backstory and why he moved from equity real estate to debt real estate to how iBorrow underwrites borrowers and how the private lending market has changed going into 2023.Make sure to listen in!Key Takeaways:Intro (00:00)What brought Brian to debt real estate? (01:39)Why did he want to make the switch? (05:46)The difference between iBorrow and other lenders (08:23)What Are Bad-Boy Carve Outs? (10:12)How has the market changed over the last year? (13:14)How should we plan out the year ahead? (29:12)How leasing activity is looking now (43:07)Episode wrap-up (55:36)Additional Resources:➡️ Learn more about Juniper Square here➡️ 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--The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

EPISODE #259 After being bailed out of his first company by his dad 15 years ago while in college, Aaron Rubin learned his lesson and founded ShipHero in 2013 as a warehouse management system for e-commerce shippers. Since then, ShipHero has gone on to serve around $8 billion per year in orders from e-commerce stores. In the last 3 years alone, they have opened up 9 warehouses across the country to manage shipping and fulfillment for medium and large businesses including Shopify, Canadian Tire, Glossier and Universal Music Group.Aaron is known for having his finger on the pulse of ShipHero’s major initiatives, He is responsible for planning and executing the overall vision and strategy of the organization. In today’s episode, Aaron sits down to discuss his backstory, how he almost went bankrupt in 2008, taking inspiration from Amazon, and what lies ahead in 2023 for the logistics world.Key Takeaways: Intro (00:00) How Aaron got started (01:30) What is ShipHero? (07:32) The problem with copying Amazon (13:25) Everyone hates logistics (22:51) The state of the market (28:08) What’s going on with supply chains (37:15) Is manufacturing leaving China? (43:33) What’s coming up in 2023 (48:44) The future of the workforce (58:36) Episode wrap-up (1:05:07) Additional Resources:➡️ Learn more about Juniper Square here➡️ 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--The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more.Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!