POWERS

Robert Prather, Jr, has been with Vision Research for more than 15 years and brings more than 23 years of relevant experience to the team in his role as a member of the senior research staff and President. Vision Research is an independent equity research firm that provides hedge funds with investment ideas. On this episode, Robert discusses his process for uncovering a short idea and what he looks for, why SPACs have recently done so poorly, and the incentives that currently drive them. Chris and Robert also chat about how a short works (Shorting 101) and how he was able to see something off with Enron before the general market did.   Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris  Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/  Subscribe to The Fort on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ32shRt8Od3MxMY-keTSQ Follow The Fort on Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheFortPodcast Vision Research: https://www.visionro.com/ (01:43) - Roberts’s Career and Background (03:53) - When $50m is missing, where is it? (04:45) - Is it fair to say that people blindly trust public companies for the numbers they put out? (05:47) - Discussions with Leaders in Public Companies vs. Private Companies (0 7:25) - Robert Uncovers the Enron Fraud (14:03) - Robert’s career today in research and shorting equities (22:10) - Deciphering whether a company is going to go to 0 or is simply worth less than its stock price (26:16) - When do CEOs find out about the research you’ve done on them? (29:56) -  How does shorting work? (32:19) - Meme Stocks (39:13) - What happens if everyone takes you up on your ideas at the same time? (40:33) - Thoughts on Tesla (43:01) - How often have you shorted a company and then changed your mind about it? (45:23) - SPACs (1:12:03) - How long does someone predicting a short have to be right? (1:18:16) - What do you predict will happen in the near future? (1:24:22) - Robert’s mantra: Helping others help themselves The Fort is produced by Johnny Podcasts

On this episode, Chris chats with Twitter's Anonymous @StudentRentPro on every trick in the book for how to strategically manage student rental properties. They deep dive into the economics of how to put together a profitable student housing deal, what matters in a student lease, and funny stories from the trenches of managing students. Enjoy!  Learn more about Chris Powers and 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/  Subscribe to The Fort on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ32shRt8Od3MxMY-keTSQ Follow The Fort on Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheFortPodcast Follow Student Rental Pro on Twitter: https://twitter.com/StudentRentPro Support our Sponsors: Juniper Square: https://www.junipersquare.com/ Lex Markets Corp: https://www.lex-markets.com/fort (03:15) - Student Rental Pro’s background and RE portfolio (05:12) - How did you get into student rentals? (07:50) - What makes a great location for a student rental? (10:58) - What’s your process for leasing a house for the upcoming school year? (13:31) - What are the big things that matter in a student housing lease? (15:54) - Why do you not include parental guarantors in the lease? (18:59) - Do you do any kind of due diligence or application on the students who want to lease? (20:13) - How do you handle parent complaints & work orders? (26:05) - What’s the process of turning the house over from previous tenants to new tenants? (30:40) - What amenities do you provide? (32:48) - What are the tenants allowed to do in terms of drilling into the walls, painting, etc? (34:35) - Pets or no pets? (35:21) - Do you provide appliances? (36:26) - How do you think about deposits? (50:44) - How do you deal with police being called over a party? (53:23) - How do tenants communicate with you and what is your manager’s job during the year? Appfolio (58:47) - What’s the process of selecting a tenant to be “House Manager”? (59:43) - What stands out to you when looking at properties that will maximize rent? (1:05:55) - Who does the yard work? (1:07:35) - What are the most common maintenance issues you see and are there any preventative measures you take? (1:11:10) - What’s the % increase you’re getting on rent with students as opposed to traditional tenants? (1:13:28) - What’s the direction of your portfolio? Twitter Questions: (1:15:05) - Do you compete against institutional capital? (1:16:20) - What would you prefer if you were to extend into a new market: A college-town or a town with a college in it? (1:20:23) - SRP’s MF acquisition was based on listening to the podcast (1:24:35) - Storytime w/ Student Rental Pro

Lloyd was a successful real estate developer and owner of luxury senior housing facilities when his idea of success changed dramatically, and his life’s focus shifted to second-half significance. Together with his mentor, the late Bob Buford, Lloyd helped launch the Halftime Institute, a global team that teaches, coaches, and connects successful men and women in pursuit of significance. For over 20 years, Lloyd has helped leaders make their second half their best half. He has clocked over 20,000 hours of coaching and has taken this message around the world. On this episode, Lloyd and Chat chat about what it means for high capacity leaders to finish well, preparing to live the 2nd half of our lives with significance and best practices early in life and career to set yourself up for success later in life. Enjoy! Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris  Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/  Subscribe to The Fort on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ32shRt8Od3MxMY-keTSQ Follow The Fort on Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheFortPodcast Support our Sponsors: www.FortCapitalLP.com (02:15) - Lloyd’s Background and Career (16:28) - Partnering with Bob Buford  Halftime by Bob Buford Managing oneself by Peter Drucker (20:37) - What are things you’ve witnessed folks have done early in their life that set them up for success or failure in the second half of their life? (26:46) - Why do we not naturally gravitate toward focusing on the “priceless” things in life? (30:55) - The Crash and Burn Lots of People Experience in the Second Half of Life The Sigmoid Curve (36:15) - How do you begin to decouple yourself from tying your identity to your work? (41:49) - What are some practices or success stories where you’ve seen folks reinventing themselves within their own business? (48:30) - What does The Halftime Institute do? (50:51) - What are some characteristics of leaders who finish well? (56:17) - Are there best practices for finding what your next calling will be? (1:09:25) - What are the characteristics of people who can build a great business and a great family? What I want my children to know before they leave home by Lloyd Reeb The Fort is produced by Johnny Podcasts

Connor Haley founded Alta Fox in 2018 and is responsible for managing all aspects of the firm’s investment process and strategy.  He has over ten years of investing experience and a passion for investing in small-cap equities. Before founding Alta Fox, Connor was an Analyst at Scopia Capital Management LP in New York. Connor is a top-ranked investor on MicroCapClub.com1 and a member of the ValueInvestorsClub.com. Connor was an active investor in college: he was the President of Harvard’s largest undergraduate financial club and led the club to its highest-ever annual return. On this episode, Connor and Chris chat about how Alta Fox performs DD and reaches conviction on a new investment thesis, the benefits of activism and why it's more important than ever before, and the DNA of an exceptional business. Lastly, Connor shares his thoughts on the current investing landscape.   Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris  Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/  Subscribe to The Fort on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ32shRt8Od3MxMY-keTSQ Follow The Fort on Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheFortPodcast Learn more about Alta Fox: Altafoxcapital.com Connor on Twitter (01:53) - Connor’s Background and Career in Investing (5:40) - Winning Investing and Trading Competitions at Harvard (8:33) - Connor’s Hedge Fund Experience in College (10:25) - What did working on the trading floor do to shape your knowledge in investing? (11:45) - What is your investment philosophy? (13:29) - Activist Investing (15:02) - Alta Fox (16:13) - What does a typical day look like for you? (17:57) - How do you know what to focus on? (22:39) - How quickly do you get to a “no”? (24:40) - Are you contacting a management team before buying their stock? (25:51) - Do public companies have to take a meeting with you? (27:47) - How do you rank your priorities for investments? (29:53) - How many ideas are you usually working on at a given time? (31:25) - Do you have Billions-style idea meetings? (32:18) - What categories are you weighing your decisions on? (34:17) - What are some common characteristics of great CEO’s? (37:59) - What is Capital Allocation and what makes someone good at it? (41:30) - What’s your goal once you’ve decided to buy stock in a company? (44:18) - How long do management calls usually last and do you have a favorite thing to ask them? (47:14) - How has the size of your business and focus changed over the years? (50:37) - How do you decide to sell stocks in your portfolio? (54:09) - What was going through your mind during the first 30 days of Covid? (58:07) - Deep Dive on Activism (1:06:23) - Thoughts on ESG (1:08:45) - How are you thinking about the market right now? (1:11:30) - How do you think we can curb inflation? (1:12:55) - What do you think Warren is thinking right now? (1:14:06) - Do you have an investing idol? Joel Greenblatt's Columbia Business School Notes on Investing (1:16:54) - Why did you choose Fort Worth to run your Hedge Fund? (1:19:29) - Connor’s Case Studies The Makings of a Multibagger (1:21:47) - Thoughts on Trading Options (1:23:20) - What is cheap vs. expensive volatility? (1:24:26) - Betting Against Warren Buffet on Hedge Fund Performances (1:26:33) - Thoughts on the Meme Stock Revolution (1:31:55) - Connor’s Distaste for sushi (1:32:39) - How can people find you? The Fort is produced by Johnny Podcasts

Stephen Bailey, Senior Managing Director at JLL, joins Chris again to discuss the current state of capital markets and the ideal situation for sellers going to market - hint: Low WALT. They also dive into land prices, forwards, and cost to construct and how the demand continues to rise, despite the volatile market. Enjoy! Learn more about Chris Powers and 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/  Subscribe to The Fort on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ32shRt8Od3MxMY-keTSQ Follow The Fort on Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheFortPodcast (03:15) - The State of the Market Post-2022 and Where Stephen Sees the Opportunity (07:15) - When did you start noticing volatility in the market? (08:59) - How are capital flows reacting to this? (12:03) - Are Lenders getting hesitant? (14:40) - The State of the Capital Markets (15:50) - How many buyers are shifting their focus to industrial from other assets? (18:45) - What due diligence do you conduct on a buyer? (20:23) - What Are Some Interesting Terms You’re Seeing in Leases (23:17) - How is Texas performing compared to other hot markets? (24:32) - Thoughts on Amazon (27:17) - Thoughts on Large Industrial Tenants & Development (33:09) - Land Prices (34:49) - Construction & loan rates (35:44) - Class B Industrial (37:06) - Forwards (38:04) - Thoughts on Industrial Outdoor Storage (41:11) - What happens to debt when you get above a certain purchase price? (42:39) - How Fort Capital is Applying What Stephen is Seeing (54:29) - Final Thoughts The Fort is produced by Johnny Podcasts

Aaron Graft, CEO of Triumph Bancorp, shares the story of buying a bank during the GFC. They discuss the trucking industry, factoring technology, and the future of trucker payments. They also explore the challenges of acquiring a bank, removing bad loans, revolutionizing trucking payments, and going public.

Drew Pearson, Managing Partner at Pearson Partners, began his commercial real estate career at Latter & Blum in Baton Rouge in 2008. He moved to a boutique firm named Waters & Pettit in 2011 and within a few years became a top-selling agent there. To date he has sold over $100MM dollars of investment property in more than 15 states. In 2015, he began to work at the real estate private equity firm Promanas in Ann Arbor, MI. There he served as head of acquisitions helping the firm to grow to over $250MM of real estate asset value. He considers his time at Promanas instrumental in his growth and development process. On this episode, Drew and Chris sit down for a live mentoring session on how to build a REPE operating company. They discuss how to go from 4-5 people to 20, the benefits of bigger deals over smaller deals, and how to create leverage in your business. Drew ends this session by asking Chris the things he would teach himself 5 years ago. Enjoy!  Learn more about Chris Powers and 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/  Subscribe to The Fort on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ32shRt8Od3MxMY-keTSQ Follow The Fort on Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheFortPodcast Support our sponsors: CRE Models (03:36) - Honoring Friendships (05:28) - Drew’s Evolution Since Meeting Chris (06:29) - What are some major hurdles people have when going from 4-5 employees to 15-20?  (11:47) - Setting Goals & Always Refining Your Process (19:22) - The Dark Side of Pursuing Greatness Relentless by Tim Grover (24:05) - Drew’s Background in Real Estate (27:29) - The New Language of the Next RE Cycle (41:03) - What are some roadblocks you see young GPs make as they advance in their careers? (49:58) - What were some big leverage points in your career? (55:37) - How do you cultivate your relationships? (1:00:15) - Thinking and Reflecting vs. Consuming Information (1:06:10) - What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing right now? (1:11:44) - What advice would you give yourself 5 years ago? The Fort is produced by Johnny Podcasts

Alex Epstein is a philosopher and energy expert who argues that “human flourishing” should be the guiding principle of energy and environmental progress. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels and the forthcoming Fossil Future.  On this episode, Alex and Chris discuss why being against fossil fuels is being against humanity, what happens in a world with fewer fossil fuels, and the impact of alternative energy sources on the world. Alex explains why "Human flourishing" should be the guiding principle of energy and environmental progress and why driving a Tesla isn't changing the environment. Enjoy!   Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris  Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/  Subscribe to The Fort on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ32shRt8Od3MxMY-keTSQ Follow The Fort on Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheFortPodcast Alex's New Book: Fossil Future (02:07) - Why did you get into writing about fossil fuels? (05:08) - How long were fossil fuels viewed positively and when did that change? (13:11) - The Chaos That Ensues When We Don’t Have Machines That Work (19:39) - Russia’s Role in the Current Fossil Fuel Debate (23:33) - Why does the USA think it’s better to outsource oil production rather than produce it at home? (26:30) - Why is the cost of fertilizer and agriculture going up in relation to fossil fuels? (31:32) - The Benefits vs. Risks of Oil and Fossil Fuels (35:25) - What is the opposition’s biggest reasoning for hating fossil fuels? The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich (40:08) - The Hypocrisy of the Biggest Climate Advocates Apocalypse Never by Michael Shellenberger San Fransicko  by Michael Shellenberger (51:33) - Is there anyone on the left changing their tune on fossil fuels? EnergyTalkingPoints.com Alex@AlexEpstein.com (55:08) - Thoughts on Elon Musk and Electric Vehicles (1:00:06) - Who benefits from the green movement being implemented? People’s Climate March on YouTube The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels by Alex Epstein

On this episode, Chris discusses incentives that drive companies and people, COR - how to incentive your people to make money and watch expenses, and why it all starts with the culture of your company.  Learn more about Chris Powers and 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/  Subscribe to The Fort on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ32shRt8Od3MxMY-keTSQ Follow The Fort on Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheFortPodcast Support our Sponsors: www.FortCapitalLp.com/connect www.JuniperSquare.com www.Lex-markets.com/fort www.CREmodels.com (03:22) - You Should Strive to be Profitable  (04:32)  - Culture vs. Incentives  Super Chickens w/ Margaret Heffernan (08:20) - Social Capital (09:20) - Incentivizing a Team Environment The Fort Podcast Episode #65 on COR (10:45) - Using COR as an Incentive (20:10)  - There is No Perfect Incentive The Fort Podcast episode #47 w/ Andrew Segal The Fort Podcast Episode #64 w/ Andrew Segal Twitter Questions: (27:20) -  How do you incentivize at FC based on Promote?  (30:34) - Rolling Bonuses (34:20) - How do you incentivize brokers? (35:50) - How do you incentivize the back office? (38:08) - Incentives are not only about making money The Fort is produced by Johnny Podcasts

On this episode, Chris talks with the anonymous @CarDealershipGuy (https://twitter.com/GuyDealership) about the used car business – how it works and how money is made. They also cover how to negotiate the best deal possible when buying a used car and the current state of the used car market and where we go from here. Follow Chris on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FortWorthChris  Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/  Subscribe to The Fort on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ32shRt8Od3MxMY-keTSQ Follow The Fort on Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheFortPodcast Follow CarDealershipGuy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GuyDealership (1:35) - Why did you create this twitter account and what’s your angle? (6:06) - All the tips and tricks to know when buying a used car cardealershipguy.org (9:30) - Is there a way to know if your dealership is reputable? YAA SureSale (11:53) - Buying vs. Leasing (14:03) - Why did we see a 40% spike in prices? (16:14) - What’s a depreciation cycle? (18:59) - How do you determine whether a purchase is for lifestyle vs. value? (19:54) - What are folks going to do if they bought at the peak of the market and now depreciation is kicking in? GAP insurance (23:32) - What’s the process of best financing a used car? (25:26) - How do you think about warranties? (33:19) - What are some red flags you might see in the buyer’s journey? CDG’s Negotiation playbook (36:30) - How to Negotiate a Car in Normal Times and How Car Salesmen Are Actually Paid (48:00) - Where do most dealerships get their inventory? (51:03) - How do auctions work? (54:25) - Buying inventory online (55:38) - Can anyone become a used car dealer? (58:42) - What separates the great used car dealers? (1:02:11) - How do car dealers make money? (1:10:39) - How do you define added products? (1:13:10) - How do inventory supply negotiations work? (1:14:13) - Buying Out Your Lease and Then Selling vs. Selling While Under Lease (1:15:07) - Is there a growing demand for electric vehicles? (1:21:28) - Is there anything in the innovation space that will appeal to the average consumer?