POWERS

Kari Crowe is the Co-Founder and CEO of Melt Ice Cream. She and Chris discuss Kari's journey across the country meeting with Ice Cream makers, her early days of the company, handling criticism as well as her experiences running a 100-mile race. Enjoy! Connect with The FORT by emailing us at thefortpodcast@gmail.com  For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com Follow Chris on twitter! @fortworthchris 2:30 - How the idea of Melt came to be 4:24 - Were you looking to start a business or looking to solve a problem? 5: 22 - Did someone give you a playbook for researching Ice Cream/Melt? 6:20 - was there ever any moments of doubt on this trip? 7:35 - How long was the journey from the research trip to signing the lease? 10:23- How did you decide on flavors? 11:05- How did you know where to spend your money 13:35 - how did customers shape Melt in the early days? 15:20 - When did you hire your first employee?  16:28 - What did a day for you look like when it was only you running things? 18:20 - did someone teach you about customer service value or was it self-learned? 20:40 - Whats something that comes to mind thats important when starting a customer service business 21:50 - How do you train employees? 25:08 - Do you have a favorite interview question? 26:06 - How many locations are open? 30:19 - was there ever a time you thought about outsourcing ice cream making rather than making it in-house? 33:00 - #1 sellers at Melt 33:20 - What was the process of bringing your husband into the business? 35:46 - How valuable has EOS been?  38:30 - 5 year growth plan for Melt 39:40 - How impactful has social media been for Melt? 40:55 - handling negative criticism 44:07 - Mentorship 44:45 - Kari’s journey running a 100- mile race 51:40- What does Fort Worth mean to you? "The FORT" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

Chris talks with Natalie and Caleb Ebel, Co-founders of BackDrop, a paint company looking to change the way we paint our homes, backdrops and offices. They chat about the struggles of launching a company, working with your spouse, raising capital and how their previous employment prepared them for starting a company. You can visit their website at https://www.backdrophome.com Connect with The FORT by emailing us at thefortpodcast@gmail.com  For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com Follow Chris on twitter! @fortworthchris 1:57 - How did you decide to start BackDrop? 6:30 - How did your previous jobs prepare you for starting BackDrop? 8:35 - Not needing a huge budget to build an amazing brand 9:31 What is different about BackDrop and how are they changing the industry? 17;38 - WHat are some o the biggest things you’ve learned sinced launching BackDrop? 20:51 - Has your supply chain changed as the business changed? 22;30 - Manufacturing Processes 26:09 - whats it like to work day in and day out with your spouse? (27:34 potential Intro)  30:20- Was there a “we are going to do this” moment for starting a company?  33:17 - What was the process of raising capital like?  37:27 - What was launch day like? 39:40 - what channels are available to you for growth? 41:48 - What does the customer experience look like? 43:50 - How did you determine the process finding best practices? 48:30 - Mentorship 56:00 What are the biggest challenges you face today  58:07 - Framework for setting goals? 1;00;12 - what do you look for in adding people to the company 1;01;50 - How do you learn? 1:05:05 - What's the best advice you have ever received?   "The FORT" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

Chris sits down with Brandom Gengelbach, Executive Vice President of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. They discuss what chambers do, how they help businesses, what he sees for the city of Fort Worth as well as cities around the country. Enjoy! Connect with The FORT by emailing us at thefortpodcast@gmail.com For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com  Follow Chris on twitter! @fortworthchris 2:06 - What do you do at the Chamber? 2:35 - what are businesses asking for today thats changed? 5:35 - how do cities differentiate in terms of what they can offer? 7:55 - What do people love about Fort Worth when visitng for the first time? 10:15 - whats the process of a company making a deal with the city 13:27 - What did the Amazon HQ 2 deal teach chambers around the country?  16:11- Did Amazon help you learn more about the city and did Amazon bring more attention to these cities? 21:51 - Why do suburban cities have the ability to make these “better” offers than larger cities 29:03 - Is city growth dependent on bringing in large established businesses or growing internally existing businesses in the city?  32:15- for small businesses, when is it the right time to go to the city chamber for the next move? 34:28 - What is Fort worth doing to be progressive in furthering economic development?

Chris chats with Keith Wasserman, Founder and CEO of Gelt Inc, one of the fastest growing real estate companies in the country. Gelt focuses on purchasing multi family communities, storage facilities and RV parks. You can connect with Keith by email at Keith@geltinc.com or @keith_wasserman on Twitter. Connect with The FORT by emailing us at thefortpodcast@gmail.com  For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com Follow Chris on twitter! @fortworthchris 1:15 - How was Gelt started? 9:50 - Investing in the person vs. the project 11:23 - Why multi family and mobile home parks as a business model? 15:23 - How do you think about the future of renting and ownership? 17:20 - The biggest changes in tech and living we see for the future 23:20 - other asset classes Gelt focuses on 31:15 - How do you go about entering new markets? 34:00 - building relationships  36:54- YPO global real estate fair 38:00 - the process of finding investors/securing deals 45:50 - how has your job changes as the company grows? 50:38 - Where will the company be at the “end”? 53:05 - Keith’s thoughts on growth 54:14 - What does Gelt stand for, charity, Chris and Keith’s thoughts on the future of eduction 1:02:25 - advice for success

Chris sits down with Joe Du Bey, Founder and CEO of Eden, a management solutions company based in San Francisco. They discuss the process of raising capital, finding investors, the life of a start-up CEO and more. They also discuss mentorship, learning, their favorite podcasts and social media. You can see more about Joe and Eden at www.eden.io Follow Chris on Twitter: @Fortworthchris    For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com Make contact with The FORT: thefortpodcast@gmail.com 7:02 - How did you meet your co-founder 9:24- How does someone without a tech background find a great engineer 11:00-  What did YC do for you 18:14 - what did you decide to do with your first round of investment 19:18- smart marketing with a start up 21:30- How much has OKR helped you 22:57- How do Vc encourage growth 25:11- Whats the best advice you’ve received from one of your investors 26:28- Being the CEO of a startup 31:46- Determining the best metrics 32:33- The notion that you don’t need to be in SF to start a tech company 35:06- The perfect customer for Eden 37:27- Biggest problems people face in their office 40:53- The future of Eden 44:27- Joe’s experience raising capital 46:45- What does a good VC do for a startup 50:23- Pressures in the start up world 52:00 Mentorship, learning, podcasting, social media and life balance

Chris sits down with Alex Snodgrass, Health& Wellness Blogger/Influencer with over 225k followers and founder of The Defined Dish. You can check out her content at http://www.thedefineddish.com and @thedefineddish on Instagram.  Follow Chris on Twitter: @Fortworthchris    For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com Make contact with The FORT: thefortpodcast@gmail.com 3:00 - The start of Alex's journey as an influencer 7:12 -  The process of becoming an influencer 10:20 - Having a family as an influencer 12:00 - Planning out content  14:45 - The importance of being yourself 17:20 - Alex's relationship with her followers 19:04 - The Whole 30 Diet 21:45 - Things to avoid in food 22:53 - The future of food 24:52 - Partnering with brands 31:18 - How metrics matter in being an influencer 33:44 - Influencer agencies 37:02 - Monetizing the influencer business  38:05 - Alex meeting with her community 40:22 - How food affects the mind 42:38 - Fad diets and consistency 43:58 - Apps for influencers to use 46:20 - Setting Goals 48:22 - Mentorship 51:47 - How technology allows influencers to control their content

Chris and Jason sit down for a 2018 in review. They discuss how their business relationship has developed, the growth of Fort Capital and how their lives changed over the past year. Enjoy! Follow Chris on Twitter: @Fortworthchris   Make contact with The FORT: thefortpodcast@gmail.com For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com 02:13 — The Fort Operating System 07:09 — What do you think is the biggest thing as an individual that you learned in 2018? 15:03 — Expansion into The River District 24:39 — How do you think about the price that can be paid for land? What are things that can add value to land? 31:15 — Why did you decide to go to Harvard? 31:57 — What has been the most beneficial part of deciding to go back and get that education? 32:43 — What We Don’t Think About 39:24 — Trends in Retail 45:00 — The Upside of Industrial 45:37 — What is the biggest change you have recognized in yourself since becoming a dad? 48:46 — If you could have a billboard for a month in Times Square that the whole world would see, what would it say? 54:25 — The Power of Decision Making 56:05 — Biggest Reflection of 2018 — Importance of a Good Business Partner

Chris sits down with Rhett Carter, Founder and CEO of Heights Investment Partners. They discuss the market, generating ideas, entrepreneurship, as well as how the world of investing and stocks work. Enjoy! Follow Chris on Twitter: @Fortworthchris   Make contact with The FORT: thefortpodcast@gmail.com For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com 02:29 — Rhett’s Background 05:26 — How has having a mentor in your life changed you? 08:55 — What was the tipping point to start your own business? 11:03 — What was it that you felt like you could offer that you weren’t seeing in the market? 12:36 — Does getting larger push you farther away from the original thesis? 15:19 — How do you begin to think about an idea? 19:22 — How do you think about valuing tech stocks? 20:48 — Once you figure out a theme that you like, how do you learn? 23:43 — What was the experience getting to meet with Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos? 26:10 — How do you determine when something that was a good idea that is in your portfolio is no longer a good idea? 29:22 — How much time do you spend thinking about new ideas vs. ideas that you already have in your portfolio? 31:00 — How many new companies do you bring in on a given year? 31:57 — How do you think about un-learning? 35:47 — How do you think about a successful year? 38:42 — Do you think the temperament of investing can be learned? 39:44 — Was raising the initial capital difficult for you? 41:51 — Are you always raising capital? 43:05 — What is the most influential book that you have ever read? 44:53 — Do you put more emphasis on the future or the past when investing in companies? 45:40 — What trends are you seeing in the world? 49:53 — Rhett’s Thoughts on the Market 54:33 — How do you not get caught in groupthink?

Chris sits down with Naman Trivedi, CEO and founder of Wattbuy. They discuss renewable energy, the future of electricity, resilience of entrepreneurs and more. Enjoy!  Follow Chris on Twitter: @Fortworthchris  Make contact with The FORT: thefortpodcast@gmail.com For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com 02:11 — Naman’s Background 06:24 — Has renewable energy always been something you were passionate about? 07:17 — Was your first start-up, Grid Potential, the pivot that got you into Wattbuy? 11:06 — How are you thinking about getting your product out to the masses? 14:03 — Are we going to see more de-regulation among previously regulated states? 16:15 — How do you know what the right data is? 18:25 — What constant feedback or data are you getting from your customers? 21:57 — Where are we in the story of solar? What do the next five years look like? it 26:10 — What is something super interesting that you are working on? 28:40 — For the utility companies that sign up with you, is the network effect at play? 30:18 — How does the electric company that is feeding the line into my house know whose electricity it is? 32:30 — Why would one utility provider be able to charge more than the other? 33:52 — What has been your experience in building a start-up? 37:28 — When you are hiring, do the early employees buy into the transparency and vision? 38:28 — What has your experience been raising capital? 40:30 — Would you recommend to anyone starting a start-up to go through an accelerator program? 42:21 — Was there one moment that changed the course of Wattbuy? 44:50 — What is the best book you have ever read and why? 45:27 — What is the best advice you have ever received? 46:12 — When do you take time to think? 48:16 — Is the sprint a short-term goal that needs to get done quickly? 49:18 — When you are building something new for the first time, is it difficult to communicate what you want?

Chris sits down with Bryan Perkins, CEO and President of Novaria Group which is an aerospace manufacturing company. They discuss the aerospace business, buying other businesses, life management and the power of thought. Enjoy! Follow Chris on Twitter: @Fortworthchris  Make contact with The FORT: thefortpodcast@gmail.com For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com 02:43 — Bryan’s Background in Aerospace 05:12 — Why hadn’t the consolidation of the big companies already occurred when you became an entrepreneur? 06:34 — What is aerospace? 07:55 — What is a small business to you? 09:52 — Novaria’s Business Model 11:31 — Do you have the same playbook for every company that you buy? 12:14 — Do you ask businesses to do business with each other? 13:31 — How do you source opportunities? 15:55 — Who contacts you about buying a business? 17:00 — Does the leadership and ownership usually stay on board post-close? 18:35 — What information makes you comfortable to buy? 19:22 — How many businesses do you think you have underwritten? 20:15 — What are the most common challenges across small businesses? 24:06 — Have you asked a majority of the questions before making an agreement to buy? 25:16 — How do you get the previous owners on to the plan? 26:02 — How many businesses have you bought to date? 27:01 — What is the biggest difference between owning 4 businesses vs. 14? 28:18 — What does buying a manufacturing company mean? 30:10 — How many parts do you make across all 14 businesses? 33:45 — Do you think the manufacturing equipment of the future will be more agile? 36:20 — How would you describe what 3-D printing looks like? 37:33 — What will be the biggest surprise in aerospace to the average consumer? 39:45 — Is your business going to go after consumer drones? Is that even considered aerospace? 41:03 — What is the end game for Novaria? 42:40 — How far in advance do you know that aerospace companies are buying your parts? 44:01 — Is it possible today to start a bolt building business from scratch? 45:45 — How has being in Fort Worth played a role in your business? 47:39 — If you had to give your 21-year old advice, what would it be? 57:42 — What’s the biggest difference between 100 and 800 employees? 59:57 — What is your favorite interview question? 1:01:22 — When do you find time to think? 1:13:16 — How has being a Dad changed your view on business and life? 1:15:16 — How has your relationship with your wife affected your business? What is a tip for someone looking to do better in their marriage?