We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/surveyMatt began as a top consultant at McKinsey, where he witnessed the power of customer loyalty programs and immediately understood why large companies pay millions of dollars to create them. His vision for Fivestars was to make the power of a Fortune 500 customer loyalty program accessible to local businesses. Fivestars has gone from two guys in a garage to serving thousands of businesses across the country. In October 2021, Fivestars was acquired by global payments leader, SumUp.Matt has led technology at FiveStars since its founding, spearheaded their transformation into a payments company, and drives ongoing business development and payments strategy. Before Fivestars, he volunteered with TechnoServe in Uganda, was a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company, and an analyst at AVM, a 32-year-old global macro hedge fund.On this episode, Chris & Matt discuss:➡️ Their process for deciding what startup idea to pursue & why they chose a loyalty program for small businesses➡️ Lessons learned while building a startup➡️ The challenge of finding product market fit, even if the business is growing like a rocket ship➡️ How AI will impact businesses and consumersTimestamps(00:03:00) From El Paso to the Tech world(00:09:26) What does an entry-level person at McKinsey even do?(00:11:17) Did you have a filter for easy no’s while in consulting?(00:12:48) What’s an example prototype you were working on in Technology?(00:15:07) How did you transform your skillsets to become a CTO?(00:17:10) What did you get from Y Combinator and learn from Paul Graham?(00:19:46) What was the origin of Fivetars?(00:24:42) If you were building another company now is there a way to avoid the mistakes you made the first time?(00:26:09) Finding Product Market Fit(00:30:06) How do you avoid the trap of taking on too much overhead?(00:36:13) How were you able to take the credit card fee and turn it into more CRM users?(00:38:56) When did you begin to decide it was time to sell?(00:43:10) What was the transition like going from start-up culture to integrating into a larger organization?(00:47:32) How are you receiving the entrance of AI?(00:50:29) Will the job of the VC change with AI?(00:52:48) How Chris thinks AI will affect RE(00:58:49) How should we simplify all of these different AI languages available?(01:01:44) How is the American Customer right now?(01:05:18) What are you predicting for the Startup scene over the next five years?Additional Resources👉 Fivestars👉 Matt on LinkedIn👉 Matt.Doka@Gmail.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 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!The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/surveyKyle Matthews is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Matthews Real Estate Investment Services™ and has served in this role since the company’s founding in 2015. Matthews™ is the parent company of a diversified group of real estate service, investment, debt, leasing, and asset management firms. Through Kyle’s leadership, Matthews™ has become one of the country's largest commercial brokerage firms in both transaction volume and by a number of agents and employees. Prior to founding Matthews™, he led Matthews Retail Group, Inc. to become the number one real estate investment sales group at a publicly-traded, global real estate investment service company. Under his guidance, Matthews™ has experienced total revenue growth of 1,225% in the company’s first five years since its founding and has grown from 18 agents and employees to presently over 400. Furthermore, Kyle oversees the expansion of Matthews™ with the footprint having expanded from one office in El Segundo, CA, to over 14 offices nationwide.On this episode Chris & Kyle talk about:➡️ His story of becoming a broker and eventually starting Matthews➡️ The characteristics and work ethic of the best brokers➡️ Why having fun is important in business➡️ What's going on in the current real estate marketChapters:(00:00:00) Intro(00:04:28) Kyle’s upbringing in an NFL family, playing football at USC, winning a national title(00:15:33) Lessons learned from playing for Pete Carroll(00:29:27) Kyle’s career in brokerage(00:38:40) Working through the GFC(00:55:24) Starting Matthews REIS(01:14:20) The Matthews Culture(01:29:09) How Matthews is scaling and implementing technology(01:45:25) Work-Life Balance(01:55:37) A Discussion on the RE MarketAdditional Resources👉 Follow Kyle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KyleMatthewsCRE👉 Matthews REIS: https://www.matthews.com/➡️ Learn more about Better Pitch: https://www.betterpitch.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 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!The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

 We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/surveyRobert Bryce is an author, podcaster, and film producer. He is the acclaimed author of six books on energy and innovation, including most recently, A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations. Bryce has given more than 400 invited or keynote lectures to groups ranging from the Marines Corps War College to the Sydney Institute as well as to a wide variety of associations, universities, and corporations. He is the host of the Power Hungry Podcast and the co-producer of the feature-length documentary: Juice: How Electricity Explains the World, which is available on iTunes, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services.On this episode Chris & Robert discuss:➡️ Russia and China's influence on global energy➡️ Europe headed toward de-industrialization?➡️ Climate becoming a religion based on hopes rather than facts➡️ Nuclear is on the rise➡️ Climate NGOs - do as I say, not as I do.Topics:(00:00:00) Intro(00:02:54:) We need Energy to live(00:04:00) What’s driving the chaos and uncertainty in the world?(00:06:35) How would we compare Japan to America in regard to energy policy?(00:09:55) Are we going to see more global coal plants being built in the near term?(00:14:50) What is Russia’s role in global energy?(00:19:15) Does America buy natural resources from Russia?(00:20:09) How dependent is Europe on Russia’s resources?(00:21:33) What is the relationship between Russia and China?(00:22:19) Does the Russia/Ukraine conflict end anytime soon?(00:26:25) Is Nuclear gaining popularity?(00:31:36) Why wouldn’t the US subsidize Nuclear energy?(00:33:37) What is a Climate NGO?(00:34:43) Why would billionaires be anti-energy?(00:36:45) Are Carbon Credits a sham?(00:39:10) How is China emerging as a global energy leader?(00:42:02) The USA’s affect on Climate(00:47:18) Control over energy & population(00:50:25) How hydrocarbon cuts cause starvation(00:54:45) Politics: The Disgusted Party(00:58:48) Is there any indication the pendulum is swinging toward pro-energy?(01:01:38) What can America do better?Additional Resources👉 Robert's Substack👉 Robert's Podcast: Power Hungry👉 Robert's Books on Amazon👉 Robert's website➡️ 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!The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

 We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/surveyJohn 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 yearsChapters(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--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!The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

 We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/surveyMoses Kagan is co-founder and partner at Adaptive Realty, a Los Angeles-based real estate development and property management company with $200MM in AUM and more than 1,000 apartments under management. He is also a co-founder of Re-convene, a real estate private equity un-conference, and ReSeed, which provides mentorship and capital to early-career operators.Rhett leads ReSeed's strategic direction and daily operations. He most recently served as Co-Managing Partner at Minot Capital, LP, where he led real estate investing. Previously, Rhett was President and Director of Research at Stillwater, a long-short hedge fund, and Chief Investment Officer at Arlington Family Offices. Rhett received a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University with a double major in Business Economics and History.On this episode, Chris, Moses and Rhett discuss:➡️ How ReSeed works➡️ What ReSeed is looking for in Partners➡️ How ReSeed empowers Operators to build their own companies➡️ What success looks like for Operators working with ReSeed➡️ Thoughts on the state of the Real Estate MarketChapters(00:03:31) - Rhett’s career(00:04:26) - Moses’ evolution in thinking over the past 5 year(00:06:40) - Launching ReSeed Partners(00:19:05) - Defining Subinstitutional(00:20:58) - Cohort #1(00:34:18) - The ReSeed Partner Track(00:39:35) - Is this a renovation strategy or is there any ground-up involved?(00:40:22) - What does a partnership with y’all look like in the first year?(00:43:58) - What markets are you open to?(0048:28) - How would you determine a successful year for an operator?(00:53:44) - How does the partnership work? What does someone get from y’all and what do they give up?(01:00:20) - Do partners have the opportunity to exit?(01:01:45) - Holding assets for the long term(01:04:40) - Autonomy for the operator(01:07:18) - Is there anything that is off-limits?(01:08:41) - Moses’ playbook(01:11:16) - How are you capitalizing this?(01:17:15) - How many people can be in one market before it's saturated?(01:17:57) - Other members of ReSeed(01:19:04) - Guaranteeing loans(01:22:11) - What are the couple of things people spend the majority of their time on?(01:25:39) - Is there a minimum size deal?(01:27:06) - What can this business look like 10 years from now?(01:29:06) - Thoughts on the current marketAdditional Resources👉 ReSeed Partners👉 Moses on Twitter👉 Rhett on LinkedIn➡️ Learn more about BetterPitch➡️ 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!The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

 We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/surveyLiberty writes about business & investing, science & technology, and the arts. He allows others to leverage his curiosity by sharing the most interesting things that he finds and thinks about in his newsletter and podcast, Liberty’s Highlights. It’s a Serendipity Engine to add some exploration in your life.On this episode, Chris & Liberty discuss: ➡️ His process for discovering the best things on the internet and writing about the to 16,000+ readers➡️ Why he'd put 100% of his net worth into Constellation Software➡️ The impacts of ChatGPT & AI➡️ The value of being a creator and a discussion about Founders PodcastChapters:(00:03:48) - Coming up with the Liberty RPF name(00:05:07) - How would you describe ‘Exploration as a Service’?(00:07:46) - What have you learned from writing 400+ Newsletters?(00:10:40) - How do you know if you’ve done your best work?(00:11:53) - If you had to invest 100% of your net worth in one company, which would it be?(00:22:44) - How would you value Founders Podcast?(00:27:57) - Is there any pattern you’ve seen that makes a company explode in growth?(00:30:21) - The changing business model of spokespeople having equity or owning the brands they promote(00:36:23) - Is legacy media dead?(00:45:03 - ChatGPT vs. Authenticity(00:50:19) - The hyper growth of AI companies(00:56:38) - The power of the Sauna (01:02:08) - How can people find you online?Additional Resources👉 Subscribe to Liberty RPF: https://twitter.com/LibertyRPF👉 Follow Liberty RPF on Twitter: https://www.libertyrpf.com/➡️ Learn more about Xeal: https://bit.ly/XealEnergy➡️ Fort Capital: https://bit.ly/FortCapital➡️ 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!The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

 We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/surveyJake Wurzak is the Founder and CEO of DoveHill Capital Management, LLC. Jake also serves as the President of Wurzak Hotel Group. Since founding DoveHill in 2011, he has led the investment in over $1.5B of hospitality projects across the United States. Jake aims to differentiate DoveHill by focusing on distinct hospitality assets that create a sense of place and impactful experiences.Jake holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Nova Southeastern University and earned a BBA with a concentration in finance from the University of Miami. Jake sits on the board of the Broward Center for Performing Arts and the Fort Lauderdale Art Museum. In addition, Jake is a member of the Young Presidents Organization Gateway chapter.Jake is passionate about traveling with his family and one of his favorite destinations is Brush Creek Ranch in Wyoming. He is an avid skier and once hiked up the Highlands Bowl four times in one day!On this episode, Chris & Jake discuss:➡️ How he creates an exceptional hospitality experience➡️ How they underwrite hotel investment opportunities➡️ Partnering and learning from Barry Sternlicht➡️ How they add value to different types of hotelsChapters:(00:03:47) - How do you experience hotels?(00:06:00) - What is hospitality?(00:09:03) - Why and how did you get into this business?(00:10:31) - Jake’s companies(00:12:22) - How did Covid affect Hospitality?(00:18:48) - How has the industry changed post-pandemic?(00:20:54) - How did you approach hotel conversions?(00:22:28) - How do branded hotels differentiate from each other?(00:23:58) - What does good operating look like in a branded hotel?(00:25:50) - How are daily rates set & What are the major KPIs?(00:33:25) - AirBnb vs. Hotels(00:36:01) - How do you define Lifestyle?(00:37:07) - Who are great people or companies that are creating amazing lifestyle experiences?(00:39:48) - Are there any emerging brands that will overtake the top luxury hotels like 4 Seasons and St. Regis?(00:41:38) - How would a hotel development come together?(00:45:04) -What are you looking for in a hotel when you want to buy?(00:48:07) - What’s a soft brand?(00:49:05) - Do you need to have experience to partner with a Hilton or Marriott?(00:50:00) - What does upgrading management look like?(00:55:20) - What feedback do you see most often from guests?(00:58:33) - Partnering with Barry Sternlicht(01:04:36) - Experiences at the One in Miami(01:08:42) - How do you approach the Food & Beverage side of your properties?(01:10:16) - What’s the greatest hotel in the world?(01:14:02) - How do you view hotels as an investable asset over the next 5 years?(01:17:05) - Is there anything on the horizon that will make hotels more profitable?Additional Resources:👉 Follow Jake on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JWurzak👉 Jake's Podcast - Masters of Moments: https://mastersofmoments.com/👉 Dovehill Capital Management: https://www.dovehillcos.com/➡️ Learn more about Xeal: https://bit.ly/XealEnergy➡️ Fort Capital: https://bit.ly/FortCapital➡️ 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!The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

 We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. http://www.thefortpod.com/surveyAndy Dunn co-founded the menswear brand Bonobos and served as CEO until its 2017 acquisition by Walmart. As an investor, he has backed more than eighty startups, including Warby Parker, Coinbase, Away, Glossier, Real, Parade, SeatGeek, and Alula. In May, Dunn will release a memoir, titled Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind, which explores the intersection of entrepreneurship and mental illness. Dunn’s next business venture, called Pumpkin Pie, is a social media app currently in beta that aims to detoxify digital culture. Dunn, a graduate of Northwestern and Stanford's MBA program, also serves on the boards of Monica + Andy, an organic baby apparel company founded by his sister Monica Royer, tech social good nonprofit Raised By Us, and the Network for Executive Women.On this episode Chris & Andy discuss:➡️ How he's dealt with bipolar disorder and why its something common in entrepreneurs➡️ Why apparel companies succeed and why they fail➡️ Selling to Walmart➡️ The future of e-commerce and brick & mortarKey Takeaways(00:00:00) - Intro(00:03:03) - Andy’s experience dealing with mental illness and depression(00:12:18) - What is it about someone with mental illness that would make them a great entrepreneur?(00:19:19) - Elon, autism, and narcissism(00:21:42) - Are these illnesses genetic or nurtured?(00:24:04) - How is mental illness looked upon now vs. when you were diagnosed?(00:28:44) - Andy’s experience working for Mark Lore (Of Walmart??)(00:37:53) - Why did your apparel company succeed and why do so many fail?(00:44:25) - Were people buying the Bonobos brand or a high-quality garment?(00:49:33) - What is the world of e-commerce like in 2023 vs. when you started in ’07?(00:56:07) - Selling Bonobos(01:02:51) - Walmart vs. AmazonAdditional Resources👉 Andy on Twitter👉 Bonobos👉 Pumpkin Pie👉 How I Built This - Bonobos: Andy Dunn👉 Burn Rate by Andy Dunn (Releases on May 9th)👉 Monica + Andy➡️ Learn more about Xeal➡️ 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!The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. http://www.thefortpod.com/surveyPaul oversees the strategic direction and development of Arcadea across all areas of the firm alongside his partner, Daniel. Paul began his career as a member of the Citigroup Global Analyst program, where he gained exposure to a number of divisions before landing on the high yield and investment grade credit research desk. After Citi, Paul joined Arsenal Growth, a VC & Growth Equity firm in the US with offices in Palo Alto and Orlando. Starting as an Associate and leaving as a Principal, Paul focused on high-growth b2b enterprise software and eCommerce businesses.Paul then joined Constellation Software (“CSI”), where he had a number of executive roles including leading the global investment team of one of CSI’s six operating groups, acting as CEO of a public sector business, and leading a group of businesses in various verticals.On this episode, Chris and Paul discuss:➡️ Lessons learned from working at Constellation Software➡️ How they underwrite investment opportunities➡️ Investing with permanent capital and a long-term horizon➡️ How Arcadea creates value for their portfolio companiesKey Takeaways:(2:55) - Paul’s career and background(6:28) - How was Constellation structured? Why was it 6 operating groups?(8:14) - What’s the benefit of carrying a light corporate office?(10:37) - Thinking in a high-clarity manner(13:19) - Is there anything about your family’s history or your love of classical music that played into your ultimate career in acquiring SAAS companies?(15:15) - How did you end up building Arcadea Group?(17:58) - Does high growth always mean early stage?(19:53) - Have most of these businesses you acquire taken on VC?(24:15) - What is a Vertical SaaS?(26:35) - What can you do differently operationally in VSaas versus other Software services?(27:56) - What is Long-termism and why are you pursuing that route?(32:55) - Do you only offer one injection of cash or do you inject as needed?(36:38) - Who’s making the decision of whether the business needs more capital?(40:16) - Do companies mature to a point where they no longer fit the Arcadea model?(42:11) - What is a quick ‘no’ for you when looking at a company?(44:54) - What happens in the first year of an acquisition?(50:03) - What makes an exceptional operator?(52:32) - How do you make your CEOs think like investors?(54:51) - What are your investors expecting from you as permanent capital?(56:27) - What does it do for your business to have such an accomplished advisor on your board?(59:07) - What happens when a founder or CEO abruptly exits?(1:01:30) - Are you successful because you’ve been in the seat of the CEO and operator?(1:03:22) - What are Kanban and Scrum?Additional Resources👉 Arcadea Group: https://www.arcadeagroup.com/👉 Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pyancich/➡️ Learn more about Xeal: https://xealenergy.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 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!The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

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/surveyBill D’Alessandro is the Founder and CEO of Elements Brands, one of the original holding companies for direct-to-consumer brands. He has acquired or founded more than a dozen businesses with over $100M of revenue and has realized seven exits in both DTC and SaaS. Bill is also the co-host of the Acquisitions Anonymous podcast.On this episode Chris & Bill discuss:➡️ Lessons learned from Element Brands and owning 6 businesses➡️ His pivot to owning Natural Dog Company and why focus is powerful➡️ How to decide between marketing & product innovation➡️ Insights on the pet industry and why it's hugeKey Takeaways:(3:13) - What was your strategy in 2016 and why have you totally flipped on it in 2023?(4:57) - DTC is not a business model(6:14) - Prioritizing marketing over product innovation(10:36) - Was there ever a time when you thought this massive ad spend was unsustainable?(12:23) - What’s happened in the past 18 months since Apple changed its advertising privacy model?(14:33) - Putting brands on autopilot(16:22) - When did you start to realize only one of your eight brands was worth working on?(19:53) - How has your life changed after consolidating your focus?(22:14) - Is there a way to make the Aggregator model work?(25:46) - How big is the pet industry and where is its potential?(26:59) - What are you going to do with this business now that you’re solely focused on the one instead of 8?(30:14) - Why have you chosen to go into retail?(33:18) - How do you get your product into 4-5k stores?(35:55) - Is there any brand with leverage over Walmart?(36:54) - What could make this move into retail go wrong?(39:35) - What’s your approach to product packaging and design?(42:45) - How did you arrive at the decision to launch 12-16 new products this year and how do you decide what they’ll be?(46:32) - What needs to happen in order to get into Walmart and Target?(48:59) - Would you get a higher valuation on your company if you’re in Walmart/Target and successful there?(49:46) - What has podcasting done for you?Additional Resources👉 Bill on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillDA👉 Natural Dog Company: https://naturaldog.com/👉 Acquisitions Anonymous Podcast: https://www.acquanon.com/👉 BillDA.com: https://billda.com/👉 PickFU.com: https://www.pickfu.com/➡️ Learn more about Xeal: https://xealenergy.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 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!The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts