POWERS

Don Tepman runs a real estate fund that focuses on buying neighborhood strip centers throughout the United States and also runs the 'StripMallGuy' account on X and LinkedIn. Mr. Tepman started his career in 2002 and led his first strip center purchase in 2006. He has completed 40 purchases and raised over $150M in LP capital.

We discuss:

We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. 

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Links

StripMallGuy on X

Resquared

Topics

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:04:56) - Don’s upbringing and career background

(00:08:40) - The dynamics of suburban retail

(00:12:42) - Don’s mentor & learnings

(00:21:25) - Restaurants in strip centers

(00:26:35) - Tenant mixes

(00:30:20) - TI

(00:35:41) - Where do folks waste money on exteriors?

(00:37:18) - Drive-thrus

(00:38:36) - Don’s hold period strategy

(00:42:39) - Why do you stick to smaller deals?

(00:45:26) - What is your approach to entering a new market?

(00:53:02) - Why does Price per foot matter so much?

(00:53:44) - Leasing

(00:59:41) - Taxes and insurance

(01:01:19) - StripMallGuy

(01:08:45) - Working a deal through the system

(01:12:44) - Thoughts on the market

(01:18:22) - Luxury retail

(01:19:53) - Meeting Charlie Munger

(01:27:08) - Plans for SMG in the future

Support our Sponsors

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Chris on Social Media:

X: https://bit.ly/3BYIjcH

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd

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Visit our website: https://bit.ly/43SOvys

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The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

I couldn’t be more excited to release today’s episode that shares in great detail how Fort is thinking about and using AI. Jason and I discuss our proprietary operating system, FOS, and how we’re leveraging AI to build Fort's next chapter. We’ve been building this technology for years and now the fun really begins.

Jason Baxter joined Fort in 2015, bringing more than 25 years of real estate industry experience, an acute passion for entrepreneurship, and a vision for transforming big ideas into reality. As Chief Executive Officer/President, Jason oversees Fort’s strategic vision and execution of acquisitions, finances, and annual planning. In addition, Jason oversees the Fort Leadership Team and Investment Committee.

Chris is a serial entrepreneur with 19 years of real estate development and investment experience. He founded Fort and to date, the company has invested over $2.1B in Class B industrial, commercial, multifamily, student housing, and land development projects throughout the state of Texas and the Sunbelt. In 2016, Chris made the decision to focus on Class B Industrial full time and that is where the firm has dedicated the majority of its resources since.

On this episode, Chris and Jason discuss:

Links:

Fort in the WallStreet Journal - Harnessing the Power of Advanced Data

FOS Overview

Foster Overview

Fort: https://bit.ly/FortCompanies

Follow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/

Topics:

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:00:42) - The importance of technology

(00:05:00) - Finding the single source of truth

(00:09:24) - Building Fort’s AI thesis

(00:11:48) - How the world uses AI vs. how Fort uses AI

(00:18:15) - Examples of Foster at work

(00:28:35) - What does Foster think Foster is?

(00:31:46) - Why does all this matter?

Chris on Social Media:

X: https://bit.ly/3BYIjcH

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd

Watch The Fort on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX

Visit our website: https://bit.ly/43SOvys

Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0

Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO 

Ryan Delk is the CEO and Founder of Primer — a platform that helps the top 1% of teachers launch Microschools in their communities. He’s spent the last decade building tech companies (like Square, Gumroad, and Omni) and was homeschooled K - 8th grade, which served as the early inspiration for Primer. 

We discuss:

- The state of education in America

- Building Primer

- Ryan’s mission to save San Francisco

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/survey

Links

Ryan on X

Primer

Topics

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:02:07) - Homeschooling & education in America

00:15:21 - Are we getting smarter in the current way we learn in school 

(00:17:27) - Building Primer

(00:25:19) - The process of starting a Microschool

(00:30;15) - Zoning challenges & changing legislation

(00:37:15) - Raising money from iconic investors

(00:41:54) - Do people actively try to stop Primer from existing?

(00:45:30) - Hiring undiscovered talent

(00:52:17) - Ryan’s mission to save San Francisco

(01:00:10) - Problem paralysis

(01:02:28) - Grow SF

(01:10:19) - The vibe shift

(01:16:29) - Getting the most out of your day

(01:21:35) - It’s all fake

Support our Sponsors

Fort: https://bit.ly/FortCompanies

Follow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/

Chris on Social Media:

X: https://bit.ly/3BYIjcH

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd

Watch The Fort on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX

Visit our website: https://bit.ly/43SOvys

Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0

Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO 

The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

Preston Holland is the Chief Commercial Officer of FLYING Finance, which is an aircraft financing company. Before taking over the finance business, Preston ran FLYING Media Group (now known as Firecrown) as Chief Operating Officer. 

We discuss:

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/survey

Links

Preston on X

Preston's Newsletter

Topics

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:05:33) - Preston’s career

(00:18:44) - When to consider flying private

(00:21:20) - Chartering

(00:36:20) - Costs of plane ownership

(00:48:40) - Dry leases

(00:54:21) - Jet card memberships

(00:59:52) - Fractional ownership

(01:03:45) - Pilots

(01:06:06) - Partnerships

(01:07:50) - The process of buying an aircraft

(01:23:02) - Tax implications

(01:33:58) - How to know ownership is the right path 

Support our Sponsors

Oshman Aviation: https://bit.ly/3Qr9STF

Better Pitch: https://bit.ly/42d9L0I

Fort Capital: https://bit.ly/FortCapital

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

Chris on Social Media:

X: https://bit.ly/3BYIjcH

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd

Watch The Fort on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX

Visit our website: https://bit.ly/43SOvys

Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0

Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO 

The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

Mike Beckham is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Simple Modern, a leading producer of premium drinkware and lifestyle products. Founded in 2015 and based in Oklahoma, SimpleModern currently generates a nine-figure annual revenue and is committed to generosity, donating at least 10% of annual profits to nonprofit organizations. Under Mike’s leadership, the company has grown into a category leader for Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Sam’s Club.

We discuss:

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/survey

Links

Simple Modern

Mike on X

Topics

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:03:48) - Starting Simple Modern

(00:15:46) - How much thought do you need to put into a product as simple as a cup?

(00:17:51) - The Stanley Phenomenon

(00:22:06) - Influencer marketing

(00:24:15) - The pros of hiring your friends

(00:33:21) - Learnings from spending 10 years as a pastor

(00:43:43) - Hypergrowth

(00:48:05) - AI

(00:55:23) - Product Licensing

(01:04:00) - Building moats

(01:09:07) - Does Amazon take more and more margin out of products as you grow?

(01:18:35) - Becoming an ESOP

(01:27:01) - Offshoring and China

(01:34:22) - What are some disadvantages to selling online?

Support our Sponsors

Better Pitch: https://bit.ly/42d9L0I

Fort Capital: https://bit.ly/FortCapital

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

Chris on Social Media:

X: https://bit.ly/3BYIjcH

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd

Watch The Fort on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX

Visit our website: https://bit.ly/43SOvys

Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0

Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO 

The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

Mark Hart is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Corriente Advisors and an active investor in private technology companies.

Throughout his career, Mark has developed a unique process and reputation for identifying potentially powerful macro and investment trends and opportunities ahead of consensus. Mark’s contributions and concepts have been widely showcased across various popular media platforms, earning him invitations to speak at prestigious gatherings of investment professionals in the Western world.

We discuss: 

- Betting against the housing market in 2008

- How Mark developed his macro thesis

- Thoughts on China, inflation, bitcoin and AI

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/survey

Links

Mark on X

Corriente Advisors

Topics

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:03:54) - Mark’s career 

(00:10:49) - How do you think about research?

(00:15:44) - Betting against the housing market in ’08 (X)

(00:23:52) - The China trade

(00:25:19) - The European sovereign debt crisis

(00:29:00) - How do you research a global trade?

(00:31:52) - Mark on rebuilding his approach to life

(00:37:44) - Thoughts on China in 2024

(00:46:55) - Inflation

(00:53:12) - Bitcoin

(01:00:52) - AI

(01:04:56) - Cannabis

Support our Sponsors:

Better Pitch: https://bit.ly/42d9L0I

Relay Human Cloud: https://bit.ly/3sjQcaY

Fort Capital: https://bit.ly/FortCapital

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

Chris on Social Media:

X: https://bit.ly/3BYIjcH

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd

Watch The Fort on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX

Visit our website: https://bit.ly/43SOvys

Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0

Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO 

The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

Omar Morales is an investment sales broker at Berkadia that sells land & multifamily properties across South Florida. He has sold over $3.3 billion worth of real estate ranging from $130M land deals to $355M multifamily properties, even though his average deal size is roughly $50M. 

In this episode, Chris and Omar discuss:

- The state of the Miami RE market

- Building a world-class network

- The importance of building an online brand

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/survey

Topics:

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:03:34) - The Morales family coming to America

(00:10:49) - What’s the state of the Miami RE market?

(00:13:52) - Miami sub-market analysis: Brickell

(00:19:05) - How have you built a world-class network?

(00:28:11) - Blackstone 

(00:30:40) - How hard is it to enter the Miami market?

(00:35:16) - Are there noticeable differences between domestic and foreign buyers?

(00:36:31) - What’s your activity been like this year?

(00:43:31) - How are people dealing with insurance in your market?

(00:46:25) - The Condo crisis

(00:55:59) - What are the things that get you to a quick ‘no’?

(00:59:01) - Where would invest $20m in Miami and where would you invest $200m?

(01:00:52) - Miami sub-market analysis: The Wynwood market & Design District

(01:03:48) - What characteristics do your smartest clients have that separate them from the rest?

(01:06:54) - What has building a brand online done for you?

Omar Morales:

Follow Omar on X

Omar on LinkedIn

Berkadia

Support our Sponsors

Better Pitch: https://bit.ly/42d9L0I

Fort Capital: https://bit.ly/FortCapital

RE Cost Seg: https://bit.ly/3oC7JcY

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

Chris on Social Media:

X: https://bit.ly/3BYIjcH

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd

Watch The Fort on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX

Visit our website: https://bit.ly/43SOvys

Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0

Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO 

The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

Elaine Agather is Chairman of the Dallas Region for JPMorgan Chase & Co. She also serves as the Central Region Head and Managing Director of The Private Bank at J.P. Morgan.

Elaine joined Chemical Bank of New York in 1979, working in London, San Francisco, and New York until she relocated to Dallas in 1984. After the 1986 merger of Chemical Bank and Texas Commerce Bank, Elaine was promoted to Chairman of Texas Commerce Bank in Fort Worth in 1992 and joined the Private Bank to manage client advisory groups across the state in 1997. In 1999, she was elected Chairman and CEO of Dallas.

On this episode, Elaine and Chris discuss:

- Working with Jamie Dimon

- Wealth Management 101

- Bank runs, cyber threats, AI, and the state of Banking

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/survey

Topics

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:03:43) - Elaine’s early career in banking

(00:15:40) - Taking over an underperforming bank

(00:18:46) - Elaine’s rodeo career

(00:28:11) - Working with Jamie Dimon

(00:31:17) - Wealth Management

(00:34:08) - How to transition wealth well

(00:39:07) - The process of bringing in a generationally wealthy client

(00:42:19) - The SVB & First Republic bank runs

(00:45:04) - How to find an exceptional wealth manager

(00:46:11) - Cyber threats, crypto & AI

(00:48:40) - The state of banking

(00:51:36) - DFW

(00:55:03) - How do you know you’ve done a good job?

(00:58:29) - Elaine’s 8: Get over it

Support our Sponsors

Juniper Square: https://bit.ly/45yiYUqFort Capital: https://bit.ly/FortCapital

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

Chris on Social Media:

X: https://bit.ly/3BYIjcH

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd

Watch The Fort on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX

Visit our website: https://bit.ly/43SOvys

Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0

Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO 

The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

David Perell is a writer, teacher, and podcaster. He believes writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. David seeks to help as many people publish their writing online as possible.

More than 1,500 people from more than 70 countries have participated in David’s Write of Passage programs. The five-week bootcamp draws on David’s experience writing online, building an audience, and his interviews with dozens of great writers on his How I Write Podcast.

On this episode, Chris and David discuss:

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/survey

Links:

David on X

How I Write Podcast - YouTube, Apple, Spotify

Write of Passage

David's website

The 11 laws of show running

What the hell is going on? By David Perell - https://perell.com/essay/what-the-hell-is-going-on/

Topics

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:02:32) - David’s upbringing

(00:07:43) - The influence of Walt Disney

(00:10:48) - The loss of soul and creativity

(00:15:18) - David’s creative process

(00:17:54) - How David writes

(00:25:50) - Why should other people start writing?

(00:29:14) - Writing in text vs. Google Docs

(00:31:15) - How have people benefitted from your writing program?

(00:33:10) - Storytime

(00:38:17) - Great writers on Twitter

(00:42:38) - How has the internet changed the goals for writers?

(00:42:28) - Setting out to prove or disprove the story of Jesus

(00:51:51) - The Internal Struggle of American Idolatry 

(01:01:24) - David explains various takes

(01:22:33) - How will AI impact the world?

(01:24:35) - The shiny dime theory

Support our Sponsors

Fort Capital: https://bit.ly/FortCapital

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

Chris on Social Media:

X: https://bit.ly/3BYIjcH

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd

Watch The Fort on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX

Visit our website: https://bit.ly/43SOvys

Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0

Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO 

The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts

Charles Anderson founded Bandera Ventures with Pryor Blackwell and Thomas Leiser in May 2003. The Partners have over 140 years’ of experience in commercial real estate development, encompassing more than 62 million square feet of development and acquisitions throughout the United States and Canada. Bandera’s real estate development expertise includes office, industrial, retail, medical, data centers, and build-to-suit projects.

We discuss:

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/survey

Links

Bandera Ventures

Trammell Crow Company

Topics

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:03:06) - Chuck’s background

(00:07:39) - Experiences working at Trammell Crow

(00:10:39) - Thoughts on the current market

(00:15:20) - How Trammell Crow was able to have so many All-stars under one roof

(00:17:58) - Chuck’s role at Trammell Crow

(00:19:57) - Ideating Bandera

(00:22:35) - Battling cancer & the power of Bible study

(00:32:32) - Advice for young folks 

(00:34:58) - Inside Bandera

(00:40:50) - Data centers

(00:47:08) - Bandera’s org structure

(00:50:13) - Recourse Debt

(00:52:54) - What would it take for you to do an office deal?

(00:53:59) - TI

(00:57:22) - Super luxury markets

(01:00:27) - Capitalizing deals

(01:05:42) - Development

(01:07:08) - Why DFW is the best market in the country

(01:15:43) - Permitting and Zoning

(01:18:50) - Market predictions

Support our Sponsors

Better Pitch: https://bit.ly/42d9L0I

Fort Capital: https://bit.ly/FortCapital

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

Chris on Social Media:

X: https://bit.ly/3BYIjcH

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd

Watch The Fort on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX

Visit our website: https://bit.ly/43SOvys

Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0

Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO 

The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts