Date recorded: May 22, 2023

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In this episode I interview Swati Chaturvedi, Founder & CEO of Propel[x], a platform that provides accredited investors access to a curated list of Deep Tech startups on the cusp of scientific and technological breakthroughs that could define the next century. They have recently expanded their offering to international startups and hedge funds.

Swati has been a management consultant, an investment professional and is now an entrepreneur. Prior to starting Propel(x), Swati was an investment professional at Exigen Capital, where she worked on IT Telecom, Travel, and BPO deals. Before that, she was a management consultant working across a variety of industries. Swati is the co-founder of the MIT Alumni Angel Investors group. She founded and led the group 2013 – 2015 and continues to be on the screening committee. She has an MBA from the Sloan School of Management, an M.S. from MIT, an M.S. from UC Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.

Enjoy!

What you can expect in today’s episode
- Swati's journey starting Propel[x]
- Overview of Propel[x] (vision, types of deals, due diligence process, expansion plans)
- Swati's views on a future with AI
- Swati's views on portfolio diversification
- Challenges growing Propel[x]
- Swati's advice to young investors and entrepreneurs

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Date recorded: May 5, 2023

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In this episode I interview Nelson Chu, Founder & CEO of Percent, a platform that started off providing accredited investors access to private credit investments, and has since evolved into the modern credit marketplace. Percent’s SaaS solution powers the sourcing, structuring, syndication, surveillance and servicing of private credit transactions. At a high level, Percent allows investors to find and compare private credit deals, which promise both high returns and resilience to recessions and inflation.

Nelson started his career in finance at Merrill Lynch (acquired by Bank of America) and then moved to the buy-side at BlackRock, where he worked in fixed income portfolio management operations. With an entrepreneurial itch, Nelson quit his job and started a consulting company helping founders build companies from ground up. After helping a number of founders for 5+ years, Nelson decided to start Percent, an alternative investment platform focusing on private credit.

Enjoy!

What you can expect in today’s episode
- Nelson’s journey starting Percent
- An introduction to private credit
- The risks associated with private credit investing
- Why private credit has been in the limelight recently
- How Percent has leveraged technology to provide investors with transparency
- How Percent has evolved from a platform focusing on private credit investing to a credit marketplace
- Nelson's unique investment and asset allocation strategy

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Date recorded: March 23, 2023

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In this episode I interview Ioana Surdu-Bob, Co-founder & CEO of Konvi, marketplace that allows anyone in the European Union to invest in exotic assets, such as watches, wines, whiskeys, bags, and cars.

Ioana has always been interested in investing, purchasing her first apartment at the age of 22 with her savings. With a background in computer science and a new found interest in collectibles, she and her co-founder decided to start Konvi.

Realizing the investment potential of luxury assets such as the Hermès Birkin bag, which has consistently outperformed other asset classes in the past years, the question arose: Why are these investment classes not yet available to the broader population.

As entry ticket prices for these items are very high, and production quantities are low, only the wealthy can source and access them. This is why Konvi was born. Konvi constantly connects with industry experts and luxury funds around the world to make these highly lucrative assets accessible to everyone through our Konvi platform.

Enjoy!

What you can expect in today’s episode
- Ioana’s journey starting Konvi
- Benefits of investing in exotic assets
- How Konvi provides access to these investments
- A breakdown of historical returns of asset classes on Konvi
- Ioana's advice for new investors

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Date recorded: March 14, 2023

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In this episode I interview Nick King, Co-founder & CEO of Vint, a platform that is securitizing fine wine and rare spirits allowing investors to efficiently get exposure to the asset class.

With a background in value investing, Nick was looking for uncorrelated assets to diversify his portfolio when he stumbled on the fine wine asset class. After doing some research and running a small portfolio, Nick and his co-founder, Patrick Sanders, found that fine wine had a very low correlation to public markets. Combining that with attractive returns, fine wine looked like the perfect candidate to diversify any portfolio. Thus, Vint.co was born.

Buying fine wine, however, comes with a lot of challenges. Vint's goal is to streamline the process for their investors by making it very easy to invest in the asset class through their platform. Vint performs their own due diligence leveraging fundamental analysis and data to drive decisions on which fine wines and spirits make it to the platform. They aim to financialize the asset class, which is why they have been working with the SEC from the get-go.

On the Vint platform you can get access to rare fine wine and spirit collections ranging from $25,000 to $500,000 at as little as $50 to $100. Investments are open to both accredited and non-accredited investors.

During the interview we dive into Nick's journey starting Vint and the benefits of the fine wine and spirits asset class.

Enjoy!

What you can expect in today’s episode
- Nick’s journey starting Vint
- Benefits of investing in fine wine & spirits
- How Vint provides access to fine wine & spirits
- Overview of Vint's platform and process
- Outlook on the wine industry
- Nick's advice for new investors

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Date recorded: March 14, 2023

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In this episode, I interview Andrew Luong, CEO of Doorvest, a company making it extremely simple for people to buy an investment property or even their first home.

Buying a home can be intimidating. The process involves a lot of steps with different players at each of those steps. Doorvest takes care of it all, end-to-end, including managing the property after close, for a fee.

Andrew didn't just stumble on this idea. After a taste of the benefits of owning a rental home, Andrew quickly scaled his personal portfolio to 10+ properties. As he grew his portfolio, friends asked for help to replicate his process. However, when it came down to it, none of them acted on his advice. Kick-starting the process ended up being too big or intimidating a task. After a number of episodes, Andrew saw a gap in the market and jumped on filling it. Doorvest was born in 2019.

During our interview, we dive deep into the benefits of owning rental properties and how Doorvest can help.

What really stood out to me about our conversation, however, was Andrew's insight on earned versus learned wisdom. If you're short on time, fast-forward to the end for that nugget.

Enjoy!

What you can expect in today’s episode
- Andrew’s journey starting Doorvest
- The benefits of owning rental properties (cash flow, appreciation, tax benefits)
- Overview of Doorvest’s platform and process
- How Doorvest de-risks customers
- Andrew's outlook on real estate in our changing economy
- Andrew’s investing tips

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Date recorded: April 8, 2023

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In this episode, I talk to Kendrick Nguyen, the Co-Founder and CEO of Republic, about how they are making private market investing accessible to everyone at as little as $10. Republic curates private investing opportunities with high-growth potential across startups, gaming, real estate, crypto and more.

Kendrick Nguyen is no stranger to the startup world. Though he started his career as a lawyer, followed by a stint in academia at Stanford Law, he eventually found his way into Tech as General Counsel at AngelList, where he found purpose in building the future. After working on AngelList's syndication product and seeing the benefits of building infrastructure to help founders and VCs raise capital easily, he saw its applicability to the general, non-accredited population. With the passage of the Jobs Act, he was able to make this a reality by spinning-off Republic from AngelList.

During our interview, we dive deep into what it means to be an investor and an owner in a company, and the benefits of allowing customers to participate in the upside of companies they love.

What you can expect in today’s episode

• Kendrick's journey from lawyer to the Co-founder & CEO of Republic
• The importance of iterating in life and in business
• Republic's platform (vision, business model, due diligence, diversification, Republic Autopilot, Republic Note, and what success looks like)
• How cycles in the financial system lead to growth (2008 financial crisis, FTX, SVB, growing pains in crypto, and more)
• Investing, ownership, understanding risk and lessons learned
• Accreditation hurdles and enabling everyone to invest
• The secrets to success

Whether you're an experienced investor or just starting out, you won't want to miss this interview with Kendrick Nguyen.

Republic Overview:

• Republic curates private investing opportunities with high-growth potential across startups, gaming, real estate, crypto, and more.
• Open to both accredited and non-accredited investors 
• $500,000,000+ invested by 1M+ people in over 500 completed deals
• Minimum investments range from $10 to $50,000 depending on the offering
• Liquidity: Investments are typically illiquid, with no secondary market for trading shares or tokens
• Return on Investment: Varies depending on the investment opportunity and is high-risk
• Platform Users: 2.5 Million
• Investments made: $2.5 Billion
• Funded projects: 2,000+
• Offered in over 150 countries

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Date recorded: March 15, 2023

In this episode, I sat down with EquityMultiple CEO, Charles Clinton, to learn about his journey starting the online crowdfunding platform, and the products, advantages and value EquityMultiple offers.  I left the interview impressed and I'm sure you will too.

Like a number of other platforms, EquityMultiple provides investors access to CRE investments at as little as $5,000, but what makes them stand out is:
- Industry-leading asset management, which is reflected in the 17% average annual return they've earned their investors across 84 deals they have exited so far.
- Diverse product offering, from equity to debt, short-term to long-term - catering to a wide range of investor needs.

Charles started his career as a lawyer, but didn't get exposure to real estate until he joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in the Real Estate Group where he primarily served clients like Blackstone and KKR. After realizing how difficult it was for individuals to purchase CRE properties, and with the passage of the Jobs Act, he decided to start EquityMultiple.

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What you can expect in today’s episode

• Charles' journey starting EquityMultiple
• The Jobs Act and its role of opening up online investing
• EquityMultiple’s platform (products, due diligence process, investor profile, advantages, approach to changes in the market, realized returns, and more)
• Future outlook for EquityMultiple and the real estate market
• Going from corporate to startup
• Charles' investing tips he would give to his younger self

Company Overview:

• Focus primarily on multifamily and industrial CRE properties
• Focus on middle-market (below $50M)
• Types of Investments
  • Keep - For stable income
  • Earn - For short-term fixed returns through debt investments
  • Grow - For higher potential returns through value-add properties
• Minimum Investment: $5,000 to $25,000
• Lock-Up Period: 3 months to 7 years
• Deals: 84 exited (~180 total)
• Returns: 17% average annual return
• Platform Users
  • 40,000 total users (10% active)
  • On average, active investors invested 5 times
  • Average investment size: $25k
  • High-income earning professionals
• Only open to accredited investors

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Date recorded: March 10, 2023

In this episode, I sat down with HoneyBricks' CEO, Andy Crebar to learn about how they’re providing accredited investors access to institutional-quality CRE multifamily deals at lower minimums and increased liquidity. HoneyBricks leverages the power of blockchain to help sponsors efficiently raise and manage capital, and by doing so, is able to provide investors access to the market with as little as $1,000.

This isn’t Andy’s first rodeo. He was the co-founder of Sapling, a People Operations platform that manages everything from onboarding, learning, HRIS, and performance, which had a successful exit. Now he’s taking on the world of Commercial Real Estate investing after having some personal success in the space.

We cover A LOT. For me personally, it was great to learn about how they are solving problems in the CRE space using blockchain technology, while also bringing value to retail investors. I urge you to watch the interview through the end as there are a number of hidden educational gems throughout the interview.

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What you can expect in this episode
- Why Andy started HoneyBricks
- What HoneyBricks is all about
- How HoneyBricks is using blockchain to efficiently raise and manage capital for sponsors
- HoneyBricks’ due diligence process and track record
- What investors can expect from the platform
- Thoughts on current CRE market
- Andy’s outlook on CRE
- Andy’s personal investing experience and tips

HoneyBricks Overview

• Access to institutional-quality multifamily CRE investments at lower minimums and increased liquidity
• Leverage blockchain to help sponsors efficiently raise and manage capital
• Minimum Investment: $1,000
• Liquidity: Can sell shares in 6-12 months
• Sponsors: Mid-market sponsors with total value of deal between $10M & $50M
  • Completed 10-20 investments
  • Have had success in the past
  • Have experience in their niche
  • ~1 in 20 deals make it to the platform after the review process
• Return on investments:
  • Expectation: 12%-20% return
  • Exceptional performance: 15%-30% return
• Frequency of payment: Monthly or quarterly
• Only open to accredited investors

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Date recorded: March 3, 2023

In this episode, I sit down with Alan Donenfeld, the CEO of CityVest to learn more about investing in real estate private equity funds. CityVest gives accredited investors access to vetted real estate private equity funds at lower minimum investment amounts through their platform.

Alan has been in the financial industry for close to 40 years. He’s gone from working on mergers & acquisition (M&A) and private equity (PE) deals at investment banks, to running a broker-dealer and a hedge fund for a large part of his career. He’s been an investor in both public and private markets for longer than most of us have been alive. So listening to him talk about his experience, his conviction in real estate as “the best asset class,” and his advise to young investors was very educational.

I urge you all to watch the interview through the end as there are a number of hidden educational gems throughout this interview that benefited me, that I believe you will benefit from too.

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CityVest Overview

• Focus has been on multi-family in growing markets
• Investment Terms:
  • 12% Preferred Return
  • 80/20 Split in Profits
• Fees: 1.75% per year
• Minimum Investment: $25,000
• AUM: $50M
• Track Record:
  • 15 Feeder Funds
  • Funds have experienced high returns on paper because of the great real estate market over the past decade (10-75%), but only one has exited so far
• Typical capital lockup period: 4 to 7 years often with 1-2 years extension
• Only open to accredited investors

What you can expect in today’s episode
- Why Alan started CityVest
- Real estate investing options
- Benefits of investing in real estate private equity funds
- Overview of CityVest’s real estate investment platform
- CityVest's due diligence process
- CityVest's track record
- Future outlook for CityVest and the real estate market
- Alan's personal investing experience and tips
- Future of portfolio diversification
- Alan's thoughts on the accreditation barrier

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Dive into the world of investing in farms, ranches and tech that help meet our growing food needs.

In today’s episode I have the privilege of speaking with Chris Rawley, CEO of Harvest Returns. Harvest Returns is a FinTech marketplace that allows you to invest in agriculture. The platform allows farmers to raise debt or equity funding from investors via crowdfunding.

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Harvest Returns Overview

• 4 investment verticals:
  1. Specialty agriculture (orchards, vineyards, etc.)
  2. Controlled environment agriculture (indoor farms, vertical farms, indoor aquaculture)
  3. Livestock
  4. AgTech
• ~12,000 investors on the platform
• Closed ~50 deals, 9 exited, 6 with above projected return
• Only 4% to 5% of deals make it to the platform after the due diligence process
• 80% of deals that make it to the platform get funded
• Typical capital lockup period:
  • Debt: 1-3 years
  • Equity: 5-7 years
• Mainly for accredited investors

What you can expect in today’s episode

1. How Chris found his way into farmland investing
2. Harvest Returns investment options
3. US farming regions
4. Due diligence process
5. Investor accreditation and barriers to wealth creation
6. Impact of inflation on farmland investing
7. Future outlook
8. Chris’ personal investing experience and tips

Hope you enjoy it!

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