The Fort - An Entrepreneurship Podcast

Chris Powers
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  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
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The Fort - An Entrepreneurship Podcast

The Fort is an entrepreneurship podcast. Here, we uncover the proven strategies, insights, and inspiring stories of today’s greatest leaders in the worlds of business, real estate, entrepreneurship, and investing. Each episode’s mission is to help you to level up your entrepreneurial game by hearing directly from the men and women in the arena. Chris is able to uniquely uncover things not commonly discussed because he is an entrepreneur himself. We not only cover business, but we also cover the personal side of entrepreneurship. The Fort began in 2018 as a way for Chris to publicly explore the fascinating world of entrepreneurship. Since he was a child, he’s been characterized as obsessively curious about the world around him.  The Fort has now been downloaded over 2M times, across more than 50,000 unique listeners. Each week features conversations with entrepreneurs, Founders, CEOs, and Executives from some of the leading companies in America. Past guests have represented companies such as JLL, Hillwood, S2 Capital, Chick Fil A, Morning Brew, Founders Podcast, Tiny Capital, Permanent Equity, Fort Capital, Matthews REIS, Bonobos, and ConvertKit. 🐦 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/@FORTpod

  1. 29 OCT

    #370 - Paul Renner - Speaker, Florida House of Representatives - Make America Courageous Again

    Paul Renner is a former Commander in the U.S. Navy, and was deployed in Operation Desert Storm as well as Afghanistan.   We discuss: Reclaiming American Institutions The state of the U.S. Military China, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, and the Military Industrial Complex Immigration The Future of America 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 (00:03:02) - How losing an election led to becoming speaker of the house of Florida (00:04:30) - Reclaiming American Institutions (00:10:57) - The uni party (00:13:23) - The state of the Military (00:16:42) - Ukraine and North Carolina (00:20:05) - The military-industrial complex (00:22:13) - China (00:27:39) - Iran (00:29:56) - Russia (00:31:13) - Immigration (00:33:29) - Is it possible to be a true public servant? (00:36:08) - How much impact can you have with term limits? (00:42:11) - Working with Ron DeSantis (00:45:32) - Disney (00:52:43) - Voter ID (00:56:32) - Property Insurance & Florida RE (00:59:57) - The Future of America (01:06:40) - What can the average person do? Support our Sponsors Vesto: https://www.vesto.com/fort Fort: https://bit.ly/FortCompanies Follow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/ Chris on Social Media: The Fort Podcast on Twitter/X: https://x.com/theFORTpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefortpodcast 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

    1h 11m

  2. 22 OCT

    #369 - Craig Hall - Founder & Chairman @ Hall Group

    Craig Hall is an entrepreneur, bestselling author, vintner, and philanthropist who founded HALL Group in 1968 at age 18 with $4,000 saved from small ventures that began at age ten. HALL Group comprises diverse entities in real estate, lending, winemaking, and startup investments.  We discuss: Surviving the 80’s financial crisis Building Frisco, TX Building a wine business The state of the RE market 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 HALL Group Topics (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:04) - Building a portfolio of 72,000 apartments and pivoting away from multifamily (00:06:32) - Surviving the 80’s financial crisis  (00:11:15) - What was your plan after divesting from multifamily? (00:14:07) - Becoming your own partner (00:15:36) - Building Frisco, TX (00:24:10) - Mindset changes post-covid (00:29:39) - Planning meeting structures (00:31:55) - Building a wine business (00:39:04) - Leveling the playing field for the American Dream (00:41:03) - The state of the market (00:44:46) - What types of deals are you looking for in this environment? (00:47:12) - Craig’s passion for art Support our Sponsors Vesto: https://www.vesto.com/fort Fort: https://bit.ly/FortCompanies Follow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/ Chris on Social Media: The Fort Podcast on Twitter/X: https://x.com/theFORTpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefortpodcast 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

    50 min

  3. 14 OCT

    #368 - Roe Patterson - Co-Founder @ Marauder Capital / Frmr CEO @ Basic Energy Services - Building & Investing in Oilfield Service Companies

    Roe Patterson is a 29-year Energy Industry veteran. He has worked in, owned, and operated multiple businesses across the energy spectrum. He owns and invests in numerous companies inside and outside the energy space, playing varying roles in each venture’s governance including CEO, Chairman of the Board, Board Member, and Board Adviser. His latest venture, ClearWell Dynamics, LLC, is now the 4th largest U.S.-based well-servicing company in the United States oil and gas industry. We discuss: - Mitigating risk in Oilfield Services - The loss of knowledge in the industry - How to successfully acquire and integrate companies 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 Roe on LinkedIn Topics (00:00:00) - Intro (00:04:03) - Roe’s career (00:09:20) - Being the son of the boss (00:11:10) - M&A in the Oil and Gas industry (00;17:37) - Mitigating risk in Oilfield services (0:24:26) - Backfilling with technology (00:29:00) - Roe on starting companies and joining Basic (00:34:33) - Acquiring and Integrating companies (00:43:35) - Becoming CEO & Oilfield Booms and busts (01:00:57) - Building ClearWell Dynamics Support our Sponsors Vesto: https://www.vesto.com/fort Better Pitch: https://bit.ly/42d9L0I Fort: https://bit.ly/FortCompanies Follow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/ Chris on Social Media: The Fort Podcast on Twitter/X: https://x.com/theFORTpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefortpodcast 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

    1h 30m

  4. 8 OCT

    #367 - Robert Allen - CEO @ Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership - Fort Worth, TX Is About to Explode With Growth

    Robert Allen is the President and CEO of the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership (FWEDP). A husband, father, and former Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Greg Abbott, Allen most recently served as President and CEO of the Texas Economic Development Corporation (TxEDC). His organization’s efforts have helped catapult Texas to a record-breaking number of Governor’s Cups as awarded by Site Selection Magazine. With Texas now home to the most Fortune 500 headquarters in America, Robert launched efforts at TxEDC to showcase all that Texas continues to offer to businesses. We discuss: Building the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership How corporate relocations are negotiated and executed Growing the future of Fort Worth 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 The Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership Robert on LinkedIn Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership Board Members: Mike Berry - President of Hillwood John Goff - CEO of Goff Capital Robert Isom - CEO of American Airlines Greg Ulmer - Executive Vice President of Lockheed Martin Dan Berce - President and CEO of GM Financial Lista Atherton - President & CEO of Bell David Endicott - CEO of Alcon Laboratories Katie Farmer - President & CEO of BNSF Railway Elaine Agather - Managing Director & CEO of J.P. Morgan Private Bank in the Central U.S. Marianne Auld - Managing Partner of Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP Rusty Reid - Chairman and CEO of Higginbotham Mayor Mattie Parker Steve Montgomery - President and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber Topics (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:22) - Robert’s career in public service (00:06:58) - What does an AG do? (00:08:24) - Robert’s roles as deputy chief of staff for the Governor? (00:09:40) - How does Texas prepare for disasters? (00:13:36) - Becoming President/CEO of the Texas Economic Development (00:15:59) - Marketing Texas (00:19:06) - How does a corporate relocation happen? (00:22:39) - Robert’s work today growing FWTX (00:27:24) - The FW Economic Development Program (00:30:42) - What were your key priorities on day one? (00:37:44) - Who is Fort Worth? (00:47:36) - Strengthening the workforce (00:59:17) - The Election (01:00:54) - How long do projects typically take? (01:04:12) - The Great Bones in Fort Worth (01:07:30) - What do 10k jobs coming in do for a city? (01:09:53) - Fort Worth’s pipeline (01:02:22) - 10-year predictions Support our Sponsors Vesto: https://www.vesto.com/fort Fort: https://bit.ly/FortCompanies Follow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/ Chris on Social Media: The Fort Podcast on Twitter/X: https://x.com/theFORTpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefortpodcast 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

    1h 29m

  5. 24 SEPT

    #366 - Walt Reynolds - Former CEO @ The Reynolds Company - From Family Business to Industry Giant

    Walt Reynolds is a senior leader in the electrical supply industry with over 30 years of executive experience. In 1998, he became President of The Reynolds Company and drove its explosive growth over the next two and half decades. Under his leadership, the company became one of the largest independent electrical distribution companies in the United States with 34 locations across Texas and Southwest US. We discuss: - Walt’s career and building The Reynolds Company - Acquisitions theses and buying bankrupt companies - ESOPs - Leadership principles - Working with friends 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 Support our Sponsors Better Pitch: https://bit.ly/42d9L0I Vesto - https://www.vesto.com/fort Fort: https://bit.ly/FortCompanies Follow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/ Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:04:30) - To know you is to know your father (00:08:50) - The history of the Reynolds Company and the electrical supply industry (00:20:39) - Walt’s career (00:43:43) - Scaling Reynolds (00:48:29) - Working with your friends (00:52:16) - Pivoting into acquisitions (01:01:47) - Selling the business (01:08:14) - ESOPs (01:11:55) - Walt’s role post-close (01:16:05) - Leadership Principals Chris on Social Media: The Fort Podcast on Twitter/X: https://x.com/theFORTpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefortpodcast 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

    1h 23m

  6. 17 SEPT

    #365 - Mark Gibson - CEO @ JLL Capital Markets - In-Depth Analysis of Current Real Estate Market (2H 2024 - 2025)

    Mark is currently the Chief Executive Officer of JLL Capital Markets, Americas. He also sits on JLL’s Global Capital Markets Board where he shares responsibility for the strategic direction, growth, and client activities of JLL’s global capital markets business. We discuss: The state of Capital Markets The FED and rate cuts The performance of Office, Retail, Industrial, and Data Center asset classes 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 JLL Capital Markets Topics (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:32) - State of the Capital markets (00:11:24) - How the FED is thinking about rates (00:16:21) - Outcomes of a rate cut (00:21:09) - The Detroit effect (00:23:02) - Migration data (00:25:34) - What types of deals are working in this environment? (00:30:32) - Housing (00:35:29) - The importance of Mexico (00:36:45) - The state of Office (00:46:19) - Foreign vs. Domestic Capital (00:47:31) - The election (00:48:33) - Equity markets (00:54:01) - M&A Activity (00:57:08) - Unique strategies (01:00:12) - Data centers (01:03:00) - Secondary markets (01:05:26) - The Detroit effect in real estate (01:06:57) - AI (01:07:33) - Tenant migration (01:09:07) - 2025 forecasts & trends Corrections: RE the election topic, one statistic was transposed: It was stated 2.3% more in the first quarter in terms of transactions, and in actuality, the number is 3.2%. Support our Sponsors Vesto: https://www.vesto.com/fort RE Cost Seg: https://bit.ly/3oC7JcY Fort: https://bit.ly/FortCompanies Follow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/ Chris on Social Media: The Fort Podcast on Twitter/X: https://x.com/theFORTpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefortpodcast 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

    1h 16m

  7. 29 AUG

    #364 - Chico West - Getting Sober, Overcoming Trauma, & Winning

    Chico West is a LPC therapist, coach, and consultant.  He works with on-site programs and for Construction companies and has a private practice with over 34 years of continuous sobriety. We discuss: - Common themes around addiction - Marriage - Therapy and Counseling in the C-Suite 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 Chico West Counseling Chico on LinkedIn Topics (00:00:00) - Intro (00:02:06) - Be a Buffalo, not a cow (00:03:19) - Life before sobriety (00:13:03) - Believing in Jesus (00:16:58) - Common themes around addiction (00:22:23) - Following a higher power vs. following Christ  (00:24:33) - What does your work look like today? (00:27:34) - What do you tell people who want to quit booze? (00:31:20) - How do you deal with the weight of when people fail at this work? (00:37:28) - Men & Women (00:42:20) - Is addiction nature or nurture? (00:45:37) - Gordon Highlander (00:55:16) - Is mental health overplayed? (00:59:59) - Closing advice Support our Sponsors Relay Human Cloud: https://bit.ly/3sjQcaY Fort: https://bit.ly/FortCompanies Follow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/ Chris on Social Media: The Fort Podcast on Twitter/X: https://x.com/theFORTpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefortpodcast 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

    1h 5m

  8. 27 AUG

    #363 - Jason Illian - GP & Co-Founder @ Highmount Capital - Growth Equity, Investing in Dude Perfect, Launching Koch Disruptive Technologies

    Jason is the General Partner and Co-Founder of Highmount Capital, a unique investment firm focused on growth stage and middle market investments in transformative technology and other growth-related platforms. He is the former Managing Director and founding member of Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), the venture and growth arm of Koch Industries, the largest privately-held company in the US with over $130B in revenue. Jason was responsible for helping KDT grow to billions in AUM across 40+ companies. We discuss: - What makes a great venture partner - What venture firms look for in late-stage companies - The process of making a $100mm investment in DudePerfect 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: Dude Perfect Highmount Capital Jason on X Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:05:23) - Jason's Early career (00:10:03) - What makes a great venture partner  (00:13:23) - Joining Koch Industries (00:15:18) - Building the venture framework for Koch (00:19:48) - What does a great late-stage company look like in the eyes of a venture firm? (00:26:40) - Founding Highmount Capital (00:29:56) - Building a great origination engine (00:35:44) - Investing in Dude Perfect (00:40:18) - The craving for family-friendly brands (00:44:10) - How do you think about your role post-investment? (00:46:44) - What are unique ways to make money in the creator economy? (00:54:14) - Are the Dudes a technology business or technology-enabled business? (00:57:34) - How do you find a CEO for a company like DudePerfect?  (01:01:18) - How is Highmount structured? Support our Sponsors Vesto: https://www.vesto.com/fort Better Pitch: https://bit.ly/42d9L0I Fort: https://bit.ly/FortCompanies Follow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/ Chris on Social Media: The Fort Podcast on Twitter/X: https://x.com/theFORTpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefortpodcast 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

    1h 8m
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About

The Fort is an entrepreneurship podcast. Here, we uncover the proven strategies, insights, and inspiring stories of today’s greatest leaders in the worlds of business, real estate, entrepreneurship, and investing. Each episode’s mission is to help you to level up your entrepreneurial game by hearing directly from the men and women in the arena. Chris is able to uniquely uncover things not commonly discussed because he is an entrepreneur himself. We not only cover business, but we also cover the personal side of entrepreneurship. The Fort began in 2018 as a way for Chris to publicly explore the fascinating world of entrepreneurship. Since he was a child, he’s been characterized as obsessively curious about the world around him.  The Fort has now been downloaded over 2M times, across more than 50,000 unique listeners. Each week features conversations with entrepreneurs, Founders, CEOs, and Executives from some of the leading companies in America. Past guests have represented companies such as JLL, Hillwood, S2 Capital, Chick Fil A, Morning Brew, Founders Podcast, Tiny Capital, Permanent Equity, Fort Capital, Matthews REIS, Bonobos, and ConvertKit. 🐦 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/@FORTpod

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