POWERS

Chris Powers

Conversations with the best founders, entrepreneurs, and investors.

  1. 12 hr ago

    Reindustrialization, Data Center Gold Rush, Death of The Allocator, National Security, & Capital Flows with Michael Levy (#425)

    This week Chris sits down with Michael Levy, CEO of Crow Holdings, one of the largest private real estate firms in the country. This one goes far beyond real estate. Michael runs a major firm, but he opens on the big macro picture and works his way back down to real estate. They start with where the economy and the country are heading, and they end on what it means for how investors should be thinking today. They discuss:• The reindustrialization of America, and why national security and supply chains are driving what gets built• Getting out of the online bubble, and why travel, long-form media, and real conversation matter more now• The data center power wall, where deposits run a million dollars a megawatt for power that may not arrive for years• Why Michael believes a country's wealth comes down to the cost and abundance of its energy• Whether college is still worth it, and why the master electrician may be the new Google engineer• The future of the allocator model in real estate, and why scale and consolidation are reshaping the industry• Where real estate goes now, and why this could be a slow decade before it turns Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:50) The Big Arc of History Has Swung(07:09) Following the Capital Into Defense and Infrastructure(13:22) Getting Out of the Bubble and the Rise of New Media(21:18) How Power Deposits Reset the Data Center Game(25:34) Crow's Data Center Power Strategy and the Dallas Project(30:58) What If We Stop Needing Big Data Centers?(36:22) The Wealth of a Country Is Its Energy(39:26) Why College Debt Buys Classes You Never Needed(44:22) The Master Electrician Is the New Google Engineer(49:23) Is the Allocator Model Done?(55:33) You Don't Get Fired for Hiring IBM(59:29) Why the Local Friends-and-Family Fundraiser Survives(1:05:37) How Crow Competes Against the Big Consolidators(1:12:04) How Co-Invest and Breakpoints Quietly Erode Fees(1:19:43) The 2020s Could Be a Lost Decade in Real Estate === Presented by AirshareTrusted across the country for fractional ownership, jet cards, charter, and aircraft management, Airshare gives you a smarter way to fly private - over 25 years of experience, operating their own fleet, with the top safety ratings in the industry. Drive up to the FBO, walk on, and go. Go to flyairshare.com to learn more. === Find our sponsors: True North AdvisorsTrue North Advisors is a multi-family office and private wealth advisory firm serving business owners, entrepreneurs, and families since 2000. With over $5.6 billion under management, they're real investors offering conflict-free counsel and portfolios built around your life. Learn more at https://truenorthadvisors.com Collateral PartnersCollateral Partners builds institutional-grade investor materials for private credit, private equity, real estate, and family office firms, the kind of marketing collateral that helps you close capital. Learn more at https://collateral.com/powers Relay Human CloudRelay Human Cloud gives you pre-vetted, fully managed global talent for up to 75% less than hiring locally. Your best people stop doing repetitive work and get back to the work that moves your company forward. Learn more at https://www.relayhumancloud.com/powers === Chris on Social Media:X: https://x.com/fortworthchrisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepowerspodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ === Visit our website:https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

    Reindustrialization, Data Center Gold Rush, Death of The Allocator, National Security, & Capital Flows with Michael Levy (#425)
  2. 22 Jul

    He's Raised $10 Billion For Real Estate Fund Managers. His Advice: "Don't Raise A Fund." with Jonathan Glick (#424)

    This week Chris sits down with Jonathan Glick, founder of Incucap and one of the most active fund placement agents in the country. Over his career he's helped place more than $10 billion into real estate funds, and he says raising one has never been harder than it is right now. There are 600 to 1,000 funds chasing a shrinking pool of capital, real estate has lost a decade of ground to private credit, private equity and everything else, and most managers now spend two years raising a single fund. So his advice to almost everyone who calls wanting to start one is simple. Don't. They talk about who he'd actually back out of the 300-plus managers he meets a year, why he says most funds run in the red until their third or fourth one, and how the whole business has slid into a fee game, which changes the incentives dramatically. They get into where he thinks we are in the 18-year real estate cycle, why he believes vacancy is temporary and basis is forever, and the case that the next few years are the best time in over a decade to leave a big firm and build your own platform. Timestamps(0:00) Intro(0:54) Dallas, Talent Wars, and Why Asset Management Became the Hot Hire(7:12) Too Many Funds Chasing Too Little Capital(12:16) Why Glick Tells Almost Everyone: Don't Raise a Fund(16:58) From "Get an A" to "Score 100": Standing Out in a Crowded Market(25:45) Timing Traps and the Private-Equityization of Real Estate(37:17) Chasing 20% Returns Again: Rents, Costs, and the 18-Year Cycle(43:10) Basis Resets, the 401(k) Wave, and the Economics of a Fund(52:08) Sizing a Fund Right and the First-Timer Discount(56:33) Fixing Fundraising: Diligence, AI Backlash, and Old-School Wins(1:05:28) Founder Culture: The Summit, Loneliness, and a New Wave of Spinouts(1:12:03) Quitting Advice, Creators vs. Catchers, and the Attention Economy === Presented by Airshare:Trusted across the country for fractional ownership, jet cards, charter, and aircraft management, Airshare gives you a smarter way to fly private - over 25 years of experience, operating their own fleet, with the top safety ratings in the industry. Drive up to the FBO, walk on, and go. Go to https://flyairshare.com to learn more. === Sponsored by: True North AdvisorsTrue North Advisors is a multi-family office and private wealth advisory firm serving business owners, entrepreneurs, and families since 2000. With over $5.6 billion under management, they're real investors offering conflict-free counsel and portfolios built around your life. Learn more at https://truenorthadvisors.com Collateral PartnersCollateral Partners builds institutional-grade investor materials for private credit, private equity, real estate, and family office firms, the kind of marketing collateral that helps you close capital. Learn more at https://collateral.com/powers Relay Human CloudRelay Human Cloud gives you pre-vetted, fully managed global talent for up to 75% less than hiring locally. Your best people stop doing repetitive work and get back to the work that moves your company forward. Learn more at https://www.relayhumancloud.com/powers === Chris on Social Media:X: https://x.com/fortworthchrisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepowerspodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ === Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

    He's Raised $10 Billion For Real Estate Fund Managers. His Advice: "Don't Raise A Fund." with Jonathan Glick (#424)
  3. 15 Jul

    The World's Biggest Investors Are Buying Real Estate Again with Mark Gibson, CEO of JLL, Capital Markets, Americas (#423)

    In this episode, Chris sits down with Mark Gibson, CEO of Capital Markets, Americas at JLL. He sits at the center of how capital moves through commercial real estate, which means he sees the data long before the narratives catch up. Chris and Mark get into why the world's largest investors are looking at real estate again after four years of underperformance, the signal in late 2024 that told his team the market had turned, and the wave of retirement capital that could reshape who owns real estate for the next decade. He is measured, data-driven, and one of the sharpest reads on this market Chris has had on the show. Timestamps(0:00) Intro(01:36) The Relative-Value Case for Real Estate(04:24) Reading the Market Through Bond Volatility and the VIX(09:50) Three Growth Pillars: Tax Cuts, Reshoring, and the AI Buildout(17:10) Fundraising Discipline(21:49) Operational Excellence Over Financial Engineering(28:53) M&A Acceleration and the Private Equity Property-Management Roll-Up(35:38) Disciplined Lenders, Capitulation vs. Conviction, and Bad Capital Structures(42:46) The 401(k) Wave: Private Real Estate Enters Retirement Plans(48:56) Multifamily's Supply Overhang and the Case for a Rebound(59:54) Data Centers: Scale, Power, and Who Owns This Stuff Long-Term(1:06:31) Office's Haves and Have-Nots === Find our sponsors: True North AdvisorsTrue North Advisors is a multi-family office and private wealth advisory firm serving business owners, entrepreneurs, and families since 2000. With over $5.6 billion under management, they're real investors offering conflict-free counsel and portfolios built around your life. Learn more at https://truenorthadvisors.com Collateral PartnersCollateral Partners builds institutional-grade investor materials for private credit, private equity, real estate, and family office firms, the kind of marketing collateral that helps you close capital. Learn more at https://collateral.com/powers Relay Human CloudRelay Human Cloud gives you pre-vetted, fully managed global talent for up to 75% less than hiring locally. Your best people stop doing repetitive work and get back to the work that moves your company forward. Learn more at https://www.relayhumancloud.com/powers === Chris on Social Media:X: https://x.com/fortworthchrisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepowerspodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ === Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

    The World's Biggest Investors Are Buying Real Estate Again with Mark Gibson, CEO of JLL, Capital Markets, Americas (#423)
  4. 8 Jul

    The Hottest Apartment Developer in America (Who Builds For 30% Less Than Competitors) with Steven Campisi, Hillpointe (#422)

    In this episode, Chris sits down with Steven Campisi, co-founder of Hillpointe, one of the largest developers of attainable housing in the country. Most apartment developers design a brand new building for every project. Hillpointe has built the exact same building 800 times, which creates advantages that compound over time. That repetition plus their material and labor strategy is how Hillpointe builds across the Sun Belt for 30-40% less than everyone else. They get into their direct overseas sourcing business, how they've built their own in-house subcontractor base, how they underwrite new opportunities, the state of the market, and why they run the whole operation as a series of discretionary funds. Timestamps(00:00) Intro(02:58) Steven's Three-Pronged Competitive Advantage(10:29) Prototype Building Strategy(12:39) Direct-to-Crew Labor and Why Crews Choose Hillpointe(20:02) China Sourcing Operations, Scale & Factory Relationships(25:22) Labor Market Shortages & Specialized vs. Generalist Trades(35:01) Land Acquisition Strategy & Regional Development Teams(41:12) Underwriting Deals(44:09) Achieving Investor Alignment(54:45) Fund Model vs. Traditional JV Equity(1:01:25) Raising Institutional Capital(1:09:48) Debt Structure, Supply Glut, and the Road to a 2027 Rent Rebound(1:16:09) AI and Centralizing Operations With an In-House Contact Center Find our sponsors: True North AdvisorsTrue North Advisors is a multi-family office and private wealth advisory firm serving business owners, entrepreneurs, and families since 2000. With over $5.6 billion under management, they're real investors offering conflict-free counsel and portfolios built around your life. Learn more at https://truenorthadvisors.com Collateral PartnersCollateral Partners builds institutional-grade investor materials for private credit, private equity, real estate, and family office firms, the kind of marketing collateral that helps you close capital. Learn more at https://collateral.com/powers Relay Human CloudRelay Human Cloud gives you pre-vetted, fully managed global talent for up to 75% less than hiring locally. Your best people stop doing repetitive work and get back to the work that moves your company forward. Learn more at https://www.relayhumancloud.com/powers Chris on Social Media:X: https://x.com/fortworthchrisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepowerspodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

    The Hottest Apartment Developer in America (Who Builds For 30% Less Than Competitors) with Steven Campisi, Hillpointe (#422)
  5. 1 Jul

    The Ex-SpaceX Engineer Reinventing the American Home with Riley Meik (#421)

    In this episode, Chris sits down with Riley Meik, co-founder and CEO of The American Housing Corporation, a company building factory-made row homes for the kind of city lots we've stopped building on. For 70 years we got great at putting single-family homes on the outskirts and basically quit building family-sized housing in the places people actually want to live. Riley's bet is that you fix that the way you'd fix any hard manufacturing problem: own the whole stack, design every part from first principles, and build the home in a factory. His first prototype went from manufactured to installed to finished in 13 weeks, and the goal from here is a home that costs 30 to 50% less than local construction. Timestamps(00:00) Intro(01:22) The Housing Crisis Is a Production Problem(04:33) Why America Stopped Building Family Housing in Cities(09:50) The First Company and Why Selling to Home Builders Doesn't Work(14:58) First Principles Engineering: What Does a Wall Actually Need to Do?(21:39) Getting Code-Certified for a Building System That Doesn't Exist Yet(27:57) One Miracle at a Time(31:47) Three Entities, One Mission: How AHC's Capital Stack Works(37:52) 18 Months of R&D: Panel Install Time Dropped 70%(44:22) The Two-Week Build Goal(47:03) Eichler Homes and Designing for Young Families(52:24) Beautiful Housing Gets Approved: Design as Regulatory Strategy(1:00:08) Gigafactory Over Mobile Micro-Factory(1:04:40) Margin Targets, Market Selection, and the Coastal City Thesis(1:11:39) Earning the Right to Automate and Hiring for the Housing Crisis Find our sponsors: True North AdvisorsTrue North Advisors is a multi-family office and private wealth advisory firm serving business owners, entrepreneurs, and families since 2000. With over $5.6 billion under management, they're real investors offering conflict-free counsel and portfolios built around your life. Learn more at https://truenorthadvisors.com Collateral PartnersCollateral Partners builds institutional-grade investor materials for private credit, private equity, real estate, and family office firms, the kind of marketing collateral that helps you close capital. Learn more at https://collateral.com/powers Relay Human CloudRelay Human Cloud gives you pre-vetted, fully managed global talent for up to 75% less than hiring locally. Your best people stop doing repetitive work and get back to the work that moves your company forward. Learn more at https://www.relayhumancloud.com/powers Chris on Social Media:X: https://x.com/fortworthchrisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepowerspodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

    The Ex-SpaceX Engineer Reinventing the American Home with Riley Meik (#421)
  6. 23 Jun

    How He Built a 2.5M-Follower Media Machine with Chris Koerner (#420)

    In this episode, Chris Powers sits down with Chris Koerner, a serial entrepreneur and host of The Koerner Office, one of the fastest-growing business podcasts in the world. Koerner has gone all-in on media: 1.4M on Instagram, a 270k newsletter, and a YouTube channel he grew to 600k subscribers in a year. They get into how he cracked short-form, why he thinks attention is the only moat left once AI makes any business easy to build, and the filters he uses to decide what's actually worth starting. Then they go somewhere completely different. They talk in great detail about his experience as a missionary for the LDS Church. Koerner spent two years in Hungary, knocked on roughly 25,000 doors as a self-described introvert, and discusses the skills it taught him that made him a better businessman. Timestamps(00:00) Intro(01:08) From Mobile Home Parks Tweeter to Business Media Juggernaut(09:38) Why Audio Builds More Loyal Followers Than Anything Else(12:21) Facebook's Hidden Creator Payouts and Getting Shut Down Overnight(17:11) The Two-Pizza Company: Building a Lean Content Machine(23:36) From Impulse to Publication: How Content Moves Through the Factory(28:13) The YouTube Split That Unlocked the Algorithm(33:52) The Real Mission: Inspiring Strangers to Start a Business(37:37) Why People Don't Act Until They Hit Rock Bottom(40:03) Selling Religion Door to Door: The LDS Mission in Hungary(50:01) 25,000 Doors, 11 Baptisms: What Mass Rejection Really Teaches(56:53) Homecoming: The Most Depressing Day of His Life(1:06:53) Violence and Death in the Missionary Life === Sponsored by: Collateral PartnersCollateral Partners builds institutional-grade investor materials for private credit, private equity, real estate, and family office firms, the kind of marketing collateral that helps you close capital. Learn more at https://collateral.com/powers Relay Human CloudRelay Human Cloud gives you pre-vetted, fully managed global talent for up to 75% less than hiring locally. Your best people stop doing repetitive work and get back to the work that moves your company forward. Learn more at https://www.relayhumancloud.com/powers/ === Chris on Social Media:X: https://x.com/fortworthchrisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepowerspodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ === Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

    How He Built a 2.5M-Follower Media Machine with Chris Koerner (#420)
  7. 16 Jun

    The Business That's Selling Sunlight After Dark with Ben Nowack, CEO of Reflect Orbital (#419)

    In this episode, Chris sits down with Ben Nowack, co-founder and CEO of Reflect Orbital, one of the first companies building satellites that redirect sunlight from orbit to specific spots on Earth, with the goal of delivering sunlight on demand, 24/7. Why would you want sunlight 24/7? Agriculture and farming, construction projects, rescue missions, military operations, powering solar panels closer to 100% of the time instead of ~30%, etc. Ben started Reflect in 2021. He spent the first year in a garage, $60k in credit card debt, before a $350k raise came in. Reflect has now raised more than $35 million. Sequoia led the seed (its first space investment since SpaceX), Lux Capital led the $20M Series A, and it launches its first satellite later this year. They discuss:• A speech Gwynne Shotwell gave during his tenure at SpaceX that he will never forget• What he learned while working at SpaceX that he implements at Reflect• The story of building the actual company and why building hardware is hard• How they think about vertical integration• The trillion $ business case for redirecting sunlight• How he recruits technical talent, what works and what doesn't Timestamps(0:00) Intro(1:07) "Rockets Are Cool, But They're Not the Big Money Makers"(7:00) Lessons from SpaceX: What Ben Took (and Left Behind)(16:35) The Origin: From High School Fusion Reactors to Reflect Orbital(25:10) The Fossil Fuel Problem and Why It's So Hard to Beat(28:37) "By 3 AM You Have a Minimum Viable Financial Model"(35:44) The Breakthrough: Putting Mirrors in Space(41:00) Building the First Satellite(51:03) First Satellite and Seven-Figure Demand Nobody Expected(57:00) The Constellation Plan: 18 Satellites, Global Coverage(1:10:00) What It's Like to Order Sunlight(1:22:00) Why Fashion Designers Build Better Spacecraft Than JWST Engineers(1:25:36) The 10-Year Vision: Starship, Scale, and Powering the Earth Find our sponsors: Collateral PartnersCollateral Partners builds institutional-grade investor materials for private credit, private equity, real estate, and family office firms, the kind of marketing collateral that helps you close capital. Learn more at https://collateral.com/powers Relay Human CloudRelay Human Cloud gives you pre-vetted, fully managed global talent for up to 75% less than hiring locally. Your best people stop doing repetitive work and get back to the work that moves your company forward. Learn more at https://www.relayhumancloud.com/powers/ Chris on Social Media:X: https://x.com/fortworthchrisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepowerspodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

    The Business That's Selling Sunlight After Dark with Ben Nowack, CEO of Reflect Orbital (#419)
  8. 9 Jun

    State Of The Private Aviation Industry with John Owen, CEO of Airshare (#418)

    In this episode, Chris sits down with John Owen, President and CEO of Airshare, one of the largest private jet operators in the country. Airshare started in 2000 and spent over twenty years as a regional Midwest operator before going national in 2023 by acquiring Wheels Up's aircraft management business. They get into how the business actually works, where operators make and lose money, and where the industry is headed. They discuss:• Why fractional is the one part of the industry growing• How the Wheels Up deal came together• Why new jets are booked out to 2029• The Wi-Fi arms race in the air• His approach to bringing AI into the company Timestamps(00:00) Intro(03:01) Rise of Fractional Ownership(05:10) The Hidden Costs of Jet Ownership(08:40) Choosing Between Charter, Jet Cards & Ownership(11:35) The Wheels Up Acquisition(16:28) What Makes a Good Acquisition Target(21:39) Why Empty Legs Rarely Work(24:38) The Lasting Impact of COVID on Private Aviation(28:35) The Evolution of In-Flight Wi-Fi(31:18) Dealing with Airport and FBO Congestion(37:37) Consolidation in Private Aviation(43:03) Transferring a Management Company(47:31) Airshare's Most Important Metrics(51:41) AI Inside the Business Find our sponsors: Collateral PartnersCollateral Partners builds institutional-grade investor materials for private credit, private equity, real estate, and family office firms, the kind of marketing collateral that helps you close capital. Learn more at https://collateral.com/powers Relay Human CloudRelay Human Cloud gives you pre-vetted, fully managed global talent for up to 75% less than hiring locally. Your best people stop doing repetitive work and get back to the work that moves your company forward. Learn more at https://www.relayhumancloud.com/powers/ Download FastJets:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fastjets/id6756160345Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flyjetting.app Chris on Social Media:X: https://x.com/fortworthchrisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepowerspodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

    State Of The Private Aviation Industry with John Owen, CEO of Airshare (#418)

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Conversations with the best founders, entrepreneurs, and investors.