Offshoot: The Fident Capital Podcast

Offshoot: The Fident Capital Podcast
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Offshoot: The Fident Capital Podcast

Offshoot is a passion project that stems, quite naturally, from my years of experience at Fident Capital. One of the best aspects of the gig is interacting with brilliant people on both the operator/borrower and investor/lender sides of transactions. I love the diversity of their viewpoints and experiencing the horsepower that’s behind their performance. I aim to give these experts a venue to share their knowledge and experience, build relationships, foster connections, and support real estate entrepreneurs. We talk shop on real estate and finance, and we talk personal performance, delving into daily routines, habits, and beliefs that underpin these individuals. I hope you enjoy the conversations.

  1. Demien Farrell: From Fighting Change Orders to Driving Industry Change: The Mexico Solution

    JUN 30

    Demien Farrell: From Fighting Change Orders to Driving Industry Change: The Mexico Solution

    Welcome to episode 30 of Offshoot. My guest today is Damien Farrell, founder of West Modular, a construction company that manufactures modular apartment buildings from a 210,000 square foot facility in Tijuana, Mexico. At maximum output, West Modular can produce 1,500-2,000 apartments annually and build them in half the time of conventional construction. Damien brings over $500MM in completed developments to the conversation, including three major hotels—Dream Hollywood ($125M), Thompson Hollywood ($154M), and Tommie Hollywood ($114M)—plus a hospitality portfolio that grew to 20 venues across three states before being acquired by Las Vegas-based Hakkasan Group. His experience and frustration with cost overruns, delays, and change orders on those projects, combined with his experience entitling and permitting over $1B in projects, drove him to discover and commit to what he calls "the future of construction.” What makes this conversation really compelling is Damien's deep understanding of both the technical and financial challenges plaguing development today. While you can argue that this is a better mousetrap—the product itself addresses a myriad of external challenges, outside of the module, that make housing unaffordable and projects difficult to fund.

    1h 18m
  2. Jack Cohen: In the real estate industry for all the crazy people.

    MAY 15

    Jack Cohen: In the real estate industry for all the crazy people.

    Welcome to episode 29 of Offshoot. My guest today is Jack Cohen, a Managing Director of ArrowMark Partners, a Denver-based investment platform, and the founder of Dark Knight Ventures, Jack’s business consultancy, or “mentor capitalist” firm focused on helping smart, creative, salespeople be more successful. For Jack, it is a platform to teach and give away the things he’s learned on his journey as an intermediary, producer, principal, investor and consultant. Jack’s main gig, if you will, was in my line of work. He took a single office mortgage banking business, Cohen Financial, from $200MM of annual loan production to 25 offices with $6B of annual production, and a loan servicing portfolio of over $30MM before a successful exit. Since then, he’s gotten on to a myriad of board and advisory positions while filling executive roles at some top-flight finance shops. I heard Jack speak about 6 months ago and immediately knew I wanted to get to know him and perhaps get him on the podcast. I started by reading his book, was able to sit with him on a ski trip, and then again when he was in San Diego. Jack’s the real deal. He’s hungry, he’s curious, he’s smart, he’s hard working, and he’s figured things out the old-fashioned way. He’s done the work and made the mistakes. This is one of those podcasts that could have been twice as long. However, even in this short hour and a half, Jack drops a ton of knowledge and wisdom which is applicable across a wide swath of the industry.

    1h 39m
  3. Connor Mitchell: I’ll put you where you can fail, but I won’t let you drown.

    APR 29

    Connor Mitchell: I’ll put you where you can fail, but I won’t let you drown.

    Welcome to episode 28 of Offshoot. My guest today is Connor Mitchell, a Managing Director of Cascadia Capital, the #2 independent investment bank in the nation. Connor focuses on the human capital and professional services side of industry, which covers areas like accounting, consulting, and human resources; any area where external human capital comes to client companies to help them execute. His transaction sweet spot is enterprise values of $100MM to $350MM and he’s part of a high-impact team of 17 professionals at Cascadia. Importantly, Cascadia does 65% of its business with family and founder-led businesses. I’ve wanted to get an investment banker on the show for a while. I know a lot of business owners yet only a few who have been able to build and sell.There’s something in many founder-led businesses that often prevents a sale, and I can’t think of someone more qualified to unpack that notion than a banker’s whose entire career focuses on this space. So for the entrepreneurs that want a window into selling your business, and some of the mindset shifts that might accompany a liquidity event, this one is for you.

    1h 36m
  4. Bill Vanderstraaten: The merit of a high idle, curiosity, and networks.

    APR 10

    Bill Vanderstraaten: The merit of a high idle, curiosity, and networks.

    Welcome to episode 27 of Offshoot. My guest today is Bill Vanderstraaten President and founder of Chief Partners, LP a Dallas-based family office focus on investing LP equity into commercial real estate. As part of the Trever Rees-Jones holdings, Chief Partners team of only 6 professionals typically invests $5MM to $15MM into a myriad of commercial real estate assets classes. They currently manage about $1.2B which falls into 80 assets with 30 GP operating partners. Since their 2007 inception they have built over 8MM square feet of commercial space. Bill’s got a mountain of experience and expertise plus a warm and approachable demeanor that has no doubt served him well. Before investing on behalf of this billionaire family, he worked with foreign capital, a national REIT, and a private equity firm; this is very clearly not his first rodeo. He runs a small team that packs a mighty punch and makes what’s got to be a challenging role sound like a walk in the park.

    1h 38m
  5. Jimmy Silverwood: Don’t take no for an answer. All things affordable housing.

    FEB 25

    Jimmy Silverwood: Don’t take no for an answer. All things affordable housing.

    Welcome, everyone, to episode 26 of Offshoot. My guest today is Jimmy Silverwood, president of Affirmed Housing Group - a San Diego-based affordable housing company that develops in San Diego, LA, and the Bay Area. Since their 1992 start, they have completed $2.8 billion in projects and created more than 5,500 apartments across 70 communities. The company has about 32 employees on the development side and an additional 15 or so in their general contracting division. Jimmy had the good fortune to grow up in the affordable business. After going away to college at CU Boulder, he did a few years at Turner Construction. When he joined Affirmed, he was an acquisitions and finance analyst, then a VP, and finally took became presidency under his father, James, who remains CEO. Of note, James started the company after being blown up in the S & L crisis of the late 1980s. The complexity of affordable housing is a world onto itself. My hope in speaking with Jimmy was that we might open up some of the mystery around the capital structures used to finance these developments. He delivers. We go deep into pretty esoteric stuff right out of the gate. It struck me as table stakes to understanding their business, and the space as a whole.

    1h 50m
  6. Part 2: Josh Volen: Replace Yourself a Little Bit More Every Day

    FEB 11

    Part 2: Josh Volen: Replace Yourself a Little Bit More Every Day

    Welcome everyone to episode 25 of Offshoot. Today, my guest is Josh Volen the Principal and Co-founder of CIRE Equity, an $890MM NAVREIT. Josh graduated from Cal Berkeley then spent 6 years at Marcus and Millichap where he became one of their top brokers. In 2010 he started CIRE. From 2010 to 2019 their acquisition were funded entirely through high net worth syndications. In 2019 they combined 13 of those assets into this NAVREIT, which functions just like the Blackstone BREIT, in that it is not on the public markets but does offer market-to-market transparency and limited redemption. In forming the NAVREIT they also partnered with a broker dealer to really boost their growth. Josh is unique, as he got deep expertise in the hard science of finance and real estate as well as a rich understanding of people and culture. Weaving these two strengths together has created a really powerful platform that I honestly suspect is just getting started. Because it didn’t come out in the pod, for those interested in investing with CIRE its C I R E and you can find the group at CIREequity.com.

    34 min
  7. Part 1: Josh Volen: Replace Yourself a Little Bit More Every Day

    FEB 4

    Part 1: Josh Volen: Replace Yourself a Little Bit More Every Day

    Welcome everyone to episode 25 of Offshoot. Today, my guest is Josh Volen the Principal and Co-founder of CIRE Equity, an $890MM NAVREIT. Josh graduated from Cal Berkeley then spent 6 years at Marcus and Millichap where he became one of their top brokers. In 2010 he started CIRE. From 2010 to 2019 their acquisition were funded entirely through high net worth syndications. In 2019 they combined 13 of those assets into this NAVREIT, which functions just like the Blackstone BREIT, in that it is not on the public markets but does offer market-to-market transparency and limited redemption. In forming the NAVREIT they also partnered with a broker dealer to really boost their growth Josh is unique, as he got deep expertise in the hard science of finance and real estate as well as a rich understanding of people and culture. Weaving these two strengths together has created a really powerful platform that I honestly suspect is just getting started. Because it didn’t come out in the pod, for those interested in investing with CIRE its C I R E and you can find the group at CIREequity.com.

    1h 13m
  8. Part 2: Jason Luker: Survival is victory. Don’t worry about asking stupid questions.

    JAN 21

    Part 2: Jason Luker: Survival is victory. Don’t worry about asking stupid questions.

    Welcome everyone to episode 24 of Offshoot. My guest today is Jason Luker, a Principal and Founder of Cardinal Group which is a vertically integrated institutional asset manager and developer focused on student housing.  From a 2006 start at zero, Jason and his three partners have absolutely crushed. They have 2,000 employees, 100,000 beds, and $2B of gross asset value under management. With a P.O. Box as an office and just the four founders, to this scale in 15 years is incredible. This is a unicorn in real estate operating companies. Jason’s really open here and provides ton of dimension around the challenges of growing the company, institutional capital, entrepreneurship, and strategy.  This one’s a bit like hopping in the back of an F-14 with an ace pilot only to have him explain the instruments, the different maneuvers, and some of his past flights. Jason’s career and life are really on a roll and I think you’ll enjoy the unique perspective he offers.

    31 min
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5
out of 5
89 Ratings

About

Offshoot is a passion project that stems, quite naturally, from my years of experience at Fident Capital. One of the best aspects of the gig is interacting with brilliant people on both the operator/borrower and investor/lender sides of transactions. I love the diversity of their viewpoints and experiencing the horsepower that’s behind their performance. I aim to give these experts a venue to share their knowledge and experience, build relationships, foster connections, and support real estate entrepreneurs. We talk shop on real estate and finance, and we talk personal performance, delving into daily routines, habits, and beliefs that underpin these individuals. I hope you enjoy the conversations.

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