POWERS

Latest Episodes:

#50: Will Churchill - COVID-19: Impact on Automotive Industry Mar 30, 2020

Show notes

Will Churchill is the Owner of Frank Kent Motor Company, as well as several restaurants in Fort Worth, including Heim BBQ. Frank Kent Company has been awarded GM Dealer of the Year for 2012 - 2014, an honor given to only the top 2% of GM dealers throughout the country. In this episode, Will and Chris discuss the family history of Frank Kent, how the automotive industry has been hit by COVID-19, how Frank Kent has battled the pandemic's effect, the specific impact on Fort Worth, and more. Enjoy and stay safe! For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com. Follow Chris on Twitter! @fortworthchris 02:08 — How did you become involved with Frank Kent and the automotive industry? 03:25 — Did you always know you would get into the industry, or were you forced to join the family business? 04:22 — Can you shed some light on what a car dealership would've been like in the ‘20s and ‘30s? Were the leading manufacturers the same? 06:33 — What are some of the manufacturers that you own and operate? 07:20 — What is the process of becoming ‘worthy’ to take on a new car brand? 08:50 — Can you shed some light on accessories / distribution and how you’ve become successful with that side of the business? 10:35 —When did you begin to see demand decline due to COVID-19? 13:28 — Are cars still selling? 16:05 — Do you have a person in charge to monitor changes from COVID-19? How do you distribute information to your team? 17:23 — Has demand actually decreased? Is the automotive industry included in the stimulus package? 18:45 — Is there a difference between the 2008 recession and the current situation? 21:27 — If more people are buying online, do you think this will permanently change the car buying process? 25:10 — How do car dealerships make money? 28:06 — The Lack of Auto Technicians 30:16 — You were Chairman of the Cadillac Dealer Council and sat on the GM Dealer Advisory Group Board, what did you learn through that experience? 33:04 — Are there silver linings in this situation that will make the auto industry better? 35:10 — There was a $1B acquisition that fell through today, do you expect automobile mergers and acquisitions to be on hold? 36:43 — What are you looking for that will indicate the industry is picking back up? 38:08 — What makes a great car salesman? What makes the best, the best? Why does that role get a negative reputation? 41:43 — Is the car dealership postcard actually effective? How often does someone show up to a dealership to browse and end up leaving with a brand-new car? 45:53 — The food and beverage industry is on life support, can you shed some light on what you’re hearing? 49:21 — How many of these restaurants do you think will close indefinitely from this pandemic? The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts.

#49: Patrick Coddou - Founder & CEO of Supply Mar 16, 2020

Show notes

Patrick Coddou is the Founder and CEO of Supply, a men's shaving and grooming direct-to-consumer business, who appeared on Shark Tank in late 2019. This Part 2 episode recaps Patrick's experience on the show (or at least what he can share!) and how the show has radically helped his business. Chris and Patrick also discuss the power of Shopify, pulling products off Amazon, the power of Facebook and SEO. Enjoy! For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com. Follow Chris on Twitter! @fortworthchris Follow Patrick on Twitter @SoundslikeCanoe 02:24 — How far in advance was your Shark Tank episode filmed and how hard was it to keep it a secret? 04:56 — How long does it take to perfect the pitch for the Sharks? 06:24 — What was the day of the pitch like? 10:29 — How long was the pitch to the Sharks? 11:21 — Was there a point where you doubted getting a deal? 16:04 — What did you do to celebrate? 17:12 — How did you prepare your site and supply chain prior to the episode airing? 19:55 — What was the immediate aftermath of the airing? 22:15 — Did you have any issues with the site during the rush of sales? 23:37 — Did you close the deal with Robert the Shark? 25:36 — Has the Coronavirus affected your business? What are you hearing from a supply chain/e-commerce perspective? 27:40 — What makes Shopify so great? 29:28 — Why is Shopify better than other platforms? 31:00 — Why did you stop selling on Amazon? 35:27 — Why are you more worried about Facebook than Shopify? 36:04 — How do you reach customers on the internet? How do you utilize SEO tools? 39:03 — What does the rest of the year look like? How has your strategy changed since going on Shark Tank? 41:07 — Did other investors reach out after Shark Tank? The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts

#48: Travis Heim - The Journey to the 'Best Ribs in Texas' Mar 10, 2020

Show notes

Travis Heim is the founder and pitmaster of Heim Barbeque, one of the most successful barbeque restaurants in Fort Worth! Heim was also recently voted as having the "Best Ribs in Texas" by Food Network. In this episode, Chris and Travis discuss how Travis discovered his passion for cooking, starting out selling brisket from the trunk of his '99 Civic, the 'Impossible Meat' trend in his industry, opening up a Dallas location and more. Enjoy! For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com. Follow Chris on Twitter! @fortworthchris 02:05 — Travis’ Background and The Story of Heim BBQ 03:02 — How did you realize you were great at cooking BBQ? 05:44 — What were your previous jobs before you started Heim? 13:13 — Chris’ First Brisket from Travis in a Dive Bar 14:48 — Travis’ Wife Joins the Team 15:25 — How long did it take to create a full menu beyond brisket? (Ft. The invention of Bacon Burnt Ends) 16:22 — What was the first day of business like? (Selling BBQ out of the back of a ’99 Civic) 20:40 — When did you meet your business partner, Will Churchill? 24:00 — Heim has been incredible at Marketing, especially on social media. Did someone teach you this or how did it come about? (You can follow Travis on Twitter @HeimBBQ) 27:50 — What does a day look like running the food truck? 31:11 — How has your day-to-day changed in the last 5 years? 34:53 — How do you keep your IP a secret, especially with employees leaving? 38:39 — When you opened the truck, were you sourcing the meat you have now? What's the process of selecting the meat you serve? 45:26 — How far in advance do orders need to be placed? 47:22 — What do you think about the ‘Impossible Meat' phenomenon? 48:56 — What trends are you seeing from delivery apps vs. coming into the store? 51:26 — If someone was starting a restaurant, what are some words of wisdom you would have for them? 54:25 — What's the biggest brisket mistake you can make and the easiest way to improve your brisket? 56:36 — Do you have a mentor that has helped you along the way or someone that you haven’t met that you’d love to meet? 59:55 — Do you have a favorite interview question? The Fort with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts

RE #46: Moses Kagan - Co-Founder & Head of Adaptive Realty Feb 03, 2020

Show notes

Moses Kagan is the Co-Founder and Head of Adaptive Realty, a Los Angeles-based development and property management group. Since 2018, Moses has overseen the repositioning of 80 properties in Los Angeles and grown Adaptive from $0 to $110M of property under management. He and Chris discuss finding LP's that align with your vision, Adaptive's business model with cash-only financing, building a successful property management company, and more. Enjoy! For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com. Follow Chris on Twitter! @fortworthchris 02:35 — Background on Moses and Adaptive Realty 07:25 — How do you find LP’s that really enjoy your idea of holding onto assets vs. worrying about IRR? 11:18 — Do you think your model is scalable? Do you want to scale? 15:27 — Are you able to sell? What is the agreement like with your LP’s? 17:44 — Why do you capitalize everything with all equity up-front? 23:15 — Using Fanny / Freddy to Re-Finance a Loan 26:24 — What does your perfect deal look like? How do you find those deals? 36:16 — What makes a successful Property Management business? 41:51 — Are you keeping a reserve line item for cap-ex to build up over time? 45:39 — Where are mistakes made in the multifamily value-add space? 49:25 — What is your favorite book? 51:55 — What advice would you give your 21-year-old self? 55:27 — What is your 10-year prediction for the future? The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts.

RE #45: Jason Baxter - Fort Capital's 2019 in Review Jan 13, 2020

Show notes

Jason Baxter returns to The FORT Podcast to discuss the year of 2019 for Fort Capital. Jason and Chris discuss the importance of building out Objectives & Key Results, offering a wonderfully simple example of how OKRs can be implemented across any organization. They also discuss the influence of Jim Collins' Good to Great, their venture into property management, lessons learned from the industrial asset class, C.O.R., and more. Enjoy! For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com. Follow Chris on Twitter! @fortworthchris 02:30 — Building Out OKRs 16:09 — OKRs Explained: The Super Bowl Example 21:15 — Fort Capital’s Objectives & Key Results for 2020 22:57 — Good to Great by Jim Collins 30:28 — Property Management 38:47 — Investing in Class B Industrial 45:45 — C.O.R. Implementation in 2019 52:17 — F.O.S. (Fort Operating System) 59:53 — Fort Capital Highlights The FORT with Chris Powers is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts.

#44: Chris Huckabee - CEO of Huckabee Architecture Dec 09, 2019

Show notes

Chris Huckabee is the CEO of Huckabee Architecture, delivering thoughtful facility solutions to meet the evolving needs of education. They discuss the transformation of education, Chris' experience as Chair of the Board at Texas Tech, and his amazing manifesto that he provided to the members of YPO when he transitioned out. This manifesto is applied to the group to this day! Enjoy! For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com. Follow Chris on Twitter! @fortworthchris 02:22 — Chris’ Background 05:24 — Did you know all along that working at Huckabee was the right path? 06:47 — What has changed over the last 30 years for Huckabee? 11:42 — What is a bold prediction for the future of education? 13:24 — Is public education focused on the shortage of coders and computer engineers? 17:19 — What is it like being Chair of the Board at a public university? 22:30 — Cost of Education and Family Impact 25:19 — How can the average citizen improve education in their city? 32:34 — When people come to work at Huckabee, what do new employees have to realize? 35:00 — Why did you create a strategic plan and how did you handle new ideas brought to the table? 39:23 — Why was your relationship with your CFO so special? 47:13 — Does anyone care how rich you are or how many social events you attend? 49:39 — Give Away More Than You Keep 53:50 — Raising Great Kids 56:21 — Living on a Budget 1:01:52 — Finding Time for Yourself 1:03:47 — Giving Your Kids Handwritten Notes 1:07:42 — Being a Great Parent

RE #43 - Bennett Washabaugh & Mike Zei - Co-Founders of TenantBase Dec 02, 2019

Show notes

In this episode of The FORT Podcast, Chris is sitting down with Bennett Washabaugh (CEO / Co-Founder) and Mike Zei (COO / Co-Founder) of TenantBase. TenantBase's team has come together from the commercial real estate and technology industries for a single purpose—helping clients find a home for their startup or small business. Their free online service allows business owners to be paired with local brokers to find the best deal for office needs. Chris, Bennett, and Mike discuss the journey of their hypergrowth company, trying to solve every problem at once, raising capital, and determining roles to find the best path to success. Enjoy! For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com. Follow Chris on Twitter! @fortworthchris 01:57 — What are your roles? How did TenantBase come to be? 03:13 — What was the moment that you decided to attack this opportunity? 06:46 — How different is building software versus building a traditional business? 08:29 — How are your products shipped before the masses see them? 09:13 — What were the core issues when you were getting started? 11:16 — Was there a moment when you decided to focus on solving a few things and not everything? 13:16 — If I was a tenant entering the market, what are some things I would experience had I not worked with TenantBase? 16:00 — Is there a fundamental reason why someone would decide not to sign a lease? 17:42 — For office tenants, does access to amenities play a major factor in their decision to lease? 18:44 — Has anything that has happened with WeWork in the past few months affected your business? 20:52 — How do you get started in a new city? How do you identify new markets? 24:28 — How do you keep a consistent culture as you open up this quickly in different cities? 25:48 — Raising Capital Early On 28:50 — What’s it like having a board? 31:43 — How critical was going through an incubator in this journey? 35:04 — Is there someone along the way you read or listened to that helped you become great leaders? 37:13 — What is your ten-year prediction for this space? 38:59 — What are tenants asking for today that has changed recently? 42:18 — Are tenants needing space so quickly because of their failure to forecast growth, or is it because of a problem in the industry? 43:27 — How did you transition from doing the same thing to finding different things for each of you to focus on? 47:08 — What advice would you give your 21-year-old self?

RE #42: Terry Montesi - Consumer Values Changing Retail Nov 25, 2019

Show notes

As founder and CEO, Terry Montesi has led Trademark Property Company through 26 years of innovative, community-focused development. Under his leadership, Trademark has developed more than $3.4B and 14.6M square feet of some of the most stakeholder-centric retail and mixed-use properties from coast to coast. He and Chris sit down to discuss Terry's journey of founding companies, the current state of mixed-use retail spaces, what they see for the future of retail, and more. Enjoy! For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com. Follow Chris on Twitter! @fortworthchris 01:54 — How did your career guide your entry into the retail world? 05:47 — Is there anything you learned at Blockbuster that is still relevant today? 08:52 — Do you and your team have to determine the trade area? 09:29 — Was there a moment you turned from being scared to being optimistic about the buying process? 12:49 — What was Trademark doing in 1992? How does that compare to today’s focus? 18:51 — What triggered the change in consumers and the value of physical retail spaces? 24:38 — What makes a great public space? 33:46 — What is so valuable about your focus on mixed-used public / retail spaces? 45:33 — Is there a reason you would tell an institution "no"? 49:07 — What do you think about CloudKitchens? 49:53 — How do you know if you’ve found the right person for the job? 52:30 — If you had to give your 21-year-old self advice, what would it be? 53:15 — What is your bold prediction for the future ten years from now?

#40: Tuur Demeester - The Future of Bitcoin Oct 21, 2019

Show notes

Tuur Demeester is the Founding Partner of Adamant Capital and the #11 Worldwide Crypto Influencer. Tuur is known for his work on crypto valuation, market analysis, trading calls, ETH debates, and the study of tech history. He and Chris discuss the history of Bitcoin, the process of crypto becoming an everyday consumer currency, Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency, and more. Enjoy! For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com. Follow Chris on Twitter! @fortworthchris 02:06 — How did you discover Bitcoin in 2012? 06:08 — Tuur’s Background 09:40 — The Nature & Scarcity of Bitcoin 14:33 — What is the limit on 21 million Bitcoins? 17:03 — What is Bitcoin to you? Why do you commit to the progression of it? 19:32 — 4 Steps to Becoming a Currency & Everyday Consumer Use 22:33 — Where are we in making Bitcoin an institutionally viable asset? 26:28 — Bitcoin Changing Courses 30:27 — Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? 32:20 — Facebook’s Libra 38:05 — Can the government stop Bitcoin? 44:26 — Bitcoin in Authoritarian or Underdeveloped Nations 46:42 — How was 2018 for Bitcoin? 49:26 — Listener Question: How will a decentralized currency economy regulate factors typically regulated by the government? 52:17 — Bitcoin & Criminals 55:37 — How does Twitter play a role in your daily life and work? 59:37 — The Future of Bitcoin The FORT with Chris Powers is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts.

#39: Patrick Coddou - Founder & CEO of Supply Oct 14, 2019

Show notes

Patrick Caddou is the Founder and CEO of Supply, a direct-to-consumer company specializing in single-blade razors for men as well as other cosmetic goods. Patrick and Chris discuss his journey of leaving the corporate world to become a founder, the ups and downs of manufacturing a product that people will love to use, and the how Twitter and freelance platforms have been so instrumental in businesses. Enjoy! For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com. Follow Chris on Twitter! @fortworthchris 01:38 — What is Supply and how did you get started? 04:00 — Did you discover something new yourself when you went full-time with Supply? 05:08 — What was your experience launching a product on KickStarter? 07:30 — What risks come with manufacturing a product? 08:40 — What is the biggest factor in customer loyalty? 09:15 — Designing a Product, Sourcing Materials, and Customer Delivery 11:20 — Razorpedia.com and Supply 14:29 — How did you deal with issues with manufacturers? 17:18 — How are you dealing with poor supplier relationships right now? 18:53 — Are there consultants for sourcing suppliers? 20:44 — What will your trip to China be like? 22:12 — If a supplier drops the ball on a major purchase order, how does it put you at risk? 27:16 — What led to the launch of Razorpedia? 29:06 — Negative Social Media Feedback 33:06 — Slowly & Methodically Growing a Company 38:18 — What does “pushing the lever” mean? 41:50 — When did you realize the importance of digital advertising? 44:30 — Ben & Jerry’s vs. Amazon 50:10 — What makes a great shave? 52:50 — How focused were you on doing one thing really well? When did you decide to expand the product line? 55:25 — Do you have a mentor or group that advises you? 58:38 — Advice to Your 21-Year-Old Self 1:01:50 — How do you know if you had a good day? How do you define success?

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