Tom Dunkel: Building Your Life Plan Before You Build Your Business Plan

About this episode

Tom Dunkel shares his entrepreneurial journey and the importance of building a life plan before a business plan.

In this episode of Burning the Ships, I sit down with Tom Dunkel — managing principal of Eagle Capital Investments, co-founder of U.S. Mortgage Resolution, self-storage investor, and a guy who spent ten years in corporate mergers and acquisitions before getting fired in 2006 and never looking back. Tom walks us through a career that started with aerospace deals and Harvard MBAs in DC, ran through a firing that turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him, and evolved into a 20-year entrepreneurial journey that has generated close to $70 million in revenue. From wholesaling to distressed mortgage debt to a $55 million self-storage portfolio, Tom and his business partner Joe have built and rebuilt multiple times — and learned hard lessons each time about niching down, building teams, and creating a business that works without you. Key Talking Points of the Episode 00:00 Why niching down is the difference between businesses that succeed and ones that fail 01:41 Tom's background — William and Mary, corporate M&A, and the aerospace industry 03:21 Building financial models and raising capital alongside Harvard and Wharton MBAs 04:27 Getting fired in 2006 and why his…

People in this episode

Host: The Boat Crew

Guest: Tom Dunkel

Topics covered

• entrepreneurship
• business planning
• financial modeling
• niching down
• team building
• self-storage investment

Keywords

• entrepreneurship
• business plan
• life plan
• financial models
• self-storage
• investment
• niching down
• team building

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Eagle Capital Investments, U.S. Mortgage Resolution, Harvard, Wharton

Places: Washington, D.C.

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