POWERS

In this episode, Chris sits down with Woody Hunt, Chairman Emeritus of Hunt Companies, the El Paso holding company that grew out of a hardware and building materials business his family bought in 1947. Woody joined in 1968 and watched his father take the company public when he was 23. Five years later, fixed-price contracts in a year of runaway inflation cost it about 25% of its equity, and by 1977 he was the controlling shareholder. When the next big shock came in 2008, Hunt had been building cash for five years. As a fellow El Pasoan, Chris has followed Woody's journey for years. They get into what each of those moments taught Woody about scaling, risk, liquidity, leading boards, and building a company that doesn't depend on him. They discuss:• The Friday a buyer walked away from a $250 million deal• How deflation in 2008 made his construction backlog more profitable• What has to be true before he buys a company• Why he sold a profitable company that needed 10,000 employees• Why a business shouldn't be tied to its owner's life cycle• What separates an exceptional board from a weak one• Why he's careful about who he asks questions• Why he wants El Paso to welcome data centers Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(01:05) How Hunt Grew from a $50,000 Hardware Store(07:18) Going Public at 23 and Breaking Into Military Housing(14:11) How Inflation Wiped Out 25% of Hunt's Equity in 1974(18:44) The 1977 Buyback and the Pivot to Niche Housing(25:08) How Hunt Won 60% of the Military Housing Market(32:37) Military Housing Goes from $500 Million to $10 Billion a Year(36:33) How Hunt Came Out of 2008 with Record Cash(41:34) Why Hunt Diversified as Military Housing Ran Out(48:39) What Has to Be True to Buy or Sell a Company(54:21) Why a Business Shouldn't Be Tied to the Owner's Life Cycle(59:19) What Separates an Exceptional Board from a Weak One(1:05:44) Why Raising Third-Party Capital Is Hunt's Hardest Challenge(1:10:07) How to Spot a High-Functioning Board in One Meeting(1:13:53) Why a Controlling Shareholder Has to Be Careful What He Asks(1:19:39) Why Woody Checks Liquidity Every Day(1:21:55) Why El Paso Shouldn't Push Data Centers Away(1:26:36) The Long-Term Pitch for El Paso === Presented by Juniper Square: Juniper Square is the operations partner for GPs in private equity, venture capital, oil and gas, real estate, and infrastructure. It brings technology, data, and administration together on one governed source of truth you own, so your team spends less time reconciling and more time running the firm your LPs are backing. Learn more at https://www.junipersquare.com/powers === 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://bit.ly/45gIkFd Watch POWERS on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNXVisit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

This week Chris sits down with Terry Montesi, Founder and CEO of Trademark Property Company, a Fort Worth developer of retail and mixed-use real estate he started in 1992. Terry was last on the show in 2019, in the middle of what the business was calling the retail apocalypse. They have closed four retail deals in the last 30 days, more than they have ever closed in a month, and Terry now says retail is the best asset class in the country. They get into why almost no new retail space got built for 17 years, what that shortage is doing to rents, and his playbook for creating value at each of his centers. They discuss:• Why almost no new retail space got built for 17 years• Why retailers started volunteering higher rents on their own• The call from a city manager offering to cover a $5 million gap• How a pop fountain landed Tommy Bahama as a tenant• What one grocery lease did to the returns on an entire project• Why he turned down the chance to take the company public• What he is doing to make sure Trademark outlasts him Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:54) How Retail Went from Apocalypse to Top Asset Class(05:31) Why Retail Vacancy Is Down to 4.4%(09:49) How Arlington Helped Trademark Win Lincoln Square(16:15) Picking Tenants with Demographics and Expected Distance(21:15) Why Tenant Build-Out Costs Have Doubled(23:44) The Tommy Bahama Deal That Proved Placemaking Pays(31:08) Dunham Point and Landing Whole Foods Late(37:09) Why Trademark Never Became a REIT(41:54) Getting Back into Development and Launching Multifamily(49:33) The Southlake Deal and an $18 Million City Incentive(54:17) Why Capital Chases Grocery-Anchored Retail(58:45) Succession Planning and Keeping Trademark Independent === Presented by Juniper Square: Juniper SquareJuniper Square is the operations partner for GPs in private equity, venture capital, oil and gas, real estate, and infrastructure. It brings technology, data, and administration together on one governed source of truth you own, so your team spends less time reconciling and more time running the firm your LPs are backing. Learn more at https://www.junipersquare.com/powers === 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 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 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://bit.ly/45gIkFd Watch POWERS on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNXVisit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

This week Chris sits down with Zane Hengsperger, Founder and CEO of NOX Metals, a metal supplier in Detroit he started in 2025. NOX buys metal from the mill, cuts it to the exact size a machine shop needs, and ships it out. The whole operation runs on software the company writes itself. Zane is 26, and his first job was scrubbing the floors of his dad's machine shop at 14. He went into software, then came back to run a machine shop. That is where he saw that metal was the bottleneck for everyone making parts in America. The incumbents have been around for 200 years and have never put software to work. NOX is a year old and has raised an $11.5M seed round. It has written a million lines of code and quotes an order in 10 seconds. They discuss:• The 18-minute call with Y Combinator that put him on a plane the next day• Why his dad hired software engineers for a machine shop back in 2017• How one piece of software does the work of 20 salespeople• Why two of his engineers moved their desks onto the factory floor• Why the forklift driver gets equity after three months• The 7pm order that was in Dallas by 10 the next morning• Why he says America needs 100x more factories• Where AI has let him down so far This one is for anyone betting on American manufacturing. Timestamps(00:00) Intro(01:10) Reading Alex Karp and Walking Back Into a Machine Shop(06:06) Hiring Young Technicians Who Want Hard Work(09:10) Why the Brand Is the Moat(14:28) Lessons From a Dad Who Ran a Machine Shop(16:14) Getting Into Y Combinator With One Day's Notice(22:06) Buy a Saw and Write Instant Quoting Software(27:37) Software Engineers on the Factory Floor(34:29) Is America Actually Reindustrializing?(40:55) America Needs 100 Times More Factories(45:26) Quotes in 10 Seconds Instead of Eight Hours(50:09) Delta Cargo Deliveries and Why Detroit Is Ripping(56:07) Where AI Falls Short and What the Next 24 Months Hold(59:13) The Customer Is the Core Thing Left in America === Presented by True North Advisors: 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 === Sponsored by: AirshareAirshare is trusted across the country for fractional ownership, jet cards, charter, and aircraft management. They give 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. 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://bit.ly/45gIkFd Watch POWERS on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNXVisit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO

This week Chris sits down with Jim Cantrell, Co-founder & CEO of Phantom Space. He co-founded Phantom Space in 2019, where he is now trying to mass produce rockets. He was employee number four at SpaceX and its first VP of Business Development. Jim is one of a handful of people who was actually in the room at the start. They discuss:• How getting arrested for espionage in Russia is the reason Elon Musk ever called him• What a fishing trip in Florida taught him about raising money• Why he believes SpaceX only exists because the Russians said no• What Carl Sagan asked him in a traffic jam• Why the rocket companies that worked spent a few hundred million and the ones that failed spent billions• What he means when he says he is building the Henry Ford of space• Why he thinks the only sovereign place left for a data center is orbit Timestamps(00:00) Intro(01:00) Getting Into Space by Accident(07:06) The Real Soviets and Getting Arrested for Espionage(13:54) The Cold Call From Elon Musk(20:27) The Moscow Trips That Created SpaceX(31:55) From SpaceX Employee Number Four to the Skybox Exit(39:12) Searching for Serendipity in Hotel Boardrooms(43:06) Faith and the Unfinished Business Behind Phantom(53:29) The Case for Mars and SpaceX as a Nation State(57:04) Why America Has to Win Space(1:05:42) Becoming the Henry Ford of Space(1:10:49) Why Data Belongs in Space(1:20:27) Why Phantom Builds Its Own Rockets(1:28:54) Seeing the Future and Staying Under the Radar(1:35:52) The Executives Who Wanted to Destroy Elon(1:40:50) The Launch Shortage and Data Centers in Space(1:49:04) Keeping Space Free of a New East India Company === 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 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

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

In this episode, Chris sits down with Rex Glendenning, founder of REX Real Estate and the man known across North Texas as the "King of Dirt." Rex is a fourth-generation Celina native whose great-grandfather homesteaded 160 acres in 1887. Over the last four decades he's brokered billions in DFW land deals, including the $130M public-private partnership that brought the Cowboys to Frisco, while quietly running a 4-broker shop out of his hometown. Chris and Rex unpack his patience-and-dirt playbook, why he believes DFW is becoming the financial epicenter of America, and how he reads a real estate cycle years ahead of the rest of the industry. They discuss:• How Rex originated the Star deal in 60 days, and why Frisco won the Cowboys instead of Irving• His foundational theory: why every American city grows north (with one exception)• 40 years of plowing every dollar back into dirt• Why he believes DFW becomes "Y'all Street"• Why he never scaled past three brokers• His read on where we are in the cycle Timestamps(05:20) Learning When to Shut Up in Business and Life(08:53) Growing Up Rural in Salina & the Work Ethic It Built(11:02) Why Every City in America Grows North(14:18) Betting on the Pandemic: $1 Billion in Deals with Just His Wife(23:38) The Star Deal: How Rex Helped Move the Dallas Cowboys to Frisco(30:23) Small Towns vs. Big Cities: The Public-Private Partnership Advantage(40:24) DFW Airport as the Hidden Engine of North Texas Growth(44:06) The H-1B Visa Pullback & Its Real Impact on the Housing Market(48:11) How Rex Thinks About Surviving a Recession(56:23) Will an "Artery Pop" in '26 or '27?(01:00:26) Why Rex Is Worth 6%: Full-Service vs. Order-Taking Brokers(01:04:43) Selling the Same Ranch 7 Times Over 40 Years(01:19:03) What Keeps Rex Up at Night: Reading the Current Market Cycle === 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 === 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

In this episode, Chris sits down with Matthew Ogle, Co-founder & CEO of Legacy Knight, a $2.8B multi-family office in Dallas, TX that he co-founded in 2019. We dig into how you build a world-class multi-family office from scratch, and why so many wealthy families out there don't actually have one yet. Matthew's path into wealth management didn't start in a boardroom. It started on a tennis court. A summer teaching tennis to a CIO's family at Cape Cod opened the first door, which led him to Credit Suisse's private bank through the GFC and then five years at the Crow family office, helping transform it into one of the first true multi-family offices in Dallas. He opened Legacy Knight's doors in October 2019 with $2.5M of operating capital, 14 seed families, and a contrarian bet, that the new generation of sub-50-year-old entrepreneurs hitting their first liquidity event needed something the bulge brackets couldn't offer. Six years later, Legacy Knight manages over $3B and was named the fastest-growing RIA in Texas. Chris and Matthew go deep on what it actually takes to build a multi-family office the right way, the technology, the hiring, the legacy conversations with families, and why Matthew refuses to grow by acquiring other books of business. They discuss:• Why every hire at Legacy Knight comes out of the family office world, not from the bulge brackets• How most $100M+ families are still running their wealth on a Google Doc and a handshake with their accountant• Why "do nothing in the year after a liquidity event" is half good advice and half terrible advice• The most creative things Matthew has seen ultra-wealthy families do with their capital• How Matthew thinks about his own kids, legacy, and when to start the wealth conversation Links:Legacy Knight: https://legacyknight.com/Matthew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-ogle-ab11873/ Timestamps(00:00) Intro(02:01) Matthew's First Exposure to Wealth Management(07:58) Joining Credit Suisse (Pre-GFC): Why the "Bulge Bracket" Mattered, How the Private Banking Associate Model Works(13:08) Why Credit Suisse Failed to Serve Ultra-High-Net-Worth Families(20:07) The First Client Meeting: Soft-Tissue Questions(28:57) Tax Timing and Mitigation Strategies(37:57) The Founding Thesis: People and Platform (Building Legacy Knight)(44:46) The Decision to Launch Legacy Knight Independently(54:43) Fundraising Lessons: Managing Expectations and The Importance of Pitch Order(01:01:18) The Full-Service Family Office Model(01:06:24) What a Vertically Integrated Family Office Actually Includes(01:09:07) Proactive Investment Sourcing(01:13:02) Next-Gen Engagement and Family Legacy Planning: How to Involve Children Appropriately(01:21:46) Matthew's Hiring Philosophy(01:30:05) Time as the Hidden Cost of Unstructured Wealth === 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 === 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

Today I sit down with Jason McCann, Co-Founder and CEO of Vari - a company that started when his business partner stood at a cardboard box complaining of back pain and turned that moment into a brand that has shipped millions of desks and transformed over a thousand offices. Jason built Vari direct-to-consumer in an industry that had never seen it. He bootstrapped the company while every instinct in the market said raise capital and burn cash. He became the fastest-growing company in Dallas, survived COVID after just putting $15 million into a TV campaign and opening 12 showrooms, and came out the other side as a fundamentally different leader. We go deep on what it actually takes to innovate legacy product categories, how he recruited the former Chief People Officer of Southwest Airlines over a cup of coffee, and why an introvert had to learn to over-communicate when hundreds of families were counting on him. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. Links: Vari - https://www.vari.com/ Jason on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-mccann-vari/ Support our Sponsors Collateral Partners: https://collateral.com/fort Ramp: https://ramp.com/powers Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro(00:03:29) - How Vari was started(00:08:42) - How entrepreneurs should think about product development(00:11:24) - How Jason approaches AI(00:24:07) - Developing the standing desk(00:36:53) - Jason’s approach to manufacturing(00:47:16) - How Vari develops new products and services(00:56:59) - Bringing on the head of people of Southwest Airlines(01:04:31) - How Vari thinks about innovation vs. leaving products alone(01:14:55) - The future of work in 2026(01:19:50) - The reindustrialization of America(01:23:36) - Jason’s unique leadership style(01:28:47) - Why Jason only wears black(01:31:52) - What a week looks like for Jason(01:40:46) - How vari runs exec meetings Chris on Social Media: X: https://x.com/fortworthchris Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepowerspodcast LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd Watch POWERS on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/ Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0 Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO