POWERS

This week Chris sits down with Ric Campo, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Camden Property Trust $CPT. Ric and Keith Oden started the company in Houston in 1982 and took it public in 1993. They discuss:• How he and Keith Oden made a 45-year partnership work• What Paul Volcker told him that made him sell everything• How a dying deal in 2007 warned him the crisis was coming• Why he measures leverage by cash flow instead of value• Why he told his employees to turn off the TV in 2009• Why Camden sold California to buy back its own stock• Why he walked away from two deals when the 10-year Treasury passed 5%• Why he's bullish on rents over the next few years• Why AI at Camden has to raise revenue or cut costs Timestamps(00:00) Intro(01:00) Reinventing Yourself Every Few Years Over a 50-Year Career(06:24) Working Alongside Co-Founder Keith Oden for 45 Years(12:42) How a 1985 Meeting With Paul Volcker Saved the Company(17:23) Losing a $1 Billion Loan Commitment in 2007(20:25) Creating Urgency in a Slow Industry and the California Sale(26:10) Selling California to Buy Back Stock at a Discount(31:50) The Real Advantages of Being a REIT(35:38) Why Camden Runs Low Leverage After Missing a $40 Million Trade(42:26) Leading 1,800 Employees Through the 2008 Financial Crisis(49:50) When Camden Knew It Had Survived 2008(52:53) Why This Is the Most Unusual Multifamily Market in 40 Years(56:08) Why Camden Walked Away From Deals When the 10-Year Hit 5%(1:03:11) The Case for Rent Growth Over the Next Three to Five Years(1:07:52) How Camden Measures the Return on AI(1:13:22) Using AI for Predictive Maintenance and Site Selection(1:19:18) The Hardest Part of Running Camden Today === 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 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 Ross Perot Jr., Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group. Ross founded Hillwood in 1988 and built Alliance Texas, his masterpiece, a 1 of 1 27,000-acre development. They discuss:• Why Trammell Crow told him to just build warehouses• How Hillwood developed Alliance Texas• How a rare earth company got its air permit in three weeks• How President Bush helped close Scotiabank's move to Texas• What the 1992 campaign looked like from inside the family• The Iran War and why cheap oil prices are on the way• Why every community should want a data center• How to keep China from taking Taiwan• Why he expects markets to boom after the midterms Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:42) Why Texas Is Winning the Data Center Boom(06:20) The Facts Behind the Data Center Backlash(11:49) Why California, Illinois, and New York Are Losing to Texas(18:12) How Fort Worth Landed Elon Musk, MP Materials, and Taylor Sheridan(23:39) Building Alliance for Flying Taxis and Drone Delivery(27:47) Fighter Pilot Heroes and the First Helicopter Flight Around the World(34:29) Why EDS Left Dallas and Hillwood Became a Developer(38:31) Why the Rail Yard Matters More Than the Runway(44:51) Tariffs and How to Deal with China(50:35) Deterring a War over Taiwan by 2027(55:32) The Iran War and the Coming Oil Glut(59:10) The Case for a Post-Midterm Market Boom(1:04:34) Smart AI Regulation and the Quantum Encryption Threat(1:09:24) Buying Land After the S&L Crisis and Trammell Crow's Advice(1:12:31) Why Circle T Ranch Has Been Replanned 30 Times(1:17:43) How George W. Bush Closed the Scotiabank Deal(1:19:11) Inside the 1992 Perot Presidential Campaign(1:24:34) How Hillwood Runs as a Company of Entrepreneurs(1:32:04) Why Finding Talent Is the Hardest Part of the Business === 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 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

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 Shlomo Chopp, Founder of Case Equity Partners. His job is helping real estate owners get out of or restructure loans they can't pay. Shlomo got into this after an attorney told him to read the CMBS loan documents, and he read them cover to cover. Today his clients range from owners with a couple million dollars of debt to an $800 million capital stack. They get into what is actually in a modern loan document, and what a borrower should do before the lender starts looking. They discuss:• Why 2008 did not play out like the savings and loan crisis• How a non-recourse loan turns into full recourse• How a payment due on a holiday can lock up your cash• How to study your loan documents before the next deal• Why an underwater property is the borrower's biggest leverage• Why Shlomo thinks the worst has already happened• Where Shlomo would put $50 million today Timestamps(00:00) Intro(01:03) Why the Savings and Loan Playbook Failed in 2008(08:18) How Loan Documents Got Tougher After 2008(16:12) Why You Should Model Every Clause in Your Loan Documents(22:16) Which Lenders Hide Full Recourse in the Fine Print(25:21) How to Learn and Negotiate Your Loan Documents(32:18) What's Usually Gone Wrong by the Time a Borrower Calls(39:54) A Borrower's Leverage in a Loan Workout(44:09) Restructuring a Loan When You're Out of Cash(49:36) The Game Theory of Negotiating With Your Lender(53:14) A Good Operator Is Not the Same as a Good GP(54:53) Why Office and Multifamily Are Seeing the Most Distress(1:01:17) How Lenders' View of Office Has Shifted(1:03:26) Why the Worst of the Distress Is Already Here === 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 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 Adam Blake, Co-founder and CEO of Mavria. Adam spent a little more than a year leading the DOGE team inside the Department of Energy. He has been a private person for 15 years, and last week he broke his silence with a tweet that got over 2 million views. Chris has known Adam since 2004. They met shortly after Chris arrived at TCU, and the school paper named Adam Entrepreneur of the Year for the real estate he was buying around campus. One lunch with him at a Chipotle changed the trajectory of Chris' life. Adam went on to build a commercial solar company that did around 2,000 projects across 17 states, then sold a software company to Vista Equity Partners. In early 2025 a friend called about DOGE. Within about a week he was on a plane to DC, and two weeks after that he was sitting in the West Wing with Elon Musk and the Secretary of Energy. The executive order that set a goal of three new nuclear reactors going critical by July 4th, 2026 put his team in charge of making it happen. Everyone thought it was impossible. It got done. Along the way he got death threats over an anonymous quote that the chairman of the NRC later denied under oath. Now he is building Mavria with two of the people who were in those rooms with him, backed by a $30M pre-seed from a single investor. His view is simple. AI is power, and America has to build a lot more of it. Timestamps(00:00) Intro(01:18) Why He Decided to Speak Publicly Now(04:37) From Campus Real Estate to Brightergy to Zego(09:03) The Week That Took Him From Coronado to the West Wing(13:02) What DOGE Was Actually There to Do(19:52) Inside the DOGE Team, Working Under Elon(24:53) Why He Calls Washington the Hunger Games(28:08) The Tijuana Sewage Crisis Nobody Has Fixed(31:45) Three New Reactors by July 4, 2026(35:02) Death Threats Over a Story That Was Never True(41:52) Why Fear Is Not a Strategy on AI(49:09) Why It Takes a Decade to Plug Into the Grid(55:30) Winning Back Public Trust on Data Centers(1:02:29) Spec Builds, Modular Factories, Smaller Data Centers(1:08:52) Why Big Tech Should Behave Like a Nation State(1:14:15) Inside Mavria, His New Infrastructure Company(1:19:45) Loving the Country More, Hating Politics More === Presented by Collateral Partners: Collateral 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 === Sponsored by: AirshareAirshare is trusted across the country for fractional ownership, jet cards, charter, and aircraft management. With over 25 years of experience, their own fleet, and the top safety ratings in the industry, they give you a smarter way to fly private. Drive up to the FBO, walk on, and go. Learn more at https://flyairshare.com 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 Lucy Billingsley, Co-founder and Partner of Billingsley Company, the Dallas development firm she started with her husband Henry in 1978. Lucy is the daughter of Trammell Crow, who built the largest real estate development company in America. She left the family business because she did not want to be a minority vote. She and Henry built their own firm instead, and today they run it with their kids. Billingsley plays a longer game than almost anyone in real estate. They buy land 30 or 40 years before the growth arrives and hold it until the market is ready. Cypress Waters alone is 1,300 acres zoned for 10,000 apartments and over 12 million square feet of office. They discuss:• Why every building they develop goes in the kids' names from day one• The rule that keeps siblings from ever voting on each other's deals• The lake at Cypress Waters they bought for 50 cents a foot• The difference between a park people look at and a park people actually use• Why new office space now rents for more than Dallas has ever seen• Where AI is already saving them real money in construction Timestamps(00:00) Intro(00:52) Building a Family Business and Putting Assets in the Kids' Names(05:55) From the Dallas Market Center Into Development(09:15) Picking Land and Staying Ahead of the Growth Wave(14:33) Designing the Public Arena to Make a Place(18:00) Zoning Is an Art, Not a Guarantee(20:52) What Cities Want and What the State Took Away(22:31) The Future of Office and Why Amenities Win(28:44) How They Decide What to Build and Where to Buy Next(33:15) The Events Business and Public-Private Partnerships(36:52) Buying a Lake for 50 Cents a Foot and Draining It(37:54) Construction Costs and the Frozen Single Family Market(42:07) Reinventing Herself and the Cypress Waters Trail(46:37) Going All In on AI === Presented by True North Advisors:True 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

Today Chris sits down with Justin Lopas, Co-founder & COO of Base Power Company. On Monday Base announced a $1B Series D at a $13B post money valuation. Justin spent his early career at SpaceX, where he helped lead the Brownsville site that became Starbase, then ran manufacturing at Anduril. Base puts large batteries on homes, owns and operates them, and uses the fleet to support the grid. This is a conversation about speed, and about how much of it turns out to be a decision rather than an effort level. They discuss:• Why he wanted their first battery installed fast instead of right• Why he thinks good manufacturing is decided during design, not on the factory floor• Why he does not push his suppliers as hard on price as he could• Why SpaceX put him in charge of building the Starship factory two and a half years into his career• The question he asks to find out why a job is really taking so long• How a battery company ended up training its own electricians• Why he calls Base an infrastructure company and not a product company Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:48) From Late-Night Research to an Office in Austin(07:55) The First Battery Install Was an Epic Failure(09:15) Finding a Battery Supplier Who Would Let Them In(15:47) Killing Gen Two and Skipping Straight to Gen Three(22:52) From a Hundred Requirements to Cardboard Cutouts(26:02) Good Manufacturing Is Won or Lost at the Design Stage(32:48) How to Build a Supply Chain From Nothing(40:51) Negotiating With Suppliers and Deciding What to Build Yourself(44:58) The Turtle That Marks the Slowest Team(47:39) The SpaceX Lessons on Talent and Speed(54:09) Building a Regulatory Team and Choosing the Next State(58:19) Managing Complexity Is the Whole Job(1:03:20) Tesla Sells Products, Base Owns Infrastructure(1:05:24) Training Electricians and Staying Out of Commercial === 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 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 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 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