Brian Shirken: What it Takes — From Southern African Draft Evasion to $1.4B of Investment Success.

On this episode, Kevin chats with Brian Shirken, Cofounding Partner at Mountain Pacific Opportunity Partners and founder of its precursor Mountain Capital Partners, who also co-founded Columbus Pacific in 1995. Brian has been principally involved in millions of square feet of retail, over 10,000 student housing beds, development of over 3,000 multifamily units, 5 assisted living projects, and provided more than $200 million in mezzanine and equity capital, with Mountain Pacific currently focusing on investing in QOZ projects across the West. This talented entrepreneur brings deep expertise in commercial real estate finance and development as a South African immigrant with residences in Los Angeles and Park City. The conversation explores how in the beginning of your real estate career you're not smart enough to get in your own way and action carries the day, why it's all about the people and they give up returns for great projects in great areas with great developers but never give up on great developers, and how Mountain Pacific brings debt financing to deals for developers who aren't credit worthy. Brian discusses not relying on momentary variance but underwriting to long-term trends, locking in low financing now while using appropriate leverage to hold through any cycle, how developer co-invest isn't their main concern as fee subordination can substitute, staying small by contracting commodity services to keep agile low-cost teams since cyclical businesses and fixed overhead are a mismatch, focusing where they make money while letting vendors handle services at scale, and finding passion that drives you to enjoy the work.