Part 1: Jason Luker: Survival is victory. Don’t worry about asking stupid questions.

On this episode, Kevin chats with Jason Luker, Principal and Founder of Cardinal Group, a vertically integrated institutional asset manager and developer focused on student housing that's grown from a P.O. Box office and four founders in 2006 to 2,000 employees, 100,000 beds, and $2B in gross asset value under management. Jason shares the raw reality of launching with nothing but conviction, including how he pitched a $30MM acquisition with almost no capital, backed only by unwavering determination and a promise to succeed or die trying. The conversation explores Cardinal Group's obsession with culture and operational excellence, their strategy of becoming the employer of choice by investing heavily in people while maintaining flexibility for anyone to grow into any role, and how they've scaled through strategic capital partnerships from internal funds to sophisticated LP vehicles. Jason discusses the weekly acquisition offers they receive, their unique three-principal partnership dynamic where any one partner can veto a decision, the challenges of building an executive team that enabled explosive growth, and how they position themselves as the tip of the spear in consolidating the fragmented student housing industry. Perhaps most remarkably, they've never lost money—a testament to their rigorous approach and Jason's philosophy of knowing what you don't know while having the confidence to figure it out through your network.