Part 2: Jim Griffin: Manage your cash flows, and keep chipping at that block.

On this episode, Kevin chats with Jim Griffin, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Derivative Logic, about how middle market operators can systematically analyze and manage cash flow risk through derivatives and hedging strategies. Jim brings experience trading interest rates, currency, and commodity derivatives for UBS, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi before starting Derivative Logic with his partner Rex Evans over 11 years ago. The conversation covers how Jim provides clients with valuable technology to initiate the sales process while conserving internal resources, creative approaches borrowers can use to address lender-imposed rate caps, and why bank swaps are the most lucrative products—plus what borrowers need to understand about the premiums they pay. Jim discusses how regulatory requirements and compliance stifle value creation in larger institutions, the current lack of distress in the real estate market, and why understanding fixed-rate loans requires examining the lender's credit and internal costs. They explore why inefficient execution is common in real estate, the necessity of both vision and execution for success, and how integrity and relationships remain central to his practice working with publics, real estate finance companies, ultra-high net worth individuals, family offices, money managers, and tech companies.