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Inside Deal: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Sam Schneider
If you've ever wondered what it really takes to build something extraordinary — not from a textbook, but from the trenches — this is The Inside Deal Podcast. Sam Schneider, Managing Partner at Imperium Capital, sits down with the operators, investors, entrepreneurs, and dealmakers who've built remarkable careers and businesses from the inside out. Real estate is in our DNA, but the conversations go far beyond it — because the principles behind great deals, great companies, and great careers are universal. These aren't surface-level conversations about headlines or hype. They're real stories about risk, resilience, relationships, and the decisions that changed everything. From launching firms in the aftermath of the financial crisis, to building billion-dollar platforms across industries, to navigating massive pivots and coming back stronger after failure — these conversations are candid, tactical, and deeply human. This show is for ambitious people who want to understand how great careers and great businesses are actually built. Whether you're an investor, entrepreneur, operator, student, or just fascinated by high-stakes decision making, you'll hear the lessons that rarely make it into conference panels or social media posts. You'll learn how exceptional people think through uncertainty, build trust, raise capital, spot opportunities others miss, and create relationships that compound over decades.
Latest Episodes
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- 3 days ago48 min
How to Be Impossible to Ignore | Global Head of Alternative Investments at J.P. Morgan Private Bank – Kristin Kallergis Rowland
On this episode of Inside Deal, host Sam Schneider sits down with Kristin Kallergis Rowland, who leads the alternatives group at JPMorgan's private bank, to trace the path from her first job out of college to running a global business. Kristin explains what alternative investments are, how her team moved a billion dollars from clients in eight days during the March 2020 market dislocation, and what she learned working across Europe and the Middle East. The conversation also revisits her years as a Big Ten student athlete, the coaches who shaped her, and how she built community around a deeply personal fertility journey. Throughout, Sam and Kristin return to the same idea: taking on the work no one else wants can quietly compound into a career. They discuss: - How alternatives differ from the traditional 60/40 portfolio, and why private equity, private credit, and real estate have grown so quickly - The structure behind the 2020 tech investment that carried no management fee and returned capital after a year - What living and working in London taught Kristin about cultural differences, multigenerational wealth, and communicating with clients - How a candid, curiosity-driven interview landed her first job at JPMorgan despite a below-average GPA - Why she gravitates toward managers with a chip on their shoulder, and how she turned a private struggle into a firmwide fertility discussion that drew 1,700 attendees Anyone early in a finance career, curious about private markets, or looking for a model of how to build a support system through setbacks will find practical takeaways in this episode of Inside Deal. Topics: - Intro - Culture shock moving to London - Finding her footing at JPMorgan alts - What alternatives actually are - The March 2020 tech trade - Walking on to the golf team at Illinois - Carrying coaching lessons into JPMorgan - Cold emails and the interview that landed it - Moving to New York and back to London - Leading the US business again - The infertility journey and Fertility Tea - Robin Hood and building community Links: J.P. Morgan Private Bank - https://privatebank.jpmorgan.com/nam/en/home Kristin on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristin-kallergis-rowland-a98b8a9/ Sam Schneider on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-schneider-11234826/ Imperium Capital — https://www.imperiumcap.com
- 1 weeks ago1h 11m
Ben Schneider: Betting on Yourself and Defining Success on Your Own Terms
Sam Schneider and Ben Schneider explore the pivotal decisions that shaped Ben's journey from options trader to successful private equity entrepreneur. Ben shares how he turned down a $400,000 salary at Goldman Sachs to take a $100,000 role at IMAX, a choice that ultimately set the foundation for launching his own firm. The conversation traces his path from Harvard Business School through deal-making challenges, creative financing strategies, and the deliberate choices he made about work-life balance at age 40. They discuss: - How a final conversation with IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond convinced Ben to follow passion over guaranteed money - The creative financing structure that allowed Ben to buy a $20 million company with just $200,000 of personal capital - Why taking every meeting matters, including the Father's Day weekend meeting that became their first major deal - The decision to turn down raising a private equity fund in order to prioritize family during critical years with young children - Why thinking in five-year increments produces better career decisions than rigid long-term planning This episode from Inside Deal offers practical lessons on structuring lower middle market deals, building a proprietary network, and defining success beyond financial outcomes for anyone navigating entrepreneurship or career transitions. Topics: - Intro - Graduating HBS without a job - The $400K Goldman offer vs. IMAX assistant role - Rich Gelfond's pitch changes everything - Susquehanna's unconventional interview process - Five years in Chicago trading options - Realizing the need for business school - Why your network is everything at HBS - Three years at IMAX: a crash course in business - The SkyCam deal - The Father's Day lead that changed everything - Structuring the first deal with almost no equity - The power of LinkedIn and shooting your shot - First deal closed: biggest takeaways - Buying a bathing suit company - How to become an expert in any industry - Turning 40: choosing family over empire - Career advice for the next generation Links: Ben Schneider on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/benschneider/ BASE Equity Partners - https://baseequitypartners.com/ Sam Schneider on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-schneider-11234826/ Imperium Capital — https://www.imperiumcap.com
- 2 weeks ago57 min
Data Centers: How a $110B Firm Finds Its Next Bet | Joey Lansing
Joey Lansing and Sam Schneider explore the evolution of alternative real estate investing on Inside Deal, tracing Joey's path from real estate attorney to managing over $110 billion in assets at Harrison Street. Joey shares how his firm identified emerging opportunities in data centers, starting with an unexpected hospital transaction in 2017 that opened the door to digital infrastructure. The conversation examines Harrison Street's disciplined approach to evaluating new asset classes and why they focus on sectors less correlated to traditional economic cycles. They discuss: - How powered shell data centers generate development returns while mitigating power procurement risk - Why owning dark fiber networks through Summit iG created an informational advantage for site selection - The missing middle opportunity in 10-30 megawatt data centers that larger developers overlook - How carrier hotels function as monopolistic infrastructure assets controlling internet interconnection - The minder-finder-grinder framework for career success and why relationship cultivation cannot be replaced by AI This episode offers a master class in contrarian positioning and active career management for anyone pursuing opportunities in institutional real estate. - Intro - Entering the data center business accidentally - Learning what made data centers mission-critical - Moving into powered shell development - Investing in dark fiber networks - Owning carrier hotels and the data ecosystem - How the data center business changed with AI - Power access as the gating issue - Focusing on the missing middle segment - Evaluating new asset classes - Joey's path from law school to real estate - Lessons from the savings and loan crisis - Premium seating and the stadium business - Betting on yourself and changing careers - Overcoming fear of sales and rejection - The minder, grinder, and finder framework - Joining Harrison Street and staying connected - Relationships and AI in the future - The power of networks and owning your career Links: Joey on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-lansing-80531aa9/ Harrison Street Asset Management - https://harrisonst.com/ Sam Schneider on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-schneider-11234826/ Imperium Capital — https://www.imperiumcap.com
- 3 weeks ago1h 1m
How an NYC Mom with 20 Years in Television Became a m Major NYC Real Estate Developer
Sam Schneider and Dana Lowey explore the path from television journalism to real estate development on Inside Deal. Lowey shares how she transitioned from a 20-year career in broadcasting to becoming a New York City developer, starting with a leveraged spec house in 2010 and building a portfolio that spans luxury condos, townhouses, and multifamily properties. The conversation examines her unconventional entry into the industry, the calculated risks she took with her first projects, and how skills from journalism—curiosity, communication, and problem-solving, translated directly into navigating complex development deals. They discuss: - Why buying cheap bricks in great locations creates durable value and downside protection - How controlling your first property by living in it reduces risk while building experience - The importance of hiring the right architect and general contractor to maintain project control - Why New York's multifamily market presents opportunity amid regulatory complexity and cap rate compression - How young professionals can create value by sourcing deals rather than seeking traditional entry-level roles This episode offers practical insights for anyone interested in real estate development, entrepreneurship, or career pivots that leverage transferable skills. - Intro - Dana's first professional development project - Risking it all with a recourse loan - Why buying right matters more than timing - Upper West Side townhouse arbitrage - Growing up in Queens and early journalism career - Lessons from El Paso: communication and humility - Driving solo through Europe - Trusting your gut and learning from mistakes - First deal lessons: front versus back of house - Creating mommy products and returning to TV - Why failure builds valuable skills - Selling the first project and moving forward - Spotting opportunity in New York multifamily - New York market energy and optimism - Shifting strategy from rentals to luxury condos - First ground-up development on West 15th Street - Building through COVID chaos - Time kills deals and promotes - Meeting a future partner through a lost deal - How Dana evaluates properties step by step - Importance of architects and general contractors - The biggest opportunity for generational wealth - Starting young: provide value first - Creating opportunity by sourcing deals - Dana's secret: creativity conquers fear Dana on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-lowey-17660272/?isSelfProfile=false Holliswood Developement - https://www.holliswoodnyc.com/ Sam Schneider on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-schneider-11234826/ Imperium Capital — https://www.imperiumcap.com
- Oct 8, 202648 min
The Art of Contrarian Real Estate Dealmaking | Scott Sherman
Scott Sherman and Sam Schneider sit down on Inside Deal to explore Sherman's career in real estate, from his early days at Ernst & Young through building and rebuilding investment firms in one of the most competitive markets in the country. Sherman shares how he navigated major inflection points, including the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 shutdown that threatened his retail-heavy portfolio, and the decision to leave a successful partnership to start over. His approach to crisis management, contrarian investing, and relationship-driven deal sourcing offers a grounded perspective on what it takes to operate in high-stakes environments. They discuss: - How Sherman gave all retail tenants a one-month rent reprieve in March 2020 and used the pause to separate proactive operators from those in denial - Why he signed personal recourse on a vacant office building in Miami during the summer of 2020, then leased and sold it within 18 months for more than double the basis - The mechanics of buying distressed debt on a Coconut Grove office building, foreclosing through a UCC process, and exiting in just over a year at a 45% gross return - Why he restructured his second company to stay lean, outsource property management, and focus exclusively on deals rather than operations - His insistence that students leverage advisory boards and build networks early, citing street smarts as equally important as financial modeling in real estate This episode is for anyone interested in opportunistic real estate investing, crisis decision-making, or the trade-offs involved in building and scaling a deal-driven business. Topics: - Intro - March 2020: when COVID hit the retail portfolio - Proactive tenant relief strategy - Working with lenders through the crisis - The Cube deal in Wynwood - Buying a vacant office building during COVID - Leasing success and exit strategy - Early career: from Florida to New York - Landing at Ernst & Young Real Estate - Why New York was essential - The move to Becker Brothers - Joining Thor Equities after the GFC - First deal at Thor: London's Burlington Arcade - Lessons from Joe Sidoti on dealmaking - Finding off-market opportunities - Starting Tricera in 2017 - Launching with no backing - The first hires - Starting over: launching Toros - Building a leaner company the second time - The Coconut Grove debt acquisition - UCC foreclosure process - Going against the grain - Following consensus gets consensus results - AI and starting over today - Advice for students: build your network - Closing thoughts Links: Sam Schneider on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-schneider-11234826/ Imperium Capital — https://www.imperiumcap.com Scott on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-sherman-6019234/ Torose Equities - https://toroseequities.com/
- Oct 1, 202658 min
How Great Investors Balance Risk and Opportunity - Tim Sloan - Vice Chairman & Global Head of Real Estate @ Fortress Investment Group
Tim Sloan and Sam Schneider explore the leadership lessons, deal-making instincts, and strategic thinking behind some of the most consequential transactions in modern finance and commercial real estate. Sloan spent three decades at Wells Fargo, rising from the workout group to CEO, and played a central role in the bank's acquisition of Wachovia during the 2008 financial crisis and its partnership with Blackstone on the GE Capital real estate portfolio. Now vice chairman and global head of real estate at Fortress Investment Group, he applies those lessons to a platform managing $55 billion across equity, debt, and opportunistic strategies in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia. They discuss: - How Wells Fargo structured and won the Wachovia acquisition in 48 hours during the financial crisis - Why the GE Capital deal with Blackstone came together in an elevator conversation after 10 years of relationship building - The difference between taking credit risk and equity risk, and why confusing the two leads to poor outcomes - Why Sloan believes commercial real estate offers the most attractive risk-adjusted returns of his career right now - How to transition from being a deal person to a leader capable of managing large, complex organizations This episode offers a rare look at the decision-making behind billion-dollar transactions and the career discipline required to lead through volatility and change. - Intro - September 2008: Crisis mindset at Wells Fargo - The Wachovia acquisition begins - Weekend due diligence and bidding decisions - Losing the bid to Citigroup - Finding the tax advantage and coming back - Closing the deal and integration sprint - Tim's path from Michigan to Wells Fargo - Being entrepreneurial inside a large organization - The GE Capital deal with Blackstone - Building relationships over transactions - Developing leadership skills across a career - Going against consensus thinking - Credit risk versus equity risk - Current role at Fortress and market opportunities - Advice for young professionals starting out - The importance of hustle Links: Fortress Investment Group - https://www.fortress.com/ Sam on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-schneider-11234826/ Imperium Capital - https://www.imperiumcap.com/ University of Michigan Ross Weiser Center for Real Estate - https://studyrealestate.umich.edu/
- Sep 24, 202656 min
Building a Resilient Business Through Culture and Relationships - Gregg Mayer - CEO of Bisnow
Sam Schneider and Gregg Mayer sit down on Inside Deal to discuss Mayer's unconventional path from investment banking and private equity into operating roles, ultimately leading him to Bisnow as COO and CFO. Mayer shares how early career experiences taught him the value of deep relationships and the importance of balancing visionary leadership with operational discipline. He explains how a restructuring assignment years earlier shaped his management philosophy around pairing complementary skill sets—what he calls the yin and yang of leadership. After joining Bisnow in 2018, Mayer faced immediate culture shock, moving from a numbers-first environment to one where mission and values drove every decision. They discuss: - Why asking instead of telling unlocked better performance from his team - How Bisnow's culture enabled the company to break even during COVID despite being a live events business - How AI is amplifying Bisnow's ability to create actionable insights from proprietary content across hundreds of events - Why personal brand-building starts long before graduation and matters throughout a career This episode offers a rare look at how embracing vulnerability and cultural adaptation can redefine leadership effectiveness in fast-moving media businesses. - Intro - Investment banking to private equity - Learning from Alpine Capital partners - Restructuring experience and management lessons - Balancing leadership and open dialogue - Becoming an operator at a storage company - Joining Bisnow and culture shock - COVID hits the events business - Tragedy and leadership through loss - AI and the future of live events - Building a B2B media company today - Career advice for recent graduates - Greg's competitive advantage Links: Gregg on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregg-mayer-92335316a/ Bisnow - https://www.bisnow.com/ Sam on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-schneider-11234826/ Imperium Capital - https://www.imperiumcap.com/ University of Michigan Ross Weiser Center for Real Estate - https://studyrealestate.umich.edu/
- Sep 17, 202657 min
Building Hospitality Businesses Through Relationship-Driven Deals - Steven Kamali
Sam Schneider and Steven Kamali explore the unpredictable path of building businesses in hospitality and beyond on Inside Deal. Kamali shares how early cold-calling experience, a chance motel purchase in Montauk, and creative deal structures launched a twenty-five-year consulting career—and how losing it all in 2020 forced a complete reinvention. The conversation captures the resourcefulness required to pivot from restaurant brokerage to hotel consulting to staffing, often through relationships built years earlier. They discuss: - Using seller financing and partnership structures to acquire properties with limited capital - How Surf Lodge and The Capri became unintentional marketing engines for a consulting practice - Rebuilding after dissolving a 27-person company during the pandemic - Why being deliberate rather than reactive separates sustainable growth from chaos - The role of AI in scaling a modern staffing business without traditional overhead This episode offers a grounded look at entrepreneurship for anyone navigating setbacks, considering unconventional deal structures, or questioning whether their next move needs to be the obvious one. - Intro - Growing up entrepreneurial - Learning the art of the cold call - Starting a restaurant brokerage business - Shifting from restaurants to hotel consulting - Creating value through hotel food and beverage - Buying Surf Lodge with creative financing - The Capri deal and using expertise as currency - The importance of trying and failing - COVID hits the hospitality business - The ghost kitchen experiment - The SPAC attempt and pivoting again - Building The Staffing Agency from the ground up - Structuring a scalable and sellable business - Synthesizing information as a superpower - Advice for young entrepreneurs today Steven Kamali LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenkamali/ The Staffing Agency - https://thestaffingagency.com/ Sam Schneider LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-schneider-11234826/ Imperium Capital — https://www.imperiumcap.com
About Inside Deal
If you've ever wondered what it really takes to build something extraordinary — not from a textbook, but from the trenches — this is The Inside Deal Podcast. Sam Schneider, Managing Partner at Imperium Capital, sits down with the operators, investors, entrepreneurs, and dealmakers who've built remarkable careers and businesses from the inside out. Real estate is in our DNA, but the conversations go far beyond it — because the principles behind great deals, great companies, and great careers are universal. These aren't surface-level conversations about headlines or hype. They're real stories about risk, resilience, relationships, and the decisions that changed everything. From launching firms in the aftermath of the financial crisis, to building billion-dollar platforms across industries, to navigating massive pivots and coming back stronger after failure — these conversations are candid, tactical, and deeply human. This show is for ambitious people who want to understand how great careers and great businesses are actually built. Whether you're an investor, entrepreneur, operator, student, or just fascinated by high-stakes decision making, you'll hear the lessons that rarely make it into conference panels or social media posts. You'll learn how exceptional people think through uncertainty, build trust, raise capital, spot opportunities others miss, and create relationships that compound over decades.
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