Once again, I listened as people told me I was nuts. Emerging markets were largely considered untouchable by foreign investors at the time. They were… - Sam Zell

Attracting investors is as much art as science. To gain an advantage, I get creative. These guys see ten presentations a day. They are inundated with seemingly great companies to invest in. To them, I am just another face in the succession. I have just forty-five minutes to make a pitch, answer questions, and leave an impression, so I create custom T-shirts to help seal the deals. I gained a reputation for doing IPO road show T-shirts with memorable, often tongue-in-cheek, spins. They are the calling cards of our sponsorship. And while I didn’t do the road show for Vigoro, I did commemorate the deal with green T-shirts that read: “People Shoot It, Spread It, Sling It, Step in It and Let It Happen . . . We Make Money with It.

The third acquisition was a big single-family house. I found an architect, a small local general contractor, and we created a design for four separate units. Then I went to the bank and got loans to do the renovation. I was twenty-three, with a BA in political science. I didn’t know anything about financing. But it never crossed my mind that I might be too young to start an investment business or that I couldn’t do it. I didn’t know any better, but was able to sell the banks on my ability to get it done. Our management company took over the property, did the renovation, and rented the units. The asset did very well.

From the very first deals we did at EGI, I have spread the opportunity — both the risks and the rewards. We co-invest, side by side, and I often provide a “promote” to my people, allowing them to share in profits on a portion of my invested capital. That means I put my money behind theirs (say $150,000 of my money to $30,000 of their money), and if our investments or funds achieve their minimum target metrics, my people get returns based on the aggregate ($180,000). In effect, we’re all invested in each other’s success. It’s not only about motivation; it’s a mandate to collaborate. Deal opportunities and challenges are discussed, questioned, and probed by the team at large because everybody has a piece of everybody else’s deal.