The FORT Podcast – Hiten Samtani – Founder @ ten31 Media – CRE is the Ultimate Business Bloodsport

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Episode Summary

Hiten Samtani is the founder of ten31 Media, a fast-growing media company focused on commercial real estate. With a background in journalism and over a decade of reporting on the commercial real estate sector, Samtani brings a unique combination of editorial discipline and industry knowledge. In this episode with Chris Powers, he shares how he’s building a niche, operator-focused media brand and what it takes to cover real estate in a way that insiders actually care about.

The episode begins with a breakdown of Samtani’s early years in media and how his immigration background shaped his professional journey. After moving to the U.S. and earning a spot at Columbia Journalism School, he landed a role at The Real Deal in New York, where he quickly realized that commercial real estate was a window into power, politics, finance, and urban development. Real estate wasn’t just about buildings—it was about how money moves through cities. That lens became central to how he viewed his role as a journalist and later as an entrepreneur.

A key focus of the conversation is the problem The Promote set out to solve. Commercial real estate lacked a unifying national conversation, and most media coverage failed to serve its most engaged stakeholders. Samtani wanted to create a product that resonated with both operators—developers, brokers, lenders, and architects—and institutional capital—pension funds, sovereign wealth, and asset managers. He structured The Promote to serve both audiences by focusing on real estate deal mechanics, capital flows, and the people behind the transactions. He avoided the fluff and the lifestyle angle that dominates traditional coverage and instead leaned into high-frequency, high-consequence storytelling.

Samtani explains how gossip and narrative drive engagement in real estate. The stories that matter are about who saved a deal at the last minute, who brought in preferred equity, or how a developer repositioned after losing control of a portfolio. It’s not just transaction reporting—it’s the structure, drama, and people behind the deal that readers want. According to Samtani, readers aren’t coming only for information—they’re coming for the tone, the insight, and the edge. This editorial voice has driven newsletter open rates north of 70%, which is rare in B2B media.

He also shares how he launched the business with little outside capital, starting with just a laptop and a willingness to write. A key moment came at Reconvene, where informal conversations turned into angel investments from industry professionals. Samtani initially considered video as the primary medium but pivoted to writing when early drafts of the newsletter gained rapid traction. He attributes the early growth to consistent, bold storytelling that insiders were hungry for, particularly as the real estate market was entering a volatile period.

The conversation then shifts to how Samtani and his team produce stories. He describes a two-part process: aggregation and original sourcing. The bulk of the newsletter starts with carefully curated news that already exists but is repackaged for a professional audience. Most mainstream real estate coverage, he argues, is either too shallow or misaligned with what insiders care about. By filtering for relevance and layering in sharp analysis, The Promote delivers clarity on topics that are otherwise underreported or misinterpreted.

On the sourcing side, he relies heavily on off-the-record conversations with junior participants in deals—title reps, brokers, attorneys—people often overlooked by traditional media. These relationships allow him to add context that would otherwise be missing from public records or press releases. He emphasizes the importance of earning and maintaining trust with sources, while being transparent about what is on-the-record, off-the-record, and on-background. For readers and sources alike, Samtani focuses on one principle: respecting their time and intelligence.

Real estate’s lack of a national media conversation creates editorial challenges, which The Promote solves by using “snapshot coverage.” Stories are chosen not because they happened in a major market, but because the mechanics of the deal offer insights relevant to professionals everywhere. Whether it’s a financing structure from Seattle or a tax strategy from Texas, each story is chosen to teach something transferable to other markets. He explains this model has helped the newsletter scale without sacrificing its specificity.

One standout example covered in the episode is the use of Housing Finance Corporations (HFCs) in Texas. Samtani outlines how developers are leveraging a legal structure that offers permanent property tax relief in exchange for rent restrictions. In many cases, the rent levels required are already in line with or even above current market rents, making the tax relief effectively unconditional. This has created a wave of deal “rescues,” where struggling projects become viable again. The coverage led to attention from lawmakers, regulators, and even real estate professionals looking to structure their next transaction.

Samtani also addresses media trust, noting that distrust isn’t just about fake news—it’s about misaligned incentives and audience confusion. Many traditional outlets still write for a vague business audience that doesn’t exist. In contrast, The Promote writes directly to commercial real estate professionals. He notes that factual accuracy is essential, but even more critical is providing the right framing and relevance. Major publications may report a sale correctly but miss what that sale actually means for lenders, borrowers, or market direction.

The podcast touches on media strategy for operators. Samtani offers tactical advice for professionals who want to use media to tell their stories. Press releases are ineffective; what works is identifying the most interesting angle in a deal and pitching that directly to the right reporter. Success depends on giving media professionals a story they can use—one with scale, uniqueness, or structural novelty. He emphasizes that good media strategy starts with knowing who you want to reach—whether it’s LPs, lenders, or prospective partners—and choosing media accordingly.

The episode closes with a discussion on key real estate trends for 2024 and 2025. Samtani highlights the collapse of regional banks and the rise of debt funds as a major structural change. He notes that debt funds bring more complexity, less tolerance for defaults, and more willingness to enforce terms. He also talks about the growing role of life insurance companies in real estate credit, the fall of major syndicators, and the growing legal and regulatory scrutiny across the industry. Lastly, he emphasizes that in times of distress, great stories emerge—and for media businesses that know how to find and package those stories, the opportunity is significant.

The FORT is produced by Johnny Podcasts