Entrepreneurship is an extremely competitive field. Staying motivated and focused is a full time job in and of itself, and it can be a very helpful exercise to find motivation in the success stories of others.
John Sauter is the Founder and President of Tower 14 Capital, a Los Angeles-based real-estate investment firm. Sauter also serves as the Senior Advisor of the $3 billion-valued New York-based Dune Real Estate Partners. John Sauter is a Political Science graduate from Duke University. Sauter also holds an MBA from the Los Angeles-based University of California.
We take a look at John Sauter’s successful ventures, and what helps him stay motivated to keep pursuing new opportunities.
John Sauter’s History
Before Tower 14 Capital, Mr. Sauter led CBRE Global Investors as both Executive Principal and Senior Managing Director. He successfully secured a $2 billion worth investment transaction for CBRE and raised $2.5 billion equity for the corporation. Sauter’s role as MSD Real Estate Investments’ Partner saw him complete 22 public and private property transactions. The total trades added up to $5 billion worth of stock and $1 billion worth of equity.
Before joining MSD, John Sauter served as the Starwood Capital’s Acquisitions Vice President and Troon Golf’s President. At Starwood Capital, Sauter worked in the private equity, land, and hospitality divisions and spearheaded a transaction worth more than $300 million. At Troon, a joint investment venture owned by Starwood Capital and Goldman Sachs, he spearheaded the company’s growth by personally unveiling the opening of the company’s new offices in Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Prior to Starwood Capital, John Sauter worked for Santa Barbara, a real estate investment company. His role at Santa Barbara saw him spearhead the acquisition of $400 million property. Sauter’s first career saw him serve as LaSalle Partners’ financial Analyst in both Chicago and Los Angeles.
Why The Name Tower 14 Capital?
The name Tower 14 Capital comes from where John Sauter and his wife Lee Ann live in Santa Monica. John and Lee Ann’s wedding anniversary is also June 14th, and the name fell into place.
A Typical Day for John
Starting out the day the right way is pivotal for any successful businessman, or aspiring entrepreneur. John Sauter wakes up at 4:30 am to engage in a light workout after morning prayers. The exercise may be in the form of an outdoor walk or swim in the ocean. He then plans for the day on how he is going to spend it. To stay productive and organized, he plans and records on paper everything he wishes to accomplish by the end of the day. Planning ensures proper organization of every detail, and ensures one is ready to attack the day. Together with his family, they take breakfast before dropping the children to school. He then reports to his office by 8 am ready to meet the day’s challenges.
How to Bring Ideas to Life
According to John Sauter, bringing a business concept to reality requires strategic planning. Mr. Sauter always involves his team, made up of advisors, consultants, and experienced experts, in drafting the idea.
Trends are also a vital component of crafting new ideas. John in particular is excited by the emergence of remote working. People can now operate from anywhere on the planet. In recent months the move has been out of necessity, as COVID-19 forces millions to find ways to do business while remaining physically distant from others. Remote working has created new market avenues, but perhaps more interesting, it has reduced the expenditure that comes with an office building full of employees.
According to Sauter, the pandemic will result in many opportunities for entrepreneurs to capitalize on. Those who figure out how to apply these cost savings and mobility to everyday business stand to benefit enormously. Another example of how organizations need to keep on learning from daily occurrences.
Advice to Young Aspiring Entrepreneurs
John Sauter advises aspiring entrepreneurs not to fear what they can’t control. There are always going to be elements that we can’t control, in business and in life. For Sauter, he spent his early years worried about things he couldn’t control, but that doesn’t benefit anybody. Finding a way to accept what you can’t control and forge ahead is the most important part to remember.
Sauter advises others to take thirty minutes after waking to exercise, pray, and listen to inspiring music. The thirty minutes should also be focused on character and integrity. Potential entrepreneurs should be relentless in their chores but always show fairness and kindness. Such an attitude pays well in the long run and keeps one grounded.
According to Sauter, there is no meaningless suffering. Setbacks, failure, and tragedy always play a part in our character’s development and make us grateful and compassionate. Learning from failures will enable you to succeed in future endeavors. Sauter believes some of his early career worries were from being too tied up in the outcome of his investments. Overthinking made it difficult to cope with uncertainty, leading to looking for the safest route. Today, he can calculate risks with a clearer head, even when unsure about all of the potential outcomes. It’s all about mitigating the fear with the rigorous pursuit of new opportunities.
Top Business Strategies
In order to grow a business, Sauter always looks to bring in partners with complementary skills. Everybody is limited by their own personal education or experience; hence this requires an entrepreneur to bring on board other people with other skills that complement his personal background for success in future endeavors. For instance, Sauter recently partnered with a debt group to enable him to pursue real estate lending opportunities in the current market.
Entrepreneurs need to integrate software and web services in their business operations to remain productive as well. John Sauter commonly uses Microsoft Office, Green Sheet, Trepp, Co-star, and RE Alert. These tools help him in doing thorough data research. Over the last ten years, the real estate business has seen vast incorporation of technology in their operations. Integration of technology has helped in changing customer preferences. As computers and phones continue to advance rapidly, Sauter anticipates that the sector will only get more technology dependent in the next few years.
Post COVID-19 Entrepreneurship
According to John Sauter, remote working will have a long-term impact on the US economy. People need to plan how they will deploy capital as the economies begin to recover from the effects of COVID-19. Sauter feels people will still find peace and better footing, even in demanding and challenging times. People always figure out how to deal with problems as long as they apply patience, compassion, and a strong work ethic.
Sauter acknowledges how hard the country has been hit by COVID-19. New York City, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco were some of the hardest hit. Recovery of these cities will take some time, but with the realization of remote working, cities will be able to recover even more quickly. The office will never become extinct, but remote working is definitely here to stay.
