EP348: We Paid Grant Cardone to Scale to $10 Billion

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We paid five figures to spend five days confined on a yacht with Grant Cardone… and what he told us might just be the reason our $400 million multifamily portfolio grows to $10 billion in the next five years.

And before you roll your eyes and think, “Really? A yacht?” — hear us out.

Because the strategy that got us to $400M?

It’s not the strategy that’s going to take us any further.

Grant showed us a new playbook — the one billionaires quietly switch to when the old system taps out.

And the craziest part?

His next move is something you can use too… even if you’re not a real-estate mogul (yet). ✨

Stay with us till the end, because we’re sharing the “starter version” — the one that compresses 25 years of wealth-building into the next 24–36 months.

But first, a confession…

We weren’t even supposed to be on that yacht.

The Backstory — Every Excuse, Every Reason to Say No

We tried so hard to talk ourselves out of going.

It was almost comical.

“It’s too close to Thanksgiving.”
“It’s five figures.”
“We’re not boat people.”
“I’m landing from Cambodia that day.”
“Palm, you just came back from Thailand.”

Every excuse.

We threw them all at the wall.

Then… a friend texted: “We should go.”

And in that tiny moment, we had a choice: Do we default to “no,” because it’s safe? Or do we get creative enough to say “yes,” even when it feels uncomfortable?

That one “yes” changed everything.

And honestly? Our names were already on the manifest — so maybe this trip chose us.

The Question We Were Too Embarrassed to Say Out Loud

Before we boarded, we asked ourselves the question we were almost scared to say out loud:

How do we break out of the $400 million ceiling?

We’d mastered our playbook — acquisitions, asset management, capital raising — but we knew the truth:

What got us to $400M isn’t going to get us to $10B.

We weren’t looking for motivation.

We were looking for the model.

The Room That Changed Us

Being with Grant for five days was incredible — he’s warm, hilarious, and honestly nothing like the internet version of him.

Nan’s favorite moment?

Creating that meme with Grant.

(Yes, he was completely into it.)

But if we’re really being truthful…

The magic wasn’t just Grant.

It was the room.

Over 200+ entrepreneurs — not just real-estate people — thinkers, builders, risk-takers who operate at levels we want to grow into.

And when you’re surrounded by that kind of energy?

You start asking bigger questions.

You start imagining bigger lives.

You stop shrinking your dreams to match your comfort zone.

There was one conversation — one we’ll share fully in the YouTube episode — that shifted the way we see our business forever.

The Moment Everything Snapped Into Focus

Here’s what surprised us most:

This cruise didn’t make us think multifamily is dying.

It made us realize mediocre operators are.

Everyone on that ship? They weren’t scared.

They were doubling down.

But with systems. With teams. With AI. With partnerships.

With frameworks that actually scale.

And Nan had her own revelation — seeing capital raising at the billionaire level.

No pitch decks.

No 47-slide presentations.

Just people who know you, like you, and trust you — inside an environment designed for connection.

Because here’s the truth:

People don’t invest because of data.

They invest because of relationship.

The real deals happen in rooms where trust is already the currency.

Where We Realized We Were Thinking Too Small

There was a point — somewhere between the sessions, the dinners, and the late-night conversations — where it hit us:

We weren’t dreaming big enough.

We were still operating like the old version of ourselves — the version who thought scaling was about working harder instead of partnering smarter.

It was humbling.

And freeing.

And a little uncomfortable in the best possible way.

What You Actually Came Here For: The $10B Playbook

We finally asked Grant the question we’d been waiting to ask:

“If you were us… how would you go from $400 million to $10 billion?”

Here’s what he told us — word for word:

“You won’t get to $10B doing more of what got you to $400M. You need a new vehicle, bigger partnerships, and bigger capital. You need to build a platform, not a portfolio.”

And that one line cracks open a whole new world:

✔️ Platforms scale.
✔️ Portfolios only grow.
✔️ Platforms attract capital.
✔️ Platforms multiply momentum.
✔️ Platforms create exponential outcomes.

It’s the shift from operator → leader.

From builder → empire creator.

From “let me find the next deal” → “let me build the place where the best deals come to me.”

That’s the $10B lesson.

And it’s one anyone — at any level — can start applying today.