We sat down with Ben Lapidus, co-founder and host of the Best Ever Conference, to find out what he’s looking forward to most at BEC2022.
First, a little about Ben: He is the Chief Financial Officer for Spartan Investment Group LLC, where he has applied his finance and business development skills to construct a portfolio of over $300M assets under management from scratch, build the corporate finance backbone for the organization, and organize over $100M of debt capital from the firm.
In addition to completing over 50 real estate transactions at and prior to Spartan, Ben is the managing partner of Indigo Ownerships LLC. Before Spartan, Ben founded and sold a multimillion-dollar study abroad company and worked with several start-ups through IPO or acquisition. He graduated from Rutgers University with dual degrees in finance and economics, where he founded the Rutgers Entrepreneurial Society.
We asked Ben some questions about what to expect at this year’s conference — here’s what he had to say:
“What I’m most excited about is the opportunity that has presented itself in the operating environment for commercial real estate investors. Since this conference began in 2016, we’ve been talking about a market correction from which syndicators can execute a scaling strategy. For all of its destruction, the silver lining of the global health crisis is that it has accelerated or formed new trends that will allow for new creative investing and operating strategies.
“To take advantage of this for BEC2022, we are marrying all of our learnings from the past five years and compounding them with new partnerships. We are incorporating the components of virtual programming that worked in 2021, the networking that worked in 2020, the location that worked in 2019, and the late-night networking that worked in 2018. We have our biggest production budget yet to make sure it’s high quality, peak energy, and massive impact.”
“From the moment you register, you’re going to feel like you’re coming home. This is not a conference for beginner investors or tire kickers. Ninety-six percent of our attendees have transacted or invested in one or more commercial real estate deals in the last six months. There is no other conference with this kind of concentration of high-quality networking, and those who have attended before know that, so they treat every new handshake as an opportunity to make a new friend or partner. It’s an incredibly inviting atmosphere.
“When you first enter the main stage, you’ll be drinking from a fire hose. We like to start off the conference with back-to-back economic updates from those with access to massive datasets who are fantastic presenters. We’ll keep you well-fed and intellectually stimulated throughout the day so that you have the energy to carry the relationship-building into the evening where the real connections are made.
“You won’t find yourself avoiding the gaze of our sponsor tables as we’ve filtered them in advance and they’re likely to be highly relevant to your business or investing needs. Two years ago, we had a deal funded by a lender two business days after the connection was made at the Best Ever Conference.
“Finally, this will all take place at the newly built Gaylord Rockies in the peak winter season, which means you’ll have access to indoor water parks and some of the best skiing in the world.”
“Learn. Network. Invest. People come to the conference attracted to the speakers and subjects presented on stage, and this year will be the best yet. Our lineup is next level and with such a volatile year, there are endless subject matters to touch on to support the professional investor navigating the year ahead.
“But the true value that our audience walks away with is the networking, which ultimately leads to a new investment of dollars, time, or energy. Countless companies have been formed out of Best Ever connections, and hundreds of millions of dollars in capital have been placed in our community’s deals.
“And of course, we can’t forget the partying. If you are active in the syndication space, you’ve likely corresponded with dozens of folks who you’ve never met in person; the Best Ever Conference is the place to finally connect in person over a beer — or three.”
“Don’t set out to peddle an investment offering at the Best Ever Conference. There are dedicated spaces where that’s appropriate, and you can reach out to the Best Ever team if you’d like to take advantage of that. Rather, set out to make a few deep, high-quality relationships without an endpoint in mind.
“The deeper you can make a single relationship, the further it will carry your business or portfolio to success. Take the blinders off your periphery and identify how adding value to someone else’s life could creatively compound an outcome in yours. The more you learn about someone under a non-transactional premise, the deeper the reward will ultimately be.”
“This year, we are leaning into the mantra, ‘collaboration beats competition,’ and partnering with several other communities outside of Best Ever to create an audience composition that will surely be the ‘best ever.’
“In partnering with investment groups, we are increasing the amount of available capital searching for real estate syndications. By partnering with other sponsor-facing organizations, we are increasing the exposure of high-quality commercial real estate sponsors to the passive investor community.
“Our audience might show up for the marquee content, but they leave pointing to the networking opportunities as the most valuable component of the experience. By investing in getting the right people in the room, we know more deals will get done, more capital will be placed, and more lifelong partnerships will form.”
“Set an intention — one relationship or one nugget of wisdom that you’d like to walk away from the conference with.”
To learn more or purchase your BEC2022 ticket, visit us at besteverconference.com.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as an offer to buy or sell any securities or to make or consider any investment or course of action.