The latest episode of Zonda’s Inspirational Leadership with the Best in Home Building podcast features an exclusive interview with Shravan Parsi, CEO of American Ventures.
Born in India, Parsi developed a lifelong interest in business and investing from watching his father, a medical doctor, invest in real estate. Parsi’s first real estate investment happened in 2003. Since then, he’s grown his company into a million-dollar multifamily and commercial real estate investment firm, managing over 15,000 units.
Host Mollie Carmichael, Zonda principal, chatted with Parsi about everything from his background as a pharmaceutical scientist to the birth of his first child and what it was like to publish his first book, “The Science of the Deal: The DNA of Multifamily and Commercial Real Estate Investing.”
Here are some highlights from the episode:
On Daily Life as a CEO
“I get to meet some incredible people. Every investor, every entrepreneur has their stories—the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it. When you open up and talk at a personal level, interacting with them is one of my greatest pleasures as the face of the company.”
On American Ventures’ Mission Statement
“One of the mission statements we have is ‘quality housing for great working Americans.’ What we want to provide and build is amazing communities, where people want to feel like the owners of that place, be great tenants, and live a quality lifestyle.”
On the Qualities of Great Leaders
“Every person needs to know what they’re good at. I think years ago, I decided I’m not going to fix my weaknesses. I’m going to hire to fix my weaknesses, but I’m also going to sharpen my strengths.”
On Learning as a Leader
“Even though 95% of our deals do great, there’s always the 5% of deals that don’t do well, but they teach me everything.”
On Inspiration
“My wife, my mom and dad, and then Richard Branson and Elon Musk.”
Click to hear from the leaders in the last five podcast episodes, which feature Spencer Rascoff, former CEO and co-founder of Zillow; Joan Webb, New Home Co.’s former chief marketing officer; Mike Forsum, president and COO at Landsea Homes; Eric Lipar, CEO and chairman of LGI Homes; and Ross Perot Jr., chairman of The Perot Group and Hillwood.
