Stories Behind the Door

I sit down with Laura Holmes, CEO of Warehouse Anywhere, for an inside look at how enterprise businesses are completely rethinking supply chain logistics through the lens of self-storage. Laura shares the incredible story of navigating the massive Extra Space and Life Storage corporate merger, transforming a back-office utility into a standalone platform that handles the physical storage burdens f...

I sit down with Matt McDermott, CPA, the owner of South Jersey Tax Services and my personal accountant, for a masterclass in strategic tax planning, asset protection, and wealth preservation. Matt spent the early part of his career climbing the corporate ladder of the world's most recognizable financial institutions, including Deloitte, Merrill Lynch, and BlackRock, before pivoting to run his own...

I sit down with Dr. Richard Dalyai, a vascular neurosurgeon and the co-founder of Self Storage Brothers, for a masterclass in operational discipline, data tracking, and intentional family leadership . Richard brings an incredibly precise, clinical lens to real estate . After spending his twenties working 100-hour weeks during an elite residency at Thomas Jefferson University, he realized that desp...

I sit down with Will Skillman, Founder and CEO of Trowbridge Development, for an unfiltered masterclass in small-bay industrial flex operations and raw entrepreneurial discipline . Will has flipped 100 homes, managed dozens of apartment buildings, and rolled up massive mobile home portfolios across the Midwest before targeting the highly fragmented small-bay asset class . We unpack the exact econo...

I sit down with Zach Dickens, the Chief Investment Officer at Extra Space Storage, for a masterclass in institutional real estate, macroeconomics, and programmatic growth . Zach has spent over two decades directing the investment strategies for one of the most successful public platforms in modern real estate history . We step through the defining eras of the self-storage asset class . Zach shares...

I sit down with Andrew Dunn, Co-Founder and Principal at VAC Development, affectionately known in the market as the Value Add Cowboys . Andrew is operating at an incredibly elite level in the middle-market commercial space across Las Vegas, Reno, and Phoenix, and he brings a masterclass in market awareness and execution to the microphone today . We dive into Andrew's transition from executing 75 i...

I sit down with Maggie Bode, Head of Enterprise Sales at Uniti AI, for a masterclass in operational efficiency and automation. Fresh off her panel at the Northeast Storage Expo, Maggie explains why deploying technology in diverse storage portfolios isn't one-size-fits-all. She shares her transition from customer success in luxury multifamily high-rises in NYC to tech solutions in the storage secto...

I sit down with Jim McGuffin , Managing Director at Hirewell , for a fascinating look into the human capital and executive workforce driving self-storage . Jim runs the real estate division at Hirewell and has placed high-level executives, from CFOs to VPs, across more than a third of the top 25 self-storage operations in the country . Jim brings an incredible macroeconomic perspective to the tabl...

NYC self-storage is in the middle of the toughest regulatory fight in its history. Most operators outside New York have no idea what's coming or how fast it could spread to their market. James Coakley, President of Cayre Equities (Treasure Island Storage) and immediate past president of the New York Self Storage Association, joins Thaddeus to unpack what's actually happening on the ground: the los...

I sit down with Scott Zucker , a partner at Weissmann Zucker Euster + Oblinger, P.C. and a literal Hall of Fame fixture in the storage world . Scott has spent nearly four decades acting as a "counselor and defender" for storage operators, helping define the legal statutes that govern how we do business today . We tackle the heavy-hitting issues currently keeping owners up at night. From the New Yo...

I sit down with Frank Forte , Partner at Lucern Capital Partners , for a masterclass in consolidating the fragmented small bay industrial market . Frank has spent the last decade moving from high-level institutional banking to active ownership, raising over $100 million in equity and delivering project IRRs that most pro-formas wouldn't dare to show . We discuss the stark reality of the 2026 real...

I sit down with Kyle Lawrence, Co-founder and CEO of StoragePilot AI, to discuss the massive technological shift happening in self-storage. Kyle spent over two decades in the industry, rising through the ranks of Public Storage to manage operations across Canada before striking out on his own to build and sell facilities for the "orange behemoth" and other private owners . In this episode, we expl...

I sit down with Stan Bonilla , Senior Vice President of Asset Management and Development at Safeguard Self Storage , for a deep dive into the institutional side of the business . Stan brings decades of experience to the table, and in this episode, he pulls back the curtain on how a privately held REIT managed by Morgan Stanley navigates a turbulent 2026 market . We discuss Safeguard's recent pivot...

I sit down with Nagesh Anupindi , CEO of Apoorva and SiteWare , for a masterclass in grit, innovation, and the "humble rebel" mindset . Nagesh shares his incredible journey from being a PhD student at the University of Rhode Island, studying complex Fourier transform algorithms, to becoming an interim CIO at Frontier Airlines and eventually a pioneer in self-storage technology . We explore the bir...

I sit down with Tyler Harper , Co-Founder of Homegrown Storage , for a fascinating look at how technology is finally providing an operating arbitrage in tertiary markets . Tyler's team, largely composed of Georgia Tech engineers, has built a platform that enables them to acquire roughly one facility per week while operating 30+ stores with only five people . We discuss the grit it took to sell the...

I sit down with Peter Smyth, Co-Founder and CEO of White Label Storage, for a deep dive into the technology and operational workflows that are reshaping the self-storage landscape. Peter shares his journey from working at Hines and attending Harvard Business School to disrupting the Brooklyn market with Local Locker . What started as a way to monetize "dead space" in New York City has evolved into...

I sit down with Jane Sauls, President of Sauls Commercial Real Estate, for an episode that is as much about character and tenacity as it is about real estate. Jane brings nearly 20 years of experience to the microphone, having navigated the storage world since 2006. We explore Jane's "farm girl" roots and how that work ethic helped her survive the brutal market shifts between 2023 and 2026 . Jane...

In this episode of Stories Behind the Door, I sit down with Christen Bryant, Director of Development at S3 Partners. Christen has spent 18 years in the trenches of self-storage, rising from used truck sales to becoming the President of U-Haul's Dallas-Fort Worth storage operations . In this episode, I cover: REIT Insights: Christen shares the unique, customer-first operational model of U-Haul and...

I sit down with Jennifer Barroqueiro, Vice President of Third-Party Management at All-Purpose Storage, to discuss the unique challenges and rewards of operating in the Northeast market. Jennifer brings eight years of experience, ranging from her days as District Manager #12 at SAM to her current leadership role, to a conversation that balances tactical operations with deep-rooted company culture ....

I sit down with Adam Troso, CEO and Founder of Next Century Self Storage, for a masterclass in real estate financials and resilient leadership. Adam brings 25 years of Wall Street experience to the table, providing a sophisticated look at why self-storage remains the "best way to make money owning real estate". We explore Adam's journey from underwriting CMBS loans in the 90s to navigating the tur...

I sit down with Tom Sherlock, Co-founder of Talonvest Capital, for an essential deep dive into the financial state of self-storage. With a career spanning back to 1985, Tom has lived through the RTC crisis, the Great Financial Crisis, and the current 2026 market shift . Tom shares the story of how his firm made a high-stakes bet on the "institutionalization" of storage back in 2011, pivoting their...

I sit down with Ken Woolley, the visionary Founder of Extra Space Storage, for a masterclass in industry history and leadership philosophy. Ken has been in the self-storage game for 56 years, witnessing the asset class transform from niche "garage rentals" into a mainstream institutional power player . Ken shares incredible stories from the early days, including his time as a management consultant...

I sit down with Brett Turner, Senior Managing Director at BKM Capital Partners, for a masterclass in small bay industrial investment. Brett and his team are currently managing approximately $3.4 billion in AUM , specializing in multi-tenant industrial parks . In this conversation, we discuss why this asset class is incredibly difficult to manage but yields massive rewards for those who are vertica...

I sit down with Cory Sylvester, Principal at DXD Capital, for a masterclass in data-driven development and intentional leadership. Cory's path to becoming one of the most respected names in self-storage didn't start with real estate; it started at JP Morgan. After identifying a massive lack of institutional-grade data in the storage sector, Cory co-founded Radius+ and eventually DXD Capital, a fir...

I sit down with Andrew Capranos, President of 10 Federal, to discuss the intersection of high-level operations and cutting-edge technology in self-storage. Andrew's journey is a masterclass in efficiency. After managing retail teams of 400+ people at Target, he realized the incredible potential of the storage industry's margins—if you can get the operations right. We discuss his time at Public Sto...