PAUL DANESHRAD
CEO/President
StarPoint Properties LLC
I get up anywhere between 6:15 and 7:15. About four days a week my day starts with yoga. Two alternate days I’m on the treadmill or the spinner in the gym in my house.
I fortunately have three children so from there I’m getting them ready to start their day. On days when I’m doing yoga I don’t read. On an off day, I read a variety of things in the morning: Multi-Family Executive or Shopping Center News. Over breakfast, I read a local paper like the L.A. Times.
I leave for the office between 7:45 and 8:15. I live and work in Beverly Hills. When I get in I check e-mail and voice mails. I’m the president of StarPoint Properties.
We have the ability to find and source high-return properties properties that are going to deliver a return that exceeds market standard. We really add customer centric value to assets that are underutilized or run down. That’s how we got started. That is our firm’s expertise, adding value to real estate and rehabilitation.
Most of my time is spent managing the departments of the company so there are always business or real estate specific emails. The super majority of it is pertaining to acquisitions or disquisitions. On an average day I get 300 e-mails. I don’t have an assistant so I review them all myself.
My role and function is the day-to-day management of our senior executive team. I oversee most of the major departments: finance, operations, acquisitions, disquisitions, risk management, and property management. I set our acquisition strategy and sit on the acquisition and disquisition committee.
On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays I go straight to our departmental meetings after checking my e-mails, followed by external conference calls or meetings set up with our investors, lenders, or occasionally with some brokers.
In the late morning I read the e-mails I received late the night before or early morning. Then I take 45 minutes to an hour for lunch. I usually go out, sometimes for business meetings or with one of the staff.
Back in the office, I’m on e-mail and voice mail again to start my afternoon. Tuesdays and Thursdays we have our acquisitions meetings. We go over all our pending transactions and approve them or disapprove anything we are working on. I provide guidance.
On the other days Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I’m allocating the time back to strategy and initiatives into the late afternoon. I’m done at five. From there I give my time to philanthropic organizations. My focus and efforts change depending on need.
Currently a heavy concentration of my push is for the ONE Campaign an effort to alleviate poverty and AIDS in Africa. I pass on the message, get the project greater exposure, get legislative support for debt release, and see if my PR firm can get exposure.
I am done for the day around 7:30. My evenings are getting home in time to read my kids a book and put them to bed and have dinner with my wife. I’ll do some reading of whatever I wasn’t able to get through during the day. Half of the time I bring work home. I’m logging onto the system to finish e-mails or reviewing current transactions.
As told to Sarah Filus
