About us
ten31 is a new media company focused on market-moving insider coverage of the most important and least understood industries.
Its flagship publication is The Promote, a newsletter that readers have dubbed commercial real estate's answer to Matt Levine's "Money Stuff." The Promote has built the most highly engaged audience in B2B media, and is a must-read for developers, brokers, lenders, investors, CMBS traders, attorneys and allocators alike. It takes a playful, plugged-in approach to key topics that matter to insiders, keeping things fun while being unafraid of nuance and complex stories.
The Promote’s companion podcast is a weekly, no-holds-barred conversation on the money & mania of the CRE markets that is a Top 100 podcast on Apple in the Business & Investing category.
We also publish social-first video explainers on the biggest CRE stories and trends.
Mission
To provide fearless, fair and fun coverage of the things industry insiders care about, rather than what the media thinks they care about. Our ethos is super-serving professionals who live & breathe the CRE business – this thing is NOT for a general audience. We get deep into the details – how deals are structured, who bankrolls them, who derails them. We nerd out on capital stacks and the allocator-industrial complex. We get jazzed about developer origin stories and the deep-pocketed women & men who bankroll our skylines.
More than 17,000 CRE insiders are dedicated readers of The Promote because of how much we care about that mission. It is a must-read for top executives at megafirms such as Blackstone, Starwood, Related, Newmark and JPMorgan, but also a favorite resource for scores of mid-market GPs, investors and brokers.
Editorial approach
We provide snapshot coverage of the most important and illuminating deals and shifts in commercial real estate, and publish the most useful industry insider perspectives. We sprinkle in original reporting and scoops, curate the best content from a wide swath of trade and mainstream publications, and tap into an extensive network of sources to tell CRE insiders what they need to know. Unlike a newsroom, The Promote has no mandate to be comprehensive – readers appreciate its commitment to publishing only the most interesting and meaningful news and analysis in the space.
The tone has much more in common with sports & entertainment outlets than it does with traditional business media. Expect liberal use of humor, pop culture quotes, emojis and zany art. None of that, though, comes at the expense of nuance and an appreciation for the technical craft of CRE. This is the only place you’ll find equity waterfalls side-by-side with Sopranos quotes.
The Promote sources all its information either from authoritative publications or from players directly involved in the deal.
We do not accept paid submissions of editorial content and have zero tolerance for “pay to play.” We also make clear to our advertising partners that they have no influence over editorial programming.
Impact
The Promote is regularly cited in national and international media on commercial real estate stories. Our scoops and breakdowns have been cited in Bloomberg, the Financial Times, the Houston Chronicle, Commercial Observer, PERE, The Real Deal, New York Magazine, Trepp & JPMorgan’s CMBS research.
Hiten has also featured as an expert commentator in Bloomberg and its popular Odd Lots podcast, the Houston Chronicle, Urban Land Institute, The Allocator, the B1M and various international newsmagazines.
Coverage areas
We exclusively cover commercial real estate. Topics include, but are certainly not limited to:
Market-moving deals
Profiles of the biggest CRE players, from developers to debt funds
The ongoing shift in the lending landscape with the collapse of regional banks
Exotic property-tax loopholes
Major new development projects
Cheat sheets of the most important and under-the-radar people to know in various sectors of CRE
Our focus is on major metro markets in the U.S. Occasionally, though, a spicy CRE story in a far-flung location will catch our eye, and we certainly cover the flow of global capital into the US markets.
Our Founder
Hiten Samtani is the founder and editorial director of ten31, a new media platform focused on market-moving insider coverage of the most important and least understood industries. He is the publisher of The Promote, a coveted hot sheet for CRE insiders, and a nationally recognized expert commentator on the CRE markets, with regular appearances on Bloomberg, CNN, NBC and Fox. He is also co-host of The Promote Podcast, a weekly, no-holds-barred conversation on the money & mania of the CRE markets.
Hiten founded ten31 after a decade at The Real Deal, where he ran the newsroom as Editorial Director and Head of Content, and shepherded coverage of the most important stories in real estate. He has conducted on-stage and on-air interviews with some of the world’s biggest real estate players, from megadevelopers to top lenders and brokers across four continents. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Columbia Journalism School, a very fine Ping-Pong player, and a terrible dancer.
Hiten can be found on Twitter and nowadays, reluctantly, on LinkedIn
Contact us
For tips on stories, please reach [email protected]
For advertising and marketing opportunities, [email protected]
To give feedback on the podcast, [email protected] or leave us a review on Apple or Spotify
Support us
Evangelize: Tell your fellow CRE enthusiasts about us. There’s nothing sweeter than that word-of-mouth from someone in the know. And if you’re a fan of the podcast, please drop us a review on your platform of choice.
Share: Have a hot tip about a deal or someone in the mix? Hit us up.
