Meet Apurva Shah | Managing Partner/Co-Founder/Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Apurva Shah and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Apurva, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I’ve always really enjoyed figuring out how to start and scale businesses. The first company I ever started was when I was 14 years old, it was a landscaping business which had about $4,000 in revenue in one summer (that money was A LOT as 14 year old, I thought about how many bags of chips I could buy). Since then, I was always hooked on the idea of being able to start something from scratch and figure out how to build teams to scale a business. I’ve made so many mistakes from the small landscaping company to the numerous other companies I’ve started, BUT I’ve always known that working in corporate would not be sustainable for me in the long term. I was always attracted to money, sounds a bit odd, but I realized early on that money may not bring you happiness, but it certainly allows you to help yourself, your family, and others around you with the basic needs for survival. That combined with my passion for working for a bigger purpose has kept me going ultimately to become the Managing Parter at JAYS Investments. I’ve always been passionate about real estate since my dad would take me around to his properties at an early age, which ultimately gave me the fundamentals for operations. Since then, I’ve been able to become financially free and helped numerous others become financially independent by investing in real estate.

What should our readers know about your business?
JAYS Investments, LLC. is a private equity real estate investment firm based out of Raleigh, NC. I saw that real estate has a way of changing the entire outlook of a community and we didn’t just want to become another landlord or operator that just buys properties. We’ve been investing back into affordable housing and giving back to our communities to improve mobile home parks and apartment complexes while continuing to keep them affordable instead of tearing them down and building class A luxury units. We’re most proud of our journey where today JAYS Investments has over $50MM in assets under management while also being able to work through the ebbs and flows of this industry with a large shift in the economy over the last year. It’s been a grueling process getting here. Both Jack and I have taken a lot of risks by stepping away from our corporate jobs to build out something much bigger than ourselves. Today we house over 1200 people in our communities and want to continue to build our vision of investing in the Southeast US. Being resilient is one of the most important traits you need to have when operating and building a company. Many times folks in corporate and others would laugh at us saying we’re never going to make anything and we’re just a silly company. We used that as motivation to push even harder to get here.

My recommendation for those looking to start a company, build a business, or become an entrepreneur, is not to be afraid to fail. TRUST ME, I’ve failed MANY MANY times and lost a bit of money in different ventures, but I didn’t give up. You’re going to get knocked down, but it’s about getting back up and working on a different strategy and learning from your mistakes. Also enjoy the process! You’re going to have good days and a number of bad days, it’s all about creating perspective and enjoying what you do which ultimately will lead to financial success,.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I have a few friends coming into town in a few weeks so this is a great time to give a shoutout to some of my favorite places in the Triangle (Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill). My wife and I love food and trying out different local cuisines and restaurants. So far we’ve been huge fans of Noodle Blvd (great ramen), Heirloom (awesome Asian food), Ex Votto (best crunch wrap you’ll ever have), and Durham Distillery (incredible gin). Again, there’s so many more restaurants we love, but this is just to name a few. Many of my friends also are also fellow entrepreneurs so I’m sure the conversations we’d have are going to be around how we can improve our businesses and how we can best support each other.

I’m a huge believer of the 5 people you hang out with is how you’ll have thoughts and views on lifestyle, money, and habits. If you’re top 5 people are negative, don’t valve their time, and aren’t driven, you’re going to be the 6th person feeling the same way. Now if your top 5 are always chatting about how they can improve themselves, are millionaires, etc, you’re likely going to be the 6th millionaire just from taking in the views, of course requires action as well and the conversations are going to be significantly different. I’ve been blessed to have incredible friends locally who we spend quite a bit of time on reflecting on personal views and we’re always bouncing ideas off each other on how we can build together.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m deeply appreciative of this question because it provides an opportunity to acknowledge the individuals and groups who have been instrumental in my journey. There are several people who deserve credit and recognition and I certainly would not be able to have built our company without it.

1. My family: I must begin with my family, especially my wife, Kruti, without her support and patience with my day to day schedule it would be nearly impossible to built a fraction of what we’ve accomplished. My parents also instilled the values needed of hard work, determination, and perseverance. Their unwavering support and belief in my abilities have been a constant source of motivation.

2. My Co-founder: In the all of the stages of our business, Jack Yen, my business partner played a crucial role. His shared vision, dedication, and complementary skills were essential in turning our business idea into a reality. Our team is lucky to have a data expert who can build out underwriting models to help continue the growth of our business.

3. Our Investors: Without the number of investors who believed in our vision early on and have been with us for years, we would never have been able to grow at the speed and precision that we have today. Huge shoutout to the folks who have asked us the hard questions and allowed us to take a step backwards to review the big picture. Your guidance allows us to build processes to not only give you significant financial returns, but also helps us build and challenge the status quo in the real estate business.

These are just a few examples of the many people that have contributed to my journey. I believe that success is the result of collective effort, and I’m grateful to be surrounded by such a supportive network of individuals and organizations.

Website: www.jaysinvestments.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/apurva.shah92

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apurva-shah-15794271/