Hiten Samtani is the founder and editorial director of ten31, a new media company focused on market-moving insider coverage of the most important and least understood industries. He is the author of The Promote, a newsletter that readers have likened to commercial real estate's answer to Matt Levine's "Money Stuff," and a publication that has built the most highly engaged audience in B2B media (open rate: 70%). Hiten founded ten31 after a decade at The Real Deal, where he ran the newsroom and shepherded coverage of the most important stories in real estate.
Chris and Hiten get into the early days of the brand, what inspired it, and why the real estate world needed a publication that’s bold, sharp, and unapologetically honest. They talk about the stories that hit hardest, what makes for a good scoop, and how Hiten has built trust with sources while keeping the content unfiltered and highly readable.
They also cover:
Why commercial real estate is full of big personalities and even bigger stakes
How operators and investors can actually get covered by the media
What it’s like growing a niche media company from scratch
Lessons from Hiten’s years at The Real Deal and why he walked away
Navigating the gray areas of journalism—anonymity, accuracy, and when to publish
Links:
Hiten on X
The Promote CRE newsletter
The Promote Podcast
A specialist playbook on how to get ink for your deal or company
Understanding the different modes of talking to the press
Key industry storylines for 2025
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Topics:
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:05:33) - Hiten’s journey into real estate journalism
(00:08:24) - Lesson from working at the Real Deal
(00:12:39) - Who is the audience?
(00:16:28) - Is your style of journalism unique to real estate?
(00:19:40) - What it took to launch ten31 Media
(00:27:55) - Where do you get inspiration, and how do you get access to the information you can get?
(00:35:32) - HFCs
(00:39:03) - How do you determine what is truth and what isn’t?
(00:48:42) - How can CRE companies get press?
(00:55:40) - On the record vs. off the record
(00:59:12) - CRE themes of 2024 and what to look for in 2025
(01:04:19) - Attending a Jewish circumcision ceremony in a NYC boardroom
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