Joseph Liemandt, founder and CEO of Austin's Trilogy Software, adds, 'His general business acumen is unbelievable, and he is always talking about the long term.' Liemandt, a close friend of Paul's who, at 27, appeared on a 1996 Forbes cover highlighting the wave of young tech entrepreneurs, says, 'He is dramatically more mature than I ever was-nobody thought he was 23 when he was 23.'ĭriving around his hometown in a Bentley, Paul proudly points out key development properties he owns in the heart of Austin. 'I look at what Nate has accomplished he has thought very strategically about areas like storage and the Austin marketplace.' 'From an investment perspective his returns have been spectacular, and he does a good job returning capital early,' says Robert Smith, an Austin private equity billionaire who has invested tens of millions in five of Paul's deals. 'I actually have a 30-year amortization and will be around.' 'I am thinking with a 30-year time horizon,' Paul says. Paul thought about trying to raise a private equity fund, but what he really wants is permanent capital, which would allow him to get off the treadmill that requires him to sell assets to achieve exits for his investors every few years. He then rolled up all the properties he could into his new holding company, which is attempting to raise $1 billion of preferred equity in the coming year. He has spent much of the past year recapitalizing his business, cashing out limited partners (such as the Austin Police Retirement System) and taking full ownership of many of World Class' partnerships, often using debt and his own accumulated capital. Now Paul is getting ready to double down on his early success. With the $25 million he started raising from the Austin Police Retirement System in 2009, he produced an annual (and now fully realized) internal rate of return of 24.8%, net of fees. He raised funds in dozens of partnerships to do deals and kept upwards of 50% of the profits.

In order to buy, he hit up his obstetrician father's buddies, charmed high-net-worth individuals, and then landed pension and insurance money. Complicating things further, he is the son of Indian immigrants in overwhelmingly white Austin.įrom the beginning, Paul set out to build his portfolio as an operator and an investor. It's a particularly impressive trajectory when you consider that real estate is famously a dynastic business and Paul is the son of an OB-GYN.

If commercial real estate prices stay strong, he could be a billionaire soon. Based on his holdings inside and outside the company, Forbes estimates that Paul's net worth is $800 million. Paul, who retains 100% of the company, is not overleveraged according to financial documents, and none of his debt is at the holding-company level.

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