Kyndel Bennett, CEO of Cayetano Development - CEOs You Should Know - Texas Edition, iHeart Media

On this episode of CEOs You Should Know, iHeart Austin Market President, Christine Escobar speaks with Kyndel Bennett, CEO of Cayetano Development, about his journey into real estate development and the mission behind building thoughtful, community-driven projects. Bennett shares insights on leadership, navigating market shifts, and building trust across investors, municipalities, and communities. The conversation also explores redefining success as a CEO and what’s next for Cayetano Development’s growing impact.

Read the whole interview transcript here:

Christine:

Well, hello everyone. My name is Christine Escobar. I'm the market president for the iHeart stations in Austin, and I'm here with Kyndel Bennett, the CEO and founder of Cayetano Development. Hello Kyndel.

Kyndel:

Good afternoon. How are you?

Christine:

I'm great, It's good to have you here.

Kyndel:

Thanks, great to be here.

Christine:

Good deal. So, I just wanted to start off and get an overview from you of what Cayetano does and what your day to day role looks like.

Kyndel:

Sure. So, we develop affordable communities throughout the state of Texas. We're in six markets Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, the Rio Grande Valley, and Laredo, and our primary mission is to provide land ownership opportunities for our customers.

Christine:

Wow, that's great. What a great service you offer to so many markets as well. So, what made you get into real estate? What drew you to this industry?

Kyndel:

There are a number of things, I guess number one, my father was in the real estate industry in a different role, but he loved real estate and as I started in school, I took some real estate classes, and it resonated with me. And one of the reasons

it did is my very I like tangible things, and I like to be able to see things as they develop. And as I learned more about the real estate industry, I learned that I got to use both sides of my brain. You get to use the right side of your brain. You have to be very creative and how you structure both financial transactions and how you how you developed these communities. But you also have to be very analytical and you

have to really think about the numbers and the economics. And so, to me, it's a lot of fun because every day is different and you really get to get to use, like I said, both sides of your brain.

Christine:

That's great. It's important to do what you love and love what you do. And it sounds like you got into that and you're fulfilling all the buckets.

Kyndel:

Yeah, absolutely.

Christine:

Which is great. So, I know that Cayetano Development emphasizes thoughtful community driven projects. How do you balance profitability while also creating spaces that genuinely improve the communities that you build?

Kyndel:

Sure, that’s a great question. The company was founded with a double bottom line in mind. You know, we have to be profitable for our investors in order to be a sustainable company. But in addition to that, we find it's very important for us to offer an affordable product to our customers. We're one of the few products in the market where they can actually own. Most of our customers are renting, and through our financing products they can own land where they can build their dream home and we balance those two things together. It's not always easy, but I think we've done a great job, and I think our investors would say they're happy with our performance, and I think our customers would too.

Christine:

That's great. It's a win-win.

Kyndel:

Yeah, absolutely.

Christine:

Happy investors, happy community partners.

Kyndel:

Yeah, we're really big into win-wins, and that could be with our customers, or our investors or anybody we deal with, like our vendors. It's important for us that no one feels like they got the short end of the stick.

Christine:

Well, congrats to you on that.

Kyndel:

Thanks.

Christine:

So as a CEO, how would you describe your leadership style?

Kyndel:

It's changed. I guess when I first started the company, I inherited three employees from my father and we're now up to seventy seven. And so, I think you know, when we were small, I was very hands on. I did everything and was a little bit of a control freak, just because I kind of felt like I had to. And as we've grown since 2010, I've had to learn to let go of a lot of things, and I've had to learn to trust; number one, to hire really good

people; number two, to trust their performance. But at the same time verify; make sure that everybody's doing what they say they're going to do. And I think everybody would say that I hold everybody to a very high standard. But I'm the very fair person.

Christine:

It sounds like you're a great person to work for.

Kyndel:

Thanks.

Christine:

I know it is hard sometimes to relinquish that control.

Kyndel:

It is.

Christine:

But to your point, I think they always say hire people smarter than you.

Kyndel:

That's right.

Christine:

So, it sounds like you've done just that.

Kyndel:

Yeah, for sure.

Christine:

Great. So, I know that real estate development is very sensitive to economic styles, especially during the current times that we're sitting in right now. So, what strategies have helped you to stay resilient and to adapt to the shifting cycles in the economy?

Kyndel:

It's a great question. I think as the economy started to slow down, I guess two plus years ago, we made a decision as a senior leadership team that we were not going to lay anybody off, and so we cut some other costs. We've reduced a lot of our starts, took a really strong look at our projections and had to make some hard decisions and put some projects on the shelf that we really wanted to start. But I think because of that, we developed a great sense of loyalty from our employees. I think everybody would say that they're thankful to still be employed. And now that we're we feel like we're starting to come out of some of that softness, and I think it's made for a much stronger team.

Christine:

Well again, I think that makes Cayetano a great place to work and people trust that you have their best interests in mind. So, kudos to you for that as well. So, what is one of the most difficult business decisions that you've had to make as a CEO.

Kyndel:

I think the most difficult decision I have had to make was I had to part ways with one of

my early partners. This was a woman who basically helped me start the company. She was running the operational side, and as the company grew, I would say that the company outgrew her, and after a lot of coaching and discussions, we finally decided that it wasn't going to work. And to sit down and have that discussion with her was very, very hard because she had helped me grow the company to a certain point. But we still keep in touch, and you know, she's doing great, you know, in another life now. And but that was that was really difficult.

Christine:

I know, sometimes it's hard to separate personal and business interests, but sometimes, like they say, business is business, and it's good that you still have that outside of the workplace communication; so that's important. So how do you cultivate a strong company culture in an industry such as yours that I know often involves high pressure, tight timelines, and complex partnerships?

Kyndel:

Yeah, it's a balance. As I mentioned earlier, I would say that number one is the CEO. I feel like I have to lead by example, right? I have to be the one that, you know, makes the hard decisions, that does what I think is in the best interest of the company, regardless of how it affects other people. The company always comes first. I think I one of my skills that I think most people would say that I'm pretty good at is balancing a lot of different things. I like that. To me, it's always been fun. I like to have multiple things on my plate, you know. As an example, I woke up in Houston this morning, I went to do a site visit, I went to the office to do little email work, and here I am now. So, that keeps me in the game and keep me excited because every day is different. And so, I think by having, you know, being able to juggle all the different things that it takes to run a company like this, I think it makes me a pretty effective leader.

Christine:

Well, you sound like the energizer Bunny!

Kyndel:

Thanks!

Christine:

So, good for you. I think that's a compliment. Well, you mentioned earlier how important trust is, and so I know that development relies heavily on trusts with your investors, your communities. How do you approach relationship building as a core business strategy?

Kyndel:

It's a very big component to our business. And you’ve hit the nail in the head. I mean, with our investors, we do what we say we're going to do, and if we have a project that didn't quite do as well as we hope, sometimes we'll even go in and change the economics in their favor just to kind of help make up for some of the some of the misses that we had on our end. I think with our employees, I think everybody would say that, you know, we expect a lot, but we're fair and we're and you know what the expectations are. I think the big thing in general, whether it's with an investor or an employee, or even a customer for that matter, if the expectations are clearly set up front and there's no hidden agenda and you basically just follow through and what you said you were going to do, I think most people are pretty happy with the outcome.

Christine:

Transparency is so key, and I think expectation management really allows your staff, your team, your investors to know that what they give you is going to be their best because you're asking for it and you're setting the tone for what you expect and can't go wrong with that.

Kyndel:

Sure, and we're not perfect. We make mistakes, you know, we're human. But at the same time, I think as long as we're willing to own those mistakes, and as you say, Christine, be transparent. I think everybody's, you know, fine with them.

Christine:

That's great. So, for listeners out there who want to follow a similar path, what advice would you give to entrepreneurs looking to step into leadership roles in real estate?

Kyndel:

I think the most important thing is to follow your passion, whether it's real estate. You know, my son, as I mentioned before we started this interview, is going into film production. That's his passion. You know, my daughter is in politics, that's her passion. Find what really drives you because you're going to spend the majority of your time, you're waking time, in your career, and so find something that really gets you excited, and it won't become work. It'll be fun and you'll get up every day and get to enjoy what you do.

Christine:

That's great. I always like to say do what you love, love what you do. I actually have a sign in my office that says that, and I try to position it just perfectly when I'm on that team's call people to be able to see because I think it is important and it makes what we do fun and enjoyable.

Kyndel:

And it's so true.

Christine:

Glad to hear that, Yeah, that's great. So, how do you personally define success today and has that shifted? You talked a little bit about how when you first started with three employees to how you grew to the number that you're at now. How has that shifted in your time at Cayetano?

Kyndel:

The answer to that question depends on which point of the which frame of reference you're talking about. I think there's success with our investors, and to me, that's them being happy with our performance. And that could be financial performance, it could be reporting performance. You know, when I meet with our investors and they say, hey, you know what you guys do, the way you report that your financial results compared to your peers is you know, substantially better. That makes that makes me feel like we're

doing our job because the buck really starts with them. Our business is very capital intensive, and I tell people our cap capital is our food, right? If we don't have capital, we can't survive. We can't do what we do. And all our employees know that, and so it's very important to me that our investors are happy with us. You know, when it comes to employees, I want people to enjoy their job. You're not going to love every single day of every single week. But for the most part, I think people like working for the company. I think people are very proud of the mission and the work that we do because we're helping people own land. And, as I think most people know, one of the biggest ways to create wealth in the United States is through home ownership, and so we're allowing that to happen for people who have very limited options in doing that.

Christine:

Well, that's great. I think that a lot of times when we report to work, we wonder are we really impacting lives? Are we helping individuals grow to the next chapter? And certainly, are doing that at Cayetano.

Kyndel:

And we try too with our employees. We really try to help our employees grow within the company. You know, as an example of our regional sales director, Oriana Reyes, has been with us for I don't know, almost ten years now. She started off as a receptionist and she went from a receptionist, she worked in sales and then was an area manager. Now she's a regional manager and that's one example of many. We really try to get people an opportunity to grow within the company and increase your skill sets. I think it helps people be happy in what they're doing.

Christine:

Absolutely. Well, investing in your team is important and I always say people are one of the most important things, if not the most important thing about an industry, about a team, about a company. So, it certainly sounds like Cayetano Development is doing things right.

Kyndel:

For sure. It takes you know, everything we do, whether it's sales, marketing, investor relations, accounting, the servicing department. You know, everybody has to work together, and it really takes a team effort to really make it all happen.

Christine:

It takes a village. So, finally, what's next for Cayetano Development? What excites you the most about the road ahead?

Kyndel:

You know, I think right now coming out of this soft economy, we want to strengthen the markets that we're in. I think we are very strong in some of the markets we've been in a long time. And those two markets I would say are the Rio Grande Valley, which we where we started, and Austin. We've been in those markets the longest. The other four markets that were in we want them to be just as strong as the Valley and Austin. I think that's going to take a couple of years. So, from that standpoint, that's probably going to be our focus for the next couple of years, and then from there, who knows. You know, I think we've talked about going out of state, going to other markets. You know, our business revolves around developing communities close to job growth, and I think we're in the six biggest job growth markets in Texas, and so you know, maybe we look at other smaller markets, but my guess is we would probably entertain going to different states where there's demand, I think, for our product just as much as there is in Texas.

Christine:

Well, growth is good.

Kyndel:

Yeah, you either grow or you die, right?

Christine:

This is very true. Well, it's been a pleasure Kyndel getting to chat with you, and I'm eager about the growth beyond Texas and look forward to chatting with you more in the future.

Kyndel:

Thanks Christine, I really appreciate it.

Christine:

Thank you.