Bridge Disparate Needs Into One Deal

"This made me keenly aware that it paid to look at the real-estate business not as an end in itself but as a device for bridging gaps between the needs of disparate groups. The greater the number of separate groups (or their needs) that one could interconnect (or satisfy), the greater the profit to the innovator-entrepreneur."

"He said, "I don't think we have the money, but I'll give you a takeout by Alleghany—can you use that on a loan?" A takeout is an agreement to buy a note on maturity; Alleghany, in other words, was lending us their credit."

"Having little capital of our own, we reverted to the tactics and style of the early 1940' s and became packagers and promoters for other people."