Cole Wirth

Investment Analyst

Founders 3

Cole joined Founders 3 in 2020 with a broad background in commercial real estate. Having been involved in investment acquisitions and dispositions during his time at Luft Consulting, Inc., Cole experienced everything from commercial development to property management and operations. During his time at Founders 3, Cole started on the industrial brokerage team and has since transitioned to the investment sales team.

Cole is a graduate of UW-Madison’s School of Business, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with majors in Real Estate and Finance. During his time at UW-Madison, Cole focused his studies on real estate transactions within the banking industry as he competed amongst MBA candidates in the university’s renowned commercial banking simulation course. He is very excited to be a part of the NextGen Class of 2022 and is looking forward to networking, making new friends, business relationships, and learning from his fellow participants.

Q) What is the best piece of advice you have received?
A) Mistakes increase your experience and experience decreases your mistakes.

Q) What is your favorite quote?
A) “Believe you can and you’re halfway there” – Theodore Roosevelt

Q) If you could have lunch with anyone in the world, who would it be?
A) My late Grandpa. He worked more jobs than I can possibly remember, including the soda fountain at Woolworths, as a paperboy, in the paint shop at the American Motors factory, as a laborer at the Trostel Tannery in Milwaukee, and as a cab driver for Yellow Cab, to name just a few.

After spending 18 years as the Band Director at Germantown High School, he went into real estate, starting out by purchasing duplexes, fixing them up with his own hands, eventually moving on to larger and larger properties. There was scarcely a job that he was unwilling to tackle himself. At his busiest, he owned and operated dozens of properties throughout Wauwatosa, including nearly 200 units. His goals were simple; to be independent and to determine his own fate, based upon his own personal work ethic, which was to work very hard so that he could provide a lifetime of experiences for his wife, his kids, his extended family, and his many friends. By any measure, he achieved those goals.

Unfortunately, I lost my Grandpa to an immensely brave battle with Parkinson’s over the better part of the last decade, just three months before I was set to graduate with a degree in finance and real estate. He was unbelievably excited to see me start my own journey in the world of real estate. One last lunch with my Grandpa Allan would mean I could share with him that one of my first ever deals was selling a building he owned for over 20 years, a building whereas a kid I would come to visit him at while he was working. I know he would be proud to see how far I’ve come.

Q) What is a goal you would like to accomplish within your Commercial Real Estate career?
A) When it is all said and done, my biggest goal is to be able to look back and see that my work made a difference not only in individuals’ lives but in the community as a whole.

Q) What do you hope to get out of your NextGen Experience?
A) I hope to gain lifelong connections within each area of the commercial real estate industry.