Aug 12, 2026 · 1 hr 24 min · 15 segments
Buying a bank during a meltdown sounds like a bad idea until you hear what it takes to survive it. We talk with Triumph’s CEO about growing up in small-town Oklahoma, sprinting through Big Law, and…
Aaron GraftGuestAndrew SilverHostSo back to the origin of the business that this had to be right around the time of the financial crisis.
we got a couple of deals done early, uh, We were able to raise capital, like, you know, hand, hat in hand.
We didn't have, I had no relationships in Dallas, except some people who were willing to invest in me and introduce me to other people.
And then if you were sitting at your desk in September of 08, when Lehman failed, like the world stopped turning.
And now everyone was a distressed debt investor, right? So I thought what we had built was we were unique.
And I didn't have any secret sauce that made me a better distressed debt investor than others than just being a little early.
Had I stuck with what we were doing and just stayed in commercial real estate, buying apartment complexes, fixing them up, selling? It would have turned out, I think, just as well financially, but my life would not be nearly as full as it is now.
And so the pivot was I went to my mentors, Carlos and a guy named Chuck Anderson, and I just said, hey, the world's falling apart.
And they're like, what's your thesis there? And I'm like, that is the last thing in the world people want to buy right now.
But if you paid attention to history in the late 80s and early 90s, there was a massive transfer of wealth.
So back to the origin of the business that this had to be right around the time of the financial crisis.
we got a couple of deals done early, uh, We were able to raise capital, like, you know, hand, hat in hand.
We didn't have, I had no relationships in Dallas, except some people who were willing to invest in me and introduce me to other people.
And then if you were sitting at your desk in September of 08, when Lehman failed, like the world stopped turning.
And now everyone was a distressed debt investor, right? So I thought what we had built was we were unique.
And I didn't have any secret sauce that made me a better distressed debt investor than others than just being a little early.
Had I stuck with what we were doing and just stayed in commercial real estate, buying apartment complexes, fixing them up, selling? It would have turned out, I think, just as well financially, but my life would not be nearly as full as it is now.
And so the pivot was I went to my mentors, Carlos and a guy named Chuck Anderson, and I just said, hey, the world's falling apart.
And they're like, what's your thesis there? And I'm like, that is the last thing in the world people want to buy right now.
But if you paid attention to history in the late 80s and early 90s, there was a massive transfer of wealth.
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