Anshul Sharma | The Closers Podcast #7

The episode features Anshul Sharma, a land investor based in Round Rock, Texas, who immigrated from India in 2011 on a merit-based scholarship to Penn State's MBA program. Sharma grew up in a politically prominent family in India, drawing work ethic from his father's transportation business and leadership exposure from his grandfather's political career. After completing his MBA, he was recruited by Dell through a VP mentor who recognized his street smarts, and he remained at Dell until 2021 — not by choice, but because his visa status required continued employment to stay in the US.

Sharma discovered land investing in 2017 through a Facebook ad promising no-money-down deals from home, which appealed to him given his corporate schedule. His first deal was a poorly accessed parcel he couldn't sell for a year, but his first successful flip — a $47,000 profit double close — was a turning point. He describes scrambling to find a title company willing to do a pass-through transaction in a single Friday afternoon, calling 10-15 Austin companies before finding one that understood what he needed. During this period, he ran the business nights and weekends with his wife helping on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.

Sharma's current operation employs 17-18 people, including roughly 10-11 in acquisition, 3 closers, 4-5 texters, and 4-5 underwriters. The team sends approximately 8,000 texts per day across 22 working days monthly. Out of every 100 responses, 4-5 are pushed to underwriting, and roughly half of those are rejected, leaving 2-3 qualified leads per 100 responses that reach closers. Closers are expected to generate $100,000–$200,000 in forecasted deal spread monthly, with a 50-60% close rate translating to meaningful commission income. He notes that text leads require 3-4x more qualified leads to close a deal compared to direct mail.

Sharma credits Grant Cardone extensively for his scaling mindset, particularly the philosophy of focusing on top-line revenue growth rather than obsessing over expenses. He also discusses the importance of culture in hiring, preferring candidates who show up consistently and have strong work ethic over those who claim impressive track records but may disrupt team culture. His hiring process involves a probationary period where new hires start in lower-stakes roles like cold calling or qualifying before being trusted with closing responsibilities.

On the disposition side, Sharma notes the land market has normalized significantly from the 2021 peak, now resembling 2015-2016 conditions where buyers exist but aren't frantic. His team now does more proactive outreach to realtors, neighbors, and builders, and employs more frequent price reductions to maintain a 40-45 day average time to find a buyer. He manages a core dispo team of four people.

In the final segment, Sharma discusses his longer-term vision: scaling to $10 million in revenue, building an IP layer around proprietary data and algorithms, and eventually positioning the business for sale — a goal he notes is rarely discussed in the land community. He warns that most businesses break at the $3-4 million revenue mark and that the tactics that got a business there will not carry it to $10 million. He emphasizes that a wholesale business with no documented systems, data, or processes has no sellable value.