David Drake learned the meaning the meaning of the word , niche at the tender age of 8 when he sold cacti door to door. Now the owner of more than four companies, 500 apartments, and an active philanthropist, Drake, 36, isn’t ready to settle down any time soon. Here the owner of drakelife.com chats with us about his goals, his lifestyle, and why having a dope downtown loft is essential to every pimp’s lifestyle.


First off, can you tell us about your background?
I was born and raised in Sweden, went to Wall Street for a year, went to work in Sweden, didn’t like it, came back to New York and worked in commercial real estate. I did all kinds of deals for many, many years, and seven years ago I bought a listing service [that had] corporate housing, expanded on it, and here we are. I’ve probably started a hundred different ventures in sales [since then].

What’s this cactus thing about?
My mom had a cactus collection at home – she loved cactuses ‘cause you didn’t have to nurture them that much. I dunno how it started, but I was 8, took these little buds, put them in a little plastic bucket, put some dirt in it, and walked door to door and said “you wanna buy a cactus?” And these were some cool looking cactuses. So I’m coming home, eight years old, and I got dollar bills in my pocket. You know, 25 years ago, that was a big deal.


We heard you speak more than a few languages, are the rumors true?
If you’re American, I speak between seven and ten. If you’re European, I speak between five and eight. If you’re Chinese, I speak 15 *laughs* - but, if you’re drunk and American, then I speak twelve. If I’m drunk, and you’re American, then I speak 13. But if we’re both drunk, then I dunno what we’re talking about. It all depends on how drunk you are! You like that one? I gotta write that one down. In Sweden, we don’t dub the TV, so we see all of the movies in [their] natural languages, and we have to pick up, you know, 2 or 3 languages when we’re in school – so after a while, we just have a proclivity to pick up languages fast.

Tell us about your companies.
Drakelife is a corporate housing [company]. It’s been around for 7 years, [and it’s] doing very well. And the other one, who I’m hoping to surpass me, is Drakehouse securities. Then you also have lightninggps.com, another company that we just started recently because GPS [is so popular now]. There’s also Drake Lifestyle, and we do concerts at Carnegie Hall. I did one and people stood in line, it was sold out, and we’re doing one on February 18th that’s also a fundraiser for trailblazers.org. We take in kids, not the worst ones, and not the nice ones - the ones with issues. Take them to the woods for three weeks, three sessions each summer, and give them self esteem and confidence. So I’m raising money for that event, and we’ve already picked up about eight or ten [donation volunteers]: Roberto Cavalli donated things for the silent auction, I donated a yacht for a sunset cruise, Lalique is donating crystals…so it’s gonna be sold out again. The third one will be for the Ronald McDonald house, in New York, on May 17, we’re also working with Best Buddies. I want to work with charities like Paul Newman and St. Jude’s to raise awareness and put together fundraisers, because for me it’s been pretty easy to put things together. We’ve had 300 dinner parties here in the last three years.

What have been your biggest obstacles so far?
Financing - I built everything with my own money. And if I want to scale it, and move forward, I need to go to Wall Street . I don’t need to, but I’d like to go to Wall Street, to scale, because there’s so many other companies I’d like to build, and they’re gonna need financing to scale it, and if you wanna buy a factory in China, then you know, you’re gonna have to have private equity come in and help us.

Well, you’re 36, so where do you see yourself in ten more years?
I see myself with 20 great friends that do business in different industries, [with me as] the chairman of the companies. And just building great friendships, family, and having someone to share everything with. What’s the point of just working if you can’t share it? So you share it with your wife, your kids, your family, or your friends. That’s it. After that, what? You gonna sit at home by yourself? And that’s one of the reasons I’ve spent a quarter million on dinners here over the last two years, for tons of people.

What advice would you give to someone who’s trying to start out in real estate?
Do informational interviews with people who actually are very, very good at what they do. Find out: what is their angle? What is their competitive advantage? Are they married into a rich family? Are they hustlers? Do they entertain? How do they maintain and entertain their clients? Does the money come from the clients? How do they control the relationship of the client, and maintain it? What kind of marketing is the biggest part in the world? Very powerful. Do they take them out on a regular basis? Are they best buddies? Do they follow up, do they send Christmas letters? Do they use a certain software, like SalesForce, to maintain the relationship with their clients?

What are some of the perks that you’ve experienced from doing what you do?
My friends bring friends to the loft. I have easier access to people. I’m always meeting incredible people by continuously going out there and reaching out to people. And, you know, having this loft, girls – girls are always throwing themselves – but most of the time I’m just hanging out with my friends.

Drake Life
Tel: 212.924.6666
Email: Fred@drakelife.com

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Labels: AlysonMance, David Drake, Interview, NYC