Hannah HammondFounder & CEO, HB Capital & The Firm RE · CEO of HB Capital | Helping CRE Developers & Investors Fund Deals Nationwide | Host of The Hannah Hammond Show

He Started Investing at 13 Years Old With Only $4,000 Search: Hannah Hammond & Andrew Abernathey

Name: He Started Investing at 13 Years Old With Only $4,000 Search: Hannah Hammond & Andrew Abernathey
Uploaded: 2026-02-15T05:40:12+00:00
Duration: 54 s
Channel: Hannah Hammond
Description: In this interview excerpt, Andrew Abernathey recounts how he turned a $4,000 seed investment into his first million by leveraging tight‑knit farming…

15 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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In this interview excerpt, Andrew Abernathey recounts how he turned a $4,000 seed investment into his first million by leveraging tight‑knit farming communities for capital. He describes a high‑velocity fundraising approach—knocking on ten farmer doors a day, each yielding $50‑100k, ultimately reaching a $10 million target. Abernathey explains how he scales across multiple asset classes by delegating each division to seasoned leaders with 15+ years of experience who have independently amassed wealth and invested personally. He outlines his method for identifying “A‑players”: reading extensively about industries, spotting individuals with strong morals, obsessive expertise, and a track record of success, then building a company around them. Finally, he touches on structuring incentives—aligning compensation and ownership to keep top talent motivated and retained.

You made your first million by.
1817.
How do you get over the hump of being a young entrepreneur or a young investor, out of the objections is like, well, how do you know what you're doing? You're so young.
Farmers are a unique group. Nobody can fly in from outside our circle, from a farming circle, and they won't give them money. It's just such a tight group. So they had money, they had nobody else knocking on their door. And each door I went to, it's like, hey, here's how I turned 4 grand into a million dollars. And everyone did like 50 to 100k was kind of like, let's see what this, this kid can do. I knocked on 10 doors a day and it was 500 grand to a million bucks a day. And it got to my 10 million goal.
You're in multiple different and asset classes. How do you know it? All right, like jack of all trades and master none type thing.
So how we manage it is each division has their talent. Each of those individuals that run these divisions have been in that industry for 15 plus years. They became wealthy independently. They put a lot of money personally into holdings.
How have you been able to identify and secure talented people like the best a players in the game?
I'm a nerd and I read a lot about every industry so I know the industries I like. And then when I'm just out and about, I find people that I like, that I admire, that have morals and have done really great things that are obsessive best about a certain industry. I find that person, then I build a company around them.
How do you structure incentives to actually keep them aboard and keep them happy?
The incentive is unique still. From Warren Buffett, our equipment dealership, municipal equipment dealerships make 18ish percent on total tangible assets. So what I do with Luke Stewart is every dollar above average, he gets 10% off. So we have a 9010 partnership holdings. These people then think like an owner and they are an owner. Where else can you get that? I mean every single president has made millions and millions of dollars because of this comp plan.