Dominik Senn On Raising $250 Million To Build A Gated Luxury Golf And Lifestyle Club

Dominik Senn’s story is one of reinvention and relentless ambition. Born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1967, Dominik began his career as a competitive skier at just 16 years old. His experiences on the slopes defined his youth and laid the foundation for his entrepreneurial spirit.

Dominik’s latest project has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Southern Realty Trust.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Dominik Senn transitioned from professional skiing to entrepreneurship, building a global sports management agency representing icons like Roger Federer.
• Identifying gaps in Florida’s golf communities, Dominik envisioned Panther National, blending European elegance with American luxury.
• Despite no real estate experience, Dominik raised $250M through equity and debt, navigating skepticism and leveraging his vision.
• The COVID-19 pandemic, initially a challenge, became an opportunity as demand for outdoor and remote-work-friendly lifestyles surged.
• Panther National combines world-class golf facilities with luxury amenities, setting a new standard for gated lifestyle communities.
• Dominik’s leadership philosophy emphasizes trust, autonomy, and fostering a culture of accountability and innovation.
• His journey highlights the value of dreaming big, embracing risk, and learning quickly, with the U.S. offering fertile ground for entrepreneurial ambitions.

 

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About Dominik Senn:

Dominik Senn (born 1967 in Zurich) is a former professional alpine ski racer from Switzerland. Senn is the founder of 4SENN, 4sports & Entertainment AG, and Centaur Golf International AG—and acts as their CEO and Chairman.

4sports is one of the world’s leading integrated sports marketing agencies and talent representation companies.

Since 1995, Dominik Senn’s companies have represented world-class athletes in Skiing, Tennis, Hockey, Soccer, and Golf. As a sports agent, Senn represents numerous PGA Tour golfers; among them are major champions and multiple PGA Tour winners.

Senn is notably the founder and visionary behind Panther National, the first ultra-modern contemporary golf, lifestyle, and country club in North America.

Located in Palm Beach Gardens, this Centaur Golf International AG project is underway, proving to be an epic development reshaping the real estate market in Florida.

Connect with Dominik Senn:

• LinkedIn
• Crunchbase
• RocketReach
• Facebook

Read the Full Transcription of the Interview:

Alejandro Cremades: All righty. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Deal Maker Show. So today we have a really exciting guest, and today I think that you guys are going to find this interview quite inspiring.

Dominik Senn: everyone

Alejandro Cremades: you know He was ah quite a competitive athlete, you know in this case a skier, and then he’s gone from that into becoming an entrepreneur. So again, very, very exciting conversation, incredible story.

Alejandro Cremades: We’re going to be learning about building, scaling, financing, you name it, and I think that you’ll love this episode. So without further ado, let’s welcome our guest today, Dominic Sen. Welcome to the show.

Dominik Senn: Thank you for having me.

Alejandro Cremades: So originally, Dominic, you were from Switzerland. So give us a walk through memory lane. How was life growing up for you?

Dominik Senn: Yeah, I’m Maurizio from Switzerland and I was born 1967 in Zurich and became a professional skier at a very young age, around 17 years old, 16 years old, and where made m my steps through the the skiing career and founded 1995, a management company to management manage myself, actually.

Dominik Senn: and And after my career in 2001, I became a global sports marketing agency. and We represented hockey.

Alejandro Cremades: And what do you think what do you think that the you know before you actually got going with that, you know with the the competitive spirit you know that that you really had in in in and that you were driving you know when you were a ah professional skier, um what do you think that you’ve carried from that when it comes to the world of business?

Dominik Senn: um I think I’m very competitive. First of all, I like to win and I’m also willing to prove the hard work and I think I’m very disciplined as well. as That’s four attributes, I think, that helped me to become a competitor. So when I saw as a skier that the sports world was very young, that the first people who tried to make our skis or were waxing our skis became like a sports agent successfully. So I thought myself I can do that even better. So I think it was very competitive and I brought enough patient and and will and willingness and also ah ah termination in determination into really yeah become an entrepreneur.

Alejandro Cremades: And in your case, no university, no studies, no nothing. You just went right at it. You know, when he came to our business and you went at it because you saw a need, something that you were essentially seeing with you and with your peers, which was essentially lack of representation.

Dominik Senn: Yeah, I mean, I mean, I did the high high school, a very high-end high school, and I was one of the best in the high school, I can say. So school was always easy for me. And I studied public relations and advertising on the side of skiing. But other than this, yes, everything is handmade, everything is learning by doing, and that’s true.

Alejandro Cremades: So then you were building the firm of representing other athletes for many years. um I guess what was that journey of building and scaling you know that business and and then also going from skiing to hockey and to other other other sports as well.

Dominik Senn: Absolutely.

Dominik Senn: yeah It was but very organically, I think it was never my goal at the very beginning to have a global sports management agency. Of course I was dreaming to become but one of the most influential sports agents.

Dominik Senn: He came very naturally to me and organically. So from skiing, we went to hockey, which is another winter to sport and very popular in Switzerland. And I started representing also other skiers, of course, at the very beginning. Then I started working for IMG, the American company. And because they they had problems at that time in the German speaking market, so I started representing them in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. But I did not.

Dominik Senn: agreed that they could purchase my little company, because I had not, not any assets in my in my company, which I could sell for a lot of money. So I, I told them they have to agree on a entrepreneurial spirit and split. So I told them you don’t have to pay me a salary. But whatever we make, we split. So they thought at the very beginning that that’s a smart deal for them. But it’d be I became the most successful agent in Europe. So I did tennis tournaments, Rocha Federer brought into the company. I yeah and managed a lot of assets, purchased the hockey rights in Switzerland for over 70 million. So um and and and we we became really a successful partnership at the end. And then I split again and went on my own.

Alejandro Cremades: so So then you split again, you go on your own, and then eventually, what does a skier do in Florida? how How do you land in Florida?

Dominik Senn: Yeah, I was very passionate with golf at the at a ah very young age. At the early twenties, I started playing golf and I thought, okay, I have to go in that golf business because my dream was like to be ah to play a part in the golf business because I liked that sport so much. And I started 2006, the golf division, i and moved my golf division to London and then from London,

Dominik Senn: finally to Jupiter in 2013, because we figured out that all our top players from Europe, they’re going to play on the PGA tour. They went to play there because that’s where the money is. And I started looking around for homes, renting a home for me, because I was at that time traveling back and forth a lot between Switzerland and Florida. And also in 2013, I came over with my family to implement my office here in ah in Florida. And we could not find the modern home. We thought all of the clubhouses are very dated. And also my young players, they told me the golf courses, they are suck. Normally they all look the same. We like the weather and the tax situation in Florida, but not so much the golf. And I also thought they’re all flat, they’re surrounded by houses. So I started creating a dream to build the first modern

Dominik Senn: gated golf community or I call it the golf and and a Golf and the Lifestyle Club and try to integrate the best elements from Europe with the best elements from the US.

Alejandro Cremades: So then let’s talk about that. Panther International you know is what they eventually you came up with, you know which was, as as you were alluding to, now with seeing everything outdated in Florida, even though like a lot of money, a lot of wealth, quite outdated. I guess for the people that are listening, what ended up becoming Panther International, what’s the business model, and how do you guys make money?

Dominik Senn: Your very first, like also when I started my agency, it was actually a natural reason. So when I started my agency, I wanted to represent myself better. And then when I came to Florida, I wanted to build something for me and my family, which suits to my interest, which suits very well to my lifestyle. So that was the really original reason. And then of course, I figured out quite quickly that if you want to build a one of the best golf courses in the world. It needs a lot of money and how can you finance it? So I came up with a plan to build a residential community, but just a gator community like they have a lot in Florida, but with completely and different lifestyle around and also different architecture for the homes and for the golf course. I started creating a business plan and that was before Corona.

Dominik Senn: Everybody in my agency, actually, especially from the Golf Division, they tried to convince me not doing it, because at that time, golf was decreasing. and And a lot of people burned money with golf courses. And they said, don’t do it. don’t don’t Don’t invest your money. You have never done this, and you’re not a developer. Like, stay to what you are good managing athletes.

Dominik Senn: And um that’s a little bit of my personality. if People try to convince me more and more and more because that something is done. The last home of the year is always the same way. That convinced me actually to start thinking outside the box and also try. And then Corona hit us. The first couple of leagues, we really didn’t know what that means to us. is that now ah Is that now the end of the project? Because we already purchased the at the land.

Dominik Senn: Or is that even a chance? And and and soon ah soon we figured out that this is actually the biggest chance for us because golf started increasing again because people found out that they want to spend more time in the outside. Florida became even more popular, not only because of the tax, because also people wanted to found out they can work from home remotely and they want to spend their time in the outdoors. And all these together are created actually an environment which was very helpful for us with Pantanational. And the project became really, really a big support. Also financially at the beginning, there was only European money, friends of mine and my money. And then we had two big investors from from Germany.

Dominik Senn: who believed in me at the very beginning. And then we also could find lenders in America, actually. Then it was quite easy. We had a lot of financial groups that stand in line that they stood in line and made us an offer.

Alejandro Cremades: So let’s talk about then the capital raise in this case. So you guys have raised about 300 million and that’s a combination of the equity and the debt. So how has it been through the experience of raising the money and what’s the difference here between raising the equity and raising the debt for Panther International?

Dominik Senn: Yeah, you know, I was not in the and I’m not still not in the business of raising money. So I have a friend, very close friend of mine, Michael Lauper, he’s, he is my business partner in this venture. And he was also a business partner in my other companies. And he actually yeah and comes from the financial world, he understands the financial world, and he creates the concept that I really have to give all credits to him. But I think I was setting the dream and he made He made the concept behind it. That’s how we yeah we went on a roadshow and we had some some specialists in Miami who helped us to to find the to find the loans, like because our project is also leveraged. But the equity we found in Europe and there were people that knew me before and they trusted me. yeah I could not find one single dollar equity at the very beginning because everybody was saying, okay, this is something completely new.

Dominik Senn: And people were telling me, you have never done it. You’re not a developer. And so they were very skeptical. The rhetoric go with someone who or with a company who has done that for 50 years.

Alejandro Cremades: So obviously, you know like when the investors you know are investing in a business, they invest in a vision as well. And and and in this case, you know I want to ask you, if you were to go to sleep tonight and you were to wake up in a world where the vision of Panther International is fully realized, what does that world look like?

Dominik Senn: You’re right about investors, but at the end, it comes down to two cents and dollars. They like to say that vision and people, but at the end, it’s all about the money game. But yeah, a world looks like, in my opinion, it looks like really that we are a lifestyle club there. You can come in through the gates as soon as you are allowed to go through the games, either as a member or as a as a friend or a guest of a member. I think a beautiful lifestyle world opens. You can come here and go to the gym. We have different gyms available. and There you can work out. After the gym, you shower and you go maybe to a Zoom room. We have different Zoom lounges where you can do your business calls, you can work, you can have a talk with your clients or with your business. Then after this, you go for a smooth scene in the cafeteria, read some newspapers on your iPad and maybe

Dominik Senn: Then you go back for business call, you’re heading out for a couple of holes for golf, play golf, coming back, eat something in the restaurant. And then maybe in the evening you go for a, um, you go for a a tennis match or for a pickle ball or paddle match or for a swim. If your family come back, order from food from a, uh, three Michelin inspired fine dining restaurants for your home.

Dominik Senn: and have just a great lifestyle in a very healthy and wealthy environment. But if if you then in the evening think, and I have to celebrate something, you go to our wine lounge, we have a wine tower so inspired by the Matterhorn Mountains from Switzerland and you sit in one of the lounges there with your wife or your friends and have a great glass of wine served by our sommelier.

Alejandro Cremades: That sounds absolutely spectacular. ah So Dominic, I want to talk about the um and want to talk about the past, because we’re talking about the future. I want to talk about the past, but doing so with a lens of reflection.

Alejandro Cremades: if I was to put you into a time machine and I bring you back in time, let’s say I bring you back in time to that moment where you were a skier, you know still you know competing professionally, and at that moment where you were starting to realize that there had to be a better way to do things and a way in which you would venture into the unknown, where you would be able to also control your own destiny. If you were to be in front of that younger Dominic,

Alejandro Cremades: and be able to give that younger Dominic one piece of advice before launching a business. What would that be and why, given what you know now?

Dominik Senn: That’s a very good question because I was always a dreamer. I call myself a professional dreamer because I think I know how to put dreams in reality because I think I dream my dream so hard and so many times that I program myself, my body, my brain, everything is programmed to achieve that goal. So it’s almost an automatic right from A to Z where I go. And on the way, I think And what I would do better is probably I will probably invest more money in professional advice in some areas where I will be new for me, make sure that they’re really high the best people I think sometimes because of a lack of

Dominik Senn: have enough money available for a new project. I mean, maybe I have chosen a way where we save some money and try to to go with maybe and a cheaper solution and that costs me money at the end. I would say that’s that’s probably where the most mistake happens. Other than that, I think, yeah. and As long as you can dream, you should start doing it because if you know too much about it at the very beginning, you see too many hurdles to overcome and you don’t start and the business. so and In some way, I started a lot of my business quite naive, thinking I can do that easily.

Dominik Senn: even if I was not a professional in this area or not experience or knowledge enough. But at the end, I was a quick learner and I was able to think about myself all the time and readjust quickly. But I think if you know everything at the very beginning, you probably would not have started it. If that makes sense to you.

Alejandro Cremades: and talking about And talking about lessons learned here at Dominique, um you have 120 employees. What have you learned too about team building? And then also building a really um great solid culture um underneath it to really drive that level of growth on the on the human capital.

Dominik Senn: Yeah, I am well known for a style of managing people that they give them a lot of freedom. They actually, if I choose someone and I trust him, they actually have quite a acquired ah lot of space to do it the way they think they that they should do it. I give them goals, I control the goals, and we have regular meetings, but I’m not um not a guy who who is too much controlling them all the time. But if I think the trust is not there, I’m a black and white guy. I think either trust it this employee, especially the the key people, the leaders, or not. If I don’t trust anymore someone, then I’m actually like to do a hard cut. But I’m a guy who tries to motivate people a lot. to um I see myself like a locomotive, like a train.

Dominik Senn: goes ahead and motivates them and gives give them the instrument and and the belief or that we can achieve the goals.

Alejandro Cremades: And in this case, too, I mean, you’re from from Switzerland. Right now, you’re in Florida. You’re building a business in the US. I guess there’s a lot of people that are outside of the US s that are listening to us. There’s probably a lot of people in Europe. And maybe you know a bunch of people in Switzerland, too. How has it been different to when it comes to the dynamics of the world of business and also building a company how thats that How does that, you know, how have you seen it differently from perhaps doing business or building companies in Europe?

Dominik Senn: The culture, the difference is big. I have to say, i’m I’m very, very thankful for the opportunity I have here in and in north ah North America, especially in in America. ah Because I think the people in America are much more open to people with new ideas, thinking outside the box and entrepreneurs.

Dominik Senn: As long as you have the money and you have the willingness and the power to do so, they doing don’t charge you what you have, what kind of background you have, where you come from, what family you come from, what kind of education you have. They just want to see that you are going to succeed and they look more at you as your success story than what kind of education do you have or where you come from. I would say if Switzerland had their ability or the If Sweden had enough land that they could do such a big project in Switzerland, I would not have the chance to do it. There were too many people thinking skeptical about everything. They always see an Indian behind every stone hiding. And I think in America, they are much more open. So I think that’s the great quality still of this country. A lot of people think the American dream is not existing anymore. I think what had the way they welcomed me

Dominik Senn: And the way I had the chance and the opportunity to to build that project was was unbelievable. And it has something to do with this mentality of a lot of immigration people who all come to this place to actually fulfill their own dreams. And I think that that helped me a lot. There are other and other things in Switzerland that are great, and they’re not so great here. But in terms of entrepreneurship and and creating a company or or fulfill a dream in reality or bring a dream in reality, America or or the United States is a great territory.

Alejandro Cremades: So for those people that are listening that would love to hear about Panther National, also to get in touch with you as well to say hello, what is the best way for them to do so?

Dominik Senn: The best ah way is that they they visit the website and on the website there is an email address and they can always reach me through the email address and I’m very open to connect with people.

Alejandro Cremades: Amazing. Well, Dominic, thank you so much. It has been an absolute honor to have you in the Dealmaker Show today.

Dominik Senn: Thank you for having me and I wish you a merry Christmas and happy holidays.

*****

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