2026: The Playbook for Capital Raisers | Ep. 26

We map the 2026 capital raising landscape, explain why emerging managers have the edge, and lay out a practical 90-day plan to raise private capital with clarity and trust. Elevated rates, selective institutions, and cautious LPs create a lane for transparent, mission-driven operators.

• Elevated rates forcing disciplined underwriting
• LP trust rebuilding through consistent updates
• Institutional pullback creating private capital gaps
• Why hunger, transparency and tech are advantages
• Warm 25 outreach with genuine discovery
• Crafting a focused, credible investment thesis
• Building a simple investor pipeline and CRM
• Creating one signature credibility asset
• Setting concrete Q1 raise goals and metrics
• Diversify Wall Street as the guiding mission

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Transcript

Welcome To 2026 And The Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:00

2025 humbled a lot of people. Interest rates stayed stubborn, deals fell apart, LPs got cautious. Some syndicators went really quiet and some funds didn't make it. But here's what else happened in 2025: a whole new class of fund managers stepped up. People who didn't come from Wall Street, people who didn't have a Rolodex of a ton of people that they knew in the space, people who figured out how to raise capital with a system, a mission, and a whole lot of grit. And in 2026, those people are going to win. And if you're listening to this, you've probably been on the fence thinking about launching a fund, raising your first million, or finally building a system that doesn't live in spreadsheets and sticky notes. This episode is for you. Now, welcome to 2026. Let's absolutely get it. And welcome to Funds on Fire, the podcast that ignites the passion of investment funds and capital raising. Here we turn the complexities of fund management into clear, actionable steps that drive results. I've invested into diverse real estate across the United States and manage thriving funds. And I'm committed to transforming lives through the vehicle of investment funds and helping others to do the same. Join me as we document the journey of scaling businesses, raising capital, and impacting tens of thousands of people around the world. My name is Devin Robinson, and welcome to Funds on Fire. What's up? If you don't know who I am, welcome back. My name is Devin Robinson. Happy New Year. We made it. Praise God. If you're here, let me tell you what we do. We help investors, operators, and fundraisers raise capital and launch investment funds the right way, compliantly, confidently, and without feeling like you're begging people for money. And now this is the first episode of 2026. So I wanted to do something a little different. Not, I mean, I've been doing it lately, but uh no guests today. Just me and you. I want to break down what's happening in the capital raising world right now and why I think emerging managers have a massive opportunity this year and give you the real playbook, like actually things that what to do in Q1 to get you going. So grab a pen, grab paper, grab some coffee. Let's dive right into this because we're gonna talk about what's happening right now. Let's like let's start with the landscape. What's actually happening in capital raising in real estate this minute? Because if you're not paying attention to the macro, you're going to get caught caught off guard by whatever ends up happening this year. So, first interest rates. Look, I'm I'm not going to pretend to be an economist, but here's the reality rates are still elevated compared to the 0% money era everybody got used to, and now we've come out of and now we've struggled through. The days of 3% debt on a multifamily deal gone, at least for now. And what does that mean for us? It it means deals have to actually make sense. You can't just slap a pro forma together, assume 5% rent growth forever and hope for the best. Investors are smart, they've seen deals go sideways, they're asking hard questions. But here's the flip side of that, and this is really important. Serious operators are thriving because when the easy money dries up, the pretenders leave. The market, I mean, like you know, Lauren Buffett says when the tide, when the tide rolls up, then or when the tide rolls out, you you realize who's standing there without pants on. The people who are just riding the wave, they're out. The people who are actually know how to underwrite, who actually know how to manage, who actually know how to communicate with investors, they're cooking right now. They're eating, it's going well. So if you're still here and you're still learning, if you're still building, that's a good sign. The game just got more competitive, but the competition also gets the game got more competitive, but the competition also got thinner. Now, second thing, LP Cinnamon, limited partners, passive investors, whatever you want to call them. They're more cautious than they were two or three years ago. And honestly, I don't blame them. I really don't. A lot of people got burned. They invested in a deal that promised 20% IRR and delivered capital calls. They invested with operators who went radio silent when things got really tough. They saw sponsors prioritize fees over the performance of the funds. They saw flips and builds not sell like they thought that they would. So trust is at a premium right now, which means if you're an emerging manager, if you're a flipper, if you're a builder, someone who maybe doesn't have a 50-deal track record, you might think you're at a disadvantage, but I actually think it's the opposite. And here's why. LPs are tired of the big dogs who stop communicating. They're tired of kind of slick pitch decks that didn't deliver. They're looking for operators who are hungry, who are transparent, who actually give a damn about their capital. And that's you. That's us. That's the uh that's the uh capital raisers, the emerging managers, the flippers who's going to over-communicate, over-deliver, and treat every investor like they actually matter because they do. Now here's the third thing, and this is a big one. Institutional capital has pulled back from a lot of deals. The the big funds, the family offices, the pensions, all that money. They're being way more selective. A lot of them are sitting on the sidelines waiting for distress to happen. And honestly, I thought that what was gonna end up happening is once rates, and I still think it's gonna happen. Once rates hit into like the mid-fives, that's gonna really pick back up. But then, you know, Trump just hit us with this oh, um, we're gonna stop institutional uh investors who have over a billion dollars in assets under management from buying residential real estate in the U.S. And I'm curious to see what the heck that does. I think there's gonna be ways around it. I think you're gonna see a lot of people start smaller things, subsidiaries, buy out of those. It's gonna be really interesting. But but what does all of this stuff mean? It means there's a gap. Deals that wouldn't have been funded by institutional money two years ago are now looking for capital. And guess who can fill that gap? Private capital. High net worth individuals, your warm 25 that we talk about, your community. This is literally the opportunity. The big players are kind of hesitating right now, which means nimble operators, people who can kind of duck and duck and dive really fast with access to private capital, they can move. You don't need a hundred million dollars to play. You need 500k, you need a million dollars, you need a system to raise it and deploy it. Okay, so that's the landscape. Now, let me tell you why I think like emerging managers, people like you, even just fund managers, people in this community have a real edge right now. Now, one, you're hungrier. I don't mean that as like a cliche. I mean it literally. When you're building something from scratch, you don't have the luxury of coasting, you can't just mail it in. Every investor matters, every deal matters, every conversation matters. That hunger translates into hustle, it translates into responsiveness, it translates into the kind of investor experience that bigger shops just can't replicate because they've got layers of bureaucracy and thousands of LPs to manage. And it's just it's almost impossible. You can pick up the phone, you can send the update, you can show up in a way that institutional players just can't. And investors notice that. Trust me, like they absolutely notice that. And number two, you're more transparent. Here's something I've learned when you don't have a massive track record to hide behind, you're forced to lead with honesty. And honestly, that's a superpower. You can say, Hey, this is my second fund. Here's what I learned from the first find, here's what I'm doing differently. That's way more compelling than some polished pitch deck that's been through 14 rounds of legal review, and people don't even really and they just gloss right over. Investors are craving authenticity, they're tired of the corporate speak, they want to invest with real people who are building real things. And if you can show up as yourself, not some Wall Street caricature, you're going to connect in ways the big players just can't. And number three, technology has absolutely leveled the playing field. Five years ago, if you wanted to run a fund, you needed expensive software. Uh, like I'll I'll share, I'll share a little bit. I spoke to um, and it's fine. I spoke to Jennifer Square. They're incredible, right? Like incredible, going higher than, but it was over my first fund. And I was talking to the lady and she was so nice to me. She was awesome. Um, I said I got nothing but great things to say about them. And I was telling her about my fund, what we were doing, and she goes, Let me stop you right there. Um, come to us when you're on like fund two to 10. Not this fun. We don't want to take all your money. I was like, oh, okay, thank you so much. I appreciate you. Like, I like back then I needed expensive software, expensive admin, expensive everything. The barrier to entry was just massive. Now you can run a legitimate fund operation with tools that cost a few hundred bucks a month. You can have an investor portal, you can have an automated update, you can have a CRM that tracks every conversation, every commitment, every wire. That's literally like why I built Funflow because I was tired of seeing talented operators stuck in spreadsheet hell, losing deals because they couldn't keep track of their pipeline. The technology exists now to run like a pro from day one. And number four, your warm network is massively underutilized. I've said this a hundred times and I'll say it again. You already know people who can invest with you. You just haven't asked them the right way. The the big institutional shops, they're cold calling family offices and pension funds, they're competing for the same pool of capital that everyone else is competing for. You've got a dentist in your network who's been looking for a better return than the stock market right now. You've got a former coworker who sold their company and doesn't know what to do with the cash. You've got an uncle who's been talking about real estate for 20 years but never pulled the trigger. That's your edge. The warm 25 is what I call it. The people who already trust you, the people who would rather invest with someone they know than a faceless fund in New York. And five, the the mission matters. So number five, and number five, the mission matters. This is the one I'm most passionate about. For too long, the fund management game has been dominated by the same people, the same places with the same networks. Wall Street, Ivy League, old money, but that's changing. We're seeing operators from all kinds of backgrounds step up, people who didn't come from finance, people who didn't have the connections handed to them, people who are building generational wealth for their families and their community. And that's why like diversify Wall Street is all about. It's not just a hashtag I talk about, it's a movement. It's the belief that access to capital shouldn't be gatekeeped by a handful of people and a handful of zip codes. And here's the thing investors resonate with that. They want to back people who are on a mission, they want to be part of something bigger than just returns. And when you can articulate why you're doing this, not just what you're doing, you create a level of connection that no pitch debt can absolutely manufacture out of thin air. So if you're an emerging manager, listen to this. If you're raising capital for your flips, for your builds, listen to this. If you and if you've ever felt like you don't belong in this space, like you don't have the pedigree or the network or the track record, I need you to hear me. This is your moment. This is your year. All right. Now enough inspiration. Let's get tactical. What should you actually be doing in Q1 2026 to raise capital and build your fund? I'm going to give you a 90-day sprint, five priorities. If you do nothing else this quarter, do these five things. All right. Priority number one, reactivate your warm 25. January is the perfect time to reach out to people. Everyone in like this new year, new goals, new me mode. People are thinking about their finances, their investments, their plans for the future. Use that energy. Here's what I want you to do this week. Step one, make a list of 25 people in your life who either have capital to invest or know people who do. Don't overthink it. Your college roommate, your former boss, your CPA, your dentist, that guy from your mastermind, anyone who's ever asked you about what you do. Just like take 90 seconds, write down as many names as you possibly can, and then do that. Step two, send a simple reactivation message. Not a pitch, not a ask, just a touch point. Something like, hey John, happy new year, man. I saw that you guys had did this or that in the new, you know, over Christmas, or I saw that you guys went on this trip. How was that? Uh, I was thinking about doing something like that. Do you have any tips? I would love to catch up sometime this month if you're open to it. That's it. No pressure, no pitch. Just reestablishing a relationship. And what happens is that I always saw I always say this, right? Interested people are interesting. And so the more you get curious with them, they then become curious in you. Step three for anyone who responds positively, like they respond positively, schedule a call, get some coffee with them, catch up with them. And on that call, you're gonna do one thing. Listen, find out what they're working on, find out what their goals are for 2026, find out if they're thinking about investing in anything. You're not selling, you're learning. And at the end of the conversation, if it feels natural, like one, they're either gonna go, and what are you up to? And this is where you say, like in a non-pitchy way, oh man, I've been working on this real estate thing, it's been really awesome. I'm helping people to passively invest into deeply discounted real estate or into multifamily real estate and make double digits on their money. And then like keep it moving. I'm actually working on something right now that uh might be interesting to you. Um, and then maybe we can talk about this later. So if they say like, okay, hey, this is really interesting. Now you know you've got permission. Now you know they're your person. But if they're like, oh man, that's cool, then like you just keep it going. You're having a real conversation instead of a cold pitch. The warm 25 is the foundation of everything. If you do nothing else this quarter, do this. Do the warm 25. Um, number two, get crystal clear on what your thesis is going to be. Here's what I mean by thesis: it's the answer to three questions. What do you invest in? Why do you invest in it? Why should someone invest with you? If you can't answer these three questions in 60 seconds or less, you're not ready to raise capital, period. But let me give you an example. Here's a bad thesis. We invest in real estate deals that have pretty good returns. That's not a thesis. That's nothing. Every fund says that. Here's a good thesis. We invest in workforce housing in the Carolinas, B and C class properties in markets with job growth and limited new supply. Like we focus on operational efficiency, the the light value add to generate eight to ten percent cash on cash. So, like, or you could say eight to ten percent returns. Um, I've in like you say eight to ten and they're okay, and you you start saying something like with a five-year target of uh 15 to 18 to 20 percent. I've been operating in the market for seven years. I know property managers, I know contractors, and I've personally managed over 200 units. Like that's a little bit longer than I like, but it's a good thesis, right? That's your thesis. That's not your one-liner, that is your thesis. And I'd manage over 200 units. That's your thesis. Like, that's the thesis of what you do. That's not your one-liner. So big difference there. That's the thesis of what you do. See the difference? Specific, credible, clear. Your thesis is your anchor. It's what you come back to in every conversation. It's what goes on your one pager, it's what you say when someone asks, so what do you do? I'd love to hear more about it, right? So, like, this isn't just the hook that gets them in. This is what when they they want to hear more about what you do. Spend time this month getting this thing tight. Write it down, say it out loud, practice it until it flows pretty naturally. Priority number three, build your investor pipeline system. If you're still tracking investors in your head in random notes or on a spreadsheet that are that you never end up updating, you're leaving a ton of money on the table. I absolutely guarantee it. You guys need a system, uh, CRM, something that tracks who you've talked to, where they are in the process, if it's cold, warm, interested, committed, what they said in their last conversation, when you need to follow up, how much they're considering investing. And then honestly, if you've got like a 506B, what that substantive race relationship looks like, it's not complicated, but it definitely needs to be consistent and it definitely needs to be documented. And I'm obviously biased, but because that's exactly why I built Funflow because I got tired of losing track of conversations. I got tired of forgetting to follow up. I got tired of the sinking feeling when I realized I hadn't talked to a hot lead in three weeks that said they were interested in investing. And I or I forgot who that was. The system does the remembering for me. It tells you who to call, it tracks your pipeline, it shows you how to close um the deals as you're on target to raise your goal. Whether you use funflow or something else, get a system in place this quarter. It will change everything. And if you're interested, you can just grab it for free. There's a free version of it that you can go grab right now at funflowos.com/slash fire. Go get it. It's absolutely free. Use it. Priority number four, create one piece of signature content. I'm not telling you to become a YouTuber or start posting on LinkedIn every day, but I am telling you that content builds credibility and you need at least one piece of content that you can send to investors. This could be a recorded webinar explaining your thesis, a one-pager PDF that breaks down your fund, a video walkthrough, uh, a deal that you've done, a blog post about your investment philosophy, something that answers the question why should I trust this person with my money? And when you're in a conversation with a potential investor and they say, send me some info. You don't want to scramble. You want someone, you want to have something ready, something professional, something that does the selling when you're not in the room. Pick one format, create one piece, make it great, use it all year. Do something that you naturally gravitate towards, though. I like I know Alex Thermozzi, he naturally gravitates towards writing. So he's written three of the best books ever and he tweets a lot. Um, that's his thing, but he forced himself to do content. I know some people that are really good at podcasting. They love podcasting, they don't like their face on things. I know some people that are really good at YouTube. Pick your thing. Priority number five, set your Q1 raise goal. I I want you to pick a number, a specific concrete number. How much capital do you want to raise, or at least get soft committed by March 31st? Maybe it's 250K, maybe it's 500k, maybe it's a million, maybe it's five. This doesn't matter what the number is. What matters is that you have one. Because here's what happens when you don't have a goal. You dabble. You have a few conversations here and there, you work on it, you you have a few conversations here and there, you work on it when you have time, and then Q1 ends and you've raised nothing. But when you have a number, when you can look at your pipeline and say, I need 500K, I have 200k soft committed, I need to close this gap. Now you're operating with urgency. Now you're making decisions. Now you're actually in the game. So write it down. Put it somewhere, you'll see it every day and reverse engineer what it takes to get there. And if you need 500K and your average investor commits 50K, then you know you need 10 investors. If your conversion rate is 20%, you know that you need to have 50 real conversations. If you have 90 days, that's about four conversations a week. Now you have a plan. Now you have a scoreboard. Now you can win. And all right, like to finally close this out, I want to talk about something that's really important to me. And if you've been following me for a while, you've probably heard me say this before, but it's the first episode of the year, and I want to say it again. Let's diversify Wall Street. It isn't just a brand thing for me. It's not a marketing slogan. It's the reason I do what I do with fun founders, fun flow, the funds on fire podcast. I grew up in a system in LA, single mom, bought, you know, like worked really, really hard, didn't have the means to give me all the things in the world, just got me what she could and was amazing. Didn't have wealthy parents. I didn't have a network of investors, I didn't have a trust fund or family office or a fancy degree from a Target school that people look for. Everything I've built, I've had to figure it out. And along the way, I've met hundreds of people just like me, smart, hardworking, talented operators who have deal flow and hustle, but don't have access to the capital networks that the traditional finance world takes for granted. And that's not okay. And it's changing. And you hear me this say this statistic all the time$82 trillion worth of assets under management in the US. Only 1.4% of that is managed by minorities and women. That means that 98.6% of all money in America is managed by white men. Fund founders exist to give people the education, the community, and the systems to raise capital and launch funds, regardless of where they come from. Fund flow exists to give emerging managers for anybody, capital raisers, fix and flippers, the same operational infrastructure that the big shops have without the six figure price tag. We're building a new Wall Street, one that looks like America, one that That includes people from all backgrounds, all zip codes, all walks of life. One where your ability to raise capital is based on your skills and your track record, not the last name or your country club membership. That's the mission. And if that resonates with you, I want you in this community. And if you're serious about launching a fund or scaling your capital raising in 2026, check out Fun Founders at WeAreFunfounders.com. We've got a mastermind. We've got courses. We've got uh live calls where I'm in the room helping you to work through your specific situation. And if you need a system to manage your investors, check out fun flow. Um, I want to give it to you for absolutely free. Uh, and if but if you want to, you can actually get a 14-day free trial of the premium. Just go to funflowos.com slash fire, use the code FIRE50 for 50% off your first month. Now, even if you never buy anything from me, even if you just listen to this podcast and take action on your own, I'm rooting for you because every manager who succeeds is a win for the movement. Every fund that gets launched by someone who wasn't supposed to be here is proof that the game is changing. Let's make 2026 the year we change it for good. So, to recap all of this, here's your 2026 playbook. One, the landscape is shifted, rates are up, LPs are cautious, institutions are on the sidelines, but that creates opportunity for the nimble, hungry operators. Two, emerging managers have the edge. You're hungrier, you're more transparent. Technology has leveled the playing field, your worm network is untapped and your mission matters. Three, your Q1 action plan. Reactivate your Worm 25, get crystal clear on your thesis, build your investor pipeline, create one piece of signature content, set your Q1 raise goal. And four, this is bigger than just business. We're building a movement. Let's diversify Wall Street. It isn't just about making money, it's about changing who gets access to capital and generational wealth. That's it. That's the episode. This is the first one of 2026. If this resonates with you, do me a favor, share this with someone who needs to hear it, someone who's been on the fence about raising capital, someone who's been doubting whether they belong in this space, send them this episode. And if you want to go deeper, come join us. Fun founders for the education in the community, fun flow for the system. Links are in the show notes. My name is Devin Robinson. Let's make 2026 the best year yet. And as I always like to say, to great success and greater impact. I'll see you on the next one. Peace.