The Secret To Raising $2 Billion... | Brad Blazar Interview

Alright, alright, welcome back to the show. Today we got with us Brad Blazer. Brad, welcome to the show. How you doing today?

I'm doing great, Bridger, man. It's great to be here.

This is gonna be a fun— this is gonna be a fun episode. So Brad has raised over $2 billion as— and billion, like, just like old Trump going there— $2 billion as a capital raiser. Runs a company called Capital School, global company. You guys do 2 events a year. What's the name of your event as well?

Yeah, so we do 2 events a year called Capital Con, and we just did one in April. It was phenomenal. We had over 100 people there. We're, you know, in the throes of planning the one for the fall. It'll be late October, early November. And it's really just designed to, you know, bring people together that want to learn how to raise investor capital, how to use other people's money, how to get started as a real estate entrepreneur or, you know, use other people's money in some other form or fashion. And just fun, man.

Brad, I want to ask you about— there's a lot of people that watch this show that want to become better capital raisers. And that's why we got you here. You're You're the expert on this. So they want to get better at getting in front of individuals, and we're going to step through each one of these as well, but first thing I want to ask about is the mentality of capital raisers. Let's talk about the psychology that a lot of people just think, well, there's no money out there, I can't raise money, I don't come from XYZ. What are some of those misconceptions? I see you laughing. What are some of those misconceptions and how can you help people overcome them?

You know, it's kind of funny. It's like, do I need to stand up, pull my pants down, and show people the big brass balls? No. But you've got to be confident. You know, really, people that are super affluent that you're going to, they don't want to be talked up to. And I think one of the biggest challenges for people that have never raised money is, yes, you want to raise the money. There's desperation in raising the capital. Either there's a deadline, maybe you have a closing because you've gone hard on a piece of real estate and the clock is ticking. But the second you come across that way, it's game over. There's no way you're going to get a check. So you have to—

So coming across as needy or too beg— like you're begging for money, essentially.

Right, exactly. You don't want to come across like you're begging or like you're overly desperate. You really want to talk to somebody eye to eye. You want to use language they can largely understand so that you're using the lingo of the industry. But more importantly, you really have to talk with a tremendous degree of confidence in your voice that, you know, hey, this is a great deal. I can execute on this deal, and these are the good things that are going to happen as a result of me being able to do that. And here's one thing that I will tell you. Investors do not invest in great ideas. A lot of people think they do. You could have the best idea on the planet and come to a bunch of investors and say, man, I got the greatest idea, it's going to solve all the world's problems, thinking you're going to raise millions of dollars. It don't work that way. What investors look for are great ideas backed by entrepreneurs that can execute. Let me say that again. Great ideas backed by entrepreneurs that can execute. If you can't prove or show an investor that you can execute on that strategy or that idea, good luck, because the chances are you're not going to be successful raising capital. They're looking for people that are winners, and if you can exude that confidence and really express that based on a prior track record or experience in an industry, you're going to be head and shoulders above a lot of the people out there that are competing for investor capital.

Wow, that's spot on. The other side of the note is a lot of these investors were entrepreneurs themselves.

Yep, absolutely.

They've already built great businesses and they understand the value of execution. You mentioned number 1, you know, talking at the same level, don't act desperately. Number 2, being able to— backed by a great idea, backed by entrepreneurs that can execute. I think that's spot on. What else in the psychology? Anything else there?

Yeah, absolutely. And I think the third thing, which is probably the most important, is an understanding that very few people are going to invest with you until you build and establish that trust. And, you know, one of the very difficult things for new entrepreneurs to understand is that you really have to back off and kinda slow down the process. The biggest mistake I see a lot of people making when they pitch or when they try to raise money is they start talking about the investment or about the opportunity too early in the process. And naturally, the investor's gonna be nice and cordial and shake their head and go along with the pitch, but when it comes time to close, they're not gonna close. And the reason is you've gone all the distance, but what you made the mistake of doing is you didn't put trust first and then pitch the deal. And so one of the things that I've learned, and kind of one of the things we mentor many of our students on, is how to actually validate at some point in that relationship that trust has been established. And it's one very simple question. And if the person answers that question properly, you know now that you have validated trust and they essentially have given you permission to move forward in that process and call them back and pitch and talk about the investment opportunity. To pitch your deal and present before them? It's largely just a waste of your time.

Wait, what's, what's the question?

I love you.

Team me up.

So, you know, what I share with people is that the process of raising money really needs to take place over multiple meetings, multiple Zooms, multiple calls so that you can disarm the person, really get to know them, largely make sure that whatever you're doing is suitable. It's, you know, the SEC know your client rules, etc., etc. And so usually what I do is I spend a large amount of time on the first and second call really just getting to know people, asking them questions, trying to figure out what's going to tempt them to ultimately invest with us. And then towards the end of that last call, I just say something like, you know, Bridger, it's been great connecting with you, but right now, unfortunately, I just don't have an investment opportunity that I can really talk to you about. And the reason is we always like to give our existing investor base the right of first refusal. on most of our ensuing programs, so they tend to fill up pretty quickly. But if I have a small allocation or an opening on something in the future, would you like me to put your name on a list and get back in touch with you? And when they say yes, they have confirmed that they now trust you, but more importantly, the door is opened for you to call them now on a deal. If they say, well, no, or, you know, I got to think about it, then you know you've got to go back and work on the trust. But doing that does 2 things. Number one, It builds scarcity, right? One of the greatest closes that closers know how to use is what we call the takeaway, right? People want what they perceive they can't get. And so if you build scarcity into the mindset of a prospective investor that your deals fill up quickly, it's like when you call them back and you pitch, if there's any interest, they better get on board or they may never have the chance of investing with you. And so there's definitely a little bit of psychology in the way we communicate with people when we're raising capital. But the other thing it largely also does for you as the capital raiser is it validates that you have gotten to basically what I call the 4th step in a 6-step process we call the trust sequence. And the trust sequence are basically 6 things that have to happen sequentially to build that trust, communicate that relationship, and until you get to number 4 where you can validate trust is established, don't bother pitching or presenting an investment opportunity.

Brad, I love— and people that have followed my show, I've preached that for years.

Yep.

What are some strategies you use to source these high-net-worth individuals? Sometimes they're hard to find and get around.

Well, there's no doubt about it, you know, they certainly are. And, you know, as you know, and I'm sure a lot of your listeners know, you know, there's plenty of places online that have links to lists and, you know, places you can go like Axial, or there's many, uh, you know, networks and clubs, you know, like the Family Office Network with Richard Wilson, or you can go to Opal. and attend their conference in Newport, Rhode Island. But really what I've largely found with the family office space, especially just due to the amount of affluence and wealth that many of these families have, is they're very— The office, you can't get in. But you can. And really the way to do that is to create a presence in the industry where you're showing up, you're attending some of these events, you're networking, and it's really the consistency that when people start seeing you at multiple events, they start taking notice. Hey, this guy's a player. He's consistent, he's showing up, he's, you know, he's trying. And largely when you get the attention of an office or multiple offices, it's really building on that relationship much the same way you would do with an individual. It's building the trust. But with family offices, they want to see you. I am willing to spend money to hop on a jet and fly to visit with somebody to sit down face-to-face, especially if they're a family office and they're managing a few hundred million or better yet a billion or more dollars because Definitely, when you sit down at a conference table, you shake a hand, you look somebody in the eyes, there's a relationship that you just can't develop over a phone call or over Zoom.

So, a little bit more detail. Like, you go to an event, you go to a party, whatever it is, a charity event or whatever, and you meet someone that's in a family office and you're sitting there talking with them. Like, walk us through the mechanics of— and you mentioned, you know, the principle of adding value or getting them on your, you know, getting in the ecosystem. Like, you have some tangible, like, What kind of mechanics do you use that you find are useful? You're like, you walk up, hey, I'm Brad, you know, like, where does it go from there? Like, give us anything there that you've seen that's worked for you, some things that you've liked to use.

You know, usually, if I know that they're tied to a family office and I know that there's a relationship with the family office, I'll always ask about the history of the family. In other words, you know, tell me a story, like, you know, how was the wealth created for the family? Like, what did they do? What industry they were in? Because people always like sharing that story. And then, you know, once I kind of get the background of the office or, you know, how they created the wealth, I largely talk about really the purpose of the office. Is it to invest? Is it to create generational wealth where really it's more about, you know, passing that wealth down multigenerational? And then lastly, I just ask them like, you know, what type of things do you like to look at? You know, are you agnostic to one industry or do you invest in multiple industries? And if you do, What size transactions do you look for? Because a lot of family offices, you know, based on their size, will tell you right up front, don't waste our time if there's anything under $10 million. It just doesn't move the needle. So $10 million and above. And we typically like to come in on deals that are of a size of $50 million or greater. And so as you're listening to these things and you're, you know, maybe going back home and kind of making notes, putting them in a CRM or whatever it is you have to kind of track relationships, you start to create what I call an avatar or a profile for these different family offices. And you know then when you have a deal based on how much you're needing to raise, which family offices that you've had conversations with might be better prospects than others, and more importantly, for what reasons. Because, you know, family offices typically will invest in certain things that have familiarity to them. And so if you can start building those relationships with family offices that are largely in the space that you're in, Mm-hmm. they're then able to bring 2 things. They bring capital, but they can also bring intellectual knowledge and capital.

Yeah.

As an advisor or somebody that might be, you know, welcome as a board member on a board of directors. So now they're giving advice and they're giving basically intellectual knowledge to the industry you're in. And so I always look for those types of relationships. What I have found on approaching very wealthy people is if you ask for their advice first, Before you ask for their money, you have a much greater chance of winning them over.

So I got one final question for you, Brad. I love to ask my guests this question. You got 2 minutes. You can share whatever you think would be most valuable to leave with this audience.

You know what I'll tell you? You know, when you're closing investors, like we talked about earlier, you have to speak with confidence and you have to speak to them as an equal. You can't speak up to them. You can't speak down to them. It's like, man, I do this all day long. It's just money. And so let's go, let's do it. And so I'll share a story with you. When I was in the oil business, we had this very wealthy doctor. He was a retired neurosurgeon. The guy flew out to meet us on a private jet that he owned. So I knew the guy was certainly qualified. But for whatever reason, he just would not invest. I mean, he was like, you know, interested, kept asking all the right questions, etc., etc., Bridger. But I think it was, again, the hesitancy and the fear of knowing that there's the risk of, you know, drilling a dry hole, losing the entire investment. And so what we used to do in my company twice a week is we would end the day at 3 and then come back at 6, and I would order pizzas and stuff, and we would stay until 9 calling out to California to take advantage of the 2-hour time difference. And so one night I was on the phone with this wealthy, affluent doctor, and I just said to him, Dr. Schnack, it just takes 2 things to invest in an oil well. And he said, what? And I said, big balls and lots of money. Which of the two don't you have? And then I just bit my tongue. I was like a 24-year-old kid. I'm like, I can't believe I said that. And after, you know, what seemed like forever, he said, tell me again how much 3 units in your program cost, Brent. And I said, doctor, go get your checkbook and the subscription package we sent. I'd love to welcome you aboard. He became one of my biggest investors.

Wow.

But it's that confidence and the ability to talk to them just like they're one of your drinking buddies and say, buddy, come on, man, it's just money, you know? You know, you're a rich dude. Come on, let's go do it. And so I rang the bell and I'm like, guys, I got like the best clothes. You all have my permission to use this 'cause it works. But you know, it's largely that mindset, you know, that you're here to do business. And I think the biggest mistake people have in raising money is, I use the expression, they're great at selling fluff. You know, as an entrepreneur and as a business owner, I always used to tell my salespeople, don't come with me about a story about, oh, he's gonna invest next week. Or he's gonna think about it. I'm like, dude, just show me the numbers, because the numbers don't tell a lie. People lie all the time. And so you always have to get to a point with an investor and close them and just say, Bridger, how many units in our program do you want? You want 3 units, 2 units, 1 unit, or no units? And I always give the option to the individual to say no and to get out.

Why?

Because invariably, if you present that opportunity, they don't do that. They come back and they go, well, tell me again how much 2 units cost. And then that's where you can move forward and close him on those 2 units. And so again, it gets back to having done this for a long time, knowing what to say, but also the psychology behind why you do it. And that's a true story in the 2 minutes of how I closed the guy that was on the fence that really didn't want to close.

I love it, Brad. Big balls or lots of money, and lots of money, which some of you don't, don't have. That, that's awesome. I'm sure that's plastered on the wall now and the, and the COVID like, at least till you guys, till you guys close doors, but Um, Brad, it's been a pleasure having you on. Again, bradblazer.com. Go check out his books, all that kind of stuff. Brad, thank you so much. We're gonna have to have you back.

It's a pleasure, Bridger.

Thank you, brother. And have a good one. Again, bradblazer.com. Follow him on Instagram. He's got great content out there. Thank you guys, and we'll see you on the next episode.