Brad Blazar teaches you $2B worth of raise secrets.
“Raising capital is like dating,” says master capital raiser Brad Blazar.
“You don't just meet a girl, jam a ring on her finger and suddenly you're walking down the aisle. Raising capital is a kind of courtship where you have to get to know the other person, but, more importantly, they have to know you. It's not something that happens quickly. There is a formal process. It's an understanding that with every interaction or conversation with somebody, you're moving them forward in a process to help them make a decision.”
Blazar knows not only how to “date” investors, but also how to close the deal, having raised over two billion dollars for clients.
“You’ve got to spend time getting to know the deployers of capital,” he cautions. “To do that, you ask questions and create a sense of comfort rather than just trying to pitch them something or trying to sell them on the next great investment. They need time to trust you. They need time to do their due diligence so they can commit capital. You can’t pitch prematurely. It's the biggest mistake people make.”
Watch Brad Blazar at METAL
The second biggest mistake is trying to “date” the wrong people. You’re looking for them, but they have to be looking for you in return. Choosing the right source of capital is crucial.
“There are many different types of investors,” explains Blazar. “You’ve got the VCs, the private equity firms, the angels, and the family offices. Each category invests differently.
“To start,” he says, “VCs typically invest in start-ups. They know if they make ten investments, half of them will be losers. A couple of them will do okay. But they're swinging for the fences, hoping that that one or two will be big winners.”
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Private equity is very different, he continues: “They don't invest typically in startups. They're looking to invest into more mature companies. Angel investors typically are successful entrepreneurs that have maybe sold a company; they invest like VCs, but also want to become an advisor, maybe sit on the board.”
Family offices are different still. “Family offices are not so interested in creating wealth. The money that's created in a family office is often lost by the time it gets to the second or third generation. Why? Because the kids inheriting it blow it on big houses and fancy cars; they don't have the right advisors. Family offices want to preserve wealth for generations. They are low-risk. They have long time horizons and want predictable returns. But they also care about cause; many are environmentally and socially conscious, what’s called ESG: ‘environmental, social [and] governance.’ They like to see their money do good.”
Source: PwC’s proprietary family office database, matched with Pitchbook data, as of 20 February 2023
Blazar has raised capital from all of the above — and more.
“Small private wealth management firms that can allocate capital, small retail investors, professional athletes — I’ve raised money from pretty much every source you can fathom. High net-worth retail investors, broker-dealers, RIAs [registered investment advisors]. The sweet spot for me today is really the family offices, the private wealth management firms, and also, of course, the broker-dealers.”
SOMETIMES THOSE WHO DO WELL, TEACH
“I started Capital School,” says Blazar, “because I see people going about capital-raising all wrong. I talk to people all the time and ask them, ‘Why are you not moving forward on your dream?’ It's not simply limiting beliefs. They lack the capital. They don't have the money and they have no idea how to get it.”
The problem is not the abundance of available capital.
“The truth is we wake up surrounded by pretty much all the money we need to do anything in life we desire. The people who have it right now are called ‘investors’ and they are looking to invest. Everyone else? They have not been taught to go up and talk to investors about money. We show them how to do it and how to do it right.”
IT STARTS WITH MINDSET
Blazar trademarked the term, “Beliefology(™)” which is the belief that we have the ability to transform our lives, “but it’s also the understanding that the lives we lead are a reflection of our belief system. And — here’s the key part — and that our beliefs are supported by the underlying habits that we create.”
“We are often all afraid of asking for resources. I'm a big believer that we can manifest our future. After hearing the story of Jim Carrey, where he wrote himself a check for ten million dollars and that he carried that with him, I've been carrying a fake one million dollar bill for over a decade.”
Manifestation, he teaches, is basically having a goal. “We have a dream or a desire to do something big in life, but you have to really imprint that on your mind and in your brain, so that it becomes something that is tangible. It becomes something that you're focused on every single day. It’s one thing to say, ‘Hey, I've got goals,’ but it’s another thing to emblazon it into your daily thoughts.”
Blazar points to the vision board by his desk, which includes portraits ranging from Yoda to Gandhi — along with the requisite cars and boats. “Many of those things have now become a reality, and I credit manifestation and that daily focus on that goal.”
PROXIMITY IS POWER
Focusing on a high vision helps, but you’ve got to take smart action and that, he says, means getting into the right rooms.
“You’ve got to go to events and meet investors, because that's where you build the relationship. Proximity matters. It's hard to call into a family office line because you get the receptionist, you get layers of gatekeepers. You're not gonna be meeting with the chief investment officer, or the patriarch that created the wealth. But when you build a personal relationship in real life, if you're having breakfast, enjoying lunch, or enjoying a cocktail at the VIP networking that takes place at many of these events, you grow a real connection.”
TEAMS MATTER
And you can’t do it alone.
“Something that most amateurs don’t realize,” he continues, picking up speed, “is that you can’t do it alone. People come to me and say ‘Look, I don't have a track record. I haven't done this before. At this point, it's simply an idea but it’s a great one!’”
He tells them to slow down and take the focus off themselves, their great idea and focus on building the right team. “Because now, when you're talking to a prospective investor, you can say that the collective experience of the team I've assembled exceeds 50 years! You start pointing to people on your team to show competencies. You’re no longer looked at as some lone wolf, but as the bringer of collective genius. I learned this from Kevin Harrington, who spoke at my school’s event. He said the reason that people who come into Shark Tank that might be very bright and have a great product or idea — but don’t get a deal — is because the sharks look at that person, and doubt their ability to execute.”
He wants to see people who have succeeded previously, but also people who’ve failed. “Failure matters,” he says, “because every time you fail at something, it's getting you closer to that next big deal. Maybe you’ve made wrong decisions, well, chances are now you’ll know how to do it right.”
MAKING DREAMS COME TRUE
Blazar says that he is driven by a belief that most people have the inner desire to be doing something bigger in life.
“Once you hand over to somebody else your future, you're largely screwed, you know. If you're working for somebody else, you're helping somebody else build their dreams. Your chances of attaining success are much greater if you're in control of your own destiny, and I look at entrepreneurship as the vehicle to get you there. I guess you could say I’m in the dream business. Turning dreams into reality.”
Written by Adam Gilad
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