Networking and investor events
How to Get a Return on Your Time at a Private Investor Expo
Richard C. Wilson - Opening Remarks - Private Investor Deal Flow Expo - The Family Office Club
Capital raisers, sponsors and private investors who are preparing to attend an investor summit and want a plan for using their time well.
Summary
Richard C. Wilson opens the Private Investor Deal Flow Expo by describing the Family Office Club's 15 live events a year, including Capital Con and the Tax Strategy Summit. He lists deals closed from the room, from $20 million in seed capital to a $250 million co-GP JV term sheet. None of the 58 speakers at the last event were paid.
He then gives attendees rules for getting a return on their time. Do not assume who is an investor, add value first, and plant seeds instead of trying to close. He also introduces billionaires.com, which collects over 500 videos of billionaires speaking, and investorresidences.com, a planned fund to acquire 10 luxury homes.
5 key takeaways
- Do not assume who the investors are. Richard says someone who mentions running a couple of car washes might own 92 of them. Many wealthy people do not wear a label that says family office or centimillionaire, so treat everyone in the room as a possible investor.
- Add value before asking for anything. Richard says a real community tends to notice who helps others first. Richard notes that none of the speakers are paid and that people who stick around for 18 or 36 months become recognized faces who do more business.
- Plant seeds, do not try to close. Unless a raise is made of $10,000 chunks, people often do not invest right after meeting. The goal at an event is to link a name to a brand, share the one-liner and follow up later.
- Structure can matter more than strategy. After running the club for 15 years, Richard says the way a deal is set up can matter as much as the strategy, and many sponsors talk to a securities attorney about how to structure it. Listening to sponsors and investors also shows what investors want to see and what they do not.
- Learn from billionaire content. Richard suggests that consuming content from 50 billionaires in a year could produce at least one useful idea. Themes he has noticed include demanding excellence from a team, hard work and thinking big.
In their words
"After running this investor club for 15 years, I found that the structure can matter as much if not much more than the strategy in a deal."
"Unless you're raising capital in $10,000 chunks, people don't meet you and then invest right away."
"Don't just assume when somebody says what they do that they're not also an investor, or that their main reason to be here isn't that they're an investor."
On the record
- The Family Office Club hosts 15 live events a year, including Capital Con, where 25 speakers who each raised $100 million or more speak for 10 minutes.
- The first investor residences property in Park City was bought all cash, closing in 15 days, at 31.1% below the price per square foot of the last 40 homes sold there.
- Richard cites CBRE as saying institutions own 25% or more of multifamily housing, while single family residential is only 2.4% institution owned.
Sources
From Richard C. Wilson's Centimillionaire Strategies YouTube channel: Richard C. Wilson - Opening Remarks - Private Investor Deal Flow Expo - The Family Office Club. Quotes come from the video captions, lightly edited for readability. Figures are the speakers' own estimates and experience.
General education only. Not legal, tax or investment advice.
Talk to a securities attorney to explore options around fund offering documents, investor eligibility rules and deal structure options. Do not use AI to write your own legal agreements.
Related questions
- Which investor conferences are worth attending for fundraising?The conferences worth your time have real investors on stage, a team that has run many events, and plenty of time to meet people in person.
- How do I close a funding round?I close a funding round by focusing on investors who fit the opportunity and moving each interested prospect through clear, consistent follow-up.
- What documents do investors request during due diligence?Prepare a clear, organized package covering your operations, investments, compensation, team, and track record.
Questions about this video
Why does the event have few scheduled breaks?
Richard says people enjoy networking and do not want to return to the room. With several panels, attendees can skip a topic that does not interest them and network on their own schedule.
Are the speakers paid to appear?
No. Richard says none of the 58 speakers at the last event were paid, including two billionaires and a shark from Shark Tank. They speak as part of the community to source deal flow and get business done.
What is the investor residences fund?
It is a planned fund to acquire 10 luxury homes. Richard describes it as a concept still in development, and any details would depend on the final offering documents.
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