The Capital Raising Mistake That Nearly Killed Their Firm With Richard McGirr, Ep. 806
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Written by John Casmon

August 25, 2026

Richard McGirr is the co-founder and CEO of Property Llama and Property Llama Capital, an income focused fund sponsor that helps accredited investors move underperforming real estate equity into passively managed, cash flowing investments. He also hosts Unlimited Capital on the Best Ever CRE network, where he covers capital raising, fund operations, and the business of building an investment platform.

Richard and his partner Chris Lopez launched their own firm roughly two years ago, after raising about $55 million in 18 months at a previous shop. The first twelve months were a grind. Today the firm runs about $42 million in its own debt fund, raised $24 million last year, and treats capital raising as a measurable sales and marketing operation rather than a relationship exercise.

Richard McGirr returns for part two to open the books on capital raising. He starts with why debt funds reshaped his business. Carried interest is collected every month rather than at a sale, which turns a raise into recurring revenue instead of a run of acquisition fees. With rates elevated, investors have pulled in their time horizons, and a fund that distributes within 60 days is a far easier sell than an equity deal that pays on exit in year five.

From there Richard walks through the machinery. He explains why launching his own firm nearly failed once the low hanging fruit ran out, why weekly dials are the leading indicator he manages against, and why he pays for access to trusted distribution instead of building an audience from scratch. He also lays out his full funnel, from a single webinar to a 50 email drip to a same day phone call triggered by a link click.

Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here.

Key Takeaways

  • Debt fund carry is collected monthly, which turns a raise into recurring revenue
  • Higher rates shorten investor time horizons and favor shorter lockups
  • Manage weekly dials and new qualified leads, because both sit inside your control
  • Buy access to trusted distribution rather than building an audience from scratch
  • One webinar delivered repeatedly outperforms ten new ones
  • Call every investor who clicks a link, the same day

Topics

Why Debt Funds Became the Engine of the Business

  • Carried interest is collected monthly, not at a sale
  • About $42 million in the fund throws off just under $2 million a year in carry
  • At their previous firm, the debt fund quietly covered company payroll

Why Debt Funds Sell Faster Right Now

  • Higher rates pull investor time preference in
  • LPs receive a first distribution within 60 days
  • Lockups run 18 to 24 months, with monthly loan payoffs providing liquidity

Why the Launch Nearly Failed

  • The easy network at the previous firm was already tapped
  • Every personal network runs out eventually
  • Messaging, product selection, sales management, and email drips all had to be rebuilt

Dials Are the Metric You Control

  • Sales results are input driven, and inputs are the only controllable variable
  • Richard’s team makes 200 calls a week
  • Moving from 25 to 100 dials a week tripled soft commits within two weeks

Lead Quality Over Lead Volume

  • Minimums are $100,000, with no exceptions
  • Two paid Best Ever webinars raised $1 million each, at roughly half a percent media cost of capital
  • A webinar swap with an estate planner produced 600 registrants and zero closes
  • Large audiences skew toward broad content and non-accredited viewers

Brand Transfer From Paid Webinars

  • Presenting on a trusted platform borrows that platform’s credibility
  • Investors arrive already willing to listen, so there is less convincing to do
  • The result is a higher conversion rate in less time

Earned Media vs. Paid Media

  • Earned media costs nothing and converts well, but the ceiling is low
  • Richard hosts on Best Ever CRE and Chris Lopez hosts on PassivePockets
  • Paid webinars buy speed, volume, and control over timing

One Webinar, Delivered Repeatedly

  • The Intro to Private Lending webinar is the only one they run
  • Staff are tasked with sourcing groups and pricing webinar slots
  • Fear the operator who has delivered one webinar 10,000 times

Go Where Buyers Already Gather

  • Publishing content and waiting to be found rarely reaches your ideal investor
  • Target communities built around passive income and financial independence
  • Capital raising is a two sided market, and plenty of people are already looking to deploy

Richard’s Funnel, Start to Finish

  • A webinar form on the site leads to the replay and a 50 email drip
  • Any link click notifies the sales team on Slack and triggers a same day call
  • Of 25,000 contacts, roughly 100 are actively in market at any given time

Winning the Attention Battle

  • Investors triage hundreds of emails a day, and your offering sits at the bottom
  • Rank your list by opens and clicks before you start dialing
  • Ask for a specific commitment, such as watching the webinar within three days
  • Interested investors rarely call to say they are on the fence, they simply go quiet

📢 Announcement: Learn about our Apartment Investing Mastermind here.

Next Steps

  • Learn more about Property Llama Capital here: capital.propertyllama.com
  • Watch the Intro to Private Lending webinar linked on the Property Llama Capital homepage
  • Hear part one with Richard in episode 804, including his Round of Insights
  • Track weekly dials and new qualified leads as your two core capital raising metrics
  • Rank your lead sources by close rate rather than by volume
  • Pitch communities that already invest passively instead of general audiences
  • Build one webinar that converts, then get it in front of more qualified people
  • Call the investors who open and click your emails, the same day

Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you’re enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW, and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss an episode.