MB528: Inside the deal – With Robyn and Jackie Thompson

Show Notes

Raising capital for the first time can be uncomfortable.

In this episode, I sit down with Robyn Thompson, a Virginia-based real estate agent with 15 years of experience who transitioned into multifamily syndication through the Deal Maker Mentoring program. Robyn raised $400,000 on her first deal and $3 million on her second — building a systematic capital-raising operation using the same CRMs she was already running for her real estate brokerage.

We talk about how Robyn identified capital raising as her primary strength after 300 conversations with potential deal partners, how she converted a warm database of 10,000+ contacts she had built as a real estate agent, and why she rebuilt her pitch deck before her second raise.

If you are at the beginning of your capital-raising path — or you know you should be having these conversations and keep finding reasons to delay — this episode gives you a ground-level look at how someone goes from zero to $3 million raised.

Key Takeaways

Capital raisers often find their role through elimination, not preference

Robyn submitted multiple LOIs and underwritten deals before concluding that deal finding was not where her strongest results would come from.
Having 300 conversations with potential partners gave her a clear read on which operators had full-cycle track records worth presenting to investors.
Working alongside experienced deal finders let her learn underwriting and operations without carrying those responsibilities alone.
The decision to focus on capital raising produced more efficient use of her time and a better fit with skills she had built across 15 years of client relationship management.

A warm audience built before you need capital converts faster than a cold list

Robyn entered capital raising with a CRM database of over 10,500 investors and 11,000 flippers accumulated through her real estate brokerage.
These contacts were already opening her emails and responding to SMS before any investment conversation began.
Converting existing real estate relationships to investment conversations worked because the audience already trusted her expertise in the asset class.

Soft commits convert at roughly one-third

Robyn generated $15 million in soft commits across her raises and closed approximately $3 to $4 million — a conversion rate just under one-third.
Soft commit language (“I'm interested,” “send me some info”) signals preliminary interest.
Some investors say yes to soft commit questions to end the conversation politely, which inflates the apparent pipeline before the hard close.
Building your target raise figure around one-third of your soft commit total gives you a more accurate projection of what will close.

Investment conversations produce better results when they start with the investor's financial situation

Robyn's approach starts with a discovery question about the investor's goals before introducing any deal.
Pitching before understanding the investor's situation produces yes answers that don't convert, because the pitch doesn't address what the investor cares about.
Many of her investors didn't know they could deploy a self-directed IRA into a multifamily syndication until she introduced them to that option.
Presenting real estate alongside stocks, crypto, and other vehicles gives it a natural entry point in the conversation.
Explicitly telling investors it is fine to say no filters out the people who say yes out of social pressure.

Webinars with active deals generate committed capital faster than follow-up calls alone

Robyn ran a general educational webinar on multifamily syndication using an active deal as the example property.
Two attendees who joined for only part of the live session messaged her within 48 hours asking how to get in on the deal.
The recorded version extended the webinar's reach beyond the live audience, giving her a shareable asset for warm follow-up.
A webinar framed around investor education gives investors time to engage with the material before making a decision, which compresses the timeline to commitment.
A small live turnout paired with a recorded replay still produces capital commitments; total attendance is a weak predictor of closed capital.