My job is clear:
Build the capital raising operating system a firm needs so that investor relationships don't depend on any one person's memory, inbox, or strict hustle.
And source and train newly hired Investor Relations leaders.
For the last 30 days, I've been working with Jeff Axley, Principal of Ridgeline Capital Partners, a Dallas, TX based healthcare real estate sponsor.
Jeff is an impressive operator.
He’s laser focused on the medical office building (MOB) investment management niche.
He was also recently on the Passive Pockets podcast
Be sure to give him a follow, or if you’d like an introduction, let me know and I’ll make it happen.
AI agents can now help you raise capital?
Well, kinda…
If AI agents help you raise capital today, then so did an excel spreadsheet in 2012.
In other words, these are tools.
Here’s how it functions:
What else am I doing at Ridgeline Capital Partners?
I’m building the Investor Relations department and infrastructure.
If you don’t have a system of raising capital, you’re constantly playing catchup when you FINALLY secured a great acquisition opportunity…no bueno.
These three pieces need to become systematic, in order:
Attribution.
Before you can improve anything, you need to know what's actually working.
Which investor is more likely to fund the next deal?
Which group might be an accurate target for the next raise?
What KPI’s (key performance indicators) matter most to measure and gauge progress?
Which intro turned a name on a list into an investor who shows up and stays engaged?
Which deal reviews mattered to which investors?
How does AI help locate the answers to not-so-obvious questions?
Most sponsors can't answer these.
Soon, Ridgeline will.
Nurture.
A capital relationship isn't a single conversation.
It's a monthly and quarterly check-in, regular deal reviews, and a system that re-engages people who went quiet without anyone having to remember to follow up.
We built the cadence and trained the AI agents and staff so it runs whether Jeff is at his desk or not.
Conversion.
This is where pre-marketing lives. Warming up interest 30 to 60 days before a deal needs hard commitments, so the raise has a rhythm instead of a scramble.
None of this is about me pitching deals or talking to investors on Ridgeline's behalf.
I'm not a broker-dealer, an investment adviser, or a placement agent, and I don't do any of the things those licenses cover.
What I build is the process behind the scenes:
The system
The infrastructure of the IR department
The expectations
The cadence
The reporting
The actual investor conversations, offering terms, and
every securities decision stay with Ridgeline and their own counsel.
The bigger goal is that Ridgeline doesn't need me forever. Jeff and his new hire are learning to run this engine themselves, week by week, so when my part of the work is done, the infrastructure stays and capital raises are more predictable.
That's the model I use with every client. Not managing investor relationships, but building the operational backbone underneath them so the firm's own team can own it going forward.
More on how this plays out over the next few months.
Have a great weekend!
Andrew LeBaron
Target returns are projections only and not a guarantee of future results. Actual results may differ materially. This is not an offer to sell securities. For accredited investors only.