On a recent episode, Dustin Miles sat down with Lauren Brychell, a capital raise consultant and founder of Equity Elevated Consulting, to discuss one of the most important—and challenging—parts of multifamily investing: raising capital.
Lauren brings a unique perspective to the capital-raising process. With a background in marketing and entrepreneurship, she spent approximately five years raising capital for a commercial real estate firm before launching Equity Elevated Consulting. Today, she helps operators and fund managers raise capital more efficiently through better technology, marketing, messaging, investor relations, and sales processes.
The conversation covered everything from investor follow-up and database management to automation, AI, and the changing behavior of investors in today’s market.
From Marketing to Capital Raising
Lauren’s path into capital raising wasn’t exactly planned.
After studying marketing and entrepreneurship, she began working in marketing for a commercial real estate firm in Colorado in 2019. Early in her time there, the firm’s CIO recognized that her skill set could translate well into capital raising.
The problem? Lauren initially had no idea what capital raising even involved.
That changed quickly. With the CIO serving as a mentor, Lauren learned the fundamentals of raising capital, including why investors invest, what matters to them, the regulatory considerations involved, and how to build and maintain investor relationships.
After spending roughly five years raising capital for the firm, Lauren identified a gap in the market.
She saw an opportunity to combine her capital-raising experience with her marketing background and help other general partners and fund managers build the systems necessary to raise and nurture capital more effectively.
That led to the launch of Equity Elevated Consulting.
Today, Lauren works with firms ranging from those preparing for their first capital raise to organizations with billions of dollars in assets under management.
Investor Relationships Don’t End After the Initial Conversation
One of the biggest themes from the conversation was the importance of investor nurturing.
Lauren said one of the most common problems she sees is firms failing to consistently communicate with investors after the initial conversation.
An investor may come into a database, have one conversation with the team, and then hear nothing for months—or even years.
That creates a major missed opportunity.
Capital raising is ultimately about relationships, and those relationships need to be developed over time. Lauren emphasized the importance of having a consistent system for staying in front of investors through emails, phone calls, text messages, educational content, and other forms of communication.
Dustin shared how Momentum Multifamily has seen positive results from taking a similar approach.
Rather than using every investor interaction as an opportunity to pitch a new deal, the Momentum team periodically reaches out to investors simply to provide updates and education about the assets they already own.
That might include discussing what has been completed at a property, where the business plan currently stands, what the team has learned, and what comes next.
The response has been overwhelmingly positive.
And when a new investment opportunity does become available, investors who have been kept informed and engaged are often more receptive because they already have confidence in the team and understand how their previous investment is performing.
Stop Pitching Too Early
Another common mistake Lauren sees is pitching too soon.
Someone meets a potential investor at a conference, discovers that they’re interested in real estate, and immediately launches into a pitch about the latest deal.
Lauren compared the process to dating: you wouldn’t meet someone for the first time and immediately ask them to make a major commitment.
The same principle applies to investors.
Before presenting an investment opportunity, firms should focus on learning about the investor, understanding their goals, establishing credibility, and determining whether there is actually a fit.
The goal isn’t simply to collect investor contacts. It’s to build relationships with people who may become long-term partners.
Know Who You’re Talking To
A major part of effective capital raising is understanding who your investors are.
Lauren discussed the growing use of data enrichment to help investment firms better understand their databases.
Rather than simply knowing an investor’s name, email address, and phone number, firms can increasingly gather information about an investor’s professional background, existing investments, asset ownership, and other characteristics that can help determine whether they are a good fit.
This information can also help firms develop a clearer investor “avatar.”
Not every investor should receive the same message.
An experienced multifamily investor may understand underwriting, preferred returns, leverage, and risk immediately. Someone who is considering their first private real estate investment may need significantly more education before they are comfortable investing.
Understanding that distinction allows firms to create more relevant messaging.
Today’s Investor Landscape Requires Different Messaging
The conversation also touched on the current challenges facing multifamily investors and capital raisers.
Lauren said the market is producing a mix of investor behavior.
Some firms are seeing strong repeat investment from existing investors, particularly when they have solid-performing or unique investment opportunities.
Others are seeing less reinvestment from existing investors, especially when those investors have capital tied up in other investments or have experienced challenges elsewhere in their portfolios.
At the same time, Lauren is seeing a new wave of investors enter the market.
For these newer investors, the conversation often has to go back to the basics.
They may need more education around how an investment works, the economics of the deal, the risks involved, and how to understand an underwriting model.
For existing investors, the messaging may instead focus more heavily on risk mitigation, lessons learned, and the steps an operator has taken to protect the investment.
The takeaway is simple: there is no one-size-fits-all investor message.
Technology Can Make Capital Raising More Efficient
Lauren also discussed the role technology can play in helping firms stay organized without building unnecessarily large teams.
She mentioned platforms such as GoHighLevel and HubSpot as potential CRM solutions, while emphasizing that the right technology ultimately depends on the firm’s broader tech stack and how its systems integrate.
The goal isn’t simply to have more software.
It’s to build a system where information flows efficiently between platforms, minimizing duplicate data entry and manual processes.
Lauren highlighted the importance of automation for tasks such as:
- Sending investor decks
- Portal invitations
- Follow-up sequences
- Email campaigns
- Investor communications
- Drip campaigns
- Workflow management
Instead of relying on someone to remember every follow-up manually, firms can create automated workflows that keep the process moving.
AI and Automation Are Helping Lean Teams Do More
Artificial intelligence is also becoming an increasingly important part of Lauren’s work.
For firms that want to maintain a lean team, automation and AI can help reduce the amount of repetitive work required to manage investor relationships.
That doesn’t mean eliminating the human element.
Instead, technology can handle some of the repetitive administrative work so that the team can spend more time on the conversations and relationships that actually require a person.
Lauren also provides fractional investor relations support, allowing firms to bring in additional help during a major capital raise without necessarily adding a full-time employee.
For smaller teams, that flexibility can be particularly valuable.
The Best Capital-Raising Systems Are Built for the Long Term
Lauren’s clients work with her in a variety of ways.
Some engagements are short-term projects, such as auditing an existing system and identifying opportunities for improvement. Others involve implementing the recommended changes or building an entirely new investor-relations infrastructure.
Some clients work with Lauren for years through ongoing fractional investor relations support, investor reporting, email campaigns, social media, and other investor-facing responsibilities.
The common thread is that successful capital raising requires more than simply finding people who have money to invest.
It requires a system for finding the right investors, communicating with them consistently, educating them, following up, and building relationships over time.
A More Strategic Approach to Capital Raising
The multifamily industry has changed significantly, and capital raising has changed with it.
Investors are more cautious. Existing capital may be tied up for longer periods. New investors may need more education before they’re ready to commit. And operators have more technology and data available to help them manage their investor relationships.
For Lauren, the opportunity is to bring all of those pieces together.
Better data can help firms identify the right investors.
Better messaging can help them communicate more effectively.
Better technology can automate repetitive processes.
And better investor relations can build the trust and confidence necessary for long-term partnerships.
Ultimately, capital raising isn’t just about getting someone to invest in the next deal.
It’s about building a relationship that lasts beyond a single transaction.
Lauren’s perspective offers an important reminder for multifamily operators and fund managers: in a challenging capital environment, the firms that invest in their investor relationships, systems, and communication processes will be better positioned to raise capital efficiently—not just today, but for years to come.
To learn more about Lauren and her work, visit Equity Elevated Consulting at equity-elevated.com.