Why do most fund managers live in a silo when raising capital?
The biggest problem we see with fund managers and GPs when it comes to raising capital is they exist inside a silo. What's possible is determined by the people they're around and what they've actually seen happen. If you've never seen capital raised through paid ads, you don't believe it works. Most fund managers believe their network is the only way - shaking hands, kissing babies, going to events, cold outbound teams. And that might work for your first couple of raises. But when you need to scale beyond your existing network and you've exhausted everyone around you, paid ads are usually the only way to do it without waiting months for people to become liquid.
Think about this. Do you think Mark Zuckerberg isn't on Facebook? Do you think Elon Musk doesn't check Twitter? Some of the richest people in the world are on social media. Your accredited investors with five million in liquid capital are scrolling their feeds right now and getting served ads from other funds that already understand this. You need to stop boxing yourself in.
How does a paid ads funnel for capital raising actually work?
The model is simple and proven across dozens of agencies, not just ours. You start with the ad. The key is your messaging - the words you say in the ad dictate exactly who you attract. Facebook's algorithm has gotten scary good at this. If you say "accredited investor with 500K liquid capital interested in XYZ asset class," that's who you'll get. But you don't run just one message. You create multiple ads with different angles - tax benefits, lifestyle, safe capital deployment, whatever resonates with different investor motivations.
From there, you funnel traffic to a Facebook lead form with two qualifying questions. Then a landing page with a headline, a video breaking down the offering, and an application. The whole thing runs on open loops - each step's only job is to get them to take the next action. You're not asking them to invest from the ad. You're asking them to learn more, then answer a couple questions, then watch a video, then fill out an application. It's the same as dating. You don't propose on the first date.
What metrics matter most when running paid ads for a fund?
ROAS doesn't work the same way in capital raising as it does with info products. Your sales cycle is six to nine months. You can't look at return on ad spend after week one and make decisions. Instead, what drives your improvement is feedback from your investor relations team and SDRs. What they're hearing on calls tells you whether to change messaging, adjust friction in the funnel, or pivot your targeting.
For benchmarks, expect investor leads between $30 and $60, booked calls between $200 and $600, and a cost per capital around 2.5% to 5%. These ranges depend on the person in the ad, the funnel, the qualifying questions, and the demographic you're attracting. The real improvements come from your sales team's feedback loop, not from staring at Ads Manager.
Why is the email layer between funnel steps so important?
Between every step in the funnel, you need contextual email and text flows. Someone entered info but didn't book a call - they get a specific sequence. Someone booked but didn't show - different sequence. Someone showed but wasn't ready - you follow up six months later with a different message. These contextual flows are what actually compress your sales cycle and keep your pipeline warm. Without them, you're leaving capital on the table from people who just needed a few more touches before they were ready to commit.