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Raising capital from family offices has always been a mysterious process.
They don't attend the same conferences as institutional LPs. They don't respond to cold decks the way funds do. And they're not indexed in any “Top 50” report.
The ones worth knowing are largely invisible—sequestered behind NDAs, intermediaries, and a social circuit that runs through Palm Beach in the winter and Aspen in the summer, with little spillover into the rooms where most sponsors actually spend their time.
The result: most real estate GPs treat family offices as a black box. They know the capital is there—estimates put family office AUM north of $6 trillion globally, with real estate consistently among their top allocations—but they can't tell you who to call, what those offices are actually looking for, or how to get a meeting without a warm intro from someone they're unlikely to know.
Paul Stanton—who has spent years mapping how private capital flows into real estate—is leading a live, two-day workshop on exactly this: who family offices are, where to find them, and how to build the kind of relationships that actually convert to capital.
This is a practical workshop, not a survey of the landscape. Paul will walk through real structures, real outreach strategies, and real case studies covering:
Who family offices actually are. The difference between single-family and multi-family offices, how they're structured, how they make decisions, and what check sizes and timelines actually look like in practice
What structures they prefer. Joint ventures, co-GP partnerships, direct LP investments, and platform plays, with real examples of how these deals get structured and governed
Where to find them. Beyond the obvious conference circuit, including the directories, networks, and digital signals that surface family offices most GPs never encounter
How to get in front of them. Warm intro strategies versus cold outreach, what a compelling cold email to a family office actually looks like, and how to build a presence that makes inbound possible
What your materials need to say. Family offices evaluate sponsors differently than institutional allocators—your deck and your pitch need to reflect that
How negotiations actually work. A live walkthrough of JV and LP term sheets, including how control, promote, and exit provisions tend to get negotiated when family capital is in the room
Who it's for: Real estate sponsors, emerging managers, and capital raisers who are actively trying to build a family office investor base—or who have been meaning to and aren't sure where to start. Also relevant for placement agents, capital markets advisors, and GPs who have raised from institutions and want to diversify their LP mix.
No prior family office experience required. If you understand the basics of a capital raise, this workshop will deliver.
Format: Two live sessions on Zoom—Wednesday, March 25 and Thursday, March 26, 12:00-1:30 p.m. ET each day. Both sessions will be recorded and shared with all registered participants via our Circle community, along with sample decks, curated investor lists, outreach templates, and a walkthrough of real term sheet language.
Brad is the founder and editor of Thesis Driven (www.thesisdriven.com), a publication covering innovation in the built world. Over the past decade he has co-founded General Assembly and Common which generated a combined $500M+ in enterprise value.
