Stop Going Broke: 3 Wall Street Secrets to Raise More Investor Capital

Hey, welcome to another episode of Making Billions, I'm your host Ryan Miller and today I have my dear friend Sal Buscemi.

Sal is a former investment banker from Goldman, now the managing general partner at Brahmin Partners, as well as the author of four books on finance and investing. This guy has been featured in Forbes, Investor's Business Daily, CBS New York, and more.

So what this means is Sal is a capital raising animal and he's about to give you a masterclass on raising capital for your investment fund, or for your startup. xFIaijmY0pxL7j0J4hTm

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[THE GUEST]: Sal is a former investment banker from Goldman, now the managing general partner at Brahmin Partners, as well as the author of four books on finance and investing. This guy has been featured in Forbes, Investor's Business Daily, CBS New York, and more.

[THE HOST]: Ryan is a Venture Capital & Angel investor in technology and

Transcript

Ryan Miller  0:00  

My name is Ryan Miller and for the past 15 years I've helped hundreds of people to raise millions of dollars for their funds, and for their startups. If you're serious about raising money, launching a business or taking your life to the next level, this show will give you the answers, so that you too can enjoy your pursuit of Making Billions. Let's get into it. 

Ryan Miller  0:22  

Picture this, you're a successful founder, fund manager and you're holding in your hand a check for $50 million in less than two years from today. What did you do to get there? How did you get investors to trust you with all of that capital? Well, my next guest is about to teach you all of that and more so that you too can enjoy your pursuit of Making Billions. Let's get into it. 

Ryan Miller  0:47  

Hey, welcome to another episode of Making Billions, I'm your host Ryan Miller and today I have my dear friend Sal Buscemi. Sal is a former investment banker from Goldman, now the managing general partner at Brahmin Partners, as well as the author of four books on finance and investing. This guy has been featured in Forbes, Investor's Business Daily, CBS New York, and more. So what this means is Sal is a capital raising animal and he's about to give you a masterclass on raising capital for your investment fund, or for your startup. So Sal, welcome to the show, man. 

Salvatore Buscemi  1:17  

Ryan, it's a pleasure and a privilege to be here, thank you so much. Longtime listener, first time, I've always wanted to be on your podcast, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be on here. And I really like talking to your community because they understand alternative investment vaults and stuff like that in private, you know, all things non public, you know, that we deal with? So thank you for the opportunity. 

Ryan Miller  1:36  

Yeah, you know, what the honor is all mine, it is certainly a pleasure to have you and all of your carnivorous finance ambitions and energy to come on this show. So you're a managing general partner, you've been in this game for a long time, you're really good at raising capital, let's jump right into it. So there's people who start, maybe there's founders listening to the show, we're all over the world in almost 100 countries, maybe you can walk us through in the beginning, when people are starting out they want to get good at raising capital, what advice can you give them to A: how to get some early points on the board and B: how to avoid blowing it up too soon? What would you say?

Salvatore Buscemi  2:09  

You know, I've had this conversation isn't even in my own because I think what's happened during the NFT boom, the cryptocurrency boom, over the you know, since the pandemic, there's been a transition of people being very transactional, when you're asking people to part with their life savings. It's relational, it's like asking for marriage and I see it all the time. And I actually was just at a networking event before I saw, I knew, there's that person who's sitting there, and they're like, hey, you know, what, can I talk to you for a second. They have an iPad underneath their left arm and you know what's gonna happen? I think what you need to do today, and this is what I learned at Goldman Sachs, and being a coverage banker, the staying on top of these people. Put all of your prospective investors and you're going to pursue them for marriage, because it really is marriage. It's a long term relationship and that's what I tell all the founders I said, you know, slow down, tell me about yourself, tell me about how you got into this, rather than getting into the total addressable market, and all the technicalities. Because that's all really superfluous at the end of the day, you want to know the person because we bet on the jockeys, not the horse? 

Ryan Miller  2:59  

Perfect and you know, when you're starting out, likely, you don't have a lot of track record. So for people starting out who may not have the track record that other people can trust. So you know, having relationships I mean, you know, from listening to the show, the two most valuable assets in your possession are your reputation is your relationships. Yeah, you got it, brother. So I listened.

Salvatore Buscemi  3:18  

I actually listen to your show. 

Ryan Miller  3:20  

I know you do, you're the man. So what about track record? Right. So this is, it's kind of like the chicken in the egg. It's like, I need a track record to raise but I need to raise to get a track record. And I know, you and I have talked about this before, what advice can you give to someone who's just trying to raise but maybe literally, it's their first raise? What would you tell him?

Salvatore Buscemi  3:38  

I think the interactivity is your currency and if you're able to capture attention from investors, and I'm thinking about this on both the founders standpoint, and also like a real estate sponsor. So I mean, I can, you know, we're wearing two hats, but really, just if I were to do this and start all over again, I would be very evangelical about my business or the industry, sort of like a vegan or a crossfitter. You know, right, within two minutes of getting that look, they are, and you know, maybe you've met someone in sports fan, all they can talk about sports and politics, all they can talk of politics. But people really want to build a relationship and be part of the community, you can put together a community of people where you're starting out and this is the key, you're of service to them, then everything will work out for you. For example, brokering contact, high value, high impact contacts, that made has, that you can share to help someone else, that's how you build a relationship. Because if people respect you, they're going to respect and referrals and I can tell you this from personal experience, right? If you don't respect the person giving you the referral, you're not going to respect. 

Ryan Miller  3:38  

Yeah, like you said, it's just like marriage. Right? You gotta court and be on top of it. You know, one of the things that I found really interesting is you and I were talking offline, you know, you mentioned and I've seen this a lot. So I've helped, I mean, shoot probably 1000 people launch their fund. I'm just guessing here, but you know, one of the things that I've noticed and even me in the early days is I would often get, I have adopted the saying that the deal of a lifetime comes by every three months. And so with that, deals are always coming at me and you have an interesting philosophy about should you get on top of deals or get on top of raising capital first? I wonder if you can maybe open that up and your perspective is where should someone who's raising capital, where should they start? Should they start with examining a whole bunch of deals? Should they start with courting investors? What do you think?

Salvatore Buscemi  5:22  

I think what they need to do, they start sharpening the axe so what that means and start talking to the investors accordingly. Administer the deals will always be there, especially now in distressed real estate, like I've been waiting for this, for these tenure. So I'm going into like, search, like, I can't wait for it, but I've also been building relationships and the reputational capital to be able to draw on that, at will, like giving so much goodwill upfront. Whether it's helping someone and you know, we've done a lot of interesting things, and it depends on your talents. Like, you know, I'm a writer. I've written three books, that's helped people with their college essays. You know, you do all sorts of, you know, weird things like that, but it actually builds relationships and trust over time. And then when the opportunities and you know what you're doing that at that point, you're able to execute and, and really harvest the relationship for the equity that you have in these relationships.

Ryan Miller  6:07  

Brilliant and you mentioned that you started a WhatsApp group for investors when you move to Miami, there's a lot of other stuff that you mentioned, like you've taught me, I'll ruin the surprise. I'm totally stealing your thunder, Sal, starting a blog, a newsletter getting in the press, or even writing a book. You've written what four, three or four now?

Salvatore Buscemi  6:24  

I'm on my fourth now, whatever. 

Ryan Miller  6:26  

You're on your fourth, okay, I knew there was four in there, I didn't know if you're done yet. So I guess I ruined the surprise in the intro, so  that's really good. So you're starting contact, you're giving people mediums to stay in touch, or you're staying in touch with them with blogs, contacts, I mean, you could do events, I mean, there's all kinds of things, WhatsApp groups, I mean, there's so many ways. So I think the message here and keep me honest, Sal, the message here is, look, if you're just starting out, the important thing is stay on top of investors, deals will be there, deals will come this is according to the gospel of Sal. But also have these platforms or these mechanisms that you can connect investors into and start forming a community? Would you say that's a fair summary? 

Salvatore Buscemi  7:03  

Yeah and it's, that's important, you want to give value first, like you put together a community of like, you know, kind people you're going to be, you know, you're going to find out that you're going to become a center of influence very quickly. And that's really what it's coming down to, we're building that respect, building that trust over time. Even though you might not have a track record. In society, you're getting people together, because everybody wants to know somebody that knows, right? We're still clicky, we're still 17 at heart, no matter how old we are, you know, and people always gravitate towards certain people who are like them, together networking influential people, they can help each other. People are going to want to repay that to you substantially, you have to provide a tremendous value amount of value first, you can't be transactional, just going up to someone, just like anyone else would in your DM saying, hey do you want to buy this next, you know, crypto price.

Ryan Miller  7:45  

It sounds like you've been in my LinkedIn inbox, haha, I get hit up all the, it's like five am... I swear it's just like, I can help you with a custom suit and this. 

Salvatore Buscemi  7:54  

And they helped me with all sorts of things that I don't need. 

Ryan Miller  7:57  

Exactly.

Ryan Miller  8:01  

Thank you for watching, if you've made it this far, we must be friends. So don't forget to like, subscribe and click that notification button. Now, let's get back to the show. 

Ryan Miller  8:08  

So what about, you know, just turning the corner on that. So those are some great advice, folks from Sal himself is just like, here's how you get some early points on the board, when you're just starting out trying to do your first deal, your first fund, your first startup, whatever it is, you need investors to pay attention to cut you a check. In order to do that, we definitely need to generate and get some early points on the board but that's not it's not that simple. Because you can screw things up. Right? And here's the thing I either win or I learn I never lose and all these things, sure you're right. But it still sucks and it can set you back a little bit. What advice or what have you seen as far as like, just some of the things where people kind of get knocked out or just have to take a couple steps back because they didn't see something coming and it's just rookie mistakes? What advice would you give to people to avoid rookie mistakes?

Salvatore Buscemi  8:54  

That's a very good point, I think people need to relax, I think they need to be themselves. I think they need to understand what you need to, you need to have a lot of hits at bat, right you have to you have to practice, you have to do the rep, as you say, you know, to the point where you are constant enough to casually talking about your business at a point where somebody feels comfortable about or they think, you know, somebody's asking you for marriage on the first date, that's kind of freaky, right? I mean, that's not how you build a relationship. Sex is transactional, I mean, a row for the purposes of this conversation. But what you're getting into a marriage with someone you need to court them and I think people too many times, just like they get in their niche, they start to pitch, nobody else would be sitting, sat there and being pitched. I mean, it's, thinking about how many people hate commercials to begin with, it's actually killing a lot of like legacy media and because nobody wants to watch the commercials. Or, and it's something that I think you need to really understand is like build a relationship first, have something in a systemized way where if I come in your ecosystem, what does that look like? Well, I get an email from you,  do I get a newsletter from you on LinkedIn with me, you post on LinkedIn a lot. You know, how do I follow your progress?

Ryan Miller  9:59  

That's right. I love have that, you know, in my early days, I'll be a little bit vulnerable here salad, I don't think you know this story, but to echo your point and these analogies are building relationships with that's working towards marriage and building relationships, that slip working towards a long term investment and maybe partnership. There's a lot of parallels and I remember when I was a young man, younger man, and I was, so I was like, you know, I was single, and I was like, you know, I think I'm ready. You know, you're doing well in your career and you're like, you know, it would be really cool if I had someone to share this with. You know, I don't need it. I have a great life, but be nice. And I was like, it took me down this rabbit hole of love. So hang in there with me, folks, this, this will make sense in a minute. Welcome to the dating podcast, there's a bait and switch. 

Ryan Miller  10:40  

No...there are some parallels and raised money and I've used this a lot, so this is now the gospel of Ryan. So I was like, why are we so, everybody so crazy, pursue relationships and love or what they think that is, you know, it's different for everybody. And I was like, why are we that way? And what is love? And I started to, and you can have a romantic relationship. You know, your best friend, right guys would be like, I love this guy, right? Like there's many layers to that. But what are you actually saying? And could you if you could have an LP and investor or somebody on your fund, your project, your startup that are like, I love this founder, right? If you have that level? How did you get there, and I racked my brain for a long time and the answer that I came up with, is I realized it, at least from my perspective, is that love is the highest, most evolved form of trust. I could be wrong, but this made sense and so I was like, great. So if that is the genesis of that's the seedling of love, and a very deep lasting relationship where you got each other's back, and it's very productive and healthy. It all starts and possibly ends when you lose trust. Now I'm not saying that's the one thing to rule them all, I'm just saying that's a very important thing. We as human beings are driven toward love, but it's hard to get there unless you've developed the foundational work of trust. I've used that same concept when I'm courting investors, is to say, I'm not here for a one night stand to just do that, like you, right? It's, I'm not here to be transactional. 

Salvatore Buscemi  12:04  

I'm not like the other founders now, I'm different. 

Ryan Miller  12:07  

Yeah, I'm different. So, what this is, is now I'm saying, look, why don't you figure out how you can trust me. I, that's all I want from you right now is for you to do your homework on me and this goes back to your reputation. And so the reputation relationships, continuing this virtuous cycle, elevating you and your projects. And so my goal when I'm meeting someone, and I don't know about you might be different it might be the same is to say, look, goal number one objective number one, is we need to develop a level of trust, that when I say I'm going to do something for you know, I'm going to follow through, or when you say you're going to invest, I know what's going to happen are you going to be a great partner, and that there is a level of trust. And if we have trust, we can build on that and when that trust grows, and they're like, I love this founder, I love Ryan, I love Sal, typically, they start ringing it up on more checks. 

Salvatore Buscemi  12:56  

Well, trust also comes from respect and sometimes you know, some investors don't respect you. And you need to lay the boundaries of the relationship in a way where they can respect you and they love you. The way I, my investors love me, I'm not saying I'm a lovable guy by any means, but they love me because I do one simple thing for them. I'm trustworthy, honest, but so is everybody else right? I mean, I'm trustworthy, you know, I'm not gonna sell you a car, you know, like anybody trustworthy. But the one thing that I've learned for people to trust you, is that you show them or if you can elevate their status. 

Ryan Miller  13:30  

So they have a boost in their reputation by doing a deal with you.

Salvatore Buscemi  13:34  

If you were to look at the videos that I do for my LPs and our real estate deal, it's meant so they will look good. And I've actually had feedback where members have been successful with the opposite sex because they said, well look at this deal I'm in. I'm investing into, the classy industrial deal. Before you know it, you know, they're on like, their third date. So you know, elevate somebody else's status. I actually wrote about this in a guide, but I'll just mention right now. It's called, Calling the Capital and it's 20 different case studies about how I elevated people's status to get money quickly. For real deals, like good deals, it's not just like, in a very manipulative standpoint, but it's in a way where we can say, you know, we've given away like soccer jerseys, autographed by the entire Chelsea Football Club, right? There's been some real stuff that we've done. But when I moved to Miami, I noticed in the ecosystem again going back, there was no trust, it was transactional. And I said, you know what, I gotta put something together here and I put together a little guide. It's available on Amazon, but you can get it for free by going to callingthecapital.com and there's all sorts of stories, tomfoolery, about how we did it. 

Ryan Miller  14:32  

Brilliant, all right, callingthecapital.com or Amazon. Now I just want to finish off this, how to not blow it up in the beginning. What about finding a partner, I know you have a few areas where you say stay away from these particular types of people in a partnership. Who are those people that you personally your opinion? Who would you advise not to do, I know the answer, but I'd love for you to say it out loud and might get you into trouble.

Salvatore Buscemi  14:54  

Yeah, no, no, you know, it'll get I mean, you can edit this out for me I don't care you know it doesn't matter. Anyone that does not have any sort of salesmanship in their DNA stay away from. People who have, who are CPAs accountants, they're allergic to risk anything you do as a founder, or as a real estate GP sponsor, equity raiser, it involves risk. Same thing with management consulting, they're, they're just CPAs that are only just higher paid. But, and these are not good and from my experience, they're not good partners because they don't feed the risk. They're very conservative and, you know, so them, they don't really understand the eat what you kill mentality, they're very sterile. People who are used to putting things in a box like that, they might fantasize about being an entrepreneur, and being a founder but at the end of the day, they don't really have it. It doesn't just me and their DNA, because you're not sales, you have to be and I, you know, there's a video on posting on LinkedIn later this week and it talks about the art of coverage banking, being a relationship banker at Goldman Sachs, those are the guys that make $10-15 million a year, because they maintain the relationships. 

Salvatore Buscemi  14:54  

Can you see CPAs making that much money, for that reason, does that make sense? People who are very dry, you need to find someone, and whatever it is, especially in real estate, the second rule of real estate has always been raising capital and if you can't do with someone who's going to raise capital for you day and night, along with you, as the founder or co-founder, or at least helping, and that's going to be a problem, you need to do that. I think the highest and best use of partners are people who have the people whose skill set this complimentary, but different than yours may, I'm more of the game show host in this setting, so I go out there and I talk to people, I just happen to be able to do the math in my head. But you know, there's certain things I'm good at, certain things I'm not good at and that's why I have a partner that does all of that stuff for me. So that's the most important part, well, you don't want her too strutten it, right? You don't want David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar, but you have to make sure that the person who does come here, and I've seen this before, especially with founders, if they're, you know, everything has a price. And you know, if they're looking to be partners with you for $50,000 tech year company, they're probably going to handicap you, cut you off at the knee, because they're gonna want all sorts of control to make themselves look better than what's in the best interest of the company sometimes. So remember, you're the CEO and a founder, you need to start looking towards the bigger buck, bigger dollars, bigger bucks, not necessarily dealing with smaller investors who are just paying you to go along, you know, by subsidizing your company. Does that answer your question?

Ryan Miller  17:15  

Absolutely. So let's turn the corner and header to second base, so the second part I'd like to talk about is the market, the market is, you know, I'm making it sound like it's just one thing. There's so many angles, viewpoints, perspectives, and helpful advice when it comes to navigating the market, this is the one thing that ties us all together. So what would you say? What's your perspective? What are you seeing out there with the market? And then maybe we can go on to where do you see it going and some of the opportunities, but where what are you seeing out there right now?

Salvatore Buscemi  17:42  

We're gonna look at the market as a whole, I'm just meaning the American market, that includes real estate, equities, you know, publicly traded stuff. I think the United States is still a great safe place for rich folks to invest and you're still gonna see the repatriation of capital, that's gonna manifest in several different ways, mostly in the stock market. But the true wealthy people today, they see what's happening, they see the writing on the walls that might relate to political situations. Which means that they are getting more involved today in private stuff than ever before, that's private direct investment, private credit, private equity, in some shape for because what they do see what they do foresee is a bet. Right now, this is just my conjecture but, although anything can happen with the election is going to be tested if Trump does get into office, it'll probably be the most fugal and IPO market this country will ever see. And there, you know, there's a lot of preparation for that, there's a lot of smart money out there that has access to asymmetric information. 

Salvatore Buscemi  18:36  

I think that there's always going to be pockets of situations in real estate right now. There's certain markets where you know it depends on how much risk you have out, you know, how thick the stomach lining is, for you to, you know, maybe take on some risks. And you know that we're very conservative certain things, but we're also moving maybe in the class A office. Even that, we love class A industrial, we are moving into that. But we like moving into things where there's more of what we would call statement class, or investors are already wealthy, they're not looking to get rich, they're not looking to go into like Houston, class C, multifamily rehab, or, you know, turn it around and get it out. You know, hopefully, you know, there's a lot of great things that need to happen for you to get paid. 

Salvatore Buscemi  19:14  

And today, you know, there's a lot of investors because the edit laws change and many blue states where it becomes very primitive for these investors to be profitable. People are realigning but they're also getting smarter today and I think that there is a bifurcation between the rich and the poor. And if you're poor, you're getting rich quick, you're betting on NSPS, you're betting on Crypto, you're betting on, you know, lean stocks. That's Jim Cramer, he turned, you know, the NYSE into a WWF4 and that's great, because that pays for a lot of the advertising for CNBC and Bloomberg for be able to do that, where, you know, the transaction costs regardless, I mean, Trump's gonna make money whether the stock goes up or down just on transaction fees. And a lot of people today now they're looking to make much, especially the wealthier, the top 1,000th of 1%, they're looking to make an impact more so than just an outside return. But now there's, they're looking to see where else is my money get for me.

Ryan Miller  20:04  

Brilliant. What are you seeing out there with banks? You have a pretty, pretty strong opinion on that. What's your thought on the banking sector?

Salvatore Buscemi  20:13  

Alright, that's a loaded question, pragmatically speaking, banks are technically bankrupt, I don't understand why they're still in business, I think you're gonna see a contraction from 4,082 banks that I saw today, I think, to probably about between 15 to 1800, there's going to be a consolidation and a contraction. The problem is, is that every mortgage that they made, they're losing money right now. And it's not going to be sustainable with the rates that they are, that they are today, and being able to sustain that type of negative arbitrage if you will in a bag, there's going to be a lot of changes, I think, I think there's some models that need to be changed. But there's a lot more I think, going on behind the scenes, and people really know what's happening, if you're to look at a balance sheet a lot of these banks that just I don't know, they're just, there's zombies at this point and so if it wasn't really politics and politicians. I don't really why, know why we need banks too.

Ryan Miller  21:02  

Yeah, okay, got it. So there's some consolidation and this is where you see it going. That's your market call and then you mentioned earlier about if you're, your call is if there's a Trump win, that would likely lead to a stronger IPO market, which...

Salvatore Buscemi  21:17  

Jubilation, exuberant. 

Ryan Miller  21:19  

Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, 

Salvatore Buscemi  21:21  

I mean, this would be absolutely outstanding. 

Ryan Miller  21:24  

Okay. And that could lead to greater foreign direct investment and a lot of people trying to get into a lot of these companies as IPO taken off. 

Salvatore Buscemi  21:31  

Or anything in America.

Ryan Miller  21:32  

Or anything. Yeah, exactly. So strong IPOs is typically the vacuum that pulls everything into it, so if you're a startup that tends to really be helpful for it. Brilliant, man. I love it. 

Ryan Miller  21:44  

So you know, the final segment of the show, I'd love to just talk about because you're an experienced guy, you're in Miami, I mean, you're killing it. You're living your best life, man. No, that's that was a little sliver of jealousy for me, I'm what you call the frozen chosen up here.

Salvatore Buscemi  22:05  

I have a lot of Canadian friends, like there's a direct flight from Canada down to Miami from Toronto. I have a lot of Toronto friends. 

Ryan Miller  22:11  

Yeah, no...

Salvatore Buscemi  22:12  

Great people. 

Ryan Miller  22:13  

It's a great country. Yeah, absolutely. So you know, being in Miami, you're living your life, you're running these things. You've done a ton of experience, some of it's great, some of it, I'm sure you'd rather forget. But either way, it's experience either way and it all culminates into wisdom. I wonder if you could share maybe two or three things that you can give our listeners just to give them that competitive advantage? What would you, what would you say?

Salvatore Buscemi  22:32  

I learned a lesson and I actually got me into a heated, let's just say dialogue with my first publisher when I wrote my first book, and that was that I did not put any of my contact information or way to reach me in my first book. My first book was very successful and what would happen was the night and it was just, it was just happenstance. I just wanted to write a book and I wrote a book called, Making the Yield: Hard Money Lending Uncovered, and immediately went to $1,800 because publishers are relentless. They were getting phone calls all the time from people who read the book and they said, you know what, you know what you're doing, I want to give you money. Making anyone who is looking to do any sort of capital raising, the path to immediate legitimacy, even if you publish it yourself, is to publish the book, because at that point, you become the authority, right? Authors are authority figures and that helps you a lot with the capital raising experience plus it's the best business card you can pass and I think you really need to do something different. I see all these people, they're, you know, they're doing funds and they want to raise money for funds and they talk about things, you know, you we've talked about this, the derivatives and stuff. But if you have a guy that's you know, multifamily office, or a family office that you know, has $200 million sitting in his checking account, and you know, he just inherited that now he needs to talk to someone about it. Sitting over a coffee with him is not going to give him the complete view that he needs, so that, with the vantage point to make a great decision. So I invite people and I've done this before, just based on happenstance, it's been very, very successful and I've been able to raise hundreds of million dollars around this just by writing a book.

Ryan Miller  24:00  

Brilliant. So have a book, have a content strategy about whatever it is that you do, whatever it is you put out there, just make sure that it should be designed to put you as a person who has some authority or reputation in this industry, I love it. What else would you say? What advice can you give to our listeners? 

Salvatore Buscemi  24:18  

I would also say and this is something that I've seen a lot, you know, people who are young guard your reputation with your life, especially today. People, a lot of people, I mean, we've talked about this it's kind of cliche, but you know if you're out there and you're raising money and you see you on like a first class, you know, Emirates flight to the UAE for a reason, you know be congruent with your lifestyle. And the other thing I would I would really really urge you guys to to do is to continue to network and foster relationships and be of service like you know, Ryan, I sent you a bunch of stuff after we talked a few weeks ago a bunch of emails but I was always giving you contacts, talk to this guy, see this guy, meet this guy. Brokering relationships, it's the highest form of regard, you are broke and you have $2 in your bank account you have impressive relationships that you can broker to someone else that means a lot more, because now you're opening trust. And that trust is something, I make the introductions to people and like I'll write, what I do is I'll be honest, I just like we'll talk about it. I'll do it in a, I'll just, I'll just transcribe it to an email, send it to me and then I run it through Grammarly. And I take it very seriously, because I did the length, the LinkedIn and name and everything I treated as if like, this guy is gonna be an investor or someone who the founder who is asking for money, I introduce them as if they're like, maybe like candidates for marriage with each other not to be awkward, you know, like, I'm very serious about this. You know, like, if you were to be introduced to your spouse, how would you want your spouse to be introduced to you that, and that takes a little bit of time. And of course, you know, people can outsource that too, I don't really condone that, but I've done it in a way where sometimes it's been a little sloppier. You know, the intent is or if that makes sense. 

Ryan Miller  25:49  

Yeah, so as we wrap things up, I'm curious, is there anything else you'd like her fans around the world to know ways to contact you, the names of your book, anything at all? 

Salvatore Buscemi  25:58  

Yeah, I think you know, I have a website at salvtorebuscemi.com. But I think, really, if you are a founder, or you're an investor, and you want to see how we dialogue with our multifamily office, and you know, with our, with our families and our multifamily office called Brahmin Partners, I would urge you to go to brahminpartners.com, and just sign up. And what that will do is we'll onboard you, and you can see exactly more of an intimate look about what the things are that we invest into, and why we invest into them. And you can see, we love putting on content, we love the interactivity with our families and it really works because it's sort of you know, opens the kimono, to everything and how we work even our legal structure to our investors. So we leave no stone unturned.

Ryan Miller  26:37  

Brilliant, well said. So just to summarize everything Sal and I have said, become the authority of your in your area, perhaps write a book, but have a content strategy that's designed to make you an authority on the subject, as I like to say is you don't have to be the expert, but just make sure you are known as a expert, that can be good enough. And typically, it is most of the time is like, you don't have to be Warren Buffett, but that doesn't mean you don't have value, you can add in the finance space. So whatever it is, whatever it is you put out there, just make sure that the strategy is to position you with that reputation as an expert. 

Ryan Miller  27:11  

You know, and the second thing that you mentioned was guard your reputation as you would your life, I mean, this leads to your personal brand and so that you should take that very serious because a brand is an asset that could put money in your pocket. And so make sure that you're listening to Sal, if you're listening to me, make sure you do everything in your power to make sure that that asset, your personal brand, otherwise known as your reputation, make sure that that asset is very valuable. Don't ever do anything or allow other people to do something to harm that reputation, but often more often than not, it's typically self-inflicted wounds on reputational damage. But there's many other avenues to that, but just be mindful that your reputation is one of the most valuable assets in your possession, so make sure you treat it that way. 

Ryan Miller  27:55  

And finally, the third thing that he mentioned, is continue to build and broker your relationships all starting with proving, proving that you're worthy of the investors trust. You do these things, and you too will be well on your way in your pursuit of Making Billions.

Ryan Miller  28:17  

Wow, what a show, I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. Now if you haven't done so already, be sure to leave a comment and review on new ideas and guests you want me to bring on for future episodes. Plus, why don't you head over to YouTube and see extra takes while you get to know our guests even better. And make sure to come back for our next episode where we dive even deeper into the people, the process and the perspectives of both investors and founders. Until then, my friends stay hungry, focus on your goals and keep grinding towards your dream of Making Billions.