Raising Capital on God Mode: The Fund Raise Formula

"RAISE CAPITAL LIKE A LEGEND: https://go.fundraisecapital.co/frc2-apply"

Why do some fund managers and startup founders close oversubscribed fundraising rounds in days, while others chase investors for months with nothing but "maybes"? The secret to raising capital successfully is not just your IRR, deck, or data room—it's mastering The Fundraise Formula.

In this powerful episode of Making Billions, host Ryan Miller reveals the simple yet universal law that dictates every successful private equity deal, venture capital round, and alternative asset raise: Trust multiplied by the Transaction.

Stop chasing capital and start making capital chase you. This masterclass is essential viewing for fund managers, General Partners (GPs), Limited Partners (LPs), deal syndicators, venture capitalists, angel investors, and startup founders who are serious about scaling their businesses and building their financial empire.

Download The Fundraise Capital Diagnostic Tool—the private framework Ryan uses to score a deal's investor perception—and change the way you raise capital forever: go.fundraisecapital.co/thefundraiseformula

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Transcript

Ryan Miller   

It really has two halves: the trust and the transaction. See, together, they form The Fundraise Formula, and when you understand both, you can diagnose exactly why your raise is stalling and what lever to pull to get capital moving back to you better than ever. 

Ryan Miller   

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 your 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  

Why do fund managers close oversubscribed rounds in days, while others chase investors for months, getting nothing, but maybes, well, the answer has nothing to do with your IRR, your deck or even your data ring. What it really comes down to is one simple equation that I call The Fundraise Formula. So I'm going to show you how this formula works, mathematically, psychologically and strategically, so you can engineer trust and make capital flow to you and stick around at the end, because I'm going to give you this Fundraise Capital diagnostic tool. It's a private framework that I use, and you can use it too to score yourself and your fund on how investors truly perceive you. It's going to change the way you raise forever. Here we go. 

Ryan Miller   

Finance is more about trust and transactions. If you ask for the transaction before the trust, you'll likely get neither, but if you go for the trust before the transaction, you'll likely get both. See every successful raise, every investor track, every oversubscribed round follows one universal law, which I like to call The Fundraise Formula. Now what I want you to do, if you can and it's safe, draw this out on a piece of paper. Okay, so the numerator is the probability of deal success raised to the power of what it means to them personally, then multiply that by the valuation at exit. Great, you got the numerator now the denominator, divide all of that by perceived risks divided by time to liquidity. And that's the math behind the belief it is and we use it to diagnose all of our deals. And it really helps us, just on a qualitative basis to say, how are we being perceived? How are we building trust, destroying trust? How are we explaining the risks or not explaining the risks? Do they understand when we're successful, what that's going to mean to them? So there are a lot of variables that go in, but ultimately it comes to multiplying the trust first by the transaction, all of that is to make capital flow to you. And you see, most people skip that first part of the trust, and they just go straight to the transaction, and that, my friends, is the problem. But those who master both, they don't chase capital, capital chases them. 

Ryan Miller   

So let's break that down. I want to tell you a quick story that just illustrates this. See, when Ray Dalio started Bridgewater Associates, he didn't have billions under management. He had a few loyal clients who believed in his ability to navigate markets differently. See, Dalio built that belief by writing deep, transparent market memos before anyone was even paying him to do it. See, he built trust first through clarity, competence and consistency and the results, Bridgewater became the world's largest hedge fund with over $150 billion under management. So you didn't start with transactions, he started with trust. And that's exactly what this formula teaches you to do as well. See The Fundraise Formula, it really has two halves, the trust, that's the emotional and psychological part of your pitch and raising capital and the transaction, that's the financial and the mechanical. See, together, they form The Fundraise Formula. And when you understand both, you can diagnose exactly why your raise is stalling and what lever to pull to get capital moving back to you better than ever. So when an investor meets you, their first thought isn't what's the IRR it's, can this person actually pull this off, that's the probability of deal success I mentioned before. Think about someone like Blackstone, Steve Schwartzman. When he started raising for his first fund, he wasn't selling deals. He was selling certainty, and he showcased his track record at Lehman Brothers, his team's pedigree and their network that gave them the edge. That's why investors leaned in. They believed the probability of success was really high. To increase your perceived probability, you can build out things like market dynamics, know your macro, your story, know it cold. Your team and board strength, surround yourself with proven executioners and what we like to call the 3Rs or R3, that's your Reputation, your Relationships and your Results. How are you showing up? Do they understand that well? Showcase your real wins, real people and real proof and you can use case studies in early traction. You can show that the machine is already turning. See, when investors see momentum, they don't feel like they're taking a risk, they feel like they're catching a wave. And that, my friends, is the difference. 

Ryan Miller  

See, the next piece is what I like to call the emotional exponent. In the formula, it's the power that multiplies belief, the probability of success, raised to the power of what it means to them. Let me give you an example. Let's take a look at Cathie Wood at Ark Invest, her investors don't just invest in ETFs, they invest in her conviction. She tied her investment thesis to human progress, innovation, freedom, the future. That meaning resonated deeply, especially during Ark's meteoric rise. So for your fund or your deals, the same principle applies, investors must feel what the win means to them. Freedom from work, stress, more time with family, building a legacy, playing in the big leagues. See, once they connect emotionally, trust compounds exponentially. 

Ryan Miller   

Hey, thanks for listening to Making Billions, if you liked this episode, could you do me a huge favor and go leave a review? This helps us to get the podcast to more ears, to help people raise capital, learn fund management strategies, and serve our mission to help fund managers and deal syndicators to gain greater hope and focus as they build their empire. All right, let's get back to the show. 

Ryan Miller 

The next factor is the perceived risk, and I mean perceived by the investors or potential investors that you're pitching. It's the deal killer hiding in plain sight. See, investors don't fear risk, they fear unknowns, and if they can name it, they can manage it. And let me give you a story to illustrate this, Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital. He talks about this constantly. He says, you can't predict, but you can prepare. That's why Oaktree wins. They disclose, they explain, and they prepare. You build trust when you acknowledge volatility instead of hiding it. Show contingency plans for tax, legal compliance, risk, own your weaknesses before investors find them and communicate proactively. Transparency turns perceived risk into perceived readiness. Every risk you name strengthens the trust denominator, and it does it in your favor. 

Ryan Miller   

So now that we've built trust, let's move to the transaction side of the formula. This is where you talk the numbers, evaluation, the return and all the financial logic. Think about someone like Ken Griffin at Citadel, his entire pitch from day one is, I don't guess I calculate. See, he used real time data to show investors how their capital would compound under his models, that's credibility through quantifiable valuation. So for you, strengthen this by leading with what we call the BLUFF or the Bottom Line Up Front, stress testing your IRR and your NPV. Being explicit about tax and legal structure and its efficiencies, and listing your assumptions so nobody wonders how you got there. See, when investors can't poke holes in your math, they can finally focus on your mission, and that, my friends, is key. 

Ryan Miller   

And lastly, investors care about one thing, when do I get my money back? See, time to liquidity is the silent deal killer. If the wait is long, the trust must be even stronger. Let's take a look at Brookfield Asset Management, they handle long term infrastructure deals, sometimes 10 to 20 year horizons, how do they keep the LPS patient? They do it through impeccable communication and milestones, regular updates, clear cash flow cadences and visible progress on their deals. You can shorten the time, but you can shorten uncertainty. Every player update buys you more trust with your investors. 

Ryan Miller  

So let's bring this all together, trust times the transaction equals The Fundraise Formula, or written out probability of deal success, raised to what it means to them personally, multiplied by the valuation at exit. All of that divided by perceived risk times the time to liquidity. See when you strengthen the trust half, the transaction half becomes effortless. Think of someone like Chamaths, love him or hate him, he mastered this early. He built trust through storytelling aligned outcomes to personal meaning and position his deals as inevitable. When that alignment clicked, capital flowed like wine. So here's your next move, stop guessing and start diagnosing. Go to go.fundraisecapital.co/thefundraiseformula and download The Fundraise Capital diagnostic tool. Here you can score yourself and your team using this framework, and ask yourself, as we pitch, do investors believe we can execute on what we're seeing? Do they connect with what our success will mean to them? Do they feel our transparency on risk, and do they see a clear path to liquidity, because if they don't know you, they can't flow you and in high finance, trust isn't luck, it's leverage.

Ryan Miller   

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.