I’d rather not get too specific. But I’ll tell you I’m investing in an asset class that requires some operational capability. On a large scale this can be split up between ‘operators’ and investment managers. I used to be an employee of an investment manager where it was my job to do JVs with operators and acquire assets for the manager to fold into a portfolio. The operations side is pretty straight forward, just time consuming more than anything. And I have a good background on the investment/portfolio management side, so I decided to go out on my own and do it all myself. I have a couple assets under management and a handful of qualified investors who are providing most of the equity for the investments.
It’s going pretty good so far although I am dreading having to hire people, which i think is coming down the pike after I acquire 1 or 2 more assets.
it’s actually a really tangled web that I only follow because it’s the way i used to do it when i was institutional. each asset gets its own LLC and my single member entity is the managing member. the others invest in the owning entity as individuals. Although it’s even more complicated since I brought in ‘GP equity’ but that’s through another entity that now is the managing member in the owning LLCs and my single member entity is the managing member of the GP entity.
i actually started talking to a HS buddy who has an accounting background about joining me as an employee, so that would ease the burden in the short term but that will only get me through the next year probably. after that I’ll have to cast a net and deal with being a boss, literally my worst nightmare.
Payroll sucks. Between having to have the cashflow to provide it every month, and the payroll reporting process (W-2’s, 941’s, 940’s. state unemployment), I wouldn’t take on employees unless I absolutely had to.
Being a boss sucks. Having to manage all those different personalities and having to feed all those mouths is probably not my strongest suit.
If you continue to expand business operations, being a boss and employer will eventually become inevitable.
So I guess it boils down to–would you rather expand and have to deal with the extra problems? Or would you rather say, “Nope. $10m AUM is plenty. 2% of that is $200k, which allows me to pay bills and have a pretty good lifestyle.”
hey turd im now getting RE operational/accounting experience in a few years you may just need to hire me imagine that! haha i could think of nothing funnier
to answer your other question, I pay a preferred return and then i get a promoted interest once the pref is paid off. I also coinvest so I get returns on that piece, plus a base management fee and property management fee. basically i fee my clients to death. the gross to net is not pretty, but that’s the nature of private equity.
the assets i buy generally cash flow above the pref so i’m into splits day 1 which is pretty nice…also keeps interests aligned to a degree.