#236: Jilliene Helman - CEO of RealtyMogul - Real Estate Crowdfunding

Jilliene Helman is the Founder and CEO of RealtyMogul, an online real estate marketplace that gives everyday investors access to institutional-quality commercial real estate deals in dozens of markets across the country. Since 2012, RealtyMogul members have collectively invested over $850 million into $4.7 billion of real estate nationwide (as of March 31, 2022). Jilliene holds Series 7, 24, and 63 investment licenses and is a Certified Wealth Strategist. She’s been featured as an expert on startups and real estate investing on Bloomberg, CNBC, The New York Times, Yahoo! Finance, and Entrepreneur.

On this episode, Chris and Jilliene discuss:

• A 10-year overview of how crowdfunding has evolved and the tailwinds driving it
• Building a two-sided marketplace with sponsors and LP’s.
• How crowdfunding works from a high level
• What to expect from the crowdfunding industry over the next decade.

Learn more about Chris Powers and Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com

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(2:02) - Jilliene’s career and background

(4:48) - What did crowdfunding in the RE space look like when you got started in your career?

(8:29) - If you had to go start a new 2-sided marketplace today, would it be harder to do?

(11:47) - Was there an inflection point in the industry where crowdfunding became more mainstream?

(15:07) - How distributed is the money coming from crowdfunding? Are there ever a couple of individuals that carry the bulk of a fund?

(17:20) - What’s the path forward to become a top brand name over the next decade?

(20:12) - Is there any agreement that states the LP needs to go to you instead of the GP for questions or investments?

(21:39) - How do you approve and vet sponsors?

(24:57) - Have you seen institutional or family office capital get into crowdfunding?

(25:55) - How do your REITs work?

(29:09) - Is the push to have a more built out secondary market for LP’s something on your radar?

(30:55) - How do you approach Capital Call situations?

(33:24) - What data are you looking at to prove the massive tailwinds for crowdfunding?

(35:33) - Do you have to own a controlling position in the LP stack?

(36:17) - How are you seeing most people show up in a deal?

(37:44) - What’s something you think deeply about that you want to see in the industry?

The Fort is produced by Johnny Podcasts