b'2. Set the Stage for Successyou should be offering to your pool of potential investors. If everyone tells you they are getting 7% in the stock market, then your opportunity has to match or beat that. If the amount potential investors are typically making is less than that, ask them if they would be interested in investing with you if an opportunity with a higher return was available. If they claim they are making more than what you expect to offer, they may either be unrealistic or unsuitable for you. ASSEMBLE A MANAGEMENT TEAM WITH THE RIGHT SKILL SETSThere are a number of aspects to a securities offering you must master, or have mastered by others within your syndication team, to be an ef-fective manager of private investor funds. In addition to meeting passive investors, you should be meeting others who can strengthen your syndi-cation management team, such as:People who have already syndicated similar properties of startup businesses People who have complementary (not identical) skill sets and who can strengthen your credibility to inspire sellers, lenders and investors to do business with you for your first few deals People who have the net worth to guarantee loansPeople who can fund (either through personal loans to you or by participating in management) by providing seed funds for the ex-penses necessary to get your first few real estate deals to the closing table or to get your startup to the offering stage People who know other investors who might want to invest with you Your management team may include some or all of these people as well who will be every bit as important as passive investors. Communication SkillsOpen and transparent investor communications, both before and during the investment, is key to being a successful money manager. Having pro-vided the right disclosures in the first place will help protect you if prob-lems arise. If problems do arise during the investment, the best thing you 15'