Strategy and thesis before structure

Almost every first-time manager makes the same mistake: they start with structure. They incorporate the GP, draft an LPA, talk to a Luxembourg administrator, and only then ask themselves what they are actually raising for.

The right order is the opposite. LPs commit to a strategy, not a wrapper. Before you spend a euro on legal work, you should be able to answer five questions on one page: what is your edge, what assets will you buy, in which geography, for what target return, and why you specifically. If you cannot answer those five crisply, no amount of clever structuring will rescue the raise.

Differentiated and repeatable matter equally. Differentiated means an allocator can describe you in one sentence and not confuse you with the next manager in their pipeline. Repeatable means the strategy will still work in Fund II and Fund III — not just on the one deal that inspired the fund.