What happens when a publicly traded company managing $5 billion in real estate assets across 175 properties in the United States has virtually no digital footprint? The answer, according to Mor Milo, co-founder and CEO of Relli, is that the company struggles to raise capital from American retail investors who expect to research sponsors online before committing a dollar. Milo’s firm recently partnered with that very company—a publicly traded Israeli firm—to build the digital infrastructure needed to attract and nurture investor leads.
This gap between operational sophistication and marketing capability is widespread. It spans from operators managing $180 million with no logo or website to multi-billion-dollar enterprises that cannot consistently follow up with prospective investors. For decades, real estate development firms relied on a small number of institutional investors writing $10 million to $50 million checks each. Marketing meant golf outings and private dinners, not websites and email campaigns. Sales meant maintaining existing relationships, not generating new leads.
That model is breaking down as institutional investors move toward debt investments offering 12% to 15% returns with better security than equity deals. Operators are noticing capital become harder to secure, but many are still waiting for markets to normalize while competitors build retail investor pipelines. “A lot of operators are coming to us and saying, ‘We don’t want to be pigeonholed to only the 10 institutional investors that we’ve worked with the last 20 years,'” Milo notes.
The challenge is stark when considering the math. One operator managing $800 million across 45 transactions wanted to grow his investor base from 200 to 1,000 in a single year. That requires closing three qualified investors every day, without breaks. “That’s closing meetings, not discovery calls. If you have 10 or 15 people who can drive the funnel, no problem. But if you’re by yourself, that’s a different game,” Milo says.
The skills that make an effective real estate operator—underwriting deals, managing construction timelines, negotiating with contractors—have almost nothing to do with systematic marketing and sales. Professional athletes turned developers illustrate this: they have capital, credibility, and strong networks, but no corporate marketing infrastructure. Milo recently worked with a group managing $180 million whose entire business ran on personal relationships. “They don’t have a logo, they don’t have a website, they don’t have any marketing collateral,” he says.
Generating leads is the easier part. Digital advertising platforms can deliver 20 to 50 qualified accredited investor leads monthly for under $5,000 in ad spend. The breakdown happens after leads arrive. Most operators are not prepared for what consistent follow-up requires: emails explaining deal structures, text message updates, voicemails demonstrating persistence, and systematic outreach. Without automated systems, leads go cold regardless of deal quality.
Relli now helps operators build foundational sales and marketing infrastructure before launching campaigns—including CRM implementation, automated outreach sequences, messaging development, and team training. One customer achieved an 11x return on advertising spend; another generated $17 for every advertising dollar invested. Both outcomes depended on systematic follow-up that converted leads into investors.
Digital lead generation creates a dynamic where the most committed investors often take months to act. Relli’s platform recorded a $250,000 investment reservation from someone who had created an account six months earlier, used the platform’s content and tools without paying, and returned when the right opportunity appeared. That kind of outcome depends on infrastructure most firms lack: consistent content production, automated email sequences, and systematic engagement. The fourth quarter of 2025 generated $700,000 in investment reservations on Relli, compared to $1,700 total across the previous two years.
Operators building digital infrastructure now will have a clear advantage in capital raising. Those waiting for institutional capital to return, or relying on personal networks already tapped, will find it harder to compete. The conditions driving this are not temporary. Institutional investors are unlikely to return to equity deals while debt offers comparable returns with stronger security. Retail investors are not becoming less likely to research a sponsor online. “The longer these sponsors wait to fix this problem, the more desperate they become,” Milo says.
For operators managing hundreds of millions or billions in assets, the requirements are straightforward: build a website, develop clear messaging, implement a CRM, create automated follow-up sequences, and produce consistent content. The tools exist and the approach is proven. The $5 billion publicly traded company now has that infrastructure through its partnership with Relli. The question for other operators is how long they will wait before building their own.
