Drew Breneman

Breneman Capital

I started what would become Breneman Capital in 2005 at age 19 to purchase my first rental properties and grow my own wealth. 

Today, we work with individual investors, Family Offices, PE, Fund of Funds, RIAs, etc., and they invest alongside us in the best opportunities that we find (and have been for nearly 20 years).

Invest with us: https://www.breneman.com/invest

Founder & CEO

The Blackhawk Investment Group

About Blackhawk:
•	Vertically integrated real estate investment firm primarily focused on Minneapolis/St. Paul and select neighborhoods within Chicago with over $100MM in assets under management. 
•	The firm is similar to a private family office in that it is not open to outside investors. The firm is built around one investor/partner with targeted hold period of forever.

2008-2012: 
•	Acquired heavily discounted commercial properties in Minneapolis/St. Paul we could own long term with high cash flow. 
2013-2019: 
•	Focused on value-add multifamily in Chicago, where we could increase the income and refinance out all of our initial equity. 
Results:
•	Refinanced out over 100% of initial equity on average across 11 investments. 


Learn More At: www.BlackhawkInvest.com

Breneman Capital is an owner in Blackhawk's individual properties.

Co-Founder

Rubloff Development Group, Inc

Development Firm in Numerous Product Types: Retail, Office, Mixed-Use, Market Rate Apartments, Senior Housing, Self Storage, and For Sale Housing.

• Assessed financial feasibility and contributed in the acquisition, development, repositioning, and disposition of RDG's portfolio (Portfolio Size - Approximately $1B asset value, 50 properties, and 5,000,000 square feet under development)

• Responsible for sourcing opportunities, obtaining necessary approvals and incentive packages from municipalities, securing debt and equity financing, reviewing and negotiating legal documents, overseeing the construction process, and negotiating with lenders, investors, joint venture partners, potential tenants, and third party vendors

Development Associate

Dominium Development & Acquisition, LLC

Multifamily Development/Acquisition Firm. Market Rate & Affordable Multifamily.

• Responsible for assisting the firm's partners in takeovers of stalled construction projects, acquisition of mismanaged apartment portfolios, development of new multifamily communities, and the acquisition of general partnership interests controlling Section 42 housing 

• Performed financial analysis in all sectors of multifamily (Market rate, Section 42, Section 8, and Senior Housing) in markets throughout the country

• Lead on Dominium's tender option bond funds and financings with the fund. Experience with tax-exempt bonds, swaps, caps, and other derivatives

T. Wall Properties

Industrial and Office Real Estate Development Firm.

• Gained experience with real estate development, industrial, office product types.

Development Intern

RPGeStore.com

Online business operated while in high school and college that allowed me to make the money I would use to purchase my first 4 rental properties with while in college.

Founder and CEO

Protect & Grow Capital With Our Multifamily Investment Opportunities For Family Offices, Fund Managers, & High-Net-Worth Individuals

When I was 19, I bought my first property.

I didn’t realize it then, but that little duplex changed my life.

Now, almost 20 years later, I’ve sourced, capitalized, and closed on over $250 million of properties for my firm, Breneman Capital.

For the last 15 years, I’ve worked closely with investors — family offices, PE, Fund of Funds, RIAs, and individuals — to help them generate income and wealth through multifamily real estate.

The old real estate adage says, “You make your money when you buy in real estate.”

I agree with that — but I think it’s only 50% true.

The other 50% comes in the execution. And I’ve built Breneman Capital through that lens. 

Over the last 20 years, our realized investments have produced an average gross return of:

• 24% IRR
• 2.2x equity multiple
• 5.6-year hold period

In my opinion, our longest-standing investor relationships come down to 2 factors:

1) Our deals have performed well.
2) We focus on giving investors the best possible experience.

Real estate can be complex. But we like to keep our goals for our investors simple.

Strong returns.
Great experiences.
World-class communication.

If you’d like to set up an exploratory call, feel free to click the link in my Featured Section.

I started Breneman Capital in 2005 at age 19 to purchase my first rental properties and grow my own wealth. 

Today, we work with individual investors, Family Offices, PE, Fund of Funds, RIAs, etc., and allow them to invest alongside us in the best opportunities that we find (and have been for nearly 20 years).

Invest with us: https://www.breneman.com/invest

Before Mark Cuban was worth $5,700,000,000…

He rented a $600/mo apartment with 5 roommates.

In 2017, Cuban talked about the mindset that led to his first $1 million:

“I wanted enough money to be able to travel, have fun, and party like a rock star but still live like a student.”

Cuban talks about a book he read:

Cashing in on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35 by Paul Terhorst.

The premise: 

If you can save $1 million and live like a college kid, you can retire early. 

It’s one of my favorite pieces of wealth-building advice:

“Life like a college student as long as you can.”

Flexibility and optionality are cheat codes as an entrepreneur.

But once you're locked into an expensive lifestyle, your flexibility disappears.

The window of opportunity closes.

So take Cuban's advice:

• Live like a college student as long as you can.
• Keep renting with roommates.
• Drive an old car.
• Save.
• Invest.
• Repeat. 

Your future self will thank you.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵?

Founder at Breneman Capital. Multifamily Investments That Protect & Grow Capital.

Getting financial advisors millions of dollars & impressions | $20+ million in capital & AUM raised from LinkedIn | 100+ million client impressions | 400+ meetings booked | $1+ million in client courses sold

If you work in finance or real estate and want to add clients or capital through LinkedIn, send me a DM.

If you want to write a memoir or lead-gen book, send me a DM.

Adam Knorr

A 10-year-old asks you, "What job will pay me the most?"

What do you say?

My guess is most people would default to:

• "Doctors."
• "Lawyers."
• "Bankers."

Which is crazy.

Most of us are terrible at predicting future trends, so we default on what we knew to be true in the past.

But the biggest money-making opportunities today — and going forward — are created with a laptop and a WiFi connection.

And to make things even better...

• These opportunities are more accessible.
(No degrees required.)

• They don't put you in 6-figure debt in your 30s.
(I started my business for under $2K.)

• They don't require 80-hour weeks away from your kids.
(You can work those 80 hours from home.)

It has never been easier to build something.
It has never been easier to start a business.
It has never been easier to do your own thing.

The most lucrative careers will be aligned with the future.

Not the past.

I've edited 200+ LinkedIn posts for students this year. Here are 5 pieces of advice I'm tired of repeating:

1. Metaphor posts are gross.

Bad: "Here's what saving a baby deer taught me about financial planning."

Good: "Lol, I saved a baby deer. It was crazy. Let me tell you about it. 

Overly engineered content repels people. 

2. Write "poorly" on purpose to show you're human.

Four in every five students who comes to me says, "I'm not a good writer."

"Perfect," I say. "Please avoid using ChatGPT as much as possible so people can hear your voice in your posts."

As long as you can show me you're human, I can improve your writing. 

Developing voice is a legit competitive advantage. 

3. Controversy > consensus 

Lean into opinions that fire people up. Eliminate qualifying language like "sometimes." Say it with your chest. 

4. Stick to one topic per post.

One of the biggest improvements most people can make on LinkedIn is sticking to one idea/topic/theme per post. 

If you see two themes, split into two posts.

5. Tell your complete story before breaking for context.

When you start telling a story in the hook, continue telling the story until it has concluded.

THEN pivot to your opinion or the lesson you want to share.

When you stop your story to interject, you lose the reader.

If you did it right, you have them hooked from the start. Keep them there! Don't let them get away!

--

P.S. What's the No. 1 question you have about writing LinkedIn posts?  

AMA

Harvard researchers interviewed 30,000 Americans in a study about a taboo topic. 

The result is the most mind-blowing conclusion I’ve ever seen. 

The study focused on money. More specifically, it looked at charitable giving, volunteering, and wealth. 

Here’s what data showed: 

The more money you give away, the richer you become. 

American researcher Arthur C. Brooks wrote about the study in his paper, “Why Giving Matters.” 

Here’s an excerpt from Brooks’ paper: 

“Say you have two identical families—same religion, same race, same number of kids, same town, same level of education—everything’s the same, except that one family gives $100 more to charity than the second family. Then the giving family will earn on average $375 more in income than the non-giving family—and that’s statistically attributable to the gift.” 

Brooks expanded his study. 

Was it specifically giving money away that increased wealth? 

Close, but not quite. It was giving in general. 

People who volunteer do better financially.

Want to make more money? Go give your time away at the homeless shelter. 

Brooks poked and pried and prodded but couldn’t bore a hole in the data. 

Giving makes you wealthier. 

But ... Why? 

Just like most of life, it’s about happiness. 

Study after study has shown that selflessness increases happiness. Altruists and optimists are more successful than misers and curmudgeons. 

The easiest way to break it down: 
 
-> Giving makes you happier. 
-> Being happier makes you more excited about life. 
-> Being more excited about life leads to more motivation. 
-> More motivation makes you better at your job. 
-> Being better at your job makes you more money. 

It’s paradoxical and puzzling — but it’s also profound. 

The more you give, the more you’ll get. 

In life, so many things that feel good are bad for you.

But giving your money and time is one of those rare Goldilocks instances where it feels good. And it's good for you. 

Anne Frank once wrote, “No one has ever become poor by giving.” 

In fact, giving makes you richer.

The "AI slop" problem is so bad that companies will now pay you $274,000 for human storytelling.

From this WSJ article:

• Vanta is hiring a head of storytelling for $274K.
• 70,000 LinkedIn job postings say “storyteller” 
• Google, Microsoft, Notion have storytelling teams.

If you had told me three years ago that I could make more money writing LinkedIn posts than I made working in finance, I would have... guffawed? Gut-busted? Asked you where you bought your acid?

I originally quit writing because I didn't think there was any money in it.

And — considering my best job offer out of school was in International Falls, MN making $27,500 a year — I feel that was a fair assertion.

But the pendulum has swung all the way back.

Now, storytelling is how you get clients.

Founders, CEOs, and brands need to control the narrative. And the backlash against AI-generated media has been so strong that producing ChatGPT-scented content in 2025 is akin to doing what the Falcons did in the second half of Super Bowl LI.

Not only will you lose, but they'll laugh at you. 

Oh, how they'll laugh. 

Once more, from the WSJ:

"CEOs [say], ‘It sounds like I need a content strategy,’" said communications CEO Steve Hirsch. 

“The AI slop of it all creates so much distrust, and they see that the brands that are winning right now are the ones that are most authentic and human and relatable.” 

--

Oh, btw:

Do you know what Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2025 is?

3 dead-simple editing tips to immediately elevate your writing:

(Bookmark this)

1. When in doubt, cut it out.

If it ever so much as crosses your mind to delete a word, delete a sentence, or delete a paragraph — delete it.

Trying to convince yourself it should stay? It shouldn't. It crossed your mind. Kill it. 

2. "Who would say otherwise?"

If 100% of your competitors would say the same thing, it's not worth saying.

Would any of your competitors say, "I believe being a financial advisor is all about the numbers and not about the people at all?"

No? 

Then delete the part where you say, "I believe in building relationships, not portfolios."

Find something real to differentiate you. 

3. Delete your first two sentences.

This is more LinkedIn-in specific, but after editing hundreds of posts, I've noticed people have a tendency to bury their hook in the third line.

Stop announcing your story. Just tell your story.

My financial advisor client got 3 inbound leads from people each with $5MM+ in investible assets this week from LinkedIn content.

I can teach you how to do this.

DM me "GPS" if you're interested.

(Only 5 spots left for the January cohort.)

For a financial advisor client: 16 leads in 30 days, $10 million in AUM opportunity, $30K in planning fee opportunity.

The craziest part is 90% of these leads are inbound — people DMing or just booking time on their calendar directly. 

Full transparency:

This is the best month we've had with this client so far, but it doesn't surprise me.

LinkedIn is a long game, and we've been working together for 10 months now. Still drove 70+ leads before this, but always nice to be patient and see the compound interest pay off.

Isn't that what you guys are always telling clients, anyway? 

--

P.S. If you want to learn how to do this for yourself, DM me "GPS."

If you want me to do this for you, DM me "Ghost."

Home Alone 2 is the greatest Christmas movie of all time.

Let me explain.

The original Home Alone, while a seminal work, does not hold a candle to Home Alone 2. This is proven within the first 20 minutes of Home Alone 2, when Buzz ruins Kevin’s solo at the Christmas Pageant by using two electric candles as drumsticks and Kevin’s head as the drum. In the original Home Alone, Buzz does not hold any candles.

Following Home Alone 2, the franchise careened off Mount Crumpit, as Macaulay Caulkin took a break from acting and they tried to trick us with something called an "Alex D. Linz" in Home Alone 3. We will not speak of Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House.

Clearly, Home Alone 2 is the best of the franchise.

--

Per IMDB, here are the Top 10 Christmas movies:

1. It’s a Wonderful Life

This movie was made in 1946. If you would have shown someone from 1946 one single Michael Bay iMax explosion, they would have forgotten all about old George Bailey. The best Christmas movie is not from 1946.

2. Home Alone

See above.

3. Die Hard

If there’s an argument over whether or not you’re a Christmas movie, you're not the best Christmas movie.

4. A Christmas Carol

The Muppets made a better version of your movie.

5. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph = former NE Patriots RB Jonas Gray. Scored 4 TDs on Sunday Night Football and we never heard from him again. System reindeer. 

6. A Christmas Story

This is the second-best Christmas movie of all time, because they managed to warm your heart despite having a character named “Scut Farkus.”

7. Elf

The child in this film wears a beanie with a brim. Next.

8. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Clark Griswold wanted to pay for a pool. Kevin McAllister’s dad flew the entire family to Florida and France. Bonne chance.

9. Miracle on 34th Street

Made in 1947. We don’t have to pretend these movies are good, guys. Transformers 2 is better than every single movie made pre-1980.

10. Gremlins

Hell yeah.

--

Now that we have eliminated the contenders, I will make my case for Home Alone 2 in five ironclad points:

1. Kevin’s mastery of New York real estate

Today’s 18-year-olds can’t even pick up the phone to call a hotel and book a room. 

Kevin secured a suite at the Plaza Hotel at 10.

2. Marv gets hit in the face with multiple bricks

I’m not sure why you think I need to explain the value in this.

3. The “Sticky Bandits” rebrand

In Home Alone 1, they were the Wet Bandits. This rebrand teaches young children an important lesson in the value of conviction.

4. Donald Trump’s cameo

When you’re watching this with your kids/grandkids in 10 years, you’ll be able to say “That guy became president.” No scene in movie history will age more ridiculously.

5. The Pigeon Lady reminds us of the spirit of Christmas

Look beyond appearances to find who people really are. If they happen to weaponize birds, befriend them.


Home Alone 2 is the greatest Christmas movie of all time.

"My ideal clients aren't on LinkedIn" is just an excuse for 9 out of 10 advisors.

The global population is 8.2 billion people.

LinkedIn has 1.3 billion users. 

That means about 16% of the world's population is on LinkedIn.

If you're struggling to find your ideal clients, one of the following things is broken:

A) Your Sales Navigator targeting
B) Your ability to search pockets outside of Sales Nav
B) Your perception of what "on LinkedIn" means 

Deep down, "My ideal clients aren't on LinkedIn" is just an excuse to let yourself quit without feeling bad. 

You know it.
I know it.
We know it.

So let's fix it.

Only 4 spots left in The Advisor GPS cohort starting January 5.

DM me to learn more.

taplio

The Battle

Drew Breneman

Adam Knorr

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreDrew Breneman's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAdam Knorr's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Drew Breneman

Adam Knorr

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Drew Breneman's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAdam Knorr's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreDrew Breneman's LinkedIn Performance