Nick Stromwall

Principal Fund Manager @ Oak and Vine Upstream Energy Fund | Real Estate Investing, Syndications

What if we lived on 10% and gave 90% away?

I’m an entrepreneur at heart and an alternative asset fund manager who loves educating faith-driven investors on how to invest in alternative assets like real estate and energy.

Can you multiply money and impact with your current investing strategy?

I’m on a mission to build a thriving business that propels generosity—helping investors multiply their income so they can multiply their impact.

I spent 15 years in ministry developing leaders and building systems that empowered people to thrive. Now, I help people invest, train leaders, and build scalable systems that create lasting impact.

… And I help leaders get the #TripleWin:

✅ Winning at Work – Building scalable, high-impact businesses
✅ Winning with Family – Creating financial freedom for the people they love
✅ Winning in Community – Investing in opportunities that serve a greater purpose

As the VP of Efficiency and Innovation at Rise48, I focus on:
→ Streamlining systems to help our investors and team operate at peak efficiency
→ Developing scalable processes to support growth and maximize returns
→ Optimizing investor experience so they can confidently invest in high-quality, cash-flowing multifamily real estate

As the founder of Oak and Vine Capital, I focus on partnering with world-class operators in the best asset classes. I’ve served as a General Partner and Managing Partner in multiple real estate and energy syndications. 

My mission is clear:
→ To invest in businesses that create Kingdom Impact and empower investors to do the same.

Let’s multiply your resources for greater Kingdom impact.

Principal Owner

I help people multiply their money and impact through passive real estate investing in commercial real estate and alternative asset syndications.

We closed out the year together in Phoenix at the Rise48 Christmas Party  a western-themed evening that brought our teams from Arizona, Texas, and North Carolina into the same room.

Not for meetings.
Not for metrics.
But for connection.

It was a night of conversations, shared stories, and time with the people who put in the work every day behind the scenes. The kind of environment where relationships deepen, trust strengthens, and culture is reinforced in real time.

Because great execution doesn’t start in spreadsheets.
It starts with alignment.
With shared values.
With teams who believe in the mission and in one another.

I left the event reminded of how far we’ve come as an organization and how much opportunity is ahead as we continue building, growing, and serving together in the new year.

Grateful for our teams, our leaders, and every person who plays a role in the work we’re doing.

What was one meaningful moment you experienced with your team last year?

#Rise48Group #TeamCulture #LeadershipInAction #EndOfYearReflection

I help faith driven leaders multiply their money and impact through investing in alternative assets like real estate

No alternative text description for this image

I was terrified raising money for my first syndication.

Not surface level nerves.
Real fear.

Can I actually do this
What if I mess this up
What if people trust me and I fail

Up to that point, I had proven one thing.

I could buy a duplex.

But a syndication is different.
It’s not just your money anymore.

It’s a responsibility.
Stewardship.
Weight.

The McKinley project forced a new internal question.

Not “is this a good deal?”
But “am I ready to lead?”

Here’s what changed everything.

I stopped trying to do it alone.

I found partners I deeply trusted.
People with track records.
People with shared values.
People who were willing to say no if something felt off.

Then I focused on three fundamentals.

→ A growing market with real demand
→ A conservative business plan
→ Offering investors something better than what they were settling for

But the real work wasn’t underwriting.

It was identity.

I had to move from
“Can I do this?”
to
“I’m responsible to do this well.”

Once that clicked, the fear didn’t disappear.

But it stopped leading.

That first raise wasn’t about scale.
It was about obedience.
Preparation.
Integrity.

Looking back, the hardest part was never raising capital.

It was believing I was ready to carry it.

This week I’m unpacking the goals behind the deals.
And the mental barriers that came before the breakthroughs.

No hype.
No theory.
Just the real progression.

If you’re staring at your next step and asking
“Can I really do this?”

You’re probably closer than you think.

Follow along this week.

And next week
I’m opening a space to go deeper
Fundamentals
Mindset
Execution

More soon.

Would you rather play it safe
Or grow into the weight of responsibility?

(I've raised capital on 17 deals, and who you partner with is most important)

 The picture is from our McKinley project, a 48-unit multifamily apartment in Iowa

My little girl is potty trained after a holiday weekend potty training blitz! We used a secret weapon that I'm happy to share with you today.

The Potty Dance Song.

After successful poops and pees in the potty
we rewarded her with a special song.

we get down low, and sing

the potty dance
the potty dance

number 1
number 2

in the potty
(then we drumroll low to high)

and pick her up while saying
WAHOO

simple, and yet the smile gives it all away.

Should we put this to music?

What were some of your potty training tricks?

The hardest part of raising $1,000,000
Was believing I was allowed to ask.

Before that, I had raised $300,000.
Five investors.

That wasn’t small to me.

That was five families creating margin.
Five people accelerating toward freedom and impact.

So I set a new goal.
Raise my first $1,000,000.

And immediately, the doubts showed up.

I was working in ministry.
Different industry.
Different network.

I kept telling myself:

I haven’t earned the right yet
I need more touchpoints
I should steward the relationship better first

That belief almost stopped everything.

Here’s what finally clicked.

Asking isn’t pressure.
It’s an invitation.

You’re not asking for a yes.
You’re asking for interest.

Yes or no
Both are acceptable.

The real responsibility isn’t the ask.

It’s being prepared if someone says yes.

→ Clear education
→ Simple systems
→ The right team
→ A next step that serves them

Once I reframed that, the fear lost its grip.

God brought the connections.
Old relationships resurfaced.
New conversations opened.

Not because I was perfect.
But because I was willing.

If you’re stuck wondering
“Have I earned the right yet?”

You probably have.

And if you want help building the systems behind the ask
I’m teaching it live on Tuesday.

How to raise your first $1,000,000
And how to think about $10,000,000 next.

Link in the comments.

Yes or no
Is the fear more about rejection
Or believing you’re allowed to ask

I wanted my first real estate deal so badly.

Not because I wanted to be “in real estate.”
Not because I cared about titles or numbers.

I wanted it because my family was growing.
And because we were mentoring students who needed support.
And generosity requires margin.

At the time, I honestly didn’t know if I had what it takes.

I questioned myself constantly.
Am I capable of this
Am I thinking too big
Am I built for this path

That first goal wasn’t syndication.
It wasn’t raising capital.
It was owning our first duplex.

But behind that small step was a much bigger vision.

How do I create more capacity to give
How do I meet the needs around me
How do I steward what God has entrusted to us well

That single duplex changed how I saw myself.
Later came syndicating deals.
Later came raising capital for trusted partners.

But the hardest part was never the deal.

It was the mental question
Do I have what it takes

This week, I’m going to start breaking down my goals
And the mental challenges I had to overcome at each stage
Not theory
Not hype
Just the real progression

If you’re setting goals right now
Start with your vision
Not the tactic

Follow along this week as I share more.

And next week
I’ll be opening up something new
A space to go deeper
A forum built around fundamentals, mindset, and execution

More soon.

𝘗.𝘚 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘧?

Most capital raisers talk about strategy.
The ones who scale focus on results.

That’s why we built the Fundamental Forum, a live working session for capital raisers and fund managers who want real frameworks they can apply immediately.

In recent conversations, we’ve walked through:
→ The blueprint to raise your first $1,000,000 with clarity and structure
→ How to build the systems required to scale toward $10,000,000+
→ Messaging, follow-up cadence, and relationship-driven capital flows
→ Lessons from peers who are actually in the market right now

Our next session is Tuesday, January 13th at 12 PM MST / 2 PM EST.

If you’re ready to move from effort to outcomes, this is the room to be in.

👉 Register here to save your seat: https://lnkd.in/gBU2eNQq

#FundamentalForum #CapitalRaising #FundManagers #ScalingCapital #Rise48Equity

Today we're hosting this month's Fundamental Forum - 

a live conversation for capital raisers who want to scale with intention, structure, and execution.

This session is centered around one theme:
Goal Setting That Works
 

We’ll walk through:

• Building a repeatable, scalable system

• Reverse engineering your capital raise

• Investor conversion funnel

If you’re raising capital, you don’t need more noise.

You need clarity, alignment, and momentum.

We go live today at 12 PM MST / 2 PM EST.

👉 Join the session here: https://lnkd.in/gq2qidYb

#CapitalRaising #FundManagers #InvestorRelations #FundamentalForum #Rise48Equity

Implement this small hack and get more done in your day 👇

mind dump or mind purge all of your open loops into a trusted system.

I like asana.

Block out 30 minutes today and do this.

𝗗𝘂𝗺𝗽 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿:
• tasks
• ideas
• projects
• things you've delegated or been delegated
• sticky notes on your desk, fridge, etc.
• notes on your desktop
• emails you've been saving in your inbox
• notes in your notes app
• voice memos
• slack messages
• think personal and work!

→ I feel so free after getting everything down and out ... a trusted system really helps.

This mental space gives me more capacity to win at work, with family, and in my community!

𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝘂𝗺𝗽 𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲?

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲?

Comment below 👇

P.S. - Please repost ♻️ if you found this useful

p.s.s. if you are local in Minneapolis and want to learn more I'm teaching my business systems early tomorrow, send me a DM

Closed! Apartments of Westgrove in Raleigh, NC Rebranding as “Rise Westgrove”

To learn how you can invest in multifamily properties like this, set up a call with us on our website.

#multifamilyinvesting #Arizonamultifamily

Rise Capital Investments

Private equity fund manager helping busy professionals invest in commercial real estate to achieve financial independence

Founder and Chief Investment Officer

Highrise Group

Commercial real estate and tech startup pitch deck design for founders and sponsors. Experienced multifamily real state private debt and equity fund manager who understands the need for great marketing in your business to attract capital.

Investment Marketing Designer

Utah Warriors Rugby

As a huge rugby fan and player in the first high school girls team in the US, I couldn’t wait to invest in the Warriors when we relocated to Utah.

I'm excited to be a part of this ownership group and grow the sport in our backyard so we can enjoy high level live matches while providing jobs and income in the sports industry. See you at the pitch!

Ownership Shareholder

Quansight

PyData SLC nonprofit chapter organizer to promote open source Python development, as well as a Quansight investor, we grow the open source data science machine learning Python community's impact on enterprise through our unique Sustainable Open Source Subscription

Marketing Manager

Powell Wedding Photography

Specializing in wedding portraiture, event photography, venue architectural photography, and capturing designer details such as decor, floral arranging, and catering.

Photographer, Owner

Austin Gilgronis

Sports marketing content creator and manager, providing technical PR writing and graphic design for a founding team in Major League Rugby

Supervised photography, social media manager, and event coordination

Marketing Communications Manager

SHUTTERBUG STUDIOS

Real Estate Photographer

Challenger Sports

South Texas and Louisiana account management for children's soccer and rugby camps. Marketing, logistics, customer service.

Account Manager

Anaconda, Inc.

Design and conference logistics intern for PyData nonprofit organization supporting the open source Python data science and machine learning community

Business Admin Support, Graphic Design

Digital Scrapbook Place

Online classes for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Paint Shop Pro for photography and graphic design

Graphic Design Instructor

I was a stay at homeschool mom of six, now I’m a multimillionaire who retired my husband before age 50 through commercial real estate investing. 

Now we can help you retire more than 10 years early from your J-O-B, not life. Even if you want to work until 65, you don't want to have to!

We are making money matter after executing a 5-10 year plan that replaced our income with passive investing.

Now discovering ourselves version 2.0 through volunteering, spending more quality time with loved ones,
and starting a passion business helping other families create financial freedom.

High achievers can earn double-digit returns backed by real estate and build wealth to give back to your communities.

We walk our own talk and share the same investments we use to retire early in our private investor portal.

If that's worth having a conversation about, reach out to sign up for our portal at investwithemma.com

Emma Powell

You bought during a bubble when everyone was talking about multifamily real estate.

Deal with it.

It's called "dollar cost averaging." It's what I did, it's how I lost money in it, and it's how I made more than I lost. I bought before the bubble, during, after, and still.

I also diversify into other things like private money lending, index funds, and private equity.

That's how we deal with it.

BUSINESS: Paying you 10-12% APR, 13-15% 5-yr IRR for loans backed by real estate: let’s invest together! PERSONAL: Retired Early Full-time Travel Homeschool Mom of 6

What's one thing you can ask a capital raiser or GP that will change the entire conversation about investing with them? And it’s not how much money they have in the deal themselves.

"What's your main source of income? What are your other sources of income?"

If you don't know the revenue model of WHY we are raising capital, then you don't know where the motivations and potential conflicts of interest are.

I raise capital for Retoro Capital Investments, but it's not my main source of income.

This means:

* I am not desperate to raise money to close deals
* I am not reliant on doing just any deal to allocate capital raised
* I am here to help you evaluate, not "sell" investments
* I practice what I preach to you: multiple streams of income, active and passive

If you decide to invest with us, which I think you should as an income portion of your portfolio, I can help.

If not, we'll have learned something together.



Business relationships are important, so make sure just like a personal relationship that you know what to expect. Revenue streams are a major portion of that so you understand the business and the sellers.

If raising capital or GPing is their only or main source of income, that's fine IF:

* The business is large enough to pay them well to remove desperation
* They have multiple sources of income through the business (yes, this is where management and performance fees actually help you as an investor)
* They have at least some passive income streams and understand your as an investor because they are one.

If you want to talk about investing with us, check my calendar link in my profile at Emma Powell

--PS
This can be a tricky, stone-throwing topic. What did I miss? Feel free to expand and share your point of view in the comments.

What did I learn from going full cycle on the first deal I every bought?

My partner Frank Patalano might be the most excited of any of us about this apartment flip we finally finished! It was our first one, bought in 2020, stabilized in 2021 before rates went crazy, sold before our 5-year loan term expired.

1. 2026/27 are going to be crazy bad years for owners with stabilized, fixed-rate loans who avoided the ARM race as rates exploded. They won't be able to refinance and still be in the black, and so a lot of them will be on the market, pushing cap rates up.

Bridge debt made the first commercial RE meltdown, and watch as aging 5-year terms are going to create the second one.

2. I've seen tremendous improvements in the securities/investor space from investor portals to low-cost fund setup. This was a 506c for $1M, crazy small raise, and we paid $25k for legal. We could do the same thing now with a portal like Tribevest for about $5k.

3. I hate, I mean HATE asset management! I thought I would like it, I like organizing things, but I learned I love to help others FOUND businesses, and once day-to-day hits, I'm out. My skill is identification, networking, setup considerations, education, not admin and ops. But operations are KEY to making a buy-right property actually perform.

4. Deal metrics have changed. The same tactics we used to buy this in 2019/2020 do not work today. There are still great deals out there, but floating bridge debt with predictable 5-year refi rate predictions, 2-3% rent increases, 3% expense ratio  increases, or less than 50% expense ratios overall, things we saw a lot of 5 years ago, are just not true today. Declining to 2% tops in rent increases, 6%+ expenses rate increases, much higher insurance, and in this city much higher property taxes.

5. I'm now a full-cycle Freddie Mac loan guarantor! I don't know what I can do with that, my net worth isn't high enough to sign on the interesting projects I'd really love to do, but I'm sure if I put it out there along with my passion in item #3 above, something will come out of it!

6. We delivered our projected returns of 18% IRR and 2x+ to our investors. That stands alone.

7. We took this run down crime-ridden place and fixed it up to the tune of over $1M on 50 units (we turned it into 51) creating a safer, affordable place to live with dignity, all while keeping rents in line with other properties nearby in worse condition. We rarely had below 94% occupancy. That is what I'm most proud of on this project.

8. It was so hard, so so so hard, and my partners did nearly all the work after the first year. Do NOT start a multifamily business if you are looking for scalable, passive income. It is NOT passive income. For me, it was totally worth it, but it's not for many people.

Let's talk soon about investing together, from someone who's been through the trenches.

taplio

The Battle

Nick Stromwall

Emma Powell

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreNick Stromwall's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreEmma Powell's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Nick Stromwall

Emma Powell

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);}Nick Stromwall's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreEmma Powell's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreNick Stromwall's LinkedIn Performance