JF 4114: The Four L’s, Big Lessons and Bigger Goals for 2026 with Richard McGirr

Dec 9, 2025

Richard McGirr, founder of Unlimited Capital and expert in capital-raising, shares insights from 2025 using his 'four L's' approach: what he loved, learned, lacked, and longed for. He discusses the power of focusing on a single, high-performing debt fund that raised over $24 million, revealing his strategies for operational mastery and record-breaking fundraising. Richard also emphasizes the importance of integrity in contracts and outlines his ambitious goals for 2026, including developing powerful co-GP partnerships and expanding capital efforts.

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ADVICE

Focus On One Winning Product

Double down on the one product and channel that are already working before diversifying.
Cancel middling projects and focus to create operational mastery and predictable recurring revenue.

ANECDOTE

Record Fundraising After One-Year Focus

Richard describes raising $24 million into a debt fund from November to November after focusing solely on that product.
That raise converted into sizeable recurring monthly carry that materially changed company revenue stability.

INSIGHT

Execution Beats Diversified Busyness

Doubling down improves execution quality because fewer projects let you deliver A+ work on the core business.
Superior execution produced consecutive record months and increasing monthly closes.

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Richard McGirr walks listeners through his 2025 retrospective using the “four L’s” framework—what he loved, learned, lacked, and longed for. He explains how abandoning distractions and doubling down on a single, high-performing debt fund produced seven to eight consecutive record-breaking months and over $24 million raised. Richard breaks down how this focus created operational mastery, recurring revenue, and a repeatable monthly closing machine that freed him and his partner to work on the business rather than in it. He also shares hard-won lessons about integrity, contracts, and protecting yourself in an industry where big dollar figures can test people’s promises.

Richard then turns to his biggest breakthroughs of the year, including finally cracking how to identify, mentor, and launch high-potential fund-of-funds managers—leading to a standout case study of a new FOF raising $1.2 million in its first month. He closes by outlining what he lacked in 2025 (dedicated in-house accounting) and what he’s pursuing in 2026: co-GP relationships with top-tier debt funds, airtight long-term contracts, diversification, and a major scale-up of both direct raises and FOF-driven capital.

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