What Makes a GK3 Partnership Truly Successful?

I want to share something candid with you. At GK3 Capital, we work with around 25 to 30 firms at any given time. Many of these relationships are incredibly successful and we are proud of the growth we have helped them achieve. But if I am being completely honest, not every single partnership is a home run.

Sometimes things do not click. Sometimes firms struggle to get the traction they want. That is the reality when you are working with companies that are all at different stages of maturity and growth.

So what is the difference? Why do some firms thrive in their partnership with us while others stall out?

Every single one of our strongest client relationships has these three elements in place. Without them, it is extremely difficult to sustain progress and generate results. Let me break down what I mean by each and give you some real-world perspective from what I have seen.

1. Buy-In: A Digital-First Mindset

The very first factor is buy-in. And when I say buy-in, I mean the entire organization, from the executive team down through marketing and sales, is aligned around the idea that growth today requires a digital-first approach.

Here is the truth: your next client lives online. They are spending more than seven hours a day there. Two and a half of those hours are on social media. They are connected to their mobile device more than 60 percent of the time they are searching. They are not answering phone calls from numbers they do not recognize and they are not showing up for cold outreach meetings.

If you want to earn their trust and show them how you can solve their problems, you need to meet them where they are. That means publishing content that answers their questions, including the tough ones that many firms want to avoid. It means producing content in multiple formats because not everyone learns or engages the same way. And yes, it means leaning heavily into video because 80 percent of content consumed online today is video.

What Buy-In Looks Like in Action

Let me give you an example. One of our clients, a mid-sized alternative asset manager, made a conscious decision to go all-in on digital. The CEO, the distribution team, and marketing all bought into the strategy. They started recording short videos where the leadership team answered investor FAQs directly. At first, they were hesitant. Nobody loves being on camera the first time. But once they committed, the content became a huge trust-builder. Investors could see who they were dealing with, hear them explain the strategy, and get comfortable before they ever scheduled a call. That is buy-in.

On the other hand, I can think of another firm where the CEO liked the idea of digital, but the rest of the team did not share the same conviction. Every blog draft was debated endlessly. Video projects never got off the ground. In that case, progress was painfully slow. Without buy-in across the board, marketing feels like pulling teeth.

2. Bandwidth: Having a Team That Can Execute

The second ingredient is bandwidth. Even if everyone agrees on the strategy, nothing gets done without people inside the firm who can dedicate time and energy to execution.

Bandwidth does not mean you need a huge marketing department. What it means is that you have at least one or two people who can partner with us consistently, provide subject matter expertise, and keep things moving forward.

What Bandwidth Looks Like in Action

One firm we work with has a two-person marketing team. That is it. But those two people are dedicated and engaged. They show up to weekly calls. They review content drafts quickly. They provide feedback from the sales team so we can keep refining the strategy. Because of their commitment, they built a library of articles and videos in just a few months. Now they have investors reaching out to them because they already feel like they know the firm.

Contrast that with firms where there is no bandwidth. Sometimes the CEO says, “We want results,” but nobody has the time to participate. Weeks go by before content gets approved. Video shoots are postponed. Campaigns stall. In those cases, momentum is lost and frustration builds.

Bandwidth is not about having dozens of people. It is about dedicating enough attention to keep the strategy alive and moving.

3. Budget: Investing at the Right Level

The third piece is budget. This is often the most uncomfortable one to talk about, but it is essential.

The reality is that it is very hard to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, or even billions, if your marketing budget is only a few thousand dollars per month. The scale just does not line up.

What Budget Looks Like in Action

One of our clients set out to raise close to a billion dollars over two years. They understood that goal required serious commitment, so they allocated a budget that matched the ambition. Because they invested at the right level, we were able to build a comprehensive strategy that included a steady stream of content, targeted digital advertising, and video production. Within the first year, they were ahead of schedule on their fundraising goals.

Compare that to a different firm that tried to bootstrap with a very limited monthly spend. Their strategy had to be trimmed down so much that it never reached the scale they needed. They had the ambition, but not the resources to back it up.

Budget is not about spending extravagantly. It is about making sure your level of investment matches the level of growth you want to achieve.

The Buy-In, Bandwidth, and Budget Formula

When I look across our most successful partnerships, the formula is always the same.

• Buy-In means the organization embraces digital-first growth.
• Bandwidth means there is a team dedicated to execution.
• Budget means resources align with the firm’s goals.

When all three are in place, the partnership flourishes. Firms build visibility, generate investor trust, and raise more capital with less resistance. When one of the three is missing, progress is slow and results are limited.

What This Means for You

Take the Next Step Toward Digital Distribution

At GK3, we help investment firms raise capital and acquire investors using proven digital-first strategies. But the firms that succeed are the ones that have buy-in, bandwidth, and budget in place.

If you want to see how this works in practice, I recommend starting with our Digital Distribution Guide or our Video Series on Digital Growth.  Both will give you a deeper understanding of what it takes to succeed in today’s investor landscape and how you can position your firm for long-term growth.

[Download the Guide or Watch the Series Now]