Leaving a large industrial developer to build an independent, research-driven investment

Background: About 8 years in the Toronto industrial market, mostly on the research and market intelligence side, then strategy and acquisitions at a large national developer.  I know how to find and underwrite a site. I haven't yet had to fund, close, and carry one without a big platform behind me.

The thesis:

• Use market intelligence to source sites, then pitch them to capital that has no in-house acquisitions team. That means family offices, HNW investors, and smaller institutions. I'd act as their outsourced investment arm on industrial: finding the site, underwriting servicing, entitlement, and timing risk in IC-grade language, and bringing a deal they can act on. Most inbound to these groups is a broker pitch, not independent underwriting.
• Compensation is equity in the deal or advisory and consulting fees for delivered work, not a commission on closing since I'm not licensed .
• Long term: build my own capital and my own site pipeline, and become the operator and developer of the fund, not just the person who brings the deal.

What I think will be hard:

1. Losing the platform. No balance sheet, no brand, no in-house legal, engineering, or construction, and no capital relationships that already answer the phone. But i do have my vast network of construction and engineering experts that I can lean on. 
2. Equity for sourcing is a tough sell. Capital partners are used to paying for site sourcing through a broker fee. Earning equity or a promote without writing a big cheque means proving I add value beyond finding the site: underwriting, entitlements, and development oversight after closing.
3. The track-record problem. My experience is real, but the deals closed under someone else's name. LPs back people who've done it.
4. Runway. Research and advisory fees are lumpy. Equity only pays out at exit, which in development can be years. I'd need to fund a long pre-revenue period myself.
5. Regulatory constraints. I'm not a licensed broker, so fees have to be tied to delivered work rather than closings, and repeated capital raising raises its own securities questions. That means legal spend before revenue.
6. Sourcing without the logo. Off-market access is relationship-driven, and a big-platform name opens doors I won't have on day one.
7. Bridging from advisor to operator. Going from paid researcher to GP with my own capital and sites is a multi-year path, and I'm not sure what the milestones should be.

Questions for the board:

• Has anyone gone from a developer's strategy or acquisitions seat to independent? What was your first deal, and where did it come from?
• How did you get a family office or HNW group to treat you as their investment arm without a track record?
• For equity-for-sourcing deals, what do you get without contributing capital, and how much co-invest do partners expect you to bring?
• What's the realistic path from advisory work to being a GP with your own fund?

Appreciate any blunt takes, especially from people who've tried this in Toronto.