We've all seen posts like this: "I've underwritten 100 multifamily deals using this one-page model... comment 'model' down below and I'll send it to you directly."
Are any of these models good? What's the catch? Selling you a course? I've noticed a lot of my connections commenting "model." Some of the people wanting the models are very surprising. Like, you are in the c-suite of bluechip public company and you worked in acquisitions at a megafund, do you really need some random dude's model that could be a virus? I guess it's intellectual curiosity.
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I did this once for an office conversion model just to see what it looked like. It was fine, although that "one page" stretched to line 180 and column EU, so I'm not sure if making it a one-page model as opposed to a three-page model was really the right choice from a design perspective. I get the urge—so many models these days are unnecessarily unweildy and complex—but at the same time I prefer more of a three-part summary/returns tab, inputs/budget tab, and cash flow/waterfall tab.
ANYHOW, it's all just another form of engagement farming. A model is a fairly easy and straightforward thing without much value to give away and a "one page" model plays on people like me who roll their eyes at the excel complexity circle jerk. The person posting them gets loads of engagement, which undoubtedly boosts their "This is what my family dying in a fire taught me about SaaS sales" posts later down the road.
My question is always more who in the hell wants to be a LinkedIn influencer? I saw LinkedIn even has short form video now. Why? Social media is such a embarrassingly bastardized version of what it once was—a fun way to keep up with people you know. Now it's just human slop made by people so unimpressive they have to resort to slop creation, soon to be replaced by AI slop. Ragebait chatbots will respond to generated video, boomers will believe both of them, and the dead internet theory will become a reality.
I just don't understand engagement farming on LinkedIn. On something like Instagram, it makes sense since the more followers you have, the higher your chance of striking a deal with some shitty DTC company to shill their next t-shirt or watch or whatever. Dubious as it is, there is some economic value being captured. Like, just what is the point of these people with titles like "99.9997% percentile top followers on LinkedIn". I am sure there is something but I don't get it.
i know exactly the model you're talking about- personally it was pretty garbage in my opinion.
Hah, so are most office conversion plays, to be fair
The irony that I literally requested a model on linkedin recently, and then see this same topic on WSO.
It's interesting the amount of posting being done by LinkedIn influencers. I've heard many CRE lifers say that they would never post about their activity, as they want to keep that info guarded. I suppose we're in the age where "influence" or at least visibility/ awareness/ branding can buy credibility. I've also seen very successful people post, but I honestly don't get it- they have great reputations and can access many types of capital, and having 20-50K followers won't increase their deal flow. I do think there are some people who have altruistic reasons (largely), and want to pass along knowledge.
The “LinkedIn influencers” who are actually successful yet still post slop on social media are doing it to feed their egos. They are already rich, bored with deals, and want to be seen as “thought leaders” in their network. This is what happens when people turn 60 but don’t have hobbies or friends outside of work and their adult kids and second wife don’t really like them that much.
One exception I’ll make is for brokers, because your job is to be more sales-y. But even then, I’d argue there are much better ways to meet and impress clients—like buying a set of golf clubs and a mountain bike—than spamming “hacks” and “grindset” nonsense on the cringiest social media platform.
Yesterday, I saw a friend who's a successful MD at large investment bank reply "investor list" for the list of family offices.
No insights from me but bumping this since it has perplexed me as well.
I find them useful to look at and see if there's anything I could implement, but I'm not ever going to use them in practice.
To directly answer your question: I find most high level executives are always curious for better way to do things, hence why the blue-chip CEO responded.
As for quality of models, I have not replied to those types of posts, but the sense I get is as CRE noted, it is easy engagement.
As for why they want it: while it is often time painful to see, it can certainly be valuable. I know acquisitions guys that are posting about the new coffee maker in their office, that have been brought great deals because of their LinkedIn engagement. There are capital raisers that are effectively raising millions through LinkedIn specifically. It is all marketing. If you want deals, you need to be the person someone with a deal thinks of first. It certainly turns off some people, but also attracts a lot of eyeballs.
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