Wake Up to Wealth – Episode Summary

Podcast: Wake Up to Wealth
Host: Brandon Brittingham
Episode: Revolutionizing Real Estate Investment
Date: November 5, 2025
Guest: Stella Han, Co-founder of Fractional

Main Theme & Purpose

In this high-energy and practical episode, host Brandon Brittingham invites Stella Han, founder of Fractional, to share how her startup is making real estate investment accessible to more people than ever before. Together, they dive deep into the real-world barriers of traditional real estate syndication, the birth and validation of the Fractional platform, compliance hurdles, scaling challenges, and the future of investment clubs. The conversation serves as a roadmap for operators and everyday investors interested in fractional investing, and offers inspiration and actionable advice for startup founders.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origin of Fractional – Solving a Real Pain Point

• Stella shares the painful experience that inspired Fractional: she tried to syndicate a multifamily deal but lost it due to the slow, complex, and exclusive legal frameworks limiting who could invest.
• Quote:

  "A bunch of people that gave me soft commitments end up just flaking on me... I go to my family, my friends, my coworkers, but none of them are accredited investors... If I could pull it together, it was easily a million dollars, but that I couldn't use."
  – Stella (05:45)

• The “aha moment” was recognizing how investment clubs—common in stock and startup investing—were missing from real estate.

2. Validating the Need

• Stella and her co-founder Carlos started with a “fake website” to gauge interest, targeting tech professionals on Blind.
• Immediate traction: 2,000 people joined their waitlist Day 1.
• Quote:

  "Within a day, we get 2,000 people to join our wait list for this fake website, right? And we were like, holy shit."
  – Stella (10:20)

3. Overcoming Compliance and Legal Hurdles

• The team prioritized compliance—partnering with a former SEC senior counsel and leveraging mentorship from Y Combinator.
• Quote:

  "We obviously don't want to go to jail. We don't want anyone, you know, setting up investment clubs, having user error, not doing the compliance stuff correctly."
  – Stella (11:03)

• Fractional’s innovation: enabling legal investment clubs with active participation, lowering barriers for unaccredited investors.

4. Building and Scaling the Company

• Fractional built a product in two months during Y Combinator, enabling 10 operators to form investment clubs in that time.
• Raised a $5 million seed round (with big names like Will Smith and Kevin Durant), followed by a $15 million Series A.
• Won an Inman Innovator of the Year nomination.

5. Growth, Expansion, and Community

• Growth has been driven by network effects and partnerships with prominent operators like Pace Morby.
• Expanding beyond real estate to self-storage, car washes, laundromats, and even candy stores.
• Community and word of mouth are central to Fractional’s DNA.
• Quote:

  “I am all for all sorts of crazy things. I think that is totally the magic of a community.”
  – Stella (18:16)

6. Startup Lessons & Challenges

• Stella spoke candidly about iterating the business, the challenges of marketplace dynamics, and the need to pivot quickly rather than clinging to ideas out of emotional attachment.
• Quote:

  “Sometimes if you see the signs, you gotta just pivot faster and just lean in on the things that didn’t work out...”
  – Stella (21:05)

• The key: “letting go of the consumer side” (i.e. focusing messaging and product more on operators than individual investors).

7. Vision for the Future

• The goal is a self-serve, highly scalable investment club platform, accessible to any operator with a vision—imagine a Kickstarter for investment clubs.
• Plans to leverage AI and automation in customer experience, compliance, and scaling for operators running dozens of clubs at once.

8. How Investment Clubs Work on Fractional

• Operators define their buying criteria and gather interest (capital) from their networks before securing specific deals.
• “Active participation” (collaborative underwriting/voting on deals) keeps clubs legally distinct from funds, making them accessible to more investors.
• Quote:

  “With a club, you start out with just your buy box or your criteria. You tell people in your network, ‘this is what I'm looking for. If you guys are interested in that same criteria, let's pour our capital together.’”
  – Stella (25:20)

9. Wealth-Building Philosophy

• Stella’s definition of “waking up to wealth”: Focus on mindset first; aspire daily to your “North Star” future self, which creates both personal and financial wealth.
• Quote:

  “Wealth definitely comes from the mind first... What is the North Star version of you that you want to become? That is what I want to wake up to every day.”
  – Stella (29:50)

10. How to Connect & Learn More

• Find Fractional:
  • Website & App: fractional.app
  • Stella’s Social: @halostella

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Brandon on Stella’s journey:

  "The cool thing about entrepreneurship: you had a pretty gut-wrenching loss that you turned into a huge win."
  (07:59)

• Stella on compliance:

  "Every time I'm on social media I'm like, that is jail worthy content right there."
  (12:54)

• Stella on pivoting:

  “Sometimes you gotta burn the good to get the great.”
  (21:28 – paraphrased in discussion)

• Stella on building a scalable machine:

  “Fractional is a no-brainer and you get to understand how all these things work and you can just go in there almost like Kickstarter – anyone with a great vision can just go at it.”
  (22:18)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:31 | Origin story: The pain point and failed syndication | | 05:45 | Capital raising struggles for non-accredited investors | | 08:37 | Validating the idea with a fake site (2,000 signups in a day) | | 10:59 | Ensuring compliance; help from SEC counsel and Y Combinator | | 13:22 | Launch phase: building product, first customers, seed round success | | 15:18 | Recognition: Inman Innovator nomination | | 16:33 | Growth mode: Partnerships, new verticals (business acquisitions) | | 18:50 | Startup challenges: marketplace dynamics, the need to pivot | | 22:18 | Future outlook: self-serve platform, AI, massive scale | | 25:20 | Investment club basics and how they’re different from funds | | 29:50 | Waking up to wealth: Stella’s mindset and philosophy | | 31:15 | Where to find Fractional and Stella online |

Summary Takeaways

• Fractional is democratizing real estate investment—making it accessible to more people while ensuring compliance and streamlining operations.
• Active participation and investment clubs are key innovations, enabling broader inclusion and faster, more flexible deals.
• For operators: Fractional can help you legally pool capital from your network (accredited and unaccredited investors).
• For founders: The story is a masterclass in validating ideas, embracing pivots, focusing on the right customer, and scaling with compliance.
• Wealth starts with mindset: Stella encourages listeners to wake up daily with a vision of their best selves, which naturally unlocks financial and personal growth.