SMART Flex Fund is a private-market fund platform associated with Hickory Creek Capital Partners. It is designed for verified accredited investors who want access to private-market opportunities, group diligence, and a structured process for evaluating deals rather than investing alone.
SMART Flex Fund brings together experienced capital allocators, a repeatable diligence framework, and a fund structure intended to help investors review private opportunities with more context than they may have as solo investors.
This page explains what SMART Flex Fund is, how it relates to Hickory Creek Capital Partners, who it may be relevant for, and what risks and review steps matter before any investment decision.
Important: This page is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer to sell securities, a solicitation to buy securities, investment advice, tax advice, or legal advice. Any offering, if made, is made only through official offering documents and only to investors who meet applicable eligibility requirements.
Take the SMART Investor Scorecard | Learn How It Works
SMART Flex Fund exists to give accredited investors a more organized way to evaluate and access private-market opportunities. Instead of relying only on individual deal flow, individual underwriting, or one sponsor’s pitch deck, SMART Flex Fund uses a group-vetting process and the SMART Framework to review potential opportunities across sponsor quality, market fundamentals, asset strategy, risk/return profile, and timing/tax considerations.
SMART Flex Fund is associated with Hickory Creek Capital Partners, LLC. Kent Leach founded Hickory Creek Capital Partners after decades of real estate, business, and private-market investing experience. SMART Flex Fund is the fund/product platform through which this investing-together model is presented to eligible investors.
Hickory Creek Capital Partners, LLC is the firm associated with the SMART Flex Fund platform.
SMART Flex Fund should be understood as a distinct fund/product platform associated with Hickory Creek Capital Partners, not as a separate personal brand or a generic education site. Hickory Creek Capital Partners provides the firm context, while SMART Flex Fund describes the investment platform and investor-facing process.
Many accredited investors are interested in private-market opportunities but run into the same practical problems:
SMART Flex Fund was built around a different idea: investing together can improve the diligence process, access, and economics available to individual accredited investors.
The goal is not to eliminate risk. Private investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal and limited liquidity. The goal is to create a more disciplined process for evaluating opportunities before capital is committed.
SMART Flex Fund uses the SMART Framework to evaluate potential opportunities. The framework organizes diligence into five areas:
Who is running the deal? What is their track record? How have they performed through difficult markets? Are interests aligned with investors?
Sponsor quality matters because a strong asset can still disappoint under weak execution, while experienced operators may be better equipped to manage uncertainty.
Where is the opportunity located? What are the economic, demographic, employment, supply, and demand drivers? Are the assumptions supported by data?
Market review helps distinguish evidence-based underwriting from hope-based projections.
What is the actual asset or strategy? What is the business plan? What condition, execution, or operating assumptions matter most?
Different asset types and strategies carry different risks. The asset needs to be evaluated in the context of the sponsor’s plan and the market reality.
What is the realistic downside? What has to go right for the projected outcome to occur? What happens if assumptions are wrong?
SMART Flex Fund evaluates risk before focusing on upside. No projection or target return should be treated as a guarantee.
When might capital be returned? What tax considerations may be relevant? What role do depreciation, timing, holding periods, or tax strategy play?
Tax considerations can matter, but they are not a substitute for investment diligence. Investors should consult their own tax, legal, and financial advisors.
SMART Flex Fund emphasizes the investing-together advantage: pooling capital, relationships, and diligence rather than evaluating each opportunity in isolation.
In practice, this may include:
This does not make private investing risk-free. It does, however, create a more disciplined review environment than many investors have on their own.
SMART Flex Fund may be relevant for investors who:
SMART Flex Fund may not be appropriate for investors who:
Private-market investments can be illiquid, may have limited transferability, may involve long holding periods, and may not be suitable for every investor.
Private-market investing involves meaningful risks. These may include loss of some or all invested capital, illiquidity and limited transferability, long holding periods, sponsor/operator execution risk, market risk, asset-specific risk, valuation uncertainty, tax complexity, conflicts of interest, fees and expenses, and reliance on offering documents and private disclosures rather than public-company reporting.
No website summary can replace reviewing the official offering documents. No target, projection, example, or forward-looking statement should be treated as a guarantee.
No. This page is informational only. It is not an offer to sell securities or a solicitation to buy securities. Any offering, if made, is made only through official offering documents and only to investors who meet applicable eligibility requirements.
SMART Flex Fund offerings may be available only to verified accredited investors, depending on the applicable offering and exemption. Investors should review the official documents and complete any required verification process before investing.
SMART refers to the framework used to evaluate opportunities: Sponsor, Market, Asset, Risk & Return, and Timing & Taxes.
No. Group diligence does not eliminate risk and does not guarantee any outcome. Private investments can lose money and may be illiquid. The purpose of a structured process is to improve review discipline, not to remove uncertainty.
SMART Flex Fund is built around aggregated capital, shared diligence, and a repeatable evaluation framework. The goal is to give eligible investors access to a more organized review process than many investors have on their own.
A good starting point is the SMART Investor Scorecard or the How It Works page. Investors who want to discuss next steps can schedule a conversation with Kent.