A technical operating partner for family-office direct investments.
Portfolio-wide technology and operations review, diligence and vendor support, and opportunistic deal screening for family offices moving into direct investing.
When this engagement makes sense
The office is moving from LP positions into direct investments.
An existing direct holding is underperforming and the IC is not sure if the issue is technical or commercial.
Deal flow is increasing and there is no technical read on incoming opportunities.
A vendor or platform decision sits with the family and the principals want an independent view.
Next-generation family members are taking IC seats and want a technical operating partner alongside them.
Direct investing gives you control and exposes you to operating risk a fund used to absorb. Most single-family offices do not have an operating team; the IC has financial seats and no one to read the technology of a target or a holding. The gap shows up after the wire, not before.
The deliverables
Portfolio-wide technical review
A read on each direct holding's technology and operations. Where each business is exposed. Where each is under-investing. Where opportunity sits.
Pre-IC opportunity screening
A senior technical read on incoming deal flow, scoped to the office's investment criteria. Light, fast, written for an IC audience.
Diligence and vendor support
Full diligence on transactions when warranted. Vendor and contract reviews where the office wants an independent eye.
Standing operating-partner seat
A single technical operator the principals and the IC can call on between meetings, without standing up a full operating team.
Strict confidentiality
Engagements run under family-office confidentiality protocols. Nothing referenced publicly without explicit consent.
A good fit if
- Single-family offices moving from LPs into direct investing.
- Multi-family offices with a direct investment sleeve.
- Principals running their own direct strategy without a formal operating team.
- Next-gen family members building governance around an existing portfolio.
Probably not if
- —Offices with a fully-staffed operating team in place.
- —Engagements that require named public attribution to the family or the office.
Three direct holdings. One operating partner. Quarterly read across all three.
A family office with three direct operating holdings did not have an operating partner. The engagement structured as a quarterly read across the three businesses plus a monthly retainer for pre-IC screening on incoming deal flow. The first six months surfaced under-investment in one holding's data layer and over-investment in another's sales motion. Both corrections were made before the next IC.