Hello, I am starting an alternative investments investment firm and have been searching for clients online. I wanted to reach out to the community in case there are some tips from veterans when it comes to building your clientele.
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Comments ( 14 )
If you are looking for clients online then the probability you succeed is asymptotic towards negative Infinity.
Watch out guys we got the next Bobby Axelrod here. He's starting his own investment firm (no clients yet, but is currently looking online) and the whole buyside industry should be shaking in their boots
Ok, I'll bite. At best, you're trolling, and at worst, you're an idiot. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say you're somewhere in the middle, which is ambitious but naive. You need credibility, and even with credibility, it's going to be tough. No one is going to give a 25-year-old barely out of college shit unless you've proven yourself to be a generational investing prodigy. If you're asking this question to random people online, you're not. You need to get a job, build some credibility for a decade or two, meet some people in finance that respect you, let some time go by so your college buddies can get rich and give you some money down the line, and then leverage those relationships.
Even with credibility, it's going to be hard af. Steve Schwarzman was a big swinging dick at Lehman Brothers , and he became an MD at 31 years old. He even saved Lehman at one time by quarterbacking a sale with American Express . When he left with Pete Peterson, he thought all his relationships would follow him to Blackstone from Lehman Brothers because he was the same person just without the Lehman Brothers name. It didn't happen, and he faced 450 rejections. That's after doing everything he did at Lehman Brothers. You have even less credibility than Steve.
Also listen to what Shkreli says in the following clip:
https://youtu.be/lwZ4XqN_4S8?t=473
Being successful in a large firm like Lehman Brothers or a big fund protects you from the risks of an entrepreneur, and many investors aren't going to have the confidence to back you when they don't know if you're capable of being successful on your own even if you have a great track record at a large firm.
With all that said, get a job, build a track record, build some relationships, get some credibility, and learn about the industry so you won't have to ask questions like this online. If you survive for a decade or two then maybe someone will give you some money to manage for them.
he's a real one🤍 - thank you for sharing 🤍
I appreciate your reply, but it does not take a genius to know how to make money, nor do you need to work for a firm for 10 years to have a chance in the industry. I take it you are in your 30's or 40's.
Do you think I am trying to raise millions? If so, you probably do not know that it does not take much money to build million-dollar businesses. At the end of the day, millions of dollars is not a lot.
Thank you for your input, but I am no idiot. Kindly keep your limiting beliefs to yourself to not discourage others who are confident within themselves.
P.S. It is 2023, and everything is done online. Good day.
Maybe not the best strategy to solicit advice and then push back as if you already have it all sorted. Would be interesting to know how you're handling all the non-investing aspects of this venture (e.g. regulatory compliance, fund/investment administration, reporting, etc.). These are all things that require some thought and planning prior to soliciting clients.
It's good you have confidence but it's unclear what it's rooted in. If you weren't interested in sarcastic responses (despite the one you've chosen to respond to being sincere) you could have elaborated a bit your post... I know being young is something I'll have to overcome but I've been in X seat for 3 years and have learned a good deal about the business. I've got all the infrastructure taken care of and have my value proposition set. The final piece is sourcing clients. My thought process is X, does this make sense or should I think about something different"
In any case, you should get comfortable with people challenging your ideas. Don't be defensive under the guise of confidence.
Well then it sounds like you don't need us. Google "how to find clients for my investment firm" or better yet ask chatgpt
If you have nothing to show in your history (track record) then you must turn the lens to the future. Build a game plan in detail and pitch that. Exactly what you plan to use the money for. If you dont have connections then you will have to use LinkedIn or Twitter or any networking site to cold email . You will need to send hundreds if not thousands of emails. Good luck. I hope the world is cruel to you early so you can fail early and succeed later. You'll find out who you really are.
Isn't your advice a bit contradictory? You say (correctly) that working in a big firm means that you don't face the same challenges an entrepreneur would and hence people become skeptical of your future performance when you step into the entrepreneur world from the corporate world even if your corporate performance is good. But then you turn around and tell OP to get a job and work for a few decades and try to leverage connections and relationships and create a fund. You're telling him to go on a path that you showed in the first part of your response is very difficult to pull off successfully which makes no sense.
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