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Our Model

Mount Ocean’s business model is designed to help protect GP economics while providing the benefits of decades of knowledge about building and managing investment firms. We seek to improve the likelihood of an early-stage investment business enduring for the long-term if they are fortunate enough to gain traction and generate strong investment results.

The cost of capital offered by GP stakes firms and placement agents to early-stage niche firms is often higher than their already steep terms to compensate for the lack of scale and early-stage risk. The terms are so drastically tilted in the providers’ favor that an emerging manager’s ability to build a solid business while attracting and retaining outstanding talent is threatened. 


Consulting - Mount Ocean’s retainer-based consulting practice positions clients to  address the business risks that undermine promising firms. Quality infrastructure and controls are non-negotiable for any allocator considering investing with a niche manager. Determining if a founder can run an investment business and retain their team is the most important  non-investment question when backing a manager. 


Capital Formation - Mount Ocean’s capital formation fees are discounted relative to the market for similar services and are typically charged over a longer time-period thereby exerting less economic drag on an emerging firm’s P&L during its critical formative years. Furthermore, our capital formation model is completely success-based. We don’t charge a retainer and the manager receives decades worth of business structuring wisdom. 


In summary, we rely on the quality of our investment underwriting and capital formation capabilities to bet on a manager’s marketability and engage under terms that are constructed to be GP-friendly so clients can spend money where it matters most, on paying their people and executing their strategy.

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Culture & Alignment

Thoughtful financial alignment, team management, and culture building are competitive advantages for any investment firm, especially an early-stage firm. Outside of performance struggles, failure to retain top talent is likely the number one culprit destabilizing firms that are fortunate to gain traction. Mount Ocean seeks to help our clients de-risk the people and culture challenges that so often undermine otherwise promising firms.

Financial & Team Alignment

•  Financial benchmarking
•  Equity transition modeling
•  Long-term compensation planning

Talent Management

• Founder coaching
• Manager coaching
• Input on reporting lines 
• Performance review structuring and advice 

Culture Development 

• Core values and goals identification 
• Day-to-day best practices 
• Activities and traditions fostering culture 
• Internal communications and updates
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Capital Formation

Securing meaningful capacity with differentiated niche managers, especially when they are launching or in their early years, can be the lifeblood of an investment program. Often such managers are scarcely marketed or hamstrung by costly financing relationships making them difficult to source or un-investable. 

 

Relationships with Family Offices & Institutional Allocators

Mount Ocean partners with family offices and institutions to help identify and, in some cases, back niche managers.

 Mount Ocean shares ideas we have sourced:

• With our network of capital owners and asset allocators
• Including early-stage opportunities with founders share and  capacity arrangements available

A family office or institution shares an idea; Mount Ocean will:

• Provide turnkey operations or assist with business structuring 
• Make introductions to like-minded LPs
• Coordinate seeding or founders share arrangements, as appropriate

Relationships with Early-Stage & Established Managers

Mount Ocean serves as a strategic partner providing advice throughout a firm’s lifecycle.
We can engage in the sales process de novo or participate in certain aspects of a raise based on the manager’s specific needs.
• Investment due diligence
• Market fit assessment 
• Capital formation strategy 
• Marketing materials
• Messaging and positioning  
• Digital strategy
• Distribution plan
• Sales activity reporting and tracking
• Closes and onboarding
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