Episode 124: The First Step to Bringing Your Fund to the U.S. (It’s Not What You Think) | Story Snack Series

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If your firm’s outside the U.S. and you’re thinking about bringing your fund here, you’ve probably already started googling and found yourself a million new to-dos. 

But before you start checking off all of the boxes (structure, fees, compliance, product, etc.), make sure you’re not skipping the vital first step most fund managers miss.

In this episode, Stacy breaks down the underrated first step that sets successful firms apart when they expand into (or out of) the U.S. and why the smartest managers start with who, not how.

You’ll learn:
• The mindset shift that saves months of frustration
• How co-creating with investors builds traction early
• Who to call when you’re entering or exiting the U.S. market
• A smarter way to test your idea before spending a dime

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

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TRANSCRIPT

Below is an AI-generated transcript and therefore it may contain errors. 

[00:00:00] Stacy Havener: Craving more knowledge, but don't always have time to sit down for a five course meal. Take a quick snack break with story snacks, bite-size content to feed your funnel. Each short episode features Stacey, digging into one question. This series has her talking stories, sales, and so much more. Oh yeah, it's time for story snacks.

[00:00:25] Wouldn't it be cool if you could diversify your investor base and add some non-US investors? Europe could be fun, or Latin America, maybe Antarctica. Hey, icebergs aren't really my jam, but you never know. You've only got one problem. How the heck do you do that? Fair question. Maybe this is a who not how thing.

[00:00:48] Meet my friends at Gem Cap. Not only do they handle all the back office stuff, the how. They'll also solve the who in your distribution conundrum. They have an [00:01:00] incredible network of distribution partners who can help you sell the thing. Once you've built the thing. And Gem Cap won't just help you launch globally.

[00:01:09] They'll tell you where to go, and maybe more importantly, where not to go. Saving you time, money, and annoying headaches. Want to find out if your investment firm is ready to go global? Visit billion dollar backstory.com/gem Cat, G-E-M-C-A-P. We've created a quick quiz that'll help you figure out if you're ready to expand beyond the US and side note.

[00:01:36] It's pretty fun too. Get your firm in front of the right investors in the right places with Gem Cap. Take the quiz and get more info@billiondollarbackstory.com slash gem. Cap ge. M-M-C-A-P.

[00:01:57] Our firm is outside the US but we wanna [00:02:00] make our fund available there. How do we make it happen? These are story. Mary, how much time do we have for these things? Okay, listen, I'm gonna try to make this snack sized. Okay? And actually this is a great question. This also will work in the other direction. This applies if you're non-US and you wanna come here.

[00:02:22] It applies if you're us and want to go outside the us okay? The typical place any of us go when we have a problem or a challenge like this is Google. So. We instantly go to, how do I do this, right? Type in the question, how do I do this? And we start researching and we try to learn all the things. And guess what?

[00:02:43] We ain't got that good time, okay? We don't have that level of expertise. So I'm gonna give you permission to delegate and elevate this one. This is actually a who not how problem. So if you are in Europe. [00:03:00] UK and you wanna come to the States, you're outside the us, you wanna come here. Your first phone call should be to our friends at Ultimas, call someone who knows how to do this thing.

[00:03:10] So make a phone call to Ultimas. They're dear friends of ours. The founder and the CEO have been guests on the podcast or a sponsor. They know how to get this done. You call them, you explain your situation and you listen to what they say. Okay? So that's first. If you're going in the other direction, so you're in the US and you want to explore distribution and product development outside the us, then call our friends at Gem Cap.

[00:03:37] Okay. Longtime friends, they know how to set up uses. Not only do they know how to do all the operational pieces, but they actually have a great network of distribution partners that they can match you with or introduce you with. So you can determine not just how to get the product built, but then how to get it marketed and adopted, who not how.[00:04:00]

[00:04:00] Okay. The next thing I'm gonna say, it doesn't come before that. After you have those who knock how conversations Ultimas or gem cap, I want you to pause. Do not call a lawyer. Do not write a big check to start a product. You have the information, you make a decision. If this is something you wanna explore now I want you to do two things.

[00:04:23] The first thing I want you to do is sort of come up with what you think this product could be, not what it'll be, what it could be. Okay, you wanna come up with a scenario, a minimum viable product to steal something from sort of the tech and SaaS world. You specialize in a certain type of strategy.

[00:04:43] Presumably you are running it successfully in your country of origin. So for example, you are an emerging markets manager and you're running a billion dollars and you think it's time to expand outside. Your [00:05:00] current investor base. Great. That's the story you wanna craft. Okay? Minimum viable product, what you think it could be.

[00:05:09] Get that down. Now I want you to call some allocators. Basically beta test this minimum viable product with the target market you are creating it for. Okay, you are creating it for a specific buyer. We need to have conversations with them. We are not asking for money. We do not have the product built because when you ask for money, you get advice.

[00:05:34] When you ask for advice, you get money. And that leads me to my final point on this topic, which is that before you build this thing. I want you to identify an allocator, an investor, a partner, to build it with. For us, we have seen the most success in developing new products when there is an allocator who has dollars [00:06:00] to invest day one in that product, we often talk about the idea that a story, you are inviting people into the story with you.

[00:06:08] This is a great literal example of that. Find somebody who wants to build this thing, who wants to invest in it, and let them be a part of that story. Let them be a part of the journey. Early adopters like that. So what does that look like? That means you're like, okay, so the emerging markets strategy is a concentrated strategy.

[00:06:28] You're talking to them about. The fees, like what's a good fee structure, what kind of liquidity parameters you might need, where does it need to be available? So it's not that they're like bossing you on it, but you're like allowing them to have a seat at the table and have a role in the conversation about what this product looks like.

[00:06:46] And I think people really appreciate that. I hope that helps. Let's be real. No one wakes up and says, I can't wait to build some operational infrastructure today. You are here to manage money to [00:07:00] build something that lights you up, not chase down reports across five systems and 15 service providers.

[00:07:06] That's where Ultimas Fund solutions comes in. They're your ops dream team, consolidating all your middle and back office chaos into one clean, scalable setup. Registered funds, private funds, SMAs, all integrated, one team, one tech platform, one rock solid source of data. But here's the real differentiator service.

[00:07:33] I know that fund in a box sounds convenient. It's also a box. Know what? You can't put in a box? A human who picks up the phone when you call and need help. Real life people who know your name and your fund, and they care about getting it right. Ultimas was built on people doing business with people. You get institutional strength combined with boutique level service without getting stuck [00:08:00] in a phone tree of doom.

[00:08:01] If you're ready to simplify scale and start working with a team that feels like an extension of yours, check out billion dollar backstory.com/ultimas. That's ul. T-I-M-U-S. You've got the investment strategy, the vision, the track record. Now it's time to upgrade the engine behind it all with ultimas. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

[00:08:33] The information is not an offer, solicitation, or recommendation of any of the funds, services, or products, or to adopt any investment strategy. Investment values may fluctuate and past performance is not a guide to future performance. All opinions expressed by guests on the show are solely their own opinion and do not necessarily reflect those at their firm.

[00:08:53] Manager's appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement by Stacey Haven or Haven or Capital Partners.

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