PE firms frequently hire from fund administrators because their employees develop a uniquely broad skillset. Unlike specialists siloed in larger firms, fund admin professionals gain experience across accounting, legal documents, tax, and operations, making them ideal hires for lean PE back offices that need versatile talent.

Go beyond analyzing the founding team by treating the entire employee base as a key asset. By measuring metrics like employee retention rates, hiring velocity, and geographical or role-based growth, investors can build a quantitative picture of a company's health and culture, providing a powerful comparative tool.

When studying failed money management firms, WCM found that founders were unwilling to discuss their mistakes. The most valuable, unfiltered lessons about what truly went wrong came from conducting deep diligence with former employees of those organizations.

Limited Partners (LPs) value fund managers who are willing to listen and internalize market feedback, even if they ultimately follow their own strategy. This openness is a key positive signal, while a refusal to listen is a major red flag that often appears early in the relationship.

At Vanguard, strong job performance alone is insufficient for career longevity. The company's culture, shaped by leaders like Jack Brennan, mandates that managers must also excel at developing and leading their people, making management skill a core requirement for success.

Alpine systematically tracks the Net Promoter Score (NPS) of the founders from whom it acquires businesses. Achieving a score of 89 (where >40 is exceptional) validates their talent-centered model and proves they are a preferred partner, creating a reputational flywheel for future deals.

Experience taught Herb Wagner that great leaders consistently surprise on the upside. He now weights leadership quality far more heavily, assessing CEOs not by interviews or charisma, but by their verifiable track record and through trusted backchannel references who have worked with them directly.

When contractors complain they can't find good people, it's often a culture problem, not a talent shortage. A great workplace turns existing employees into recruiters who attract other high-quality talent from their networks, creating a self-sustaining recruitment pipeline.

Outsourcing fund administration allows a PE firm to scale operations instantly. Launching a new fund is as simple as notifying the administrator, who already has the staff. This avoids the HR burdens, hiring delays, and capacity constraints an internal team faces, effectively acting as a cloud-based back office.