STRATEGY CONSULTING FOR

ASSET MANAGERS

Chestnut Advisory Group is a boutique, practitioner-led management consulting firm dedicated to asset managers and investment solutions providers.

Our Strategic Advisory and Implementation Services

Products & Solutions

Product capability reviews, market suitability assessments
Product development and positioning
Optimizing solutions & OCIO capabilities

Distribution Strategy

Team and organization structure
Resource optimization
Custom market research

M&A Strategy

Identify and evaluate best-fit acquisition targets
Analyze disposition candidates
Post-acquisition integration planning

Go-to-Market Strategy

Firm and capability positioning and messaging
Marketing collateral and thought leadership optimization
Marketplace visibility and brand building

Implementation and Coaching

Distribution leadership coaching
Sales training program design
Client engagement strategy and value maximization

Chestnut Solutions Institute^TM

Member forum for solutions providers and partners
Education and expansion of the solutions marketplace
Establish and promote strong operating standards

Learn More

OUR FIRM

Chestnut Advisory Group is a boutique, practitioner-led management consulting firm dedicated to asset managers and investment solutions providers. We are an operator-led consultancy with a team of diverse and deeply experienced investment industry leaders.

Our singular focus on asset management allows us to understand the issues our clients face in this dynamic, competitive industry. Chestnut’s advice and solutions are made to meet each client’s unique needs. Our strategic roadmaps, bespoke research and insights from our senior advisors guide asset managers and OCIOs through the rapidly-changing investment industry landscape.

The Golden Circle of Asset Management

Chestnut aims to put our clients in what we call the “Golden Circle” of asset management, by answering three critical questions:

What do your investors want? Understanding your target investors’ key needs, ensuring your products address those needs and your messaging articulates your ability to meet those needs creates the foundation for a strong, long-lasting relationship with your clients. Investors’ needs are constantly evolving. Custom market research is a hugely valuable tool to ensure your growth strategy is on target.

How can your firm deliver? This is where strategy - Product, Brand, M&A, Marketing - and the ongoing successful implementation of those strategies - come in.

Why you? Articulating how a relationship with your firm will benefit your clients, as well as the distinct role each of your products will play in investors’ portfolios will get your firm into the bullseye of the Golden Circle. A strong ‘why you’ that is embedded across a manager’s growth strategies - Product, Distribution, Brand and M&A - will develop the trust that is necessary to raise, retain, and - over time - continue to raise and retain more capital from your target investors.

Outer Ring – What

Most manager messaging focuses on the ‘What’ story: what asset classes you manage, what your historic investment results have been, etc. There are several problems with this approach.

First, the widespread use of manager databases has made detailed descriptions largely unnecessary, and widely ignored.

Second, even the best ‘What’ story alone will not motivate an investor to hire an asset manager.

Finally, it is extremely difficult to craft a ‘What’ story that is focused on a manager’s target investors. A ‘What’ story by itself largely treats all investors as the same - the antithesis of the targeted approach to the highly fragmented investor marketplace that Chestnut recommends.

Middle Ring – How

No manager will be hired without a deep explanation of their ‘How.’ Investors today want to understand much more than just the inner workings of a manager’s investment process, however.

Winning asset managers clearly explain how their target investors will benefit from having a relationship with that manager. Most investors - both institutional and retail - are seeking to reduce the number of manager relationships they have. Investors expect much more than just a risk/return stream on their capital from their manager relationships today.

Winning asset managers also ensure they can deliver on their ‘How.’ Again, an auditable, repeatable investment process is just the start of a winning ‘How.’

Chestnut helps asset managers identify, articulate and implement a unique ‘how’ that is authentic to their firm and culture and will resonate with their client inventors.

Golden Circle – Why

The key to attracting and retaining investor capital is to clearly address the ‘Why’ - i.e. why that investor will benefit from building a relationship with that manager.

Chestnut’s research among inventors and investment consultants has shown time and time again that historic investment performance is NOT the primary reason driving the asset manager or OCIO hiring decision. There are a wide range of ‘whys’ that work for different investors, such as risk management advice or technology that can be used for portfolio analysis beyond the managers’ products, access to and a relationship with a firm that delivers outstanding and relevant investment insights, working with a firm that is a champion for their asset class, access to direct investing opportunities going forward, governance advisory (a leading ‘Why’ for investors hiring OCIOs), and many more.

Winning asset managers each have their own unique set of ‘Whys’ that are authentic to the firm’s product mix, culture and philosophy, and that resonate with the firm’s target investors. In addition, these winning asset managers ensure they can actually deliver on these ‘Whys’.

Chestnut helps our clients identify their winning ‘Whys’ and then implement this ‘why’ across the firm’s growth strategies.

Our Approach

Outer Ring – What

Middle Ring – How

Golden Circle – Why

OUR latest INSIGHTS

Alternatives in Solutions

Accelerating demand for alternative assets by investors of all types is being met by a wide range of new and often customized investment solutions products and services. Listen as we and our panel of alternative investing experts at some of the largest and most sophisticated solutions firms in the world discuss their outlook for and allocation approach to various alternative asset classes and other key issues in this marketplace.

Mastering OCIO Solutions

Chestnut Solutions Institute co-founders Amanda Tepper and Ravi Venkataraman share their OCIO and solutions industry insights and research with esteemed host Robert Morris on his Dakota Live! Podcast. Their deep and engaging discussion covers a wide range of extremely relevant topics for investment industry participants today, including key factors driving the growth and consolidation within the OCIO/investment solutions industry.

Non-Profit Investors and Investment Solutions

Non-profit institutions are increasingly choosing holistic investment solutions like OCIOs to manage some or all of their portfolios. Drawing on Chestnut’s solutions market research, our panel of asset owners and asset managers discuss the outlook for this important marketplace.

The Shape of Solutions in 2024

Expectations for the capital markets in 2024 and beyond vary widely. The increasing market complexity and volatility are the primary reasons investors continue to seek investment solutions of all types, from multi-asset products to full portfolio management by OCIOs.

Defining Investment Solutions Report

The Defining Investment Solutions report represents an important milestone in the Institute’s mission to help advance the investment solutions industry.

Evaluating OCIOs: The Search Consultants’ Role

The Chestnut Solutions Institute held a public webinar featuring three top OCIO search consultants to educate and inform investors and industry professionals.

Webinar

Alternatives in Solutions

Accelerating demand for alternative assets by investors of all types is being met by a wide range of new and often customized investment solutions products and services. Listen as we and our panel of alternative investing experts at some of the largest and most sophisticated solutions firms in the world discuss their outlook for and allocation approach to various alternative asset classes and other key issues in this marketplace.

Podcast, Webinar

Mastering OCIO Solutions

Chestnut Solutions Institute co-founders Amanda Tepper and Ravi Venkataraman share their OCIO and solutions industry insights and research with esteemed host Robert Morris on his Dakota Live! Podcast. Their deep and engaging discussion covers a wide range of extremely relevant topics for investment industry participants today, including key factors driving the growth and consolidation within the OCIO/investment solutions industry.

Webinar

Non-Profit Investors and Investment Solutions

Non-profit institutions are increasingly choosing holistic investment solutions like OCIOs to manage some or all of their portfolios. Drawing on Chestnut’s solutions market research, our panel of asset owners and asset managers discuss the outlook for this important marketplace.

Webinar

The Shape of Solutions in 2024

Expectations for the capital markets in 2024 and beyond vary widely. The increasing market complexity and volatility are the primary reasons investors continue to seek investment solutions of all types, from multi-asset products to full portfolio management by OCIOs.

Report

Defining Investment Solutions Report

The Defining Investment Solutions report represents an important milestone in the Institute’s mission to help advance the investment solutions industry.

Webinar

Evaluating OCIOs: The Search Consultants’ Role

The Chestnut Solutions Institute held a public webinar featuring three top OCIO search consultants to educate and inform investors and industry professionals.

See All Our Insights

STRATEGY CONSULTING FOR

ASSET MANAGERS

Chestnut Advisory Group is a boutique, practitioner-led management consulting firm dedicated to asset managers and investment solutions providers.

Our Strategic Advisory and Implementation Services

Products & Solutions

Distribution Strategy

M&A Strategy

Go-to-Market Strategy

Implementation and Coaching

Chestnut Solutions InstituteTM

OUR FIRM

The Golden Circle of Asset Management

Outer Ring – What

Middle Ring – How

Golden Circle – Why

Our Approach

OUR latest INSIGHTS

Chestnut Solutions Institute^TM