Among Addepar’s more than 1,300 customers are huge investment firms with practically unlimited technology budgets — at least compared to single-family offices.
Most family offices, even those responsible for assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, have lean teams and total budgets to match, in the low single-digit millions of dollars. Salaries consume the majority of that money, leaving only a portion for technology. That means there is often a wide gap between what offices can, or are willing to, spend on software and what their complexity demands. The problem is also worsening. Family-office portfolios can look similar to those of institutional investors, and managing them is getting harder, not easier.
Janeen France, who was named Addepar’s first-ever chief client officer last week, is thinking a lot about that gap.
“I have to keep that in mind,” France told Modus. "I am very, very passionate about keeping our clients at the center of what we do and very excited that Addepar is invested in this role. It's about creating even stronger, more direct feedback loops.”
Like Archway, Asseta, and other software companies, Addepar believes it can close the rift. To help do that, France, who has worked at Addepar for more than five years, has already begun a listening tour with colleagues and customers, and added objectives to her agenda.
Addepar does not publicly disclose how many single-family offices it works with. But many offices use the software, and it expects more will become customers. It’s the job of France — and her growing group of about 200 client success, implementation, project management, and other colleagues who report to her — to make and keep them happy.
At its core, Addepar is a performance reporting software that its customers use to evaluate over $8 trillion in assets. But in recent years, Addepar, which raised a $230 million Series G round of funding in May at a $3.25 billion valuation, has opened offices around the world and added capabilities to its platform. Now, investors can use it to analyze their alternative investments against proprietary benchmarks, manage cash flow, and make trades and rebalance portfolios.
Onboarding family offices and helping them become comfortable with all or a combination of Addepar's offerings is a significant task that can be improved, according to France. The company is exploring ways that artificial intelligence can make the onboarding process less burdensome and plans to introduce a “stabilization” period to ease offices into using Addepar.
But in addition to refining how Addepar already works with family offices, France said the company wants to play a larger role in their overall operations going forward.
“My goal with doubling down on our client success function and relationship with the family offices is to be that business consultant for them more and more,” she said.
Addepar itself also wants to become more central to offices. As they gain confidence in AI, offices are realizing they need better quality data to fully leverage it, France explained. This is especially true for younger family members, who tend to have higher expectations of their software and might already be using AI extensively in their personal and professional lives.
“In general, AI has massive potential to free up investment professionals to focus on high-impact work. But there is that foundational layer, which is not a light lift. Having an existing data infrastructure in place will allow them to move more quickly through the adoption of other systems” overlayed on top of it, France said. “We're pursuing cleaner, more complete data because [offices] are interested in leaning into the AI side.”
Other Addepar clients have long worked to establish seamless integrations between the software they use and their own data. Family offices are adopting the same approach.
At tens of thousands of dollars per year or more, Addepar is among the most costly platforms in the performance reporting category and across all the software that family offices rely on. To Addepar, the software is priced appropriately; the challenge is communicating its value and helping offices get the most out of the platform once they become customers.
“Price, for some, is a component of the conversation, and they need help in understanding the value realization,” France said. Once offices understand they can improve and remain lean, the purchase is easier, according to France. “Because you have unified data in this place, and especially with the AI wave coming and the incredible importance of having structured data, there's a level of appreciation and understanding that it is a critical component to them.”
The new chief client officer's effort to better communicate and bring those benefits to offices has only begun, though.
“I see a tremendous opportunity for us," France said. "The mission is clear: to deliver extraordinary outcomes for clients [and] to do it faster, smarter, and more consistently.”
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We thought it was time to introduce ourselves. Here's the 2-minute version.
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A Grateful Heart is Always
Outside the lights flicker on.
Five at night and dark —
the stars are watching,
the year slides slow toward its end.
Through the window: a warm glow
on the long table’s stretch:
feast, scent memory,
it’s been some time since
last we gathered.
It is a lucky thing, remember,
to have a stomach full;
to have a place to go;
to have a glass to raise
on this final Thursday
of November;
to find the self
surrounded on all sides
and laughing —
casting wishes,
asking questions,
slicing sweet into pies.
Hold the moment
closer to the chest then.
The fortune. The lottery
win we call living.
This day’s sensation
can be talisman
if we let it
through all seasons,
can extend wide
our gratitude’s shape.
The truth is,
it’s a practice:
to wake every morning
with presence
still thankful,
still filled to the brim.
I’d like to wager
we can harness it.
Zoe Branch is a poet, artist and contributor to Modus. She specializes in custom on-the-spot poetry for strangers on topics of their choice and is often in New York's Central Park. Branch has also been hired by brands including Goldman Sachs, Ulla Johnson and The New York Public Library.
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(So many) Jobs
- Ceniarth, the single-family office of Diane Isenberg, is hiring an investment associate in London. This person will be involved in the impact-first investment process from beginning to end. Experience working in private debt and emerging markets is preferred.
- Susan Goggin, who spent over 20 years with the U.S. Secret Service and is now the head of physical security at Coinbase, is hiring an associate manager of family office security, a.k.a. an executive protection (EP) leader.
- The office of a family that owns and operates a multifamily commercial real estate company outside of Philadelphia is hiring a senior accountant. The comp is a $150,000 salary and benefits.
- Ballentine Partners has more than a dozen open roles in the Northeast. They are looking for admins, an intern, ops pros, investment staff and others.
- BNY is hiring an estate settlement officer.
- The Northern Trust Institute and family office solutions group is hiring a senior analyst.
- EY is hiring a family office advisory services manager in Chicago.
- Fordel, a wealth management firm based in Dublin, Ireland, is hiring a head of family office services. You’d report directly to CEO Stephen Felle, and he wants you to message him!
- Capturst is seeking a family office intern in Boston.
- Wealthspire is hiring a family office accountant.
- Asseta, the family-office software company that raised a $4.2 million seed round of funding earlier this month, is hiring a senior software engineer. It pays $180,000 and comes with other benefits and equity.
Other Stuff
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I'll be...
- Doing a little online shopping from Green, Ohio.
- Back in N.Y.C. next week.
