Family Office Investment Team
A family office investment team is the set of professionals responsible for sourcing, diligence, execution, and monitoring of investments.
Allocator relevance: Team structure predicts sophistication, decision velocity, and which stakeholders influence underwriting and approvals.
Expanded Definition
Investment teams vary from a single CIO to multi-person teams with specialists (public markets, private equity, credit, real estate). Team composition affects how opportunities are evaluated, how much diligence depth exists, and how much capacity the office has to do direct investments or co-investments.
For targeting and diligence, knowing who does what (screening vs underwriting vs approval) is more valuable than knowing titles alone.
How It Works in Practice
The team sources opportunities, evaluates fit, prepares IC materials, coordinates with legal and finance, and manages monitoring and reporting. In some offices, external advisors supplement internal capacity.
Decision Authority and Governance
Authority may be centralized with the CIO/principal or distributed through IC processes. Governance defines delegation levels (who can approve small tickets, who escalates large decisions).
Common Misconceptions
- A larger team always means faster decisions.
- Team titles reliably indicate authority.
- Investment teams always handle all asset classes.
Key Takeaways
- Team composition drives process and capability.
- Delegation boundaries matter for speed.
- Role mapping improves routing and personalization.