Sandhill Wealth Management

Samir Kaji, the founder and CEO, leads all investment and advisory decisions. Kaji spent more than 15 years in Silicon Valley banking, most notably building the venture capital practice at First Republic Bank and later serving at SVB Private, before launching Sandhill. The firm does not publicly list additional investment personnel, suggesting a lean, founder-led model.

The client base is overwhelmingly concentrated among venture capital general partners, limited partners, and senior technology executives. Public commentary by Kaji on his Venture Unlocked podcast and at industry conferences consistently frames the firm's value proposition around the specific financial complexities that venture investors face — carried interest taxation, GP commitment funding, and concentrated equity management — indicating a near-total focus on this niche.

Sandhill operates as a registered investment advisor that layers outsourced family office services — bill pay, tax coordination, estate planning — on top of traditional portfolio management. The key distinction is domain fluency: its principals can interpret limited-partner agreements, model waterfall distributions, and advise on GP-stake secondary sales. Traditional multi-family offices rarely combine personal balance-sheet management with a working understanding of venture fund mechanics.

Yes. Through its advisory and placement activity, Sandhill sources access to venture capital funds and select direct co-investment opportunities for its clients. The firm acts as a gatekeeper and advisor rather than a fund-of-funds, helping individual clients evaluate and commit to fund managers, often leveraging Kaji's deep network within the venture community.

Samir Kaji's prior role leading First Republic's venture coverage created a natural client pipeline, but that institution's failure and sale to JPMorgan in mid-2023 accelerated the firm's pivot toward independence. Public records indicate Sandhill maintains multi-custodial relationships and does not rely on any single bank, positioning the firm's advisory model as institution-agnostic rather than tied to a specific banking platform.

No specific philanthropic foundation is publicly associated with Sandhill Wealth Management. The firm's outward-facing content focuses on direct wealth management, fund operations, and GP advisory, without mention of a donor-advised fund platform or captive foundation structure.

Venture Unlocked is a podcast and content platform hosted by Samir Kaji that covers fund operations, LP allocation strategy, and emerging manager trends. It doubles as a brand and sourcing engine for Sandhill Wealth Management. Episodes feature interviews with institutional LPs, fund-of-funds managers, and venture capitalists, reinforcing Kaji's position as a connector within the venture ecosystem.