What Prospective Advisors does

Prospective Advisors is a privately-held alternative investment advisory firm founded in 2019 and headquartered in Utah (West Jordan, with a Park City reference). The firm identifies and advises established and emerging investment managers, primarily in the hard assets arena, and partners them with the world's largest institutional investors through joint ventures (JVs), separately managed accounts (SMAs), and small clubs. The firm's stated minimum mandate size is $200 million, with potential deals reaching $2 billion or more.

The firm operates two integrated service pillars: Core Advisory, which provides talent recruitment, strategy formation, succession planning, and ongoing institutionalization, and Direct Investment, where Prospective becomes a partner/owner in the entities it creates. Compensation is structured almost exclusively as carry participation, with the firm becoming a partner in virtually all new entities it creates rather than charging traditional placement fees. The GTM motion is enterprise field sales, leveraging a curated network of institutional investors rather than broad distribution.

The firm is led by co-founders Michael Hoffmann (CEO) and John Murphy (COO), both former senior leaders at Probitas Partners where they raised over $85 billion across 100 funds, including 23 first-time fund managers that have since grown to over $118 billion in aggregate AUM. Ian Hoffmann joined as Partner in 2022. The firm has no proprietary technology platform, with service delivery centered on relationship-based advisory and bespoke institutional structuring. Beyond core advisory, the firm has made selective direct investments in companies including SOPFARM, Zipline, Park City Angels, Resonant Technology, Raeden, and Rocket Closet.

Name

Prospective Advisors

Legal name

Prospective Advisors

Website

https://prospectiveadvisors.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Prospective Advisors is a privately-held alternative investment advisory firm that identifies and partners with investment managers, primarily in hard assets, and matches them with large institutional investors through JVs and SMAs, earning compensation via carry participation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Alternative Investment Advisory

NAICS

Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation (523150), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282), Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)

akta.pro primary industry

Capital Raising Advisory (Equity & Equity-Linked) (FSAEAGAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Corporate Finance & Capital Advisory (BPAHADAB)

Keywords

• Alternative investment advisory
• Institutional capital placement
• Joint venture formation
• Separately managed accounts
• Hard assets investment

Headquarters

HQ city

Park City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Carry Participation: Compensation is primarily and directly aligned with partners via carry participation only when successful. Prospective Advisors becomes a partner in virtually all new entities it creates and participates in the carry (profit share) of those entities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Prospective Advisors is a private advisory firm that identifies and advises established and emerging investment talent, then marries those newly formed entities to the world's largest and most sophisticated institutional investors seeking scale portfolio exposure ($200 million - $2 billion+) in targeted assets, predominantly in the hard assets arena. The firm works through Joint Ventures (JVs), Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs), and small clubs, becoming a partner via carry participation in virtually all new entities it creates, and providing ongoing advisory services including talent recruitment, succession planning, and institutionalization of organizations.

Product overview

Prospective Advisors is a single unified financial advisory firm focused on alternative investments, offering two integrated service lines: Core Advisory and Direct Investment. Core Advisory identifies and advises established and emerging investment talent, matching them with institutional investors through JVs and SMAs. Direct Investment represents Prospective's equity participation as a partner in the entities it forms, aligning compensation with investor success via carry participation. Together, these services provide a full-cycle solution from talent identification and entity formation through institutional capital deployment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Core Advisory
• Direct Investment (Partnership Participation)
• Institutionalization Advisory

Quantifiable outcome

• 22x+ AUM growth among identified first-time fund managers (from ~$5B to >$118B)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Probitas PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Co-founders Michael Hoffmann and John Murphy previously worked at Probitas Partners, a leading global alternative investment bank, where they were responsible for raising over 100 funds and approximately $85 billion of capital. The firm was founded in 2019 to continue this legacy of identifying exceptional investment talent.
• KPS Capital PartnersminorOthersFirst-time fund relationship beginning in 2002. Total capital raised was approximately $5 billion for 23 FTFs. Those fund managers have gone on to raise over $118 billion in subsequent funds.
• Benson ElliotminorOthersPortfolio company in real estate investment management.
• ArcLight Capital PartnersminorOthersPortfolio company in energy infrastructure investing.
• KSL Capital PartnersminorOthersPortfolio company in travel and leisure investing.
• Calmwater CapitalminorOthersPortfolio company in real estate debt investing.
• Hammes PartnersminorOthersPortfolio company in healthcare real estate investing.
• Iron Point PartnersminorOthersPortfolio company in real estate investing.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Park Hill (Blackstone): Park Hill, the placement agent arm of Blackstone, provides capital-raising and advisory services to alternative investment managers globally. It is a scaled competitor with deep institutional LP relationships across private equity, real estate, and credit strategies.
• PJT Partners: PJT Partners' Strategic Capital and Fund Advisory group advises GPs on capital-formation, fund restructuring, and LP-relationship management. It is a broad incumbent competitor with deep institutional relationships, particularly across credit and private equity strategies.
• Lazard (Private Funds Group): Lazard's Private Funds Advisory business advises alternative investment managers on fundraising and capital solutions. It is a scaled global investment bank competitor with broad LP coverage and capital-markets capabilities relevant to the JV/SMA formation work Prospective pursues.
• Jefferies (Private Capital Advisory): Jefferies provides fund placement and private capital advisory services for alternative investment managers. As a scaled full-service broker-dealer, it competes with Prospective in placement-agent work while offering broader financing and capital-markets services.
• Houlihan Lokey: Houlihan Lokey is a global investment bank with an active fund-raising and GP-advisory practice for alternative investment managers. It is a broad incumbent that overlaps with Prospective on capital-formation advisory and fund-level strategic work.
• Evercore (Private Funds Group): Evercore's Private Funds Group is one of the largest global placement agents, raising capital for alternative investment managers across strategies. It competes with Prospective in fund formation and capital introduction but operates at materially larger scale with broader LP coverage and a wide product range.

Direct peers

• Probitas Partners: Probitas Partners is the global alternative-investment placement firm where Prospective's co-founders previously led fund formation, raising over $85B across 100 funds. Prospective's model is a direct continuation of Probitas's approach, making it the most direct conceptual peer despite being a successor entity.
• Eaton Partners: Eaton Partners is one of the largest independent global placement agents focused exclusively on alternative investment fund placement and advisory. It directly competes with Prospective in raising capital for emerging and established managers and offers comparable fund-formation and LP-introduction services.
• Campbell Lutyens: Campbell Lutyens is a specialist advisor to alternative investment managers on primary fundraising, secondary transactions, and GP-led solutions. It competes most directly with Prospective in capital advisory for first-time and emerging managers across private equity and real assets.

Others

• Mercer (Investment Management): Mercer advises institutional investors on manager selection and alternative-investment mandates. While not a placement agent, it sits on the LP side of the same relationship — advising the institutional investors Prospective targets on which GPs and strategies to commit to.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/prospective-advisors

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Prospective Advisors