The COO Roundtable: Episode 56

For Episode 56, Matt invited two operations professionals that he met at a DFA Operations Strategy session earlier this year.  Rachel Rant is a partner and Director of Operations at Aspen Capital Management, located in Boise, ID.  Scott Swanson is a partner, Chief Operating Officer, and financial advisor with Quantum Financial Advisors, with several office locations in the Los Angeles area.  Aspen Capital management was founded in 2002 as a solo advisor practice and stayed that way until about 2017.  Fast forward to today, the firm manages approximately $900 million in assets and employs 9 full-time employees.  Quantum Financial Advisors was launched in 2022 out of a larger RIA and today manages approximately $900 million of client assets and employs 13 people.  Rachel, Scott, and Matt discuss the pros and cons of adding institutional complexity to the organization as you add more technology tools over time, as well as:

• When and how each guest landed in wealth management after successful careers in other industries
• What metrics they study to help determine when their growing firms need to add more staff
• The deliberate planning that has gone into the organizational structure of each of their firms
• Their early attempts to segment their client base and determine the appropriate service level
• Each guest’s approach to remote work vs. in-office work, and how the definition of “productive” changes from day to day

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You can read the full transcript here.