Family office insights this week:
How to build real connections with family offices
Family offices and real estate investment
Read: an unfiltered account of a PE maverick
Watch: Ray Dalio on the secrets of his investing success
Podcast: a detailed look at Citi’s family office report
Connecting With Family Offices: The Ultimate Guide
How founders, funds, service providers, and ambitious professionals can build real connections with family offices.
The most common question we’re asked is how do we connect with family offices?
Family Offices control close to $10 trillion, invest quietly, and move faster than most institutions.
For funds, family offices are the ultimate LP: patient, flexible, and entrepreneurial.
For founders, they are strategic partners who think long-term, not quarter to quarter.
For professionals, they are exceptional employers: lean, fast, and purpose-driven.
And for service providers, they are discreet yet powerful clients who value trust above all else.
For the families, connecting with the right people is also vital.
Money alone does not guarantee access to the best people and deals.
So here’s the paradox:
Everyone wants to connect with family offices and family offices want to connect with the right people, so why is bridging the gap so difficult?
Partly because family offices are deliberately private. They run lean operations. And unlike institutional investors, they don’t follow a uniform playbook: each is a reflection of the family behind it, their wealth source, their governance style, their appetite for risk, and their values.
If you want to break in, you need more than a pitch deck.
You need strategy, patience, and above all, trust.
This guide brings together proven tactics, examples, and insights to help you do just that.
Why Family Offices Are Hard to Reach
Family offices walk a fine line between privacy and access.
Privacy: Families don’t want their names in databases or their inboxes flooded with irrelevant deal flow. Security is often a concern. Teams are small, and protecting time is critical.
As a result, family offices are selective, cautious, and highly protective of their time and attention. This makes cold approaches tough, but not impossible.
Access: At the same time, families know they can’t operate in isolation. They need to stay connected to source top-tier deals, attract exceptional talent, and build alliances. This is especially true for new family offices or those passing the reins to a younger generation.
Lead With Value
(One of our mantras at Mr Family Office)
The single most important principle is to add value before you ask for anything.
Family offices are constantly approached by people wanting something: capital, jobs, or mandates. Those who offer something first stand out.
Practical ways to lead with value:
Solve problems: If you notice something like their website, reporting, or investment structure has gaps, propose fixes. One FO executive told us the best cold outreach they ever received was from someone who flagged a risk in their systems.
Introduce people: Families remember those who bring them quality connections. Don’t hoard your network, share it. Make thoughtful introductions, then step back. Once the connection is made, resist the urge to manage it. Genuine introductions build goodwill and lasting trust.
Philanthropy: Support or highlight their charitable work. A huge number of family-to-family connections begin in philanthropy.
Research and insights: Share trends or data that speak to their sector. Example: a FO invested in consumer brands may appreciate a deep dive into commerce trends.
Education: Offer articles, workshops, webinars, or research papers that enrich their knowledge.
Benchmarks: Provide comparative data. Many FOs are still building their frameworks and value external benchmarking. Demonstrating an understanding of relevant benchmarks, whether in performance, costs, or governance, shows credibility and helps families see where they stand among their peers.
Operational hacks: Suggest proven efficiencies, tech tools, or cost savings.
The psychology is simple: reciprocity.
Do something genuinely useful, and you earn a chance to be heard.
Patience Pays
Relationships with family offices are a slow burn. Deals often come after years of coffees, lunches, or casual touchpoints. Whatever urgency you feel to close a deal or raise capital, don’t expect them to feel it too.
Think in terms of a long courtship. The good news is that when trust is built, family offices can move quickly. Unlike institutions, they don’t answer to layers of management, committees or LP boards.
Keeping with the courtship analogy, it may take time to marry, but once you do, the babies arrive quickly!
Read the full guide on how to find family offices, the best way to approach them, and how to build relationships that last decades…
𝕏 highlights
Family offices and Real Estate.
Family Offices and RE: 🏘️🧵
1] family office appetite: deal volume and values
2] no. of family office RE exits
3] family offices on apartments, industrial, retail, offices
4] the surprising location doing huge numbers
5] targeted opportunities thriving— #Mr Family Office (#@MrFamilyOffice)
1:00 PM • Oct 7, 2025
An Excel horror story (more on wealthtech coming up)
an Excel horror show
1/3
— #Mr Family Office (#@MrFamilyOffice)
8:58 PM • Oct 8, 2025
The Great Wealth Transfer by region.
The Great Wealth Transfer by region
🟦 number of individuals passing on wealth
🟩 total wealth being passed on— #Mr Family Office (#@MrFamilyOffice)
11:00 AM • Oct 6, 2025
A tough realization for a new millionaire.
a newly minted millionaire finds out
— #Mr Family Office (#@MrFamilyOffice)
12:42 PM • Oct 4, 2025
Where to work
Three family office industry job opportunities posted this week…
What to read
An outstanding recommendation from X. The Dealmaker: Lessons from a Life in Private Equity by Guy Hands offers a candid, first-hand look at the career and deals of one of private equity’s most influential figures. Hands recounts his landmark deals at Nomura, his own firm Terra Firma, and later through the Hands Family Office. It’s honest, inspiring, and leaves you wanting to think bigger.
What to listen to
In this episode of the Citi Institute Podcast, Host Alex Miller sits down with Hannes Hofmann, Kate Moore, and Dawn Nordberg from Citi Wealth to unpack the 2025 Global Family Office Report and what it reveals about how the world’s most sophisticated investors think.
What to watch
Ray Dalio on the secrets of his investing success. Dalio delivers a stark warning about the shifting global economy and what it means for the future of wealth.
And finally…
Lead with value!
If you know someone who’d benefit from this newsletter, help them (and us) by sharing it.
Everyone’s a winner!
Starting next week, we’ll be bringing you more profiles on individuals in the family office world, across investment, recruitment, philanthropy and more. We’re excited about what’s coming up!
The Buzz will be back as usual on Monday with the week’s best family office content.
For now, here’s to a weekend of good health, good wealth and good company.
X
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