The move toward independence isn’t slowing down. If anything, more advisors are looking at the businesses they’ve built and deciding they want greater flexibility in how they serve clients and more control over where those businesses go next.
But independence isn’t easy.
I’ve spent most of my career working with advisors who want more control over how they serve clients and build their businesses. What I’ve learned is that independence gives you that control, but it also gives you a lot more to manage.
You have to build the infrastructure, choose the technology, find the right people, manage vendors, navigate compliance and somehow make all of it work together. And you have to do it while continuing to serve clients and grow the business.
For a long time, advisors looked at that landscape and saw two choices: go independent and build everything yourself, or take outside capital and potentially give up some of the control you went independent to gain. That’s not the choice anymore.
A Third Path
Minority investment partnerships have created another option: access to capital, infrastructure and expertise without handing over control of the business you’ve spent years building.
Done right, this isn’t an exit. It’s growth. It’s acceleration. But the words “done right” matter.
Not all capital is the same. If your partner’s timeline, incentives and definition of success don’t match yours, that eventually creates tension.
The best partnerships start with alignment around what you’re actually trying to build. Do you share a long-term view? Do you agree on what great client service looks like? Does the advisor continue to control the business, the culture and the client relationship? Is everyone economically aligned around making the enterprise more valuable?
When those things are true, capital becomes a tool for growth rather than a tradeoff for control.
Build What Makes You Different
Over the years, the expectations on independent firms have changed dramatically. Clients expect more sophisticated planning, better technology, broader investment capabilities and a seamless experience. At the same time, advisors are trying to recruit, grow organically, acquire businesses and develop the next generation of their teams.
That’s a lot to build.
You can absolutely build all of it yourself. Plenty of great firms have. But I think every entrepreneurial advisor should ask a simple question: Is that really where my time and capital are best spent?
Most great advisors didn’t become great because they’re exceptional at negotiating technology contracts or building operational infrastructure. They’re great because they understand clients, they build relationships, they attract talent, they make good decisions and they know how to grow businesses.
The right partner shouldn’t replace those things. It should give you more leverage around them.
That means bringing capabilities the firm would otherwise have to build on its own, such as technology, investment resources, operational depth, compliance support, specialized talent and capital for growth, while allowing the advisor to stay focused on the things that actually differentiate the business.
How Big Can You Make The Pie?
Advisors understandably focus on how much of their business they own. And they should, ownership matters. But percentage ownership is only half the equation. The other half is what the business is worth.
Owning 100% of a business doesn’t automatically create a better outcome than owning 70% or 80% of a business with more enterprise value that has access to more capital, better capabilities and a stronger growth engine.
So the question isn’t only, “How much of the pie do I own?” It’s also, “How much bigger can we make the pie?”
That’s where the right minority partner should earn its place. But advisors also need to know the terms that the minority investor is seeking, as Ted Jenkin explains in this article.
A partner should help you recruit better people, win more clients while delivering more for existing clients, make acquisitions you might not have been able to make on your own, build better infrastructure, and ultimately create a stronger, more valuable enterprise.
If we’re not helping an advisor build a bigger, stronger and more valuable business, then we’re not doing our job. That’s the standard that matters.
Independence With An Edge
Independence was never supposed to mean doing everything yourself. And taking outside capital doesn’t have to mean giving up control.
The next chapter of this industry belongs to advisors who stay independent in spirit and in ownership, but who have partners standing behind them who understand something simple: real value gets built over decades, not quarters.
The right minority partnership should give an advisor more resources, more capability and more opportunities to grow while preserving the things that made the business valuable in the first place: the people, the culture, the client relationships and the entrepreneurial vision behind it.
That’s the model I believe in. Keep control of the business you’ve built. Find a partner who can help make it substantially more valuable. Because ultimately, it isn’t just about how much of the pie you own. It’s about how big you can build it.
Jim Dickson is founding partner and chief executive officer of Elevation Point, the growth partner for elite RIAs seeking the freedom of ownership with the strength of an institutional partner.