Recommending Without Bias: Selection That Serves the Mandate
Most family offices don’t lack access to specialists.
They lack unbiased, long-term relationships.
The rise of subscription-based networks
Over the last decade, a new breed of service-provider platforms has emerged: you pay an annual subscription fee, and in return, you gain access to a network of “vetted” providers who’ve also paid to be there. On the surface, this feels like convenience. But peel it back, and it starts to resemble something familiar: a double-fee investment product.
Just like a fund-of-funds or structured note where both the platform and the underlying manager take a cut, these networks quietly layer fees on top of already significant advisory costs.
Operating costs are already high.
Campden Wealth reports that small family offices spend an average of US $1 million, midsize US $3.6 million, and large family offices US $11 million annually just to run in-house operations. That’s before bringing in external advisors.
Advisory costs are layered further.
UBS’s Global Family Office Report 2024 estimates external advisory costs can add 0.2–0.5% of AUM on top of internal operating budgets. Adding another flat fee just to access advisors, many of whom paid for inclusion, feels less like strategic alignment and more like paying tolls to get to a meeting.
You wouldn’t accept a double-charging fund structure without performance justification. Why accept one when sourcing key advisors?
The hidden drawbacks of “pay-to-play”
Conflict of interest. Providers pay to appear in the network; your family pays to access it. Who’s incentivised to recommend the best provider, versus the one who paid the highest fee?
Vendor fatigue. When you’ve paid a flat fee, you feel compelled to “use” the network, sometimes accepting sub-optimal matches just to justify the cost.
Lack of accountability. Networks promise “vetted” providers, but once the deal is done, who manages project delivery, timelines, and quality? Rarely the platform itself.
A better way: outsourced project management
At Vesimi, we’ve built our model around one core belief: long-term relationships are founded on trust, not de-facto brokerage fees. Rather than acting as a broker, we serve as your outsourced project manager:
Scope & scoping. We begin by understanding your precise requirements: jurisdiction, language, time-zone constraints, regulatory nuances, budget parameters.
Unbiased selection. We maintain a global network of fully vetted specialists, none of whom pay us to be recommended. Our sole incentive is the success of your project.
Communication of selection. We present our recommendation clearly to your family office’s project stakeholders or steering committee, so everyone is aligned before work begins.
Subscription-based networks may look attractive on a website, but they bake conflict of interest into the process and leave you managing multiple vendors on your own. At Vesimi, we’re on a mission to build durable, trust-based partnerships that scale with your evolving needs. Without ever hiding behind a paywall.
