How to Run a Family Office Under $100M
A tactical guide for capital founders ready to professionalize wealth, protect their legacy, and future-proof their capital stack.
If you’re a founder sitting on $20M, $50M, or even $100M+, you’ve already won a few rounds of the wealth game.
But at this level, new risks emerge:
→ Capital concentration
→ Coordination failure
→ Tax inefficiencies
→ Cyber threats
→ Investment clutter
→ No clear “CIO” thinking across your personal capital stack
This is where most wealth quietly erodes.
What you need isn’t another adviser.
You need a system.
A family office is that system.
And no, you don’t need $500M to start.
With the right structure, tech, and mindset, you can run a high-performance family office with a net worth of $20m—$100m.
Here’s how.
What Is a Family Office?
Think of it as your command centre for capital, life, and legacy.
It’s not just about managing money—it’s about orchestrating:
Investments
Tax strategy
Legal structuring
Family governance
Philanthropy
Risk and compliance
Cybersecurity
Life logistics
At its best, a family office brings clarity, control, and scalability to everything wealth touches.
Family Office Models: Pick Your Game Mode
1. Single-Family Office (SFO)
Your own in-house team.
High control, high cost.
Best for: $150M+ portfolios
Annual cost: 1–2% of AUM ($1M–$2M/year on $100M)
Tradeoff: Full privacy and customisation, but expensive to maintain
2. Multi-Family Office (MFO)
Shared services with other families.
Efficient, credible, but less bespoke.
Best for: $30M–$200M
Annual cost: 0.3–0.7% of AUM
Tradeoff: Strong infrastructure at lower cost—but less control
3. Virtual Family Office (VFO)
Lean, digital-first setup.
Minimal headcount. Maximum flexibility.
Best for: $20M–$150M
Annual cost: Often <1% of AUM
Tradeoff: Requires strong coordination, but gives you agility and optionality
Analogy:
SFO = your own private plane
MFO = luxury shared jet club
VFO = Uber Black with priority access
Key Archetypes: What Kind of Capital Founder Are You?
🧠 Visionary Entrepreneur
High conviction. High risk. Operates like a venture fund.
🏛 Traditional Business Owner
Conservative, legacy-driven. Prefers banks and stable income.
🏢 Embedded Office
Run inside the core business. Efficient but limited independence.
🧰 Professionalised Office
With CIO, team, and structure. Suited for 9-figure portfolios.
Your structure should reflect your time horizon, risk appetite, and mental bandwidth.
Costs: Know Your Burn Rate
The cost of running a family office varies significantly depending on your chosen model.
A traditional Single-Family Office (SFO) typically requires $150M+ in assets and has the highest fixed costs—around 1–2% annually—in exchange for full control and a bespoke setup.
Multi-family offices (MFOs) serve multiple clients and offer a balance of customisation and efficiency. They are usually best suited for families with $30M—$100M in assets and charge 0.3–0.7% annually.
For founders with $20M–$150M, a Virtual Family Office (VFO) offers the most cost-effective solution. These modular, digital-first setups often run below 1% of assets under management while maintaining flexibility and scale.
Rule of Thumb:
Start lean. Scale as complexity increases.
Efficiency is a moat. Bloat is death.
Where to Base Your Office: Jurisdictional Leverage
Location = strategy. It affects tax, privacy, control, and cost.
Top jurisdictions to consider:
🇺🇸 U.S. (Delaware, Wyoming, Florida) – Strong trust law, FATCA burden
🇸🇬 Singapore – Section 13U tax incentives, global gateway, no CGT
🇦🇪 UAE/Dubai – 0% tax, fast setup, ideal for global mobility
🇨🇭 Switzerland – Financial credibility, high operating cost
🇰🇾 Cayman/BVI – Privacy, tax neutrality, reputation risk
🇬🇧 UK / Channel Islands – Flexible structures, rising compliance burden
Pro move: Combine jurisdictions. Example: trust in BVI, operating company in UAE, investment Holdco in Singapore.
Core Functions: What a Family Office Does
1. Investment Strategy
Portfolio allocation
Manager selection
Private investments
Risk controls
Performance tracking
2. Tax & Legal Structuring
Multi-jurisdictional compliance
Asset protection
Succession planning
Charitable structures
3. Operations & Admin
Accounting & bill pay
Reporting dashboards
Document control
Travel, concierge, lifestyle ops
4. Governance & Legacy
Family constitution
Education for heirs
Intra-family agreements
Family councils
5. Cybersecurity & Privacy
Data vaults
Secure comms
Device security
Asset protection for digital holdings
Start with your top 3 priorities. Build modularly.
Don’t try to do it all from day one.
Key Tools & Platforms to Run Lean
Reporting & Investment Tracking
Addepar
Black Diamond
Canoe Intelligence
Secure Storage & Comms
Tresorit
Signal
Privoro
Governance & Docs
Notion (internal SOP + playbook)
DocuSign + Ironclad
Cybersecurity
BlackCloak
Kudelski Security
NordPass
Outsourced Wealth & Legal
AlTi Tiedemann
WE Family Offices
Withersworldwide
Treat your FO stack like your old startup tech stack:
Build for clarity, speed, and resilience.
Best Practices for Running a Family Office Under $100M
Set a Clear Mission
Preserve capital? Invest with impact? Fund freedom? Define it early.Start Lean, Scale Wisely
Avoid full-time hires unless necessary. Use fractional CIOs, VAs, and boutique specialists.Design for Digital-First Ops
Cloud-native. Encrypted. Paperless. Automate what you can.Build Light Governance Early
Even if it’s just you, define processes. You'll thank yourself when your capital, family, and complexity grow.Optimise for Control, Not Complexity
You don’t need Goldman Sachs in-house. You need a simple system that gives you leverage over your capital stack.Review Regularly
Assess cost, performance, and structure every 12–24 months. Your FO should evolve with your life.
Final Thought
You don’t need $500M to think and operate like an institution.
You need a clear objective, a lean structure, and the discipline to think long-term.
The best family offices aren’t the biggest.
They’re the most aligned.
Start small. Stay digital. Build modular.
Because capital without coordination is just chaos.
Survive first. Thrive later.
Then pass it on.
📩 Want to build a lean family office and control your capital stack like a pro? Read the full playbook at CapitalFounders.io — practical frameworks for high-agency wealth builders.