A. Description of the Advisory Firm
Mission Creek Capital Partners, Inc. (“Mission Creek”) is an investment-advisory firm
headquartered in San Francisco, California, organized as a California corporation originally in 2009
and registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to 2018, Mission
Creek was registered with the Commissioner of Corporations of the State of California.
Mission Creek is fully independent and employee owned, principally by Henri W. Moudi, CFA,
CFP® and Charles S. Gehring, CFA. Mission Creek’s fiscal year end is December 31st.
B. Types of Advisory Services
Mission Creek provides specialized investment management and direct- and sub-advisory services
on a discretionary basis for institutional and private clients, such as public and private pension
plans, endowments and foundations, limited partnerships, general partnerships, family offices,
trusts and estates, executives, entrepreneurs and other SEC or state-registered advisory firms.
Mission Creek provides wealth management, advisory and financial planning services. Our wealth
and investment management and advisory services consider the asset nature, underlying
exposures, concentration risks, diversification goals, liquidity requirements, implementation costs,
effective tax management, downside exposure, portfolio and single-stock transition planning and
other client objectives.
Mission Creek’s services may include investing and holding individual equity and fixed income
securities, exchange traded funds, mutual funds, option contracts and cash or money market
instruments deemed appropriate for a client based upon a review of that client's investment
requirements, risk tolerances and objectives. The firm offers custom investment advisory services
which may include investments in equities and securities across a wide range of asset classes.
Mission Creek offers differentiated and customized private equity distribution/post-venture
management services for institutional private equity limited and general partners, executives, and
entrepreneurs. Mission Creek’s private equity distribution management platform seeks to preserve
and enhance overall cash-on-cash returns for private equity investors on a separately managed
account basis.
Discretionary Investment Advisory Services
Custom Portfolio Services
Private Equity Distribution Management
Concentrated Stock Management Services
Separately Managed Account and Sub-Advisory Services
Portfolio and Single-Stock Transition Management
Effective Tax Management Strategies
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Non-discretionary Investment Advisory Services and Planning
Non-discretionary Investment Management
Wealth Management/Financial Planning Services
Executive Planning
Income, Education and Retirement Planning
Tax, Estate and Trust Planning
Business Succession Planning
Wealth Transfer and Philanthropy Planning
Customized Security Research
ISOs, NSOs, Restricted and Control Stocks, 83(b) Elections Analysis and Planning
Diagnostic Review of Client’s Current Investments and Advisory Engagements
Rule 10b5-1 Planning
Defined Benefits and Profit-Sharing Plan Management
Fiduciary Advisory Services
Most of Mission Creek’s clients receive discretionary investment advisory services. Discretionary
means Mission Creek has written authorization to make investment decisions on a client’s behalf.
Using that authority, Mission Creek decides to buy, sell, or hold securities or other investments,
including cash, in client accounts and/or allocate assets to one or more of Mission Creek’s
separate account strategies. We monitor these accounts and proactively buy and sell positions
when we believe it is appropriate to help achieve a client’s investment return objectives and/or
to reduce risk. Mission Creek’s discretionary authority may include the ability to select external
fund vehicles.
Custom Portfolio Services
Mission Creek tailors an investment strategy to meet the needs of each client. Our customized
platform includes, along with Mission Creek’s separately managed account strategies,
individualized equity and fixed income investment strategies, options strategies and, where
suitable, access to alternative investments. Mission Creek’s custom portfolio services also include
comprehensive review of existing assets to ensure a streamlined and tax efficient transition of a
client’s assets and/or securities to meet an appropriate asset allocation aligned to individualized
investment objectives. Separate accounts allow our direct- and sub-advised clients to own
securities directly, and thereby control their own cost-basis.
When necessary, Mission Creek appropriately adjusts exposures to incorporate pre-existing,
concentrated positions within our clients’ portfolios.
Private Equity Distribution Management
Mission Creek provides customized private equity distribution management services for
institutional private equity limited partners, general partners, executives, and entrepreneurs. Stock
distributions from venture and private equity funds present private equity investors with multiple
challenges that Mission Creek focuses on addressing. The appropriate management of exits is a
crucial element of the private equity life cycle that is often overlooked and taken for granted. Our
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private equity distribution management platform seeks to best manage, monetize, and maximize
the value of securities distributed by venture capital and private equity funds.
Mission Creek’s distribution management platform is uniquely positioned to best ensure that
private equity exits are effectively and efficiently managed to preserve and enhance overall returns
based on our clients’ specific hold guidelines, risk parameters and other objectives on a separately
managed account basis.
Concentrated Stock Management Services
Mission Creek provides analysis, research, monitoring, management, and diversification
strategies for clients with concentrated stock holdings. These concentrated exposures can arise
because of successful private equity-related investments or the acquisition of a closely held
business by a publicly traded company. Additionally, executives, entrepreneurs and individuals
are often exposed to significant concentrated exposures due to employee related stock holdings
and unexercised options gained over time.
Concentrated stock positions can often constitute a large portion of a client’s overall portfolio and
can cause excessive exposure to specific risks of a single company. Mission Creek can hedge or
diversify this risk to suit the investment objectives and risk tolerances of our clients. In some
situations, clients seek to generate additional income from concentrated stock positions or
portfolios. Mission Creek collaborates closely with clients to develop a strategy to increase the
income generated from these positions or portfolios through covered call-writing strategies. The
additional cash flow derived from a call-writing strategy has the effect of cushioning downside
exposure from a stock’s decline.
In many situations, concentrated stock exposures may have a low-cost basis that makes an outright
sale of the position unattractive from a tax liability perspective. This is true for those exposures
resulting from successful private equity investments and employee-related holdings. Mission
Creek utilizes several approaches to mitigate and/or defer the tax impact over time.
Separate Managed Accounts and Sub-Advisory Services
Mission Creek offers several separate managed account strategies on a direct and sub-advisory
basis that utilize individual equities and/or covered call and collared overlays. These strategies
are designed to provide a core equity foundation for clients’ portfolios through diversification,
proactive management, tax efficiency and risk mitigation. Our separate account investment
solutions may be used exclusively or in combination within an aggregate portfolio or a custom
portfolio which may also include fixed income securities, exchange traded funds, and/or no-load
mutual funds. We collaborate with our clients to determine which one, or combination, is best
suited
to their investment objectives and risk tolerances.
Institutional clients, other SEC or state-registered advisory firms, financial planning firms and family
offices (the “primary advisor”) have access to our separate managed account strategies on a sub-
advisory basis directly and/or through our participation on Charles Schwab’s Managed Account
Marketplace (“Marketplace”). Mission Creek contracts with the primary advisor to provide
investment management services to their clients (“sub-advised client”). Schwab’s Marketplace is an
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open architecture platform that provides other investment advisors utilizing Schwab Advisor
Services® and their clients’ access to Mission Creek’s turnkey separate managed account strategies.
Under Mission Creek’s sub-advisory arrangement, the primary advisor maintains an on-going direct
relationship with the sub-advised client and determines that client’s investment objectives and
whether Mission Creek’s strategies are suitable to meet such objectives. Mission Creek reserves
the right, in its sole discretion, to not accept a client account under a sub-advisory arrangement.
Effective Tax Management Strategies
Mission Creek’s investment process utilizes an overall asset “allocation” and asset “location”
planning approach to best meet client’s overall objectives, risk tolerances and to enhance tax
efficiency. We employ strategies to improve after-tax returns through the optimized allocation of
assets based on their tax efficiency between taxable and tax-deferred accounts and through the
appropriate matching of realized gains and losses.
ISOs, NSOs, Restricted and Control Stocks, 83(b) Elections Analysis and Planning
Mission Creek works with clients with significant incentive stock options (ISOs), nonqualified
stock options (NSOs), restricted stock and/or control stock holdings. We provide individualized
analysis to determine, in a collaborative manner, the optimal option exercise timing, 83(b) elections
and income, capital-gains and AMT tax minimization and deferment strategies, in close
collaboration with clients’ legal and tax advisors.
Defined Benefits and Profit-Sharing Plan Management
Mission Creek advises and implements personal tax deferment strategies by maximizing
retirement contributions through effectively designed defined benefit plans, profit sharing
accounts and maximizing 401(k) safe harbor contributions. These strategies are attractive for small
business owners and executives seeking to shelter income during peak earning years for future
retirement.
Fiduciary Advisory Services
Mission Creek also provides qualified and Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(“ERISA”) retirement plan consulting services. These services may involve fiduciary advisory
services:
Recommendations regarding investment selection consistent with ERISA section 404(c)
Ability to consult on a one-on-one basis with Plan Participants
Mission Creek acknowledges that when providing these fiduciary advisory services, it is acting as a
“fiduciary” as such term is defined under Section 3(21)(A)(ii) of ERISA for purposes of providing
non-discretionary investment advice only.
Mission Creek will act in a manner consistent with the requirements of a fiduciary under ERISA if,
based upon the facts and circumstances, such services cause Mission Creek to be a fiduciary as a
matter of law. However, in providing the fiduciary advisory services, Mission Creek (a) has no
responsibility and will not (i) exercise any discretionary authority or discretionary control respecting
management of the client’s retirement plan, (ii) exercise any authority or control respecting
management or disposition of assets of the client’s retirement plan, or (iii) have any discretionary
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authority or discretionary responsibility in the administration of the client’s retirement plan or
interpreting the client’s retirement plan documents, (b) is not an “investment manager” as defined
in Section 3(38) of ERISA and does not have the power to manage, acquire or dispose of any plan
assets, and (c) is not the “Administrator” of the client’s retirement plan as defined in ERISA.
Retirement Accounts – Acknowledgement of Fiduciary Status Under ERISA and the
Internal Revenue Code
When we provide investment advice to you regarding your retirement plan account or individual
retirement account, we are fiduciaries within the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act and/or the Internal Revenue Code, as applicable, which are laws governing
retirement accounts. The way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests, so we
operate under a special rule that requires us to act in your best interest and not put our interest
ahead of yours.
Under this special rule’s provisions, we must:
Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations;
Never put our financial interests ahead of yours when making recommendations;
Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we give advice that is in your best
interest;
Charge no more than is reasonable for our services; and
Give you basic information about conflicts of interest.
Retirement Accounts – Conflicts of Interest Regarding Rollover Recommendations
When leaving an employer, you typically have four options regarding your existing retirement
plan:
Leave the assets in the former employer’s plan, if permitted;
Roll over the assets to the new employer’s plan, if one is available and rollovers are
permitted;
Roll over the assets to an Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”); or
Take a full withdrawal in cash, which would result in ordinary income tax and a penalty
tax if you are under age 59 1/2.
If Mission Creek recommends that you roll over your 401(k) or other qualified plan assets to an
IRA, this rollover recommendation presents a conflict of interest in that Mission Creek would
receive compensation (or may increase current compensation) when investment advice is provided
following your decision to roll over your plan assets. Mission Creek will discuss your retirement
plan options including retention of your 401(k) or qualified plan assets with your current plan, if
allowed. Prior to deciding, you should carefully review the information regarding your rollover
options. Clients are under no obligation to rollover retirement plan assets to an account managed
by us.
Furthermore, as an ERISA fiduciary we may have the following additional conflicts as described
here:
Negotiability of Fees: As stated in Item 5, below, Mission Creek retains the authority to
negotiate our fees based on a variety of factors. We discuss in Item 5 below the various
ways in which we mitigate such conflicts.
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Product Selection: Mission Creek has imposed no restrictions or limitations on the selection
of products or services which may be offered to Retirement Investors. To mitigate the
inherent risks resulting from these arrangements, Mission Creek oversees and monitors
the recommendations being made to verify they are always consistent with the client's best
interests.
C. Client Tailored Services and Client Imposed Restrictions
Through our discussions with each advisory client, we develop a wealth management and
investment plan for that advisory client based on, among other things, the advisory client’s
circumstances, financial goals or objectives, risk tolerance, time horizon and liquidity needs.
Mission Creek closely consults with clients and adjusts its strategies to accommodate client
requests to alter investment choices. We will perform on-going monitoring of your account,
provide you with quarterly reports and conduct periodic investment reviews. Clients may impose
reasonable restrictions on investing in certain securities or types of securities and targeted hold
periods.
D. Wrap Fee Programs
Mission Creek does not currently participate in any wrap fee programs.
E. Regulatory Assets Under Management
Mission Creek managed $546,970,715 on a discretionary basis and no assets on a non-discretionary
basis as of March 20, 2024.