Blog
In-Person Networking Remains Essential for US Private Funds Industry
02/12/2025
The lockdowns initiated at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic five years ago impacted our market significantly. Investor relations professionals had to try and raise money over video conference technology like Zoom and service provider sales reps – who need to meet potential clients personally as well - had to do business digitally also.
And adapting to working at home was, at first, challenging, until the ‘new normal’ (remember that term?) became…just normal.
Working from home is now a feature of our industry (and many others). But the pandemic was, for many industries, not only the private funds space, a test of the value of the in-person connection.
It is a test that the in-person interaction won, and did so handsomely.
Like many others in the private funds industry, we at 9AT are largely settling back into working normality after being in Miami at the end of January for the Uncorrelated conference, at which we enjoyed not only seeing so many of our current clients but connecting with new faces from across the spectrum of our industry – allocators/investors, private fund managers and service providers alike.
For those of you that attended - we hope you found the events worth your time. We certainly did – catching up with clients and making new connections, whether they be potential customers or those we can help in other ways, such as referrals.
What struck our team most about the events wasn’t its scale – we expected a good turnout, and a good turnout was delivered – but it reminded us just how important networking and relationships are to our industry.
But something has changed since the Covid-19 pandemic. For many years pre-pandemic the fund managers and service providers made up the majority of the attendees at the myriad of industry conferences in our space.
But what we noticed in Miami is that more allocators/LPs seem to be making the trip to the sunshine state to meet potential new managers and make new connections.
That trend is one that we have heard anecdotally from others in the market as well. And while there are many benefits of doing so – nice weather and networking with other allocators/investors (who could be a future employer..!) being just two – it speaks to the value that more allocators/investors see in more face time with their managers.
Previously, many LPs would spend significant amounts of time in the initial due diligence phase before making an allocation, and then face time would decrease significantly – sometimes, only at the fund manager’s annual investor meeting (if they attended it at all). Now, investors are deliberately seeking out their managers when going to events, or on the road conducting due diligence on a different manager.
Managers are telling us that there is a similar trend happening in the pre-allocation phase. Getting on a ‘watch list’ again involved significant due diligence hours for both the manager and the LP, and then anything in-person after that would be rare, unless the LP was gearing up to make an investment. These days, the money is much more willing for a manager to just stop by their office when in town for something else.
That doesn’t mean that things like video technology is a flash in the pan. Have you noticed how much you do video calls as opposed to phone calls now? And there are plenty of meetings that can happen digitally.
But the post-pandemic US private funds industry is showing just how important in-person networking is to our space, whether that be investors, managers, or service providers. Here at 9AT we are fortunate to have customers from across the spectrum of the private funds industry, and we look forward to seeing you – in person – at a future event.
P.S. – A quick observation about the Miami conference scene generally. Obviously this was the first year that MFA and iConnections partnered up on their event, which was at the Miami Beach Convention Center, as opposed to the Fontainebleau. Some folks we spoke to thought that while the conference was good, they preferred it in the hotel as there would be less time spent in a cab and more time at the events. It will be interesting to see what they do next year. And we’re a little biased as a sponsor, but we thought the Uncorrelated event, as we mentioned above, was great, and even more so given it was their first year. For those of you that we saw there, we hope that you liked the 9AT baseball caps…
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