Emerging investment managers often emerge from highly experienced teams, typically spin-outs from established institutions who leave to build something sharper, more focused, and unconstrained. These firms bring deep expertise in niche sectors or under-researched regions, often with sharper focus and stronger alignment than their larger peers.
These teams bring deep domain expertise. They may focus on a niche within an asset class, such as an under-researched sector, a structural inefficiency, or a region that requires on-the-ground insight. Yet despite strong performance potential, emerging managers face a tough road in raising assets.
Limited Distribution Power: Unlike large firms with global distribution teams and marketing budgets, emerging managers are typically lean operations. They lack the marketing and manpower to reach the right institutional investors consistently.
The Perception of Risk: From an allocator’s point of view, backing a smaller or newer firm can feel risky. There’s often limited track record under the new entity, operational infrastructure is still being built, and AuM is small. These raises questions about business stability, compliance frameworks, and operational resilience, even when the investment strategy is sound.
The Institutional Paradox: Many investors want to see an emerging manager “validated” by others first. But if everyone’s waiting for someone else to go first, the manager ends up in limbo. It’s not a question of capability. It’s about credibility that only comes with backing, and backing that only comes with credibility. It’s a classic paradox.
What to do?
That’s why they trust RFPnetworks. Emerging Managers use our platform to build visibility, establish brand credibility, and connect with our hard-to-access global investor base. They can also pitch for relevant searches that match their niche offering.
Our marketing solutions go above and beyond to let Emerging Managers showcase their specialised knowledge. Having one core product becomes a strength as it signals dedication and focus. Our technology help these firms make the most of a limited budget with practical digital marketing guidance, so they get noticed, gain traction, and start closing deals sooner.
Boutique Asset Managers usually have multiple products within a specific sub-asset class (e.g. Asia Equity). They have dedicated sales and marketing staff who manage investor relationships through fly-in/out meetings across key markets.They are not trying to be everything to everyone. Instead, they run a focused suite of products, often differentiated by research depth, investment philosophy, or local access. They have already done the hard part: they have built the engine.
Now comes the tougher part: getting that engine noticed and trusted by institutional investors. Their challenges here are threefold: covering the potential clients, building credibility with large investors, and standing out against better-known competitors.
Scaling visibility: Even with strong relationship management skills, there’s only so much ground a small team can cover. And while traditional channels (LP meetings, capital introductions) still matter, they’re no longer enough to scale visibility.
Building Credibility: For larger allocators, boutique managers still trigger concerns, especially around operational maturity, scalability, or long-term sustainability. They may have a strong track record, a stable team, and solid AuM growth, but breaking through institutional due diligence processes takes time. Every investor needs to “get comfortable”... but without a big brand behind, how will they build this trust?
Standing Out: In today’s saturated market, even differentiated strategies risk getting lost in the noise. Competing with well-known firms who have global brands and high distribution budgets means that performance alone isn’t always enough. Boutique managers need to show up in the right places, at the right time, with clarity about their value proposition, and do so at scale.
What to do?
With all of that challenges among them, boutique managers often come to RFPnetworks to expand their visibility across multiple countries, access searches they might otherwise miss, and position themselves as credible, capable contenders.Our platform and expert guidance show them how to compete smartly and differentiate themselves based on strengths, not size, all while getting in front of the right investors.
Global asset managers typically offer a wide array of investment products across multiple asset classes. While their breadth allows them to appeal to a diverse institutional client base, many of these firms have carved out reputational niches within specific themes (such as quantitative equities), or focused asset class capabilities (high yield credit, leveraged loans, or CLOs). Their global presence is frequently complemented by a decentralised footprint: modestly sized local offices situated in strategic financial centers (e.g., Frankfurt for the DACH region or Paris for continental Europe), staffed by one or two regional sales professionals tasked with both relationship management and new business development.
This operational model has long been an asset. Yet, these firms face a unique strategic challenge: they occupy what many describe as the "squeezed middle."
Competitive pressure from both ends: On one side, they face elite boutique managers that often differentiate through hyper-specialization, agility, and a clear investment philosophy that resonates with investors seeking innovation and alpha in niche areas. On the other side are the large, legacy asset management giants with deeply entrenched local networks, expansive sales teams, and strong brand recognition. Global managers caught in the middle must therefore work harder to justify their position. They must convince clients of their unique edge, being differentiated across markets, products, and expertise.
Limitations in local presence: While their scale affords global access, the limited regional offices can pose structural constraints. A small sales presence may struggle to maintain frequency and depth of engagement across diverse client types, especially in markets with strong cultural expectations for face-to-face interaction and ongoing dialogue. Additionally, these teams often cover vast territories with varied investor preferences, regulatory environments, and relationship histories. Without the deep local roots of larger firms or the intimate focus of boutiques, global managers risk being perceived as distant or generic.
What to do?
To win more searches, these firms need to scale their visibility efficiently. Global asset managers must strike a delicate balance: leveraging the strength of their platform while delivering relevance at the local level. This involves aligning distribution strategy with market-specific intelligence, optimizing resource deployment, and ensuring product positioning is tailored for regional needs.
Digital tools are increasingly critical in bridging this gap. Thus, they use RFPnetworks daily to widen and deepen regional investor coverage while maximising the value of their local presence. By improving digital reach, they can establish relevance in more investor segments and engage the right decision-makers at the right time.
Large-scale asset management firms benefit from an exceptional combination of scale, global presence, and product range. With significant resources, deep local market penetration, and expansive distribution networks, these firms are capable of serving the full spectrum of institutional clients, from sovereign wealth funds and pension schemes to insurance groups and family offices.
Their infrastructure supports a vast array of investment capabilities across geographies, asset classes, and investment styles. They often offer hundreds of individual products, ranging from traditional equity and fixed income strategies to complex alternatives, multi-asset solutions, and bespoke mandates. Their global footprint ensures that sales, client servicing, and product specialists are present in most major financial centers, allowing them to maintain proximity to investors and consultants alike.
Yet despite these strengths, these mega firms face their own distinctive and pressing strategic challenge: maintaining focus in the eyes of the market.
The complexity of broad products: A core issue arises from the sheer volume and diversity of strategies offered. While this product proliferation enables them to address a wide range of institutional needs, it also creates a visibility problem. For external stakeholders, particularly asset owners and investment consultants, it can be difficult to discern where the firm’s competitive edge truly lies. As a result, when investors seek highly specialized expertise (eg.climate transition strategies, structured credit, or frontier market equities, etc), these firms may not be top-of-mind, even if they possess relevant capabilities.
Internal alignment and sales prioritisation: The internal challenge of focus is equally significant. With multiple investment teams operating semi-independently and sales professionals stretched across geographies and client segments, prioritising which products to emphasise can become entangled. Sales teams are often required to act as generalists, presenting a wide range of strategies to investors with diverse and highly specific needs. This can dilute the impact of client engagement and make it harder to articulate a clear value proposition.
What to do?
As clarity of expertise becomes a competitive differentiator, large managers who fail to project a focused identity risk losing ground to more sharply positioned competitors. The need to target specific products that deserve investor attention, especially in response to market shifts and volatility, is why they intergrated RFPnetworks into their workflow. RFPnetworks platform allows them to do exactly what they need. By posting relevant insights and tailored solutions, they attract interest and trigger direct engagement from institutional investors, boosting both visibility and trust.
With the above illustrations of how asset managers increase AUM with different positioning to cut through their own complexity, one thing is clear: whether you're just starting out or managing trillions, the most successful asset managers are those who adapt their marketing strategy to fit their unique positioning. RFPnetworks helps you do exactly that.
Every asset manager faces unique growth challenges. This blog breaks down how four types of firms (emerging, boutique, global, and the largest players) use tailored strategies and employ technology (such as RFPnetworks) to turn those challenges into scalable AuM growth.
