Where Do 80% of LPs Find Managers? As It Turns Out, Not Through Your Database Or Outbound Marketing
There’s a pattern building in the way that institutional allocators make decisions. It is not what many fund managers will think…
From an in-person survey conducted at Global Alts Miami, (a spot of foreshadowing, perhaps) iConnections learned from more than 500 LPs how they source new managers to commit to, across multiple investor types, regions, and their respective portfolio sizes.
80% actually hinge on their own professional networks. Over half are old-school, choosing to attend industry conferences or events as their primary discovery tool. The key perceived marketing needle-movers of outbound and third-party databases trail here in iConnection’s Global Allocator Report 2026, and by no small margin.
What is often challenging for any industry is how client trust can be earned, particularly in the the niche investment world. Clearly at the allocator level, a fund manager’s own notions of brand visibility plays second fiddle here to the trusted pointers set by smaller, respected peer groups of LPs, co-investing GPs and consultants.
They’ll share the same beliefs when researching prospective managers. Essentially, the answers to “why should I spend time with them?” and not purely past performance, the AuM ‘hard number’, and honed strategies that outbound materials have prioritised for a long while.
As the report makes clear, so too will these peer networks act as a gateway toward allocation. Managers that are ‘known’ to them will be considered far sooner and able to continue nurturing their interest. Those having to achieve a single-meeting win will find raising assets a far trickier task.
Likewise, manager supply across major alternative strategies is increasing faster than allocator meeting capacity. While fundraising activity is busy, the funnel is narrowing in what iConnections notes as a “crowded, not cooling” market.
So, what does this mean for fund marketers?
Often today, fund marketers may bet all on black that database outreach or mass distribution lists dominate their asset-raising strategy. The landscape, it turns out, is different: these ‘cold channels’ are only optimised for a small slice of the funnel, ignoring four out of five LPs that find managers through peer relationships.
Getting involved with these channels is imperative. Attending conferences and participating in strategy-linked panels helps identify and target relationships with the LPs, co-investors and consultants within such circles.
However, once being a ‘talked about’ manager, it is not enough to be found. Decks and case studies must be fresh and relevant whether allocators are already looking, as it is easy for a stale brand to be pushed out of a whole network’s focused list entirely.
There has to be a mind-shift in regards to marketing and IR budgets and outreach effort. Those built to cater to the size of their distribution lists, rather than optimising their network depth, are potentially missing out on far more than just the odd LP’s attention.
