Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, known as a16z, has hired former Jordan Park Group CIO Michel Del Buono to head up its new business managing the wealth of many of the clients it helped make rich. Del Buono will oversee wealth management for a16z’s partners and executives of its portfolio companies, according to an article in Financial Advisor, which spoke to insiders familiar with the firm’s plans. A spokesperson for a16z would only confirm Del Buono’s hiring.
A16z was an early investor in Facebook, Twitter and Airbnb, and has helped enrich many other tech startups by being heavily involved in the companies it chooses to back. It counts Pinterest, Slack Technologies, Instagram and Coinbase Global among the over 100 companies it’s exited, many of whose founders have become billionaires.
Now it’s hoping to capitalize on those relationships by offering an array of wealth management services to those billionaires, the article reports. Wealth management can be an enormously profitable business, as money is usually slow to leave once it comes in. With managers charging 1% of the assets they handle, profit margins can get up to 50%, and growth can skyrocket quickly.
At Jordan Park, which he joined in 2017, Del Buono oversaw high-net-worth clients worth a cumulative $17.6 billion. Prior to that, he headed up portfolio investment strategy and direct investments at Makena Capital Management for nearly 8 years. He holds a PhD in management science and engineering from Stanford University, the article details.