Episode summary
RIA Edge Podcast: Scaling an RIA Through Culture, Ownership and Strategic Growth with Jason Ozur
Summary
Jason Ozur said Lido Advisors grew from six people and about $400 million to roughly $45 billion to $50 billion in assets by combining unusually strong organic growth with a later acquisition strategy. He said the firm was long independently owned, with broad employee ownership and private equity backing, but the early engine was institutionalizing investment management, adding alternatives, and keeping the culture centered on client service and hard work.
Ozur said the firm initially targeted $1 billion in assets, then reset its ambitions after passing that mark and eventually sought outside capital to support acquisitions and expansion into new geographies. He described Leo as an integrator, not an aggregator, arguing that every deal has to fit the firm’s investment process, culture, and branding under “one flag, one name, one banner.”
He also said the firm has built a proprietary M&A scorecard, a centralized data warehouse, and a growing AI effort with six or seven full-time employees. On the investment side, he argued that clients want diversification and can benefit from alternatives, but only if advisers understand liquidity, leverage, and structure. Looking ahead, he said the firm sees a path to $150 billion to $200 billion and is adding specialties such as tax, estate, and pre-liquidity planning for business owners.
Key takeaways
- Jason Ozur said about 75% to 80% of Lido’s growth has been organic, with acquisitions accelerating after the firm brought in outside capital in 2021.
- Ozur said Lido uses a proprietary M&A scorecard to rank targets and direct resources toward the best-fit firms before meetings with management.
- He said acquired partners can choose between cash and equity, with a minimum equity requirement to keep incentives aligned across the firm.
- Ozur said Lido has six or seven people working full time on AI and built a centralized data repository so systems can share information cleanly.
- He said the firm sees a path from about 45 billion to 46 billion in assets today to 150 billion to 200 billion over the next four to seven years.
Notable quotes
“we think of ourselves as very unique. When I started at Lita, we had six people and about $400 million”
“we needed a financial backer. We needed a sophisticated financial backer”
“We are not an aggregator, we're an integrator”
“we want partners. We want as many equity holders in our business as possible”
“I see a path to getting to 150 to 200 billion”
How the episode opens
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Hi everyone, welcome to the RAIA Edge podcast. This is, I think, as you know by now, my chance to speak to executives in the independent wealth management space to try to understand a little bit about how they're approaching executive management, how they make decisions, how they decide where to allocate resources, how they approach growth, etc. And today I'm thrilled to be joined by Jason Oer, the co-CEO now, and we can get into that of of Leo Advisors.
Jason, thanks very much for joining us.
Yeah, thanks for having me, David. Appreciate it. — For for the folks who don't know, and I'm sure that's not many, but how would you describe Leo Advisors to people inside the wealth management industry or in the broader financial services industry as opposed to prospects or clients? How do you talk about Leo Ad?
Yeah, Leo Advisors is very unique. Look, there's what over 20,000 RAS within the independent space, but we think of ourselves as very unique. When I started at Lita, we had six people and about $400 million.
And 75 to 80% of our growth has been organic throughout the years. So, we are independently owned. And when I say independently owned, yes, we have a private equity backer, but there are 280 shareholders in our company, which I think is very rare in the industry.
When you think about other REAS, we are predominantly employee.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ria growth
- employee ownership
- organic growth
- acquisitions
- artificial intelligence
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Lido Advisors
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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