Episode summary
The WealthStack Podcast: How AI Is Modernizing Private Markets With Arch’s Ryan Eisenman
Summary
Private markets are still run on fragmented systems, and Ryan Eisenman argued that the real bottleneck is not access to capital but the manual operating burden behind it. He said Arch is trying to make private investments feel more like a modern brokerage experience by centralizing documents, structuring data, and automating workflows across portals, inboxes, spreadsheets, and reporting systems.
Eisenman pointed to Arch’s estimate that a single private equity fund can require more than 5,500 manual actions over its life, and said that burden multiplies quickly as RIAs and family offices scale to hundreds or thousands of investments. He said Arch has already automated a large share of those clicks, while still building toward one-click handling for capital calls, subscription documents, and diligence.
A major theme was that AI only becomes useful when the underlying data is trusted and structured. Eisenman said Arch uses document history and network data to surface concentration, look-through exposure, and anomalies, and he highlighted wire verification for capital calls as a response to fraud risk. He also said the firm is moving toward portfolio-wide AI Q&A while keeping investment judgment with humans.
Key takeaways
- Eisenman said Arch estimates managing one private equity fund can require more than 5,500 manual actions over its life.
- Arch says it has already solved a little over 84% of the clicks in its private-markets workflow.
- Eisenman argued that trusted, structured data is the prerequisite for useful AI in private markets, not a replacement for human judgment.
- He said wire fraud around capital calls is a real operational risk, and Arch Pay is designed to verify those notices.
- For RIAs and family offices, Eisenman said the best time to build scalable private-markets processes is early, before the program reaches 200 or more investments.
Notable quotes
“It is how firms can actually build the infrastructure, trusted data, and AI capabilities needed to manage those investments at scale”
“we're kind of like the single pane of glass source of truth of investments while automating the underlying work of getting your information”
“we estimate we've solved a little over 84% of the clicks today”
How the episode opens
As wealth shifts to the next generation, client expectations are shifting, too. The next generation of investors expects intuitive, personalized digital experiences on par with their everyday digital experiences like Uber or Amazon. Smart IQ from Smart Communications helps wealth management firms deliver that intuitive, personalized experience to your clients by modernizing onboarding and client servicing, capturing complete and accurate data, reducing friction, and supporting compliance throughout the client journey.
Prepare your firm for the next generation of wealth at smartcommunications.com. Welcome to the Wealth Stack podcast. I'm your host Shannon Rosik, the director of Wealth Stack Content Solutions.
And today we're looking at the hidden complexity behind private markets. As private market allocations grow, the question is no longer just how investors gain access. It is how firms can actually build the infrastructure, trusted data, and AI capabilities needed to manage those investments at scale and make better decisions.
So to help us unpack all that, I'm joined by Ryan Eisman, CEO and co-founder of Arch. And Arch actually sits at the center of the private investment ecosystem which connects investors, advisers, institutions, accountants, and asset managers through a unified platform for private markets, data, documents, workflows, and insights. So Ryan, welcome to the show.
Shannon, thanks for having me. I'm sorry I missed you at Future Proof this week, but excited to be here now. — I know I've missed you at all the industry events lately, the wealthies, future proof, all of it. So now you're trapped with me on the Wealth Stack podcast finally. So, I've been excited to have this conversation with you. And I'm actually going to hit you with the hardest question you will get this entire conversation, which is
Great. — What makes Ryan well Ryan both personally and professionally?
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai for private markets
- private market data infrastructure
- automation and workflow
- look-through and concentration data
- human judgment in investment decisions
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Arch
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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