Jack Seibald Jack Seibald and his partner, who co-founded Concept Capital Markets, a prime brokerage head-quartered in Garden City, NY, used to be hedge fund managers; they launched a sector long/short equity fund in '97 called Whiteford . That is why they know how to provide assistance and solutions to effectively launch your fund.

"Much of what Concept has become, including the infrastructure that supports the business and the services offered to hedge fund managers stems from that experience," he tells Opalesque.

"We have sat on that side of the table and know that managers tend to have preferences for what they trade, how they trade, who they trade with, how they look at their portfolio, what kind of reports they like."

So a standardized offering will not work, but a flexible one will.

Concept's platform makes sure managers don't have to make to many adjustments to fit in, whether in terms of trading means or reporting for example. It is all about, make yourself comfortable and start trading.

Under the usually correct assumption that most emerging managers have never run a business before, Concept also provides a pre-launch consulting service. Seibald explains this service helps managers understand their future needs, the service providers they will have to hire (often together with actual introductions) and their budget. "This helps managers understand what they are getting themselves into and I think they most appreciate that," he adds.

Concept's revenues for the most part come in the form of commission on transaction activity. "But it's also about building the relationships," he......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.