Workshop

Inside a Family Office: How They Operate, Think and Invest

Barak Peled

Family Office Advisor & Co-Investor

Before Raising - Get to Know What a Family Office is and How it Operates

The name "Family Office" hides a whole spectrum of structures: from a single family quietly managing a few hundred million through one trusted advisor, to sprawling multi-family institutions running billions across private equity, real estate, and direct deals with teams that rival Wall Street firms. Most professionals, bankers, consultants, founders, even asset managers, have never seen how one actually works from the inside, because family offices are built to stay invisible. There's no regulatory filing that explains their thinking, no annual report, no public playbook.

That is exactly the problem. If you're raising capital, advising wealthy families, building a career in private markets, or simply trying to understand where serious money quietly moves, you need to know how family offices actually think, not how they're portrayed. How do they weigh a 100-year time horizon against a hot deal? Who really makes the decision, the CIO or the family? Why do some go direct into deals while others stay in funds?

This workshop pulls back the curtain, giving you the mindset, governance, and investment logic that drives these institutions, and how to speak their language when it matters.

What you’ll learn

You'll go from outsider to insider: understanding how family offices think, decide, and invest, and how to work with them credibly.

  • Understand why capital preservation, not maximizing returns, drives most family office decisions

  • See how single-family and multi-family office models differ in structure, cost, and control

  • Learn why family offices increasingly compete directly with institutional investors on deals.

  • Identify the real decision-makers: CIO, investment committee, family council, or the family itself

  • Learn where governance breaks down, and why that matters if you're pitching or advising.

  • Understand how investment committees are structured and where authority actually sits.

  • Use the "preserve, grow, legacy" framework to evaluate a family's investment priorities.

  • Understand how a family's source of wealth shapes its appetite for risk and illiquidity.

  • Practice thinking in multi-generational time horizons, not quarterly return cycles.

  • Learn why family offices tolerate illiquidity and long lockups other allocators can't.

  • Understand the shift toward direct deals and co-investments over fund structures.

  • See how real estate and private equity typically anchor a family office portfolio.

  • Practice sourcing a family office's public thesis, principals, and latest deal from scratch.

  • Experience first-hand how opaque these institutions are, and what that means for your work

Workshop agenda

  • What is a Family Office?

    Learn the core definitions, why family offices exist, and the key difference between single-family and multi-family structures, including typical scale, team composition, and organizational setup.

  • How They Think: The Family Office Mindset

    Explore the mindset that drives family office decisions: capital preservation over maximizing returns, multi-generational time horizons, and how the source of wealth shapes risk appetite.

  • How They Operate: Governance & Structure

    Understand investment committees, family councils, and real decision rights. See why family offices increasingly go direct on deals, and where governance breakdowns typically occur.

  • How They Invest: Asset Allocation & Strategy

    Examine typical family office portfolios: heavier allocation to alternatives and private equity, tolerance for illiquidity, and the shift toward direct co-investments over fund structures.

  • Risks, Pitfalls & the Human Element

    Look at why most family wealth doesn't survive to the third generation, how succession gaps and sibling conflict undermine even well-run offices, and how to spot warning signs early.

  • Real-world Research and Analysis Task

    Apply what you've learned: research a real family office's public thesis, decision-makers, and most recent deal, then discuss findings and what opacity reveals about how these firms operate.

Learn directly from Barak

Barak Peled

Barak Peled

Contact

Founder and managing partner at DR-Ventures

See all products from Barak

Who this workshop is for

  • General Partners, Emerging Fund Managers, Venture Capitalists

  • Business Founders, Startup Founders, Start-up Founders

  • Family Office, Networking Experts, Investor Relations Managers, Business Developers

What's included

Barak Peled

Live sessions

Learn directly from Barak Peled in a real-time, interactive format.

Lifetime access

Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.

Community of peers

Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.

Verified Starter List of 20 Family Offices

A starter database of verified family office with public open websites to launch your research and study with

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Frequently asked questions

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Private cohort

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£225

GBP

Sep 15
·

9–11am EDT

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1 more cohort