Most sub-institutional funds fail because they do not have an intelligent marketing process. 

Some of the best performing sub-institutional funds are not successful raising assets while other funds, with only moderate and even poor performance, are more successful attracting assets. The major reason for this paradoxical situation is the difference between intelligent marketing and indifferent or non-existent marketing.

Candidly, implementing an intelligent marketing process is mission critical for new and smaller hedge funds.

When asked to describe alpha generation all funds talk about process, which requires investment in skilled human resources, systems and documented procedures. Marketing and fundraising are distinctly separate but complementary processes, requiring the same degree of thought, structure, planning, discipline and consistency as investing or trading.

Few new or smaller funds acutely understand the holistic commitment to marketing now required to achieve success raising assets. The vast majority of new and smaller funds approach marketing as ad-hoc events, such as attending conferences and posting performance to popular databases, not as a carefully-crafted, well-researched process. As such, most do not make the necessary investments in professional resources, appropriate infrastructure and skill development. More critically, the overwhelming majority operate without a documented, detailed written strategic and tactical plan with budget. Most new and smaller hedge funds have zero marketing budget. The culmination of marketing process deficiencies and mistakes which ultimately prove fatal is failure to raise assets.

Raising assets now requires the clear, coherent, concise, compelling and regulatory-compliant presentation of a fund's idiosyncratic approach (investment philosophy), behavioral (operational) distinction, competitive edge and key processes with complete confidence and conviction in a "user-friendly" format that can be easily understood, evaluated and assimilated by the RIGHT investors and intermediaries. This requires a high level of marketing acuity and discernment between strategic and tactical marketing. This serves as the essence of INTELLIGENT MARKETING.

STRATEGIC + TACTICAL + FINANCIAL = INTELLIGENT

This process eliminates inappropriate, inconsistent, inadequate and ineffective marketing activities to promote execution consistency and accountability to considerably increase success raising assets.