Consultants are one of the most structured and relationship-driven channels in institutional fundraising.
For emerging managers, breaking into the consultant channel requires patience, discipline, and a clear understanding of how these organizations operate. Consultants serve large institutional clients — public pensions, endowments, foundations, and increasingly OCIO relationships — and their job is to evaluate and recommend managers with rigor.
The good news: consultants are looking for emerging managers. Many of the largest consulting firms have dedicated emerging manager programs, and a growing number of specialized emerging manager consultants exist solely to identify and scale early-stage firms. The opportunity is real. But you have to run the process correctly.
These best practices reflect how successful emerging managers are approaching the consultant channel today, and how Dakota Marketplace helps teams identify the right contacts, programs, and timing to build durable relationships.
Why This Channel Matters Now
The consultant channel is evolving. Traditional large consultants like NEPC and Mercer continue to influence significant pools of institutional capital. At the same time, the OCIO model is growing rapidly, with firms like Hightower and Cerity expanding their footprint and integrating consulting and discretionary management.
Alongside this, a dedicated ecosystem of emerging manager consultants — including Xponance, Legato, and Bivium — has developed specifically to identify, evaluate, and allocate to early-stage managers. These firms are not gatekeepers. They are partners actively looking for the next generation of talent.
Emerging managers who understand how to navigate this landscape, and who engage it systematically and early, are the ones who convert introductory conversations into meaningful AUM.
Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace to see how you can identify consultant relationships aligned with your strategy and organize targeted outreach with discipline.
Top 10 Best Practices for Emerging Managers
1. Understand How the Consultant Ecosystem Is Structured
Not all consultants are the same. Know the difference before you start.
Large, traditional consultants serve institutional clients with extensive due diligence processes and long evaluation timelines. Emerging manager consultants are dedicated to your world — their entire business model is built around identifying and allocating to early-stage managers. OCIO practices are a growing hybrid, blending advisory and discretionary roles.
Map the landscape before you start calling. Know who you're talking to, who they serve, and what role they play in the allocation process.
2. Get Your Data Into Their Databases
Before you make a single outreach call, make sure your information is in the right places.
Most large consultants have manager databases and formal submission processes. If your data isn't there, you don't exist in their workflow. This is table stakes. It's not glamorous, but it matters. When a consultant begins due diligence on your strategy, they will look for you. Make sure they find you.
This is one of the highest-return administrative tasks an emerging manager can complete.
3. Be Crystal Clear About What You Do
Consultants evaluate hundreds of managers. Ambiguity is a dealbreaker.
Your outreach — whether by email, pitch deck, or database submission — needs to communicate your asset class, strategy, and differentiation in one or two sentences. If a consultant can't immediately understand your mandate, they will move on.
Clarity also serves a secondary purpose. Even if a consultant isn't looking for your strategy today, a well-written description gets filed for future reference. Specificity creates memory. Ambiguity disappears.
4. Think of Early Outreach as R&D, Not a Hard Close
For many emerging managers, the consultant channel is a longer-cycle relationship. That's fine. Approach it accordingly.
The goal of initial outreach is awareness, not an immediate allocation. Make sure the analysts and program managers know who you are, what you do, and how to find you when the time is right. Their job is to evaluate managers. Your job is to make sure they know you exist and can evaluate you clearly.
This mindset shift reduces frustration and increases consistency — both of which are essential in a channel defined by process.
5. Work the Channel From Both Directions
Don't rely solely on top-down outreach to the consulting firm itself.
Reach out directly to the underlying institutional clients that use these consultants — the public pensions, endowments, and foundations they advise. Working the channel from both the top down and the bottom up increases your surface area and creates multiple points of entry into the same relationship network.
When a consultant's client independently expresses interest in your strategy, it accelerates the evaluation process considerably.
Book a demo to see how Dakota Marketplace can help you map consultant relationships and their underlying institutional clients.
6. Prioritize Emerging Manager Programs
Dedicated emerging manager programs exist specifically to help managers like you.
Firms like Xponance, Legato, and Bivium have built their businesses around identifying early-stage talent and helping scale AUM. These are not secondary relationships — they should be primary targets. Their mandate is to find you. Your job is to make sure they can.
Do not overlook these firms in favor of only chasing the largest traditional consultants. A strong relationship with a dedicated emerging manager consultant can be one of the most efficient ways to build early institutional momentum.
7. Use Content to Build Familiarity Before the First Meeting
Consultants are sophisticated professionals who consume market commentary, manager perspectives, and thematic research.
Quarterly webinars, LinkedIn insights, podcasts, and short-form thought leadership all create familiarity before your outreach email ever arrives. You don't need a large budget. You need consistency and substance.
When a due diligence analyst has heard your name, seen your commentary, or watched a prior webinar before you reach out, the cold call becomes a warm one. Familiarity lowers friction.
8. Maintain Consistent Follow-Up
Consultants are busy. Timing matters. The manager who disappears after one unanswered email rarely gets a call back.
Build a follow-up cadence and stick to it. City scheduling — the practice of identifying which markets you're covering each quarter and working through your target list systematically — is one of the most effective ways to maintain consistent outreach without burning out your team or your prospects.
Consistency signals seriousness. It tells a consultant that you run a disciplined operation — which is exactly what they are evaluating.
9. Prepare for Rigorous Due Diligence
When a consultant does engage, be ready.
Due diligence analysts will ask about your track record, your process, your team, and your prior communications. Many will go back and review prior quarters' webinars and materials to assess consistency. Has your philosophy changed? Is the same team in place? Have you said what you said you would?
An archive of consistent, professional quarterly communications is one of the most underrated due diligence assets an emerging manager can build. Start early. Stay consistent.
10. Combine Process With Patience
The consultant channel rewards discipline over time, not intensity in the short term.
Have a defined process: a target list, structured outreach, consistent follow-up, and professional materials. Pair that process with realistic expectations about timeline. Relationships with consultants are built over quarters and years, not weeks.
The emerging managers who succeed in this channel are the ones who show up professionally and consistently — and who are still showing up when the timing finally aligns.
Why These Best Practices Matter Now
The consultant channel is growing more accessible to emerging managers, not less. Dedicated emerging manager programs are expanding. The OCIO model is creating new entry points. And consultants themselves are increasingly dependent on inbound manager outreach to source new ideas.
At the same time, competition is rising. The managers who break through are those who communicate clearly, engage early, and build relationships with patience and professionalism.
In today's environment, process and persistence are a competitive advantage.
How Dakota Supports These Best Practices
At Dakota, we believe fundraising is a repeatable process.
Through Dakota Marketplace, emerging managers can identify and organize targeted consultant prospects — including dedicated emerging manager programs — structure outreach efforts, and maintain consistent follow-up. Our platform is built to support disciplined cold outreach and long-cycle relationship management.
Beyond data, The Dakota Way emphasizes clarity, consistency, and long-term relationship building — the same principles that define success in the consultant channel.
For emerging managers ready to engage consultants seriously, the opportunity is there. The managers who win are those who combine process, professionalism, and persistence.
Book a demo today to see how Dakota Marketplace helps you execute these best practices with scale and precision.
