Family Offices + Independent Sponsors = Strong Match

NYC-based James Bohannon works at Belzberg & Co, a multi-family office with a keen eye to the independent sponsor asset class. Drawing on years of conference repetition and real world deal experience, James explains how family offices truly think about backing independent sponsors.

Minds Capital is an equity fund for independent sponsors. We invest $1-3m of equity per platform and average one commitment per month.

James Bohannon was a guest on Acquiring Minds in 2025, where he delivered a primer on family offices and their growing role in the deal-by-deal ecosystem. After 3-4 years of conference attendance and active deal exposure, James states that independent sponsors are no longer fringe players. Capital is moving down-market fast in pursuit of juicier returns, and the incentive and cultural alignment between independent sponsors and family offices are driving factors.

James warns that when 1 LP represents 80-90% of the capital in a deal, the sponsor is no longer in control. This power dynamic evolves over the course of a deal (pre- and post-closing), but also over time as an independent sponsor builds a portfolio and track record. Where sponsors often accept any capital they can find, James argues that sponsors must reference check investors with the same rigor that LPs apply to GPs: talk to past partners, ask how they behaved when deals broke or when numbers missed. His analogy is dating, where early chemistry means nothing if incentives diverge later.

James also distinguishes between funded capital (PE) and family office capital in that the former must deploy. PE funds have management fees, fund lives, promotion cycles, and fundraising pressure every ~3 years. Family offices do not. That flexibility can affect economics (either way), but it also means strategy can change overnight. Neither is superior. What matters is knowing who actually decides, what mandate they operate under, and how they behave when returns are volatile.

The best LP relationships last 30-40 years. Great investors show up for deal 2, bridge capital in bad moments, and protect reputation as aggressively as returns. Independent sponsors are not just closing deals, but also compounding trust. Choosing the wrong capital partner early can cost more than any bad acquisition.