Answer
Start with a written investment mandate, an investor profile and a map of the people responsible for the fund. Agio can discuss fund licensing and administration around that brief. The appropriate structure, operating arrangements and launch estimate depend on the proposed fund and its advisers' review.
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Describe the strategy, intended asset types, investor locations, expected investor profile and target scale. Add dealing frequency, liquidity needs and proposed custody arrangements. Mark assumptions and unresolved questions. A short, specific brief lets the first discussion focus on feasibility, providers and decisions still needed.
Ask advisers to compare the proposed investor base, offering terms, reporting requirements and governance against the available structures. Record why each option fits or fails your mandate. Agree the applicable requirements for the actual model before adopting financial thresholds or a timetable from a general description.
SMART Fund questions →Create a responsibility list covering the sponsor, manager, directors, legal adviser, administrator, auditor and custody provider. For each, record the deliverable, approving person and dependency. Confirm which roles Agio would perform in the engagement and which require a separate provider or appointment.
Track unresolved offering terms, incomplete due diligence, provider acceptance, legal documentation and operational readiness. Ask for a milestone plan that names the owner of each dependency. Revisit the estimate when the strategy, investor profile or custody arrangement changes; a website estimate cannot settle those dependencies.
Separate one-off setup work, recurring administration and third-party charges. Ask what investor volume, transaction activity, valuation frequency and reporting outputs each proposal assumes. Record exclusions and change triggers alongside the fee schedule so proposals describe a comparable scope of work.
Walk through a sample investor from eligibility review to subscription recording, valuation and reporting. Check who handles an incomplete application, missing payment reference or reconciliation exception. Agree the acceptance criteria and escalation contacts before setting an opening date.
Plan NAV and reconciliation →Next step
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