Creating an Identity for your Hedge Fund Management Company

Maybe one of the more important pieces of the management company identity is the logo (the other important piece is the hedge fund management company name).  The logo will generally appear on the management company website, the tearsheets, and potentially even in the hedge fund private placement memorandum.  Mangers can get their logos from a number of different sources including: professional design studios, hedge fund consultants, local design students, or through contests.  This article will provide some background detail on these different sources.

Professional Design Studios

The professional design studios deal with a large number of organizations which are just beginning a new business.  These studios cater to the start-up business who knows that knows it needs a brand identity but does not have the artistic and technical expertise needed to create a logo, brand identity, and other hedge fund marketing materials.  Generally, these professional design firms can be found at various places on the internet like elance, craigslist and through simple google searches.

Most professional design shops will charge for a company logo on a flat fee basis.  Under the flat fee, the shop will provide “x” number of potential logos to start with.   Then you will provide input on one logo that you like and the designer assigned to your project will go through a pre-determined number of iterations with you to get the logo to how you want it.  Generally, if there are revisions to the logo after the iterations are through, the shop will charge on an hourly basis for the designer’s time.

Hedge Fund Consultants

There are a number of groups out there who work as hedge fund consultants, which is a broad term meant to encompass a number of different services.  One service that consultants may provide is the creation of logos and other sorts of marketing materials for the manager.  While the cost for the consultant is likely to be similar to (or higher than) the professional design studio, the hedge fund consultant will usually be able to justify the higher cost because of their unique industry insight.  Like searching for other types of service providers, you should shop around and ask to see samples of some of the work completed by these consultants – there are a lot of poorly designed logos and marketing materials out there, but there are also a lot of very well-done, professional looking pieces.

Local Design Students

I am a big believer in utilizing non-established, hungry students to produce high caliber designs for low prices.  Many art school students are quite talented and need projects to develop their portfolio.  Because of this, you can get very high quality work for cheap – this may be perfect for those start-up groups which would like to have a corporate identity but don’t want to pay the higher prices for a professional design studio and consultants.  With design students, you are probably going to need to be a little more detailed in your instructions and what you would like your logo to portray.  The students, while technically proficient, generally will not have the experience to know what a hedge fund management company logo and other marketing materials “should” look like.

Logo Contests

One great way to get a logo on the cheap is to post your project on a contest board.  These contest boards allow a business to submit a request for logo designs with the winner receiving a predetermined amount.  After a certain period of time, the manager will choose a design from the submissions generated and the designer will then receive the prize for creating the winning design.  Such contests are ideal for a couple of different reasons.  First, the manager gets a chance to see a wide variety of different logo possibilities (opposed to three or so possibilities which is usual for large design studios).  Second, when the manager chooses the winning entry, the manager can choose to work with the designer directly for future projects.  Generally sole-proprietor designers are going to be cheaper than the big design firms and can potentially be a great service provider for the future and help you with other design projects such as your hedge fund pitchbook or your hedge fund website.

There are a number of sites out there which have these logo contests.  One site is www.99designs.com.

Conclusion

While it is not a necessity at the beginning of the business, managers will want to think about a logo and other marketing materials when they are getting ready to present to individuals and institutions who are more removed from their initial friends and family circle.  Many of these potential investors are pitched on a continual basis so you need to make sure your marketing materials are clean and professional.  If your marketing materials do not look professional, it will reflect poorly on your management company.

Please contact us if you have further questions or if you would like help launching your hedge fund website.  Other related articles include:

• Hedge Fund Website
• Hedge Fund Tearsheet
• Hedge Fund Pitchbook
• How to Raise Capital for your Hedge Fund