Conceiving United Capital and client focus

With Joe Duran – Managing Partner, Rise Growth Partners

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NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Diamond Consultants. Neither Diamond Consultants nor the guests on this podcast are compensated in any way for their participation.

About this episode…

Joe Duran’s career has always been about reaching new heights—and then helping others climb on their own. A proverbial mountain climber himself, Joe built and sold two of the most successful firms in the RIA space: Centurion Capital and United Capital.

Today, Joe sees himself as a sherpa—guiding the next generation of entrepreneurs through his latest venture, Rise Growth Partners. His story is one of constant reinvention, relentless curiosity, and the humility to keep asking one simple question: “What if I’m wrong?”

Joe first joined us on the show back in 2020, shortly after the sale of United Capital to Goldman Sachs. Now, with the benefit of both hindsight and foresight, Joe revisits that experience and explores the mindset behind building truly world-class firms, including:

• The Goldman experience—and what he learned from the sale of United Capital.
• The development of Rise—and how he sees it helping to shift the narrative in the industry.
• Learning from your clients instead of your competitors—and why that’s the real key to building a world-class firm.
• Finding an investor that can “really help you—and why you need to look beyond “financiers.”
• Adding services without adding staff—and when you shouldn’t look in-house for solutions.
• Challenging your assumptions—and how to stay relevant in an industry that never stops changing.
• And why being great doesn’t necessarily mean being the biggest.

Joe also reflects on how the industry can avoid the risk of mega-RIAs repeating the mistakes of the wirehouses.

It’s a candid and thought-provoking conversation about reinvention, leadership, value creation, and what it means to evolve from mountain climber to sherpa from one of the industry’s trailblazers.

Want to learn more about where, why, and how advisors like you are moving? Click to contact us or call 908-879-1002.

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Joe Duran
Managing Partner

Joe Duran is a serial entrepreneur and an industry visionary in wealth management and wealthtech.

Early in 2024, Joe and his team launched Rise Growth Partners (‘Rise’), the industry’s first harmonious financial partner. With firsthand experience in building nationally recognized registered investment advisers (RIAs), Rise’s team partners with middle-market RIAs, providing capital and strategic expertise.

Previously, Joe was a Partner at Goldman Sachs, serving as Co-Head of the Workplace and Personal Wealth business. He founded and served as CEO of United Capital, one of the nation’s largest independent wealth management firms, which Goldman Sachs acquired in July 2019. Prior to that, he built and sold Centurion Capital–one of the first turnkey asset management platforms–to General Electric, where he served as President of GE Private Asset Management (now listed as NYSE: AMK).

Joe is the author of three bestselling books on investing and entrepreneurship. He is a sought-after conference and podcast speaker and appears frequently on a broad spectrum of media, ranging from CNBC to Goop.

Joe has MBAs from Columbia University and UC Berkeley, as well as an undergraduate degree from Saint Louis University. He is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO), the world’s largest leadership community of chief executives. A Yogi for decades, he meditates daily and is an avid beach volleyball player.

Joe and his wife Jennifer cherish their three daughters and share a love of frequent travel, dining, dancing and live concerts.

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