Case study

Running a family office as a one-woman team: That’s easy with Addepar

For over ten years, Belgium-based independent advisory firm and family office, Bird&Bee, has been serving as a trusted advisor for a range of HNW clients. After a 25-year career in the family office industry, Tanja Michiels — the firm’s founder, owner and one-woman team — has finally found the technology solution she’d been searching for, in Addepar. 

As a one-person company, Bird&Bee has leveraged Addepar’s solutions to transform its reporting and long-term wealth evolution planning capabilities. For a streamlined firm driven by innovation, Addepar has proved invaluable when it comes to transgenerational portfolio management. 

And for Tanja Michiels, there’s really no looking back. “Without Addepar, I couldn’t do all of this by myself. Addepar offers firms a way of elevating professionalism, of giving better advice to clients. As the world becomes increasingly complex, you need tools as sophisticated as this.”

LOCATION

Antwerp, Belgium

FOUNDER

Tanja Michiels

ESTABLISHED

2015

HEADCOUNT

1

THE CHALLENGE

Encouraging long-term investing while managing liquidity

While clients’ core businesses often have multi-generational planning horizons, their investment thinking is often more short-term. Helping families feel secure in longer-term commitments — while managing an increasing desire for liquidity — is a key challenge for Bird&Bee, particularly when navigating different appetites for risk within families.

When I first engaged with Addepar, I was looking for the best tool, the best option available. It is the biggest player and the only company that can do what I need and want. I have finally found something sophisticated and professional.

Tanja Michiels, Founder, Bird&Bee

Removing error-prone, time-consuming manual processes

Before Addepar, Bird&Bee relied on an Excel-based reporting system, requiring the hiring of staff and extensive manual effort. It was a labour-intensive and risky process. “The problem with creating reports in Excel is that you have to be incredibly accurate,” says Michiels. “You can’t make any mistakes or you have endless errors, and have to spend a huge amount of time correcting them.”

Catering to a multi-generational client base

With its focus on transgenerational wealth management, finding the most effective tools for forward-planning and projection was a crucial challenge for Bird&Bee, alongside an ability to cater to the expectations of younger generations. “The next generation looks towards innovation and impact,” says Tanja. “We needed technology that was truly innovative.”

With Addepar, Bird&Bee has experienced:

1x

full-time employee headcount saved

100%

reduction in risk of manual data entry and calculation errors

<1

minute spent on inputting a private fund transaction

THE RESULT

Overall, Bird&Bee has found Addepar user-friendly and entirely manageable to operate as a one-person firm — and Tanja Michiels cites the support of the help desk as a big draw when it comes to training. As a result, Addepar has transformed how Bird&Bee functions as a business and has become a vital part of the firm’s operations. Using Addepar has resulted in a significant series of beneficial outcomes for the firm.

Enhanced efficiency and accuracy

First, the platform's automation features and reporting capabilities have allowed Tanja Michiels to service HNW families while maintaining her streamlined headcount. 

“I use Addepar constantly — daily. I use it to enter transactions and it takes me less than a minute per private fund transaction. It is very easy and quick. I also use it on a monthly basis for reporting and updating cash flow projections,” says Tanja Michiels. “It saves significant time, particularly when inputting a new investment. I can do that in just a few clicks now.”

This massive boost in efficiency has freed the founder to spend more time on value-add activities — something she sees as a significant benefit. “Now I can take on more clients and I can spend my time adding value,” explains Michiels. 

“I can do deep dives into fund selection, comparing strategies, etc. I can leverage my network and experience, rather than spending my time on Excel. For me, Addepar is a tool and my value is what I do with it. For example, what extra intelligence can I add to the picture painted by Addepar’s modelling and projection tool, Navigator?”

Next, the firm highlighted improved data accuracy as another significant outcome of transitioning to Addepar, with the automation of transaction entry eliminating the risk of human error and saving significant time. “It gives me a lot of comfort and security that I know the data behind everything is correct. Everything is calculated and all data is accurate.”

Without Addepar, I couldn’t do all of this by myself. Addepar offers firms a way of elevating professionalism, of giving better advice to clients. As the world becomes increasingly complex, you need tools as sophisticated as this.

Tanja Michiels, Founder, Bird&Bee

Becoming a ‘cash engineer’ and addressing the needs of future generations

For Tanja, Addepar is more than just a reporting tool — it’s helped her to encourage clients to invest over the long term, and support the protection and evolution of wealth for future generations. 

With the ability to model long-term liquidity and illiquidity scenarios, Tanja can help clients think more strategically about their portfolios. Addepar’s Navigator feature has been particularly instrumental in guiding clients through major liquidity events and helping to demonstrate the security and availability of cash going forward — something of huge concern to clients in today’s world. 

“Fundamentally, Navigator supports better cash management. It gives clients peace of mind that they have enough cash, and answers client questions around making new commitments. I can show them Navigator to help give clients the security they need for long-term investing,” says Tanja Michiels. “Because we can manage liquidities much better — put cash to work in other instruments — I would describe it as ‘cash engineering’: managing cash, but in a really smart way.”

Combining long-term planning with the availability of Addepar’s mobile app and Client Portal, Bird&Bee feels able to cater to the tech expectations and wealth needs of the next generation.

Gaining a competitive edge

Tanja Michiels notes that peers in Belgium are increasingly approaching the firm with questions about Addepar. Tanja also uses the platform when pitching to new clients. 

“I always bring up Addepar in conversations with prospects. I show them examples of reporting and always mention Navigator. I am the only one in Belgium who has such professional reporting; everyone else is still using Excel. More and more people are contacting me because of Addepar,” says Tanja Michiels.

“When I first engaged with Addepar, I was looking for the best tool, the best option available. It is the biggest player and the only company that can do what I need and want. I have finally found something sophisticated and professional.”