The Investor with Joel Palathinkal

Episode: Steven Saltzstein: FORCE Wealth
Release Date: September 28, 2025
Guest: Steven Saltzstein (Founder, FORCE Wealth)
Host: Dr. Joel Palathinkal

Episode Overview

This episode features a candid and informative conversation between Dr. Joel Palathinkal and Steven Saltzstein, founder of FORCE Wealth. The discussion explores Saltzstein’s career journey, insights into family office investing, the nuances between generalists and specialists in investment strategies, the evolution of co-investment models, emerging trends in impact and ESG investing, effective fundraising approaches for managers, and the importance of building authentic relationships in the world of institutional and family office capital allocation.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Steven Saltzstein’s Background & FORCE Wealth’s Mission

• Early Career & Experience

  • Started on Wall Street, working for a family office focused on direct investments and secured lending, completing about $1 billion in transactions (00:56–03:01).
  • Diversity in industry exposure—from the largest US orange grower to exclusive Japanese shipping families—fostered a generalist approach appreciated by family offices.

• Evolution to FORCE Wealth

  • Founded FORCE Wealth after hedge fund experience, identifying family offices as an increasingly institutional and collaborative allocation pool (03:01–03:50).
  • Main focus: building a network of deal-oriented family offices to share intellectual capital and co-investments (03:50–04:31).
  • Quote:

    “What we're doing is bringing them together in the context of co-investing and developing co-investment relationships. That is our calling card and being transaction oriented.” – Steven (03:20)

2. Generalist vs Specialist Approaches in Investing

• Benefits of Being a Generalist

  • Ability to communicate and understand multiple industries; recognizing investment life cycles that are mirrored in sectors as distant as biotech and mining (04:45–07:50).
  • Quote:

    “You see that cycle in almost every industry. I think the corollary is quite interesting. So being a generalist and being able to identify things like that, that's quite helpful.” – Steven (06:57)

• Downsides of a Generalist Approach

  • Limits in technical know-how for highly specialized domains but mitigated by bringing the right experts in for detailed analysis.

3. FORCE Wealth’s Services and Transaction Types

• Work with a broad spectrum: real estate funds, VC, PE, hedge funds, public and private companies (07:58–09:20).
• Recent initiatives:
  • Supporting companies to list large real estate debt on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange for ratings arbitrage/cheaper debt.
• Notable Moment:
  • Explanation of how debt listed in Tel Aviv benefits from ratings arbitrage, reducing borrowing costs (09:24).

4. Capital Raising Insights: Entrepreneurs vs Fund Managers

• Structural Differences

  • Funds have LP structures; family offices often prefer to sidestep this by requesting SPVs or direct co-investment to avoid complex LP relationships (10:14–12:55).

• Family Office Preferences

  • Shift from investing via funds/SPVs to direct, “cap table” participation—reflecting desire for control, transparency, and reduced fees (11:20–11:49).

• Co-investment Optionality

  • Family offices might agree to be LPs if accompanied by co-investment rights for greater upside on hot deals (12:55–13:12).
  • Quote:

    “A lot of families won't do it unless they can get, let's say, a 10% co-investment right on any new deal on top of their LP investment.” – Steven (12:55)

5. Due Diligence & Deal Analysis

• FORCE Wealth does basic vetting, but families rely primarily on their own staff and external advisors for deep due diligence; management teams’ quality is a decisive factor (13:46–14:15).

6. ESG and Impact Investing Trends

• Surge in demand from next-generation (G2/G3) family members, especially in ESG and impact investing (18:45–20:27).

• Notable increase in non-profit organizations and charities launching their own investment funds to become self-sustaining and to capture upside from successful ventures (20:27–24:48).

• Charity Fund Model

  • Classic example: American Cancer Society’s historical role in drug development and the potential scale if they'd retained royalty interests.
  • Funds typically structured as equity, deployed into seed/Series A opportunities with returns reinvested (23:29–24:48).

7. Relationship Building: The Cornerstone of Family Office Investing

• Emotional & Personal Component

  • Family offices value trust and qualitative factors much more than institutional allocators (28:48–30:26).
  • Closing deals is often about rapport, not just numbers—"Friendships first" as a key learning.
  • Quote:

    “With families you're really building, you know, they don't really invest in funds, they just invest in who they trust. That's my experience.” – Joel (29:23)

    “They just like them better.” – Steven (30:18, on why some managers get allocations despite others having better numbers/terms)

• Importance of Honest Feedback

  • Providing honest, non-sugarcoated feedback is often the most valued contribution and can lead to strong referrals (31:51–32:24).

8. Institutional Fundraising: State Pensions, Endowments, and Gatekeepers

• Institutional processes often require getting approval/guidance from consultants like Mercer, with emerging manager allocations managed by dedicated staff (32:56–34:54).
• Advice: Find and build genuine relationships with those emerging manager “book” heads (34:17–36:25).

9. Sustained Community and Outsider Involvement

• Effective networking requires selective event participation; curated gatherings are preferred over large, service-provider-heavy conferences (50:03–51:15).
• Service providers sometimes have unexpected access to deal flow and shouldn't be dismissed (51:15–51:47).

10. Investor Relations (IR) and Fundraising Best Practices

• Building a robust Rolodex, clear expectation-management, and transparency through both good and bad results are prized IR qualities (39:48–40:56).

• Quote:

  “The best thing you could do is set expectations and exceed those expectations. If you screw up and... have a bad quarter... that's fine. That's the best time to get on the phone and tell that person, this is what happened, this is what went wrong and this is how we're going to fix it.” – Steven (40:35)

• Fundraising is a long-term process requiring trust and patience—"a marathon, not a sprint” (41:39).

11. Q&A Highlights

• Global Investing Appetite

  • Significant interest in emerging markets from allocators. Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund is highlighted as a valuable first contact (49:02–50:03).
  • Networks span US and international family offices, with community events and curated gatherings (50:03–50:31).

• Longevity in Relationships

  • Value of never burning bridges: Steven cites 20- and 30-year client relationships, emphasizing the long tail of reputation (52:35–53:26).

12. Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Building Trust:

  "You have to say to yourself, this is a marathon, not a sprint. I'm in this for 10 years, okay?... The folks that treat people with respect and are transparent are the folks that are gonna carry the day.” – Steven (41:39)

• On Event Selectivity:

  “If you are truly in the mode of finding deal flow, you could find amazing deal flow from service providers. Anybody that says different doesn't really know about trying to find good deal.” – Steven (50:34)

• On Being Relationship-Driven:

  “My grandfather used to say, never burn a bridge. And no matter what happens... I have 20 and 30 year relationships.” – Steven (53:07)

Useful Timestamps

| Segment | Time | |-------------------------------------------|-----------| | Steven’s career journey & family offices | 02:04–04:31| | Generalist vs. specialist discussion | 04:31–07:50| | Fundraising for entrepreneurs vs managers | 09:54–13:12| | Families shifting to direct investments | 11:20–12:55| | ESG & next-gen family offices | 18:45–20:27| | Charities launching funds | 20:27–24:48| | Relationship-driven allocations | 29:23–31:28| | Honest feedback and trust in IR | 31:28–32:24| | Institutional fundraising tips | 32:56–36:25| | Community, events, and deal flow | 50:03–51:47| | Q&A on international reach | 49:02–50:03| | Client relationship longevity | 52:35–53:26|

Conclusion

This episode offers an insider’s perspective on the ever-evolving world of family office and institutional investing. Steven Saltzstein highlights the centrality of relationship-building, authenticity, and adaptability—whether navigating capital structures, coaching emerging managers, or building intergenerational wealth platforms. Listeners are equipped with actionable insights into structuring funds, engaging allocators, the future of ESG, and the nuanced differences in serving families versus institutions—all conveyed with real-world candor and expertise.