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Founder / Operator·RIA Rollups

Mike Capelle

Co-founder and Co-CEO at Modern Wealth Management

Laguna Beach, CA

MC
LinkedIn
Why they matter

Serial RIA-platform builder who took United Capital to a $750M Goldman exit and is now running Modern Wealth's PE-backed roll-up playbook in real time.

Background

Mike Capelle is Co-founder and Co-CEO of Modern Wealth Management, a national RIA aggregator he launched in April 2023 with fellow United Capital alumni Gary Roth and Jason Gordo, backed by $200 million in equity financing from Crestview Partners. He previously spent his career building wealth management platforms, including as Chief Platform Officer at United Capital (a $25 billion RIA sold to Goldman Sachs for $750 million in 2019) and as Managing Director/Head of High-Net-Worth Product at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management. He holds master's degrees from MIT (electrical engineering/computer science) and MIT Sloan, and started his career in microprocessor design at Intel.

Notable deals

  • 2019
    Co-founded and scaled United Capital to a $25B RIA across 90 offices as Chief Platform Officer, sold to Goldman Sachs for $750M
  • 2023
    Co-founded Modern Wealth Management with $200M equity financing from Crestview Partners
  • 2024
    Led Modern Wealth past $4B AUM via acquisition of C&J Wealth Advisors, ninth deal in 14 months

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Co-founder/Co-CEO of Modern Wealth Management (RIA aggregator, launched April 2023, Crestview Partners-backed with $200M)
  • Prior: Chief Platform Officer at United Capital (built to $25B AUM, 90 offices; sold to Goldman Sachs for $750M in 2019); then MD/Head of HNW Product at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management
  • MIT Sloan (management) + MIT (EECS); started career in chip design at Intel

Current focus

  • Scaling Modern Wealth through serial RIA acquisitions (13+ deals since launch, past $8.5B AUM by mid-2025)
  • Building an integrated tax/estate/insurance/wealth-planning platform for mass-affluent and HNW clients
  • Actively courting advisory firms and "anchor office" targets for tuck-ins

What he cares about

  • Technology/platform infrastructure as a competitive moat (his operating background at United Capital and Goldman)
  • Broadening service breadth (tax, estate, retirement plan/wealth crossover) rather than pure AUM growth
  • Advisor retention and integration quality post-acquisition

Potential sensitivities

  • United Capital's post-acquisition performance under Goldman was publicly criticized before Goldman exited that business (sold to Creative Planning in 2023) — he may be guarded discussing what went wrong
  • As a PE-backed roll-up (Crestview), questions on valuation, leverage, or eventual exit timeline may be deflected

Questions to ask

  1. What specific lessons from the United Capital/Goldman integration are you applying differently at Modern Wealth's acquisitions?
  2. How do you evaluate "anchor office" targets, and what does the pipeline look like for the next 12 months?
  3. What's the long-term capital/ownership plan with Crestview — is another platform sale or recap on the horizon?

Outreach draft

Subject
Question on RIA roll-up playbook post-United Capital
Hi Mike, I've been following Modern Wealth's growth since the 2023 launch — going from the Crestview-backed start to past $8.5B in AUM through more than a dozen acquisitions is a fast build, especially given your firsthand view of how United Capital's platform scaled (and later struggled) inside Goldman. I'd love 20 minutes to hear how you're thinking about the next phase of growth: acquisition pipeline, integration approach, and how you're balancing service breadth (tax, estate, retirement) against speed of expansion. Happy to work around your schedule. Would a short call sometime in the next couple of weeks work? Best, [Placeholder Name]

Linked companies

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