Preparing Your Firm for Its Next Stage of Growth with Brian Fernandez
Apple Podcasts 
Castro 
RSS Feed 
Spotify Episode 162: This week, Kyle Van Pelt talks with Brian Fernandez, President at Krilogy. Brian brings more than 20 years of experience working with complex family office needs and continues to serve clients as an advisor. As the firm’s integrator, he pairs that client perspective with a focus on operational excellence, helping translate its founder’s vision into execution.
Kyle and Brian explore how investing ahead of demand prepares an advisory firm for its next stage of growth. Brian explains how Krilogy uses EOS to create accountability, develops future partners through internal training, and reinforces culture as its team expands. They also discuss the ongoing responsibilities of building software, the importance of mastering tools before adding more, and the staffing demands behind family office services. Throughout the conversation, Brian considers how firms can expand their capabilities while remaining attentive to the people they serve.
In this episode:
(00:00) - Intro
(01:16) - Brian's money moment
(03:15) - Investing ahead of growth
(04:59) - Building a culture of organic growth
(08:05) - What makes a great integrator
(13:18) - The meaning behind Krilogy's name and its core purpose
(16:27) - Developing the next generation of advisors
(19:28) - How Krilogy preserves its culture despite rapid growth
(21:08) - Building a platform for entrepreneurial advisors
(23:02) - Krilogy's current tech stack and how it's evolving
(24:25) - Build vs buy: How Krilogy evaluates technology investment decisions
(26:22) - What's next for Krilogy
(28:03) - Why customized advice is harder than scaling a manufactured product
(29:07) - Brian's outlook about the future of the financial services industry
(33:44) - Brian's Milemarker Minute
Key Takeaways
Invest ahead of the growth curve. Don't wait until your firm is overwhelmed to build the people, systems, and infrastructure you'll need. Sustainable momentum comes from building executive capacity, infrastructure, and talent pipelines before reaching the next phase of growth.
Create a system for turning ideas into action. Visionaries need room to generate ideas, while operators need a process for prioritizing them. Separating idea generation from problem-solving can keep both sides productive.
Build your talent pipeline instead of waiting for talent to appear. Developing people internally can create advisors who understand both the technical side of the business and its culture and values. Training next-generation leaders through structured, in-house development systems builds deep cultural alignment and ensures senior leaders naturally step up to mentor incoming cohorts.
Culture has to become institutionalized as you scale. Strong cultures can't depend on one founder or executive. Teach the values consistently and give employees the confidence to hold one another accountable.
Quotes
"You need one central advisor to coordinate everything. You may have a number of great advisors, but somebody has to own it." ~ Brian Fernandez
"If we're creating human experience, as good as AI gets, I still think we're going to have the opportunity to be really trusted advisors and do the work that really is the emotional stuff around families, retirements, or selling businesses." ~ Brian Fernandez
"When I think about what a true family office means, it's about the complexity of the clients and the depth to which the advisors have to go. And it's also the frequency with which you're dealing with things." ~ Brian Fernandez
Links
Connect with our hosts
Subscribe and stay in touch