Rise and Reinvent: Joe Duran on Building and Rebuilding World-Class Firms

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.