Gerry McHugh
Most hedge funds don’t have a structural map. They have a collection of files that used to be one.
Excel tabs. Static diagrams. PDFs passed between legal, finance, and compliance. Each team working from a slightly different version, none of them current, none of them connected.
Fund structures are getting more complex. Regulatory expectations, particularly around Form PF, are getting more demanding. LP scrutiny isn’t letting up. The gap between the structure that exists and the one your team can actually see is getting harder to ignore.
So how do funds close that gap? There are five common approaches. Most of them just move the problem around.
Option 1: Spreadsheets and static diagrams. Still the default. Familiar, frictionless to procure, and outdated the moment someone closes the file. The number one cause of Form PF filing anxiety. No audit trail, no way to validate completeness, rebuild required every quarter.
Option 2: Build it in-house. A graph database, a data warehouse, an internal engineering project. Powerful in theory. 12 to 24 months to a workable prototype, multi-million-dollar commitment, and most internal builds die on the vine before they get there.
Option 3: Outsource to consultants. You get a well-designed snapshot. You pay six figures annually to keep getting new ones. Knowledge never transfers into your systems or your people.
Option 4: Admin system org charts. The data is already there, the effort is low, and the output is shallow. An org chart shows hierarchy. It doesn’t show blockers, feeders, counterparty relationships, or real-world flows. An accounting system is not a structural intelligence system.
Option 5: A data-driven visual workspace. Entity data, relationships, flows, and exposures combined into one connected, living model. Automatically updated. Auditable. Built specifically for the kind of disaggregation Form PF now requires.
The full breakdown, with the honest pros, cons, and a clear view of who each option actually suits, is in our guide.
Real-world impact
If there's one thing you need to know, it's everything.
Sam Whitman
Director of Knowledge Management
Holland & Knight LLP
StructureFlow significantly reduces the amount of time taken to create diagrams, making it easy for our lawyers to pivot and adapt a structure based on our clients' needs.
Walter Clark
Partner
Pinsent Masons
StructureFlow stands out because it is genuinely fixing a real problem making it so much easier for our lawyers to generate top quality group structure charts, which our clients love as well.
Nick Grandage
Global Head of Banking & Finance
Norton Rose Fulbright
The biggest benefit from StructureFlow is how it has improved our discussions with clients. It makes us a better law firm.
Nick Pryor
Director of Knowledge & innovation
Freeths
We use StructureFlow as a communication tool, a collaboration tool, with the third parties we work with - clients, accountants, private equity. There is so much room to grow and put StructureFlow in the centre of that.
Greg Baker
Global Head of Practice Innovation
Linklaters LLP
StructureFlow is now an integral part of our text workbench, enhancing the client and lawyer experience and driving efficiency.
