How do you write an investment mandate a platform can screen against?
Last reviewed: 18 September 2026
Separate the mandate into three parts. Hard constraints that disqualify an opportunity outright, scored preferences that indicate stronger or weaker fit, and explicit exclusions. Write each in concrete terms with numbers and named categories rather than adjectives, and date the version so changes are visible.
Key takeaways
- /Family office software splits into aggregation and reporting, CRM, market databases, administration and investment platforms. Most offices run several and feel the gaps between them.
- /Reuben AI covers the investment side end to end: mandate, screening, diligence, memo, valuation and monitoring across every asset class the family holds.
- /It does not replace the general ledger, the custodian feed or the family's accountants.
- /Category map: /family-office-software. Solution detail: /solutions/family-office.
Hard constraints are the easy part once you commit to specifics. Asset classes accepted, stage or lifecycle, geographies, currencies, vehicle and instrument types, minimum and maximum cheque size, ownership or control requirements, and any concentration limits set by the committee.
Scored preferences are where most mandates go vague. Replace phrases like high quality management with the observable signals you actually use, such as prior operating experience in the same sector or a named customer concentration threshold. If you cannot make it observable, keep it as a human judgement and say so.
Exclusions deserve their own list, because they are usually the product of a specific decision the family or committee made and are the first thing to erode when nobody writes them down.
Finally, version it. A mandate that changes silently makes historic screening results uninterpretable. In Reuben AI the mandate is a versioned object, so a screen from last year can be read against the definition that was in force then. Explainer: /answers/what-is-a-mandate-token-in-private-capital.
How Reuben AI compares
Mandate structure and what each part does
| Attribute | Reuben AI | Allocator or company database | Matchmaking or introduction service |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it answers | Does this specific opportunity satisfy our written mandate | Who exists and how to contact them | Who might be interested in this raise |
| Who defines fit | You do, once, as a mandate the platform applies to everything inbound | Nobody. Filters are on data fields, not criteria | The intermediary, using a profile |
| Who the provider works for | The allocator. Reuben AI is software, not a broker or a marketplace | The subscriber buying the data | Usually the party raising capital |
| What survives afterwards | The screen, the reasoning, the diligence and the monitoring, on one record | A contact list and an export | An introduction and an email thread |
| Declined opportunities | Kept with the reason attached, so the funnel is explainable | Not applicable | Not captured |
The five categories, plainly
Aggregation and reporting platforms consolidate the balance sheet and produce performance reporting. Providers in this category describe exactly that scope on their own sites.
CRM tracks relationships and conversations. Market databases sell contact and company data. Administration handles vehicles, capital movement and filings.
Investment platforms hold the decision itself: what was considered, how it was tested, what was decided and how the position has performed since. This is the category Reuben AI is in.
Why offices end up with gaps
Each category is bought to solve a visible pain, usually reporting first. The investment record is invisible until someone asks a question about a decision, at which point it turns out to live in a shared drive.
Direct deals and co-investments make this sharper, because there is no fund manager producing the analysis on the family's behalf.
The consolidation question is not which tool has more features. It is which system holds the reasoning, and whether that reasoning survives a change of staff.
Choosing without ripping anything out
The investment layer can be adopted alongside existing reporting and administration, because it does not touch the ledger or move capital.
A reasonable first quarter is to encode the mandate, run the live funnel through it, and compare the resulting record against what the current process produced. Comparison of stacks: /reuben-ai-vs-your-stack.
Mapping your family office stack
- 01Which system holds the reason each position was taken?
- 02Where does an inbound deal get screened, and against what?
- 03Who can reproduce a valuation from twelve months ago?
- 04How much of the quarterly pack is rebuilt by hand?
- 05What breaks if the analyst who set it up leaves?
Frequently asked questions
Does Reuben AI run a deal marketplace or introduce investors to managers?
No. Reuben AI is software, not a broker, marketplace or placement agent, and it does not sell an allocator database or make introductions. What it does is hold your investment criteria as a mandate and apply them consistently to every opportunity that reaches your own workspace, then carry that judgement through diligence, the memo and portfolio monitoring.
Can Reuben AI sit alongside the databases and networks we already use?
Yes. Databases and networks change what arrives. Reuben AI changes what happens to it once it arrives. Most teams keep their sourcing relationships and use Reuben AI as the filter and the record behind them. Vendor map: /competitive-landscape.
Where do we start?
Request a guided trial, write your criteria into a mandate, then run the next quarter of inbound opportunities through it. Onboarding quoted separately. Plans: /pricing.
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