Compliance for Entrepreneurs
Senior-level outsourced CCO support for growing RIAs, grounded in how advisory firms actually operate. We work alongside firm leadership to build and manage compliance programs that protect the business while supporting where it's headed next.
We Start With the Business. The Compliance Program Comes Second.
Most compliance consultants arrive already knowing what the compliance program should look like. We start by learning your business, understanding how you operate, how you serve clients, where you're growing, and where risk is most likely to emerge. From there, we build and manage a compliance program around the realities of the organization rather than applying the same playbook to every firm.
That understanding matters once the relationship is underway, too. We stay close to leadership and the people doing the work because compliance decisions rarely happen in isolation. An acquisition, a new service, a marketing initiative, an operational change, or a client issue can all create questions that reach well beyond a single rule, and when we understand the business behind those decisions, we can give better guidance about how to move forward.
How Can Compliance Add Value?
No Duplicate Work
If information already exists somewhere in the firm, we look for ways to use it rather than asking your team to document the same thing again.
Stronger Where Needed
Efficiency does not mean doing less everywhere. When a process is too loose for the risk involved, we strengthen it and make the responsibility clear.
Most conversations about the value of compliance start with avoiding risk: fewer regulatory problems, less exposure to disputes, and a reputation that stays intact because the firm isn't making headlines for the wrong reasons. Those things matter. But there is another cost that often gets overlooked: time.
Every compliance process requires time from someone in the firm. When those processes become repetitive, outdated, or more complicated than the risk requires, they pull people away from clients and the work that moves the business forward. Part of our job is finding that time and giving it back.
We Do the Legwork
When we can find an answer, pull a record, or track something down ourselves, we do. Your team shouldn't have to stop what they're doing simply to hand information to their compliance partner.
Simpler Where It Can Be
Some processes become more complicated than the underlying risk requires. When there is a responsible way to simplify them, we do.
Fewer Unnecessary Tasks
Compliance processes tend to accumulate over time. We look at what the firm is doing, why it's doing it, and whether each step still serves a meaningful purpose.
More Time for the Business
The value is rarely one dramatic change. More often, it comes from removing unnecessary steps, reducing back-and-forth, and creating a compliance program that asks less of your team while still doing what it needs to do.
Compliance Leadership That Feels In-House
SCD was built around a simple idea: an outsourced CCO should feel much closer to a member of your leadership team than an outside vendor, and that starts with access. During the early months of an engagement, we spend significant time learning how the organization works, meeting with teams across the firm, reviewing the existing compliance program, and establishing a clear calendar.
We view our service as closer to a part-time CCO, rather than an outsourced CCO. As the relationship develops, the foundation we’ve built allows us to become a resource leadership can involve when questions and opportunities arise, including the ones that don't fit neatly into a compliance manual. See who we work with →
What We Do
Outsourced
CCO Services
For firms ready to hand off the compliance function, SCD provides experienced CCO leadership through an outsourced model. We manage the ongoing program, coordinate responsibilities across the organization, maintain a clear compliance calendar, and work directly with leadership to address issues as they arise.
RIA Formation +
Transitions
Starting an RIA involves far more than filing a registration. SCD helps breakaway teams and new firms establish the policies, procedures, systems, and compliance structure needed to begin operating responsibly, then provides continuity as the relationship transitions into ongoing support.
Strategic Compliance +
Risk Support
Growth can introduce compliance questions that an existing program was never designed to handle. SCD supports firms through acquisitions, new services, organizational changes, and other periods of complexity, bringing compliance and broader risk considerations into the conversation early enough to help leadership make informed decisions.
Experience Matters.
So Does Perspective.
SCD founder Matt Dunn has spent his career looking at the advisory business from different seats, including brokerage operations, regulation, compliance leadership, risk, and management.
Take It From Those Who
Know SCD
Chad Roope
Chief Investment Officer
"Having worked with Matt for many years, I've witnessed multiple examples of how he partners with advisors to make the complex compliance world simple so they can spend more time focused on clients. With broad based experience and credentials, I'd recommend Matt to any advisor who truly wants to focus on making their clients’ lives better."
Jeff Concepcion
CEO, Stratos Wealth Partners
"I've had an opportunity to work closely with Matt and value both his technical competency and problem-solving ability. I found him to be an excellent resource based on his knowledge of regulations and their application to our industry."
Let's Talk About Your Firm
Whether you're looking to hand off the CCO role, building a new RIA, or facing a new level of complexity, a conversation is the easiest place to start. Tell us a little about your firm and what you're working through, and we'll give you a straightforward perspective on whether SCD is the right fit.