Mel Lindsey is Managing Partner of Nile Capital Group based in the Los Angeles Area. He is already a veteran of the asset management industry having established the US asset management arm of a Swiss Asset Manager in 2004 and grown it to a peak of $78 bn in AUM in 2008 before successfully launching an IPO in 2009.

In 2014 he set up Nile Capital Management, which is a company that takes strategic stakes in asset managers specifically at their growth phase. Our conversation discusses sales alpha, what it is, and how you learn to create it, some of the challenges facing emerging independent firms, and what the key features are to sustainable growth – such as the halo effect, ownership incentives and speed.