2. You’ve been at Unifinanz for over a decade, during a time of major shifts in wealth management. Looking back, what has surprised you the most, either positively or negatively, about how the industry has evolved?

The scale of digitalization. When I joined, still as a student, many processes were manual. Today, we have direct interfaces with banks, automated document collection, and digital workflows across the private markets side of the business. That transformation, compressed into roughly a decade, is remarkable.

What also surprised me is how much larger institutions have struggled with this transition. Size becomes a real liability. The bigger the organisation, the harder it is to implement modern digital solutions. We see this directly when working with large banks – their scale creates friction that smaller, more agile players simply don’t face.

3. Working with both institutional and private clients, what is one recurring behavioral bias or emotional mistake you see investors make that quietly destroys long-term performance?

Preventing those mistakes is core to what we do. If we’ve built the right strategy for a client, they shouldn’t be making emotional decisions in the first place. When markets get choppy, certain ideas come up in client conversations – but a well-constructed strategy acts as a buffer. It gives clients the ability to sleep at night, whether it’s COVID, the war in Ukraine, or a Liberation Day shock moving markets.

COVID was actually quieter than I expected, client-wise. The situation was so overwhelming on every level that portfolios weren’t the primary concern for most people. And internally, the discipline was simply: stick to the strategy. Don’t do something rash because you’re scared. Accept the volatility. That mindset matters.

4. In your experience, where is the biggest disconnect between what clients think they want and what their portfolios actually need?

Every client wants to maximise returns – that’s universal. But maximising returns means taking on significant risk, and not everyone can truly handle that. What most clients actually want, when you go deeper, is to sleep well, enjoy their life, and have financial peace of mind.

If a client is lying awake at night worrying about their portfolio, the strategy is wrong – full stop. The real goal is finding the right balance between return optimisation and everyday quality of life. That’s the disconnect we work to close.

5. Looking ahead to the next decade, what risks or blind spots do you believe most wealth managers, or even clients, are underestimating today?

The cost of delay. The world is moving fast, and the compounding effect of starting late – whether that’s a client deferring investments or a firm deferring its digital transformation, is consistently underestimated.

On the client side, delaying investment decisions means missing the full benefit of compounding. On the institutional side, if you’re not continuously reinventing yourself as the environment changes, someone else will take your place. The wealth management industry is competitive, and that pressure is only intensifying. This is especially true given how competitive the US market has become.

I’d also add that being small and agile is underappreciated as a strategic advantage. Liechtenstein is a great example – change here is genuinely implementable. You can sit down with a government official over lunch. In the Baltics, it’s similar. That closeness and flexibility is an edge that, frankly, we in Europe don’t leverage enough.

6. What about VC secondaries? When did they come to your radar?

Secondaries were already well-established in our client portfolios on the private equity side, and the asset class was performing well. So we started exploring different flavours, infrastructure, real estate, and at some point, the natural question became: what about venture?

We dug into it seriously, which is how we found Siena and other players in the space. The thesis made sense to us: there's a real liquidity gap in the VC market, and we believed a structural shift was underway – that the secondary market within venture would become significantly more active.

That's played out over the last year or two. Secondary solutions and liquidity options for founders and employees have become a genuine topic of conversation. It's somewhat different from the traditional LP secondary market you see in private equity, which is less common in VC, and when it does happen, the discounts can be quite steep. A lot of holders simply prefer to wait it out rather than sell at 50% below valuation.

But the growth of secondaries is important for the entire VC ecosystem. It gives everyone, whether LPs, founders, or employees, far more flexibility and optionality around their portfolios and personal holdings. That liquidity function is something the market has genuinely needed.

7. Is there an investment, a company, or an entire sector that you intuitively knew was right but didn’t pursue – and that still bothers you today?

NVIDIA. A colleague here at Unifinanz was very early. I grew up playing computer games and thought of NVIDIA purely as a graphics card maker – I completely underestimated what they were building. And then at a certain point, I kept telling myself I was too late to invest. I said that for about five years, during which the stock kept climbing.

But I’ve made peace with it. The financial world is full of opportunities if you keep looking forward. Over the past 10-15 years alone, you’ve had the software boom of 2020-21, Bitcoin, gold and silver runs, and now AI infrastructure. Missing one chapter isn’t a failure. It’s a reminder to stay curious and keep your eyes open.

8. What’s always in your carry-on?

Laptop and headphones. Boring, but essential.

9. What’s your most irrational habit?

I eat an unhealthy lunch and a healthy dinner, and somehow convince myself it balances out. It probably doesn’t.

10. If you weren’t doing this, you’d be…?

Something in history or sport – two areas I’ve always been drawn to. I haven’t figured out the exact job title, but it would involve one of those.

11. One app you wish didn’t exist?

I’ve already deleted the ones I don’t like. The ones I still have, including social media, which I spend too much time on, I actually find value in. They’re a genuine way to reconnect with people. So, no strong answer here.

12. What’s one thing you collect (on purpose or not)?

Holiday memories. I travel a lot, especially with friends, and those experiences are something you can never have too many of. Most recently: South Africa in January – we planned to surf and didn’t quite make it, but it was a great trip regardless.

This was Secondary Thoughts by Siena – an interview series where legendary entrepreneurs and investors reflect on their investments and broader professional journeys, speaking openly about their wins and losses.

Today’s guest is Raphael Oehri, the Deputy Managing Partner and Head of Product and Innovation at Unifinanz. Founded in 1952, Unifinanz is one of Liechtenstein’s most established independent wealth managers, offering investment controlling, family office services, and holistic portfolio support for institutional and private clients.

The series is produced by Siena, a boutique VC fund focused on secondary investments in high-growth scaleups across the CEE and Nordics. Its portfolio includes success stories such as Bolt, Oura, and Booksy.