The co-founding, husband-and-wife team of F2 Strategy explain how a need for industry expertise in wealth management consulting hatched their plan.
When Doug and Liz Fritz founded F2 Strategy nearly a decade ago, they weren’t just launching another consulting firm — they were redefining how deep expertise and authenticity could scale in the wealth and asset management industry. The husband-and-wife duo behind one of the sector’s fastest-growing consultancies built their business on a foundation of trust, complementary skill sets, and a clear-eyed understanding of the problems they once faced as insiders.
The story began long before F2 was born. “Back up to 2006,” co-founder and executive chairman Doug Fritz said. “I started at Wells Fargo, moved from North Carolina to San Francisco to run all the advisory desktop and private bank technology. Liz was working there almost the exact same time. We dated, got married, had kids.” The couple’s parallel career paths — his in technology strategy, hers in marketing and communications — gave them a shared perspective on an industry in transformation.
Doug’s entrepreneurial idea emerged during his time as a CTO, which he and Liz shared with InvestmentNews during Future Proof Festival 2025. “It dawned on me that the people I was paying a lot of money to in the consulting world — not a single one had actually worked in my job,” he said. “They were giving me advice on what to do strategically, but what if there was a consulting firm, just with folks who actually knew this stuff because they grew up in this area?” That realization became the seed of F2 Strategy, a firm built by practitioners for practitioners.
At the time, Liz was working in corporate marketing roles, while Doug began testing his concept. “I’m going to call it F2 Strategy because I’m going to get you to work in this company,” he told her. She laughed remembering it: “He said it almost like a bet.” Within a couple of years, Liz did join the venture, bringing her branding and communications expertise to what would become a powerful partnership.
Betting on each other
Working along side your spouse can be daunting, as intertwining business strategy and stress with normal family life can take its toll. “First of all, you definitely could work with your spouse or your partner,” Liz said. “A foundational element of any partnership, whether you’re running a household or raising kids or running a business, is trust. Who do you have any more trust with than your spouse?” She adds that their clear division of roles made it work: “He’s technology, I’m brand and marketing, and we trust each other to run in our lanes.”
When F2 started, their children were just eight months and three years old. “This was way pre-COVID,” Liz said. “There was no concept of work-from-home. I was driving two and a half hours every day. To see a different way of working — that fluidity of being present for our kids — really resonated with me.” Entrepreneurship brought longer hours, but also more control. “We could walk them to school in the morning and be home after preschool. That balance became a huge part of our story,” Liz said.
From its inception, F2 was designed differently. “I didn’t want to have a consultancy lifestyle,” Doug said. “I wanted a scalable consulting model. That was always the focus.” The couple’s complementary strengths helped bring that vision to life. “We absolutely love helping people make great decisions,” Liz said. “We grew up in the same industry, so we loved helping the same people — advisors and investors. That made it authentic.”
Market positioning
Branding F2 was Liz’s domain. “I didn’t have a sales [department] — our marketing team was just me until two years ago,” she said. “My goal was to lead with brand, not credentials. We had all the raw materials; we just had to articulate the story.” The result was a brand that felt genuine to clients. As Doug puts it, “People show up and say, ‘You’re the first consulting firm we’ve ever had that just gets us.’”
From a one-person startup in 2016, F2 has grown into a leading advisory and technology consulting firm serving the largest wealth management and asset management firms in the country. The company’s evolution followed a steady trajectory: “Year two was Liz coming on board,” Doug recounted. “By year three, we had real recurring revenue. Year four and five were scaling the business up. By year six, we had about 20 employees. [At that point] we knew we needed professional management and a capital partner.”
In 2023, F2 brought on private equity firm Renovus Capital as a minority partner. “We didn’t need money; we needed a partner,” Doug said. “We wanted to be in the business and needed someone who could help us fill out the blocks much faster.” That partnership fueled a series of acquisitions and the company’s expansion into asset management consulting — and, potentially, new verticals still to come.
Leveling up, letting go
The founders say the hardest part of growth was learning to let go. “Being a parent is helpful,” Doug said. “At some point you need to have the idea go beyond you. In the early years, you’re pushing the boulder up the hill. Then the company’s rolling, and you’re chasing it. But if you truly love the idea, you need to let it have a life of its own.”
Liz agreed. “When someone starts a business, they’re usually really good at the thing they’re offering — but they haven’t built a business before,” she said. “As we got bigger, we realized we needed professionals to run departments we weren’t good at and didn’t want to do. It’s like letting your kid go to college. You make sure they’re surrounded by great people and then trust the process.”
That mindset has kept the company’s culture grounded as it scales. “We’ve been lucky to be surrounded with people who see the value of F2 in the same way we do,” Doug said. “They own that value. They own its success.”
Today, as the firm leans into new opportunities — including the integration of AI and marketing technology — the Fritzes remain focused on the human side of innovation. “Technology and marketing have almost become the same thing,” Liz said. “But it’s still about people — about communication, trust, and helping clients make great decisions.”
