Every SEC-registered investment adviser must file Form ADV — and it’s public, free, and the single most information-dense document about any platform holding itself out as an adviser. Every Platform Report we publish leans on it. Here’s how to read one in ten minutes at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
Part 1: the census data
Part 1 is structured data: assets under management, number of accounts, employee count, ownership, and — Item 11 — the disciplinary history disclosure. Three fast reads: AUM against viability (our economics guide shows why sub-$1B startup robos live dangerously), AUM divided by accounts for the average client size (a “wealth platform” averaging $800 accounts is telling you its real business), and any yes-answers in the disciplinary section, each of which links to detail.
Part 2: the brochure — where the honesty lives
Part 2A is written in plain(ish) English because the SEC requires it: fees and how they’re calculated, conflicts of interest, how the firm actually invests, affiliated entities. The gold is in Fees (the all-in stack, including whether the adviser puts you in its own funds and collects twice) and Other Financial Industry Activities (whose brokerage executes, who pays whom — the conflicts map). If a platform’s marketing says “free” and its ADV brochure describes revenue sharing, cash-spread capture, or affiliated-fund fees, the brochure is the true version.
The two-minute version
Search the firm at adviserinfo.sec.gov (confirm it’s the exact legal entity — entity matching is the anti-clone-firm step), scan Part 1 for AUM, average account and discipline, then read two brochure sections: Fees, and Conflicts. That’s more due diligence than the overwhelming majority of customers ever perform, and it’s twenty minutes total. A firm with no ADV that claims to advise on investments has answered your question already.