Summary
Challenge: Overlook Ventures LLC was launching a brand-new family office and needed an accounting platform purpose-built for family offices — rather than repurposed from other industries —that could support a growing multi-entity structure with tight access controls.
Solution: After exploring options that were also compatible with Addepar, Overlook chose SumIt, a general ledger built specifically for family offices, and partnered closely with the SumIt team for a structured, high-touch implementation.
Result: Overlook successfully onboarded 19 entities, cutting the time spent on AP and bank reconciliations and giving the family clear, flexible reporting from day one.
Customer Overview
Overlook Ventures LLC is a newly formed single-family office based in Brentwood, Tennessee. The firm is focused primarily on real estate investments, with a growing philanthropic arm.
The family office was formally organized this year, with the family still shaping the full scope of its investment and giving strategy. Its vision is for real estate to remain central, alongside a structured approach to philanthropy.
Susan Hilton, Overlook’s Accounting Director, runs the back office as a one-person accounting department. She manages the general ledger across all entities, handles bill pay and AP, monitors cash and liquidity, and produces reports for multiple family stakeholders with varying needs and levels of financial expertise.
Overlook’s current structure includes 19 entities, with expectations of additional growth as investments and philanthropic initiatives expand.
Challenges
Although Susan has deep experience in property management accounting, the tools she had previously used were a poor fit for this new family office. Software from the property management world came with overly broad access and a different operating model than what the family wanted.
Further, generic general ledger systems could technically record debits and credits, but they lacked the structural features and workflows that family offices need for complex ownership, entities, and reporting.
“The general ledger that we would have access to didn’t have all of the build-out that you have built into SumIt. I love the map when you open up the program,” Susan explained. “I can see the link — the relationships — with all of the entities that are in SumIt.”
When Overlook started evaluating accounting software, Susan found that many systems had been modified to “fit” the family office use case, rather than being initially designed for it.
“I looked at several other accounting software, and they had all modified them to match family offices. [SumIt] has developed the software. They know what a family office is looking for, and that's what we needed.” — Susan Hilton, Accounting Director at Overlook Ventures LLC
At the same time, Overlook needed to ensure compatibility with its investment reporting platform and maintain a tight, efficient workflow despite having a lean internal team.
Evaluation Process
Overlook’s search began with a focus on integration and fit for family offices. Core accounting features were relatively standard across the various tools they evaluated, but the gaps were clear in family-office-specific functionalities.
The family office began by asking Addepar which accounting systems integrated well with it, and they directed them toward two options — one of them being SumIt.
Then, one of the recommended vendors worked through a consulting firm that, in turn, highlighted SumIt as an option Overlook should consider. Explaining that other options will work at a base level but have been overly modified for family offices, they specified that SumIt is purpose-built.
From there, Susan and Overlook’s team shortlisted what an ideal software partner would have, including:
A platform purpose-built for family offices
Strong integrations, especially with BILL and Addepar
The ability to modify and build custom reports
A responsive, partnership-oriented relationship with the software provider
Most accounting systems could, in theory, provide GL and AP capabilities. But for Overlook, how the system was built — and who it was built for — mattered just as much, so they went with SumIt.
Solution
Ultimately, Overlook selected SumIt because it was designed specifically for family offices, and it showed in both the product and the team.
“I liked that there were no modifications to a base product to make it work for a family office. This is designed for family offices, and ultimately that's what sold it.” — Susan Hilton, Accounting Director at Overlook Ventures LLC
From the outset, Susan was impressed by SumIt’s purpose-built design. With no retrofitted modules, the entire platform is modeled around family office workflows and entity structures. She also highlighted SumIt’s intuitive entity relationship map — a visual overview of how entities connect and relate inside the platform. Combined with seamless partnerships and integrations, specifically with BILL for AP and investment systems like Addepar, Overlook didn’t have to worry about constantly switching platforms or manually merging data.
As a one-person accounting department, Susan especially valued how easy it was to build and customize reports. After a short training session, she was able to create her own custom reports in minutes, without needing advanced querying skills.
“Being able to answer the questions and produce the reports and modify reports and create custom reports, those were things that I was looking for,” she explained. “The software is really easy to understand and do all of that.”
That same intentional design carried through into implementation. From day one, Susan describes the conversion as structured, predictable, and unusually supportive compared with past software projects.
“I am so happy with the way that everything has gone. It’s probably been my easiest conversion ever.” — Susan Hilton, Accounting Director at Overlook Ventures LLC
She partnered closely with the SumIt team — including Jared, Lauren, and Kathy — through onboarding. The implementation was built around recurring weekly calls with clear goals and deadlines, giving everyone visibility into what was needed each week and what might be blocking progress. Knowing that Susan was brand-new to the family office space, the SumIt team took extra care to walk her through both the software and the way family offices typically coordinate their accounting.
“Honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better experience,” Susan shared. “It really did flow so easily.”
Today, despite being a one-person accounting team supporting 19 entities, Susan has been able to fully adopt SumIt and use it confidently in her day-to-day work.
Key Results
Although Overlook is still in its first year as a family office, the impact of SumIt is already clear in several areas, such as:
Faster, cleaner AP with BILL
Rapid bank reconciliations across 19 entities
Flexible reporting for multiple stakeholders
Confidence for a lean team
Susan appreciates that SumIt is not only built for family offices today, but also actively incorporates feedback to improve. She specified that having SumIt’s team open and willing to make modifications has been crucial so far.
As SumIt continues to roll out new reporting capabilities, Overlook is well-positioned to deepen insights and support the family’s evolving investment and philanthropic goals.
For other family offices evaluating technology, Susan’s advice is straightforward: “If you're a family office, you need SumIt.”
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