Quote from danger66:
Having worked with financial institutions that fund traders, I think that the managed account model is beneficial at certain times. Some hedge funds like to invest with particular traders; not with funds. They want to be able to monitor more closely what's going on. On the other hand, the fund of funds prefers the hedge fund model. I guess it depends on who your main investors are going to be. It also makes sense [for traders who are successful enough] to use both the managed account model and the hedge fund model to be able to accept a wider variety of clients.
I think initially a pure SMA type (hedge fund) structure would be a preferable option, mainly due to minimum paperwork and simple operations, particularly when following the business model of Oanda's FXManager platform. My understanding is SMAs are also fairly commonly acceptable by FoFs for the sake of safety of funds and transparency.
For the pool type structure (most likely allowing SMAs concurrently) of hedge funds, it has the unique potential of going IPO when it grows to a certain size. However, too much paperwork, manpower or services from various providers would be required. A pool fund is not my preference for now.