Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Latest Episodes:

Chris Heller - Weird Alternatives at Cordillera Investment Partners (Manager Meetings, EP.28) Mar 24, 2022

Show notes

On today's Manager Meeting, Greg Dowling interviews Chris Heller. Greg is the Co-CIO and Head of Research for Fund Evaluation Group, an institutional OCIO and investment consultant with $83 billion in assets under advisement. Chris is Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner at Cordillera Investment Partners, a $1.2 billion alternative investment fund that invests in niche, non-correlated assets, or what Chris calls weird stuff, like whiskey aging, boat marinas, spectrum, and water rights. Their conversation covers Chris's background and the founding of Cordillera, the evolution of alternative assets and alternative alternatives, sourcing new opportunities, conducting due diligence, measuring risk, portfolio construction, and exit strategy. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Renata Quintini and Roseanne Wincek – Renegade Spin-Out in the Supercritical Stage, Venture is Eating the Investment World 11 (Capital Allocators, EP. 242) Mar 21, 2022

Show notes

Renata Quintini and Roseanne Wincek are the Co-Founders and Managing Partners of Renegade Partners, a venture capital firm they launched in 2019 after each experienced life inside top-notch venture firms – Renata at Felicis and Lux and Rosanne at Canaan Partners and IVP. They raised a first fund of $100 million to focus on the "Supercritical Stage" of a company's development. Our conversation discusses the dynamics of a venture capital spinout and the nuances of a stage-focused strategy. First, we dive into their backgrounds, lessons learned from their experience, forming a partnership and strategy together, and going to market. Then, we discuss Renegade's investment process across sourcing, filtering, winning deals, and working with companies. We close with perspectives on the competitive landscape, battle for talent, and areas of growth internally, including the application of our mutual friend Annie Duke's decision theories to the practice of venture investing. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Kelsey Chase – Analyzing Venture Transactions at Aumni (Capital Allocators, EP.241) Mar 17, 2022

Show notes

Today's show is a special Sponsor Insight from Aumni, highlighting their growing business for venture capitalists, operators, and LPs. Aumni helps private capital investors track and analyze individual deal terms, while providing comprehensive financial and legal insights across portfolios and the broader venture market. I sat down with Kelsey Chase, the Founder and President at Aumni, to discuss his background as a lawyer and the creation of Aumni, how Aumni analyzes transaction data, and use-cases of this data for investors and operators. We also discuss Aumni's recent series B round, trends in venture arising from Aumni's database, and where Kelsey plans to take the company from here. We are incredibly grateful to Aumni for sponsoring our Venture is Eating the Investment World mini-series, and we are eager to highlight their value to the venture and investment community. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Arjun Sethi – A Technology Company that Deploys Capital at Tribe, Venture is Eating the Investment World 10 (Capital Allocators, EP. 240) Mar 14, 2022

Show notes

Arjun Sethi is Co-founder and CEO of Tribe Capital, a $1.3B venture capital fund built by engineers and scientists to focus on using product and data science to engineer N-of-1 companies and investments. Arjun was an entrepreneur who founded and sold two businesses and became an active angel investor before turning to venture capital. Our conversation covers Arjun's upbringings in an immigrant family, his early endeavors as an entrepreneur, success as an angel investor, and different way of looking at venture investing. We then turn to his experience implementing this hypothesis at Social Capital and at Tribe, including using data science to identify product growth, qualitative factors, decision making, and working with portfolio companies. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

James Aitken – Market Implications of the Situation in Ukraine (Capital Allocators, EP.239) Mar 10, 2022

Show notes

James Aitken is the Founder of Aitken Advisors, a one-man macroeconomic consultancy based in Wimbledon, England that works with approximately one hundred of the most influential pools of capital in the world. He has been a repeat guest on the show, sharing his deep understanding of the inner workings of the financial system. Our first conversation from back in 2018 including his background and process, is replayed in the feed, and the rest of the episodes are available on the website. This time around, our conversation covers James' perspective on the unfolding situation in Ukraine and its implications on markets. We discuss the shift in risk tolerance, friction in the plumbing of the financial system, interaction of energy markets and ESG, inflation and interest rates, reserve currencies and crypto, and his most important takeaways. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

[REPLAY] James Aitken – Macro Strategist Extraordinaire (Capital Allocators, EP.58) Mar 10, 2022

Show notes

Australian James Aitken is the Founder and Managing Partner of Aitken Advisors, a one-man macroeconomic consultancy based in Wimbledon, England that works with approximately one hundred of the most influential pools of capital in the world. James started his career in 1992 as a foreign exchange trader, moved to London in May 1999, and in March 2002 joined the infamous AIG Financial Products team in London.

In August 2006 he joined UBS, where he deployed his knowledge of the inner workings of the financial system to help his institutional investor clients successfully navigate their portfolios through 2007 and 2008. At the urging of his clients, James established his own firm in June 2009.

Our conversation covers James' perspective on the Global Financial Crisis from his seat at its epicenter, the Eurozone crisis in 2011, subsequent process-driven opportunities in Greece, views on Central Banks in the US, China, & Europe, some brief observations on India, positioning for the current environment, and what makes a great macro manager.

Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Show Notes

3:03 – The start of his career at AIG Financial Products

7:19 – Move to UBS

9:03 – Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

10:42 – Sell off of 2006

13:12 – Leaving UBS to go off on his own

24:22 – What makes a great manager

27:55 – What is he seeing in the markets today, especially the US Fed

33:09 – MIDROLL

34:08 – What happens when bond rates normalize

46:36 – China

56:50 - Japan

59:10 – Europe

1:05:28 – Risk in the asset markets

1:08:49 – Advice to allocators

1:11;05 – Why people should be focused on India

1:16:39 – How he spends his time

1:20:56 – Closing Questions

Annie Lamont – A Lifetime in Venture, Venture is Eating the Investment World 9 (Capital Allocators, EP. 238) Mar 07, 2022

Show notes

Annie Lamont is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Oak HC/FT, a $3.3 billion venture capital firm investing across stages in tech-enable companies in healthcare and financial services. Annie is a legend in the industry. Across her 40 years in venture capital, she has been featured on the Forbes Midas List, the Top 100 Venture Capitalist rankings, and received the Healthcare Private Equity Association's lifetime achievement award. Our conversation covers Annie's beginnings in venture capital, inflection points in the industry, lessons learned, and spinning out to start her own firm. We then turn to her investment process, evaluating CEOs, competitive environment, and opportunities in healthcare and fintech. We close with her perspective on women in the industry and her unique experience as the First Lady of the State of Connecticut.

Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Marko Papic – Geopolitical Shock in a Multi-Polar World (Capital Allocators, EP.237) Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

Occasionally, an event takes place that causes investors to reassess risk. Russian's actions in Ukraine last week could be a tipping point for one of those events. In a divergence from our normal show, I reached out to Marko Papic to see what we could learn. Marko is the Chief Strategist at Clocktower Group, where he provides research on geopolitics, macroeconomics, and markets. He is a past guest on the show, and that conversation is replayed in the feed. Our conversation tackles the implication of the events in the Ukraine on geopolitics and markets over time. We cover Russia, the U.S., oil, China, and answers to the most pressing questions his clients are asking in response to last week's event.

Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

[REPLAY] Marko Papic – Geopolitical Alpha at Clocktower Group (Capital Allocators, EP.161) Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

Marko Papic is the Chief Strategist at Clocktower Group, where he provides research on geopolitics, macroeconomics, and markets. Marko recently published Geopolitical Alpha: An Investment Framework for Predicting the Future, an imminently readable book with colorful examples of political analysis. Marko's approach is akin to Moneyball for politics, challenging the orthodoxy of how others traditionally make investment decisions. Our conversation covers Marko's upbringing, the flaws of most political analysis, and his constraints-based framework. We then turn to the obvious political topic at hand – next week's U.S. Presidential election. We discuss his views of different possible outcomes on the U.S. equity market, rates, tech stocks, China, private equity, ESG, Europe, and emerging markets.

Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Josh Wolfe – Caution and Innovation at Lux Capital, Venture is Eating the Investment World 8 (Capital Allocators, EP.236) Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

Josh Wolfe is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Lux Capital, a $4 billion venture capital firm that invests in solutions to the most vexing puzzles of our time. Josh described his background and Lux's approach back in 2018 on the show and that conversation is replayed in the feed. This time around, we dive into Josh's cautious perspective on the venture landscape and how it impacts Lux's investment process. We then turn to updates on companies we last discussed and a handful of "directional arrows of progress," including smell, deception and detection, the tech of science, infrastructure for the metaverse, crypto, elemental power, space, and Africa.

Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected