Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Latest Episodes:

Jeff Housenbold – Inside Softbank Vision Fund (Capital Allocators, EP.186) Mar 29, 2021

Show notes

Jeff Housenbold, a Managing Director for the last four years at Softbank Investment Advisors, where he led one of the six investment teams that deployed the $100 billion Softbank Vision Fund. Prior to joining Softbank, Jeff worked at sixteen companies, including eleven years as CEO of Shutterfly. four years in the early days of ebay, four as Special Industry Advisor to KKR, and one as Entrepreneur in Residence at Sutter Hill Ventures. He's also served on the Boards of dozens of companies, including Caesars Entertainment, Memphis Meats, DoorDash, Compass, Opendoor, Wag, and Groupon. Our conversation starts with Jeff's true rags to riches story, and then turns to a whirlwind of lessons learned as an operator at ebay during its hypergrowth and Shutterfly overseeing a successful turnaround. We then dive into the Softbank Vision Fund, including the original investment thesis, sourcing ideas, valuation discipline, decision making in groups, portfolio structure, and results. We close by talking about the SPAC market, capital market expectations, the characteristics of successful organizations, and succession planning. Please enjoy the countless nuggets of wisdom in my conversation with Jeff Housenbold. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Ted with Jenny Heller – Compounding Knowledge and Relationships (Capital Allocators, EP.185) Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

As we finish up book launch week, I thought I'd share this interview conducted by Jenny Heller, my friend, the 7th guest on the show, and the President and CIO of Brandywine Group Advisors. We discuss the business of Capital Allocators, entrepreneurship, effectiveness, and investing – including a brief description of my most recent private equity fund investment. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

[REPLAY] - Jennifer Heller – Thinking it Through (Capital Allocators, EP.07) Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

Jenny Heller is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Brandywine Trust Group. Brandywine formed 25 years ago to manage the capital for a small group of families that all share a long-term, multi-generational time horizon. Today, it oversees almost $9B for those same families, much of it from compounding over a quarter century. The Group invests flexibly across asset classes, with a focus on partnering with people who they believe have sustainable competitive advantages, share their long-term vision, and have highly aligned interests. These elite managers often start with great ideas, but limited capital.

Before taking the helm at Brandywine five years ago, Jenny worked at the Sloan Foundation, Stanford University Management Company, and Merrill Lynch in its investment banking program. She is a graduate of Williams College, where she serves on its Investment Advisory Committee, and Stanford Business School.

Our conversation starts with Jenny's frustrating experiences with a non-profit micro finance in India and South Africa and turns to her career allocating money on behalf of non-profits and families. We touch on subtleties in picking managers for taxable investors, challenges in executing a long-term strategy, learning from mistakes, and mentorship. Jenny's clear and deep thought process provides pearls of wisdom throughout our conversation.

Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Launch of capitalallocators.com Mar 22, 2021

Show notes

I'm excited to share that we have launched our new website at capitalallocators.com or still, at the familiar capitalallocatorpodcast.com.

The new site makes it easier for you to engage with everything in the Capital Allocators Community - the podcast, premium content, events, and writing. Speaking of which, my new book, Capital Allocators: How the world's elite money managers lead and invest, publishes tomorrow. Pick up a copy at Amazon or listen on Audible.

It's now incredibly easy to sign up for our monthly mailing list and receive updates and our best reads and listens each month. At that frequency, it's just enough to stay in touch and not enough to flood your inbox.

From there, you can also join our growing community of premium subscribers, who have access to the library of transcripts and receive a weekly premium email that includes summaries of the show, updates on the business, invitations to member-only events, and my investment thoughts – all of it is designed to connect you further with guests on the show.

Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy this week's two special episodes with me on the other side of the mic

Ted with Patrick O'Shaughnessy – Lessons from the World's Elite Money Managers (Capital Allocators, EP.184) Mar 22, 2021

Show notes

My new book – Capital Allocators: How the world's elite money managers lead and invest – releases tomorrow. I've been on a bit of a podcast tour the last few weeks, appearing on some of my favorite shows. I thought it would be fun to share an interview about the book here, so I asked Patrick O'Shaughnessy to interview me for the show. Our conversation covers the journey of the podcast itself and lessons from the book about interviewing, leadership and investing. Pick up a copy at Amazon, and if you like what you read, there's more behind the podcast and the book. All listeners can sign up for our free mailing list and receive a compilation of the top quotes from each of the first 150 episodes of the show. And for those interested in more, our premium content includes a weekly email, further connectivity to guests on the show, and a whole lot more. Sign up for both at capitalallocatorspodcast.com. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Crypto for Institutions 4: Ari Paul – Exploiting Inefficiencies in Crypto Trading (Capital Allocators, EP.183) Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

Ari Paul is the co-founder and chief investment officer of BlockTower Capital, a crypto and blockchain investment firm he started alongside Matthew Goetz in 2017 with backing from Andreesen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. He started his career as a trader at Susquehanna International Group, and later found his way to the University of Chicago endowment as a portfolio manager, overseeing an internal hedge fund portfolio and assessing risk for the university's $8 billion endowment. Our conversation covers Ari's early lessons in trading, discovery of crypto while at University of Chicago endowment, obstacles for institutional participation, and launch of BlockTower in 2017 as a result. We discuss active management in the crypto markets, research and trading, portfolio construction, opportunities in NFTs and gaming, risks, and the exciting landscape over the coming years. While this episode concludes our current mini-series, we've just scratched the surface on crypto, blockchain protocols, and institutional engagement in the space. In the coming months, we'll dive deeper into the evolving ecosystem with more key participants and ideas. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Crypto for Institutions 3: Seth Ginns – Investing Beyond Bitcoin (Capital Allocators, EP.182) Mar 15, 2021

Show notes

Seth Ginns is Managing Partner and Head of Liquid Investments at CoinFund, which he joined a year ago after a seventeen-year run as a large cap growth equity research analyst at Jennison Associates. While in that role, Seth began angel investing a decade ago and became an early investor in Coinbase, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, which eventually led to diving into the space full-time. Our conversation widens the discussion of crypto investments beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum with discussions of base layer protocols, decentralized finance, and non-fungible tokens. We discuss Seth's background, how he invests in these markets, and some of the key issues and risks investing in the space. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Crypto for Institutions 2 – Michael Sonnenshein – A Path to Entry (Capital Allocators, EP.181) Mar 11, 2021

Show notes

Michael Sonnenshein is the CEO of Grayscale Investments, which is the world's largest digital currency asset manager with $40 billion under management. Grayscale offers investors access and exposure to digital currencies in the familiar format of publicly traded vehicles. Our conversation discusses the basics of how institutional investors can participate in cryptocurrency investing, including counterparties, custody, and on ramping. We discuss Grayscale's suite of products, its selection process for new products, technology infrastructure development, service providers, trading dynamics, and institutional interest in the space. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Crypto for Institutions 1: Eric Peters – The Macro Case for Bitcoin (Capital Allocators, EP.180) Mar 08, 2021

Show notes

Eric Peters is the founder and CIO One River Asset Management, where he searches for high conviction strategies coming out of his team's expertise trading and investing in thematic macro, volatility, systematic, and inflation strategies – each as it turns out, turned his focus on study bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Eric made news in November when he executed a $600 million purchase of bitcoin, then the largest public transaction to date. He has called bitcoin the most interesting macro trade he's seen in thirty years in the business, and we kick off this mini series, Crypto for Institutions with his macro case for the digital asset. Our conversation discusses the intrigue of Bitcoin as a form of money, how digital currencies will somewhat ironically increase the power of governments and the likely co-existence of bitcoin with government digital currencies in the future. The then turn to the development of institutional infrastructure for digital assets, Eric's perspective on bitcoin as an investor and a trader, the reflexive nature of bitcoin supply, and the risks in the asset. Lastly, we discuss the story of Eric's big trade, the future of bitcoin, and institutional interest in the space. Please enjoy my conversation with Eric Peters in this first of four episodes in the mini-series Crypto for Institutions. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

[REPLAY] - Chris Dixon – The Future of Blockchain at a16z (Capital Allocators, EP.172) Mar 08, 2021

Show notes

Chris Dixon is a General Partner at Andreesen Horowitz, where he focuses on the a16z Crypto Funds. Before joining Andreesen in 2013, Chris co-founded, built and sold two technology companies and was a prolific seed investor, founding member of Founder Collective, and personal investor. At various spots along the way, Chris was an investor in BuzzFeed, Uber, Venmo, Hotel Tonight, Coinbase, and Oculus, among many others. Our conversation covers Chris' early interest in computers and business, and lessons from starting companies and angel investing. We then turn to his activities since joining Andreesen Horowitz, discussing new computing platforms, a brief history of centralized and decentralized computing, development of blockchain technologies, potential killer apps, token basics, and investor perception. Learn MoreSubscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

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