Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Latest Episodes:

Michael Mauboussin – Who's on the Other Side (Capital Allocators, EP.99) May 13, 2019

Show notes

Michael Mauboussin is the well-known investment strategist currently plying his wares at Blue Mountain Capital. He joined me for the second time to discuss his new research entitled "Who's on the Other Side?"

Our conversation dives into the work, discussing how investors can focus on process over outcome, the four types of investment edges, behavioral traits of single and group portfolio managers, portfolio position weighting, informational edges available from paying attention and complexity, the principal-agent issues that create cycles and opportunities during dislocations, the growth of private markets, and implementing his research. We close with a discussion of data analytics in the game of lacrosse.

Learn More Discuss show and Read the Transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Join the Capital Allocators Forum Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

REPLAY - Michael Mauboussin – Active Challenges, Rational Decisions and Team Dynamics (Capital Allocators, EP.36) May 13, 2019

Show notes

Michael Mauboussin currently is the Director of Research at BlueMountain Capital, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund and asset manager. He spent the majority of his professional career thinking and writing about decision making, behavior and complex systems, with long stints at Credit Suisse and nearly a decade alongside Bill Miller at Legg Mason. Michael has been an Adjust Professor at Columbia Business School for 24 years.

Our conversation covers Michael's early career, the paradox of skill, academic research more favorable to active management, decision-making, optimal size and composition of teams, unsettling features in the market, data analysis in sports, career risk, the Santa Fe Institute, and Michael's new research on the horizon.

Every time I speak to Michael I come away thinking better and feeling smarter, and this time was no exception.

Jon Hirtle – The Pioneer of OCIO (Capital Allocators, EP.98) May 06, 2019

Show notes

Jon Hirtle is the Executive Chairman at Hirtle, Callaghan & Co., a $20 billion Outsourced CIO business he founded in 1988. Hirtle Callaghan retains the distinction of initiating the OCIO model that is flourishing in the market today.

Our conversation covers leadership lessons from Jon's experience in the Marines and at Goldman Sachs, the genesis of the idea to create Hirtle Callaghan, the structure, culture, philosophy and execution of their investing, Jon's outlook on emerging markets, the economy, private equity, and credit, and the concept of governance alpha. Jon has a gift for distilling the investment process into understandable frameworks and analogies that we all can use to communicate with our many constituents.

Matt Levine – Money Stuff (Capital Allocators, EP.97) Apr 29, 2019

Show notes

Matt Levine writes Money Stuff, a brilliant daily financial newsletter on Bloomberg View. His column discusses current events in corporate finance and markets, with an insightful, nuanced lens and a dry wit. As Matt describes it in his bio, he writes about the financial industry on the internet, and on the Bloomberg terminal, which is sort of like the internet but oranger.

If you receive my monthly email, you'll already know that I'm a huge fan of Matt's and that Money Stuff has become my go to source of business news.

Our conversation covers Matt's path to journalism through law school and investment banking, his daily routine, and some of his favorite writing topics, including why everything is securities fraud, stock buybacks, the CDS market, index funds, private markets, quantitative investing, and beating benchmarks.

REPLAY - Michael Mervosh – Invest in Yourself (Capital Allocators, EP.68) Apr 29, 2019

Show notes

Both times I was interviewed (by Khe Hy and Patrick O'Shaughnessy) and shared those conversations on Capital Allocators, I made reference to a special experience I've participated in for the last five years called the Hero's Journey. The weeklong journey in the mountains of West Virginia provides a setting and platform for each participant to access their best self.

Michael Mervosh is the deeply insightful Executive Director of the Hero's Journey Foundation, an organization he created that provides experiential learning opportunities for human development and transformation based on Joseph Campbell's mythic hero's journey. He has a passion and indescribable skill in enlivening the developmental process and fostering vitality, meaning and well-being in individuals, groups, and organizations. When not running programs or training others, Michael practices psychotherapy at the Nuin Center in Pittsburgh, where he has professionally resided for 25 years.

Our conversation took place in the mountains towards the end of this year's journey and is quite different from those you may be accustomed to hearing on the show. We cover Michael's path to creating the experience, the myth of the Hero, lessons in how the world actually works, the call to adventure, perfectionism, uncertainty, fear, and poetry.

If you're intrigued, I strongly encourage you to check out herosjourneyfoundation.org. Spaces are limited for the annual summer Men's and Women's Journeys, so sign up for next year's trip at the website or reach out to me. I intend to be back on the mountain next year and hope to see you there.

David Zorub - The Path to a Hedge Fund Launch (Capital Allocators, EP.96) Apr 22, 2019

Show notes

David Zorub is the founder of Parsifal Capital, a new hedge fund he is launching later this year. Before founding Parsifal, Dave spent fifteen years in research and portfolio management at hedge funds and another few in investment banking and private equity.

I interviewed David recently at Columbia University's Student Investment Management Conference and that conversation follows. We cover his career path and his insights into the philosophy and structure of a hedge fund business and investment portfolio. It's not easy starting a hedge fund these days, and those eager to try will get a sense of the challenges ahead by listening to an experienced investor who's making a go of it.

Paul Rabil - Lacrosse and Entrepreneurship (Capital Allocators, EP.95) Apr 15, 2019

Show notes

Paul Rabil is the co-founder and CEO of the Premier Lacrosse League or PLL, a new tour-based league of the top professional lacrosse players in the world that will debut on June 1st. Paul was the #1 player in the draft for Major League Lacrosse in 2008 after winning a national championship at Johns Hopkins. He is a 7-time Champion and 3-time MVP. Alongside his on-the-field accomplishments, Paul is a passionate entrepreneur who was the first lacrosse player to earn $1 million in endorsements.

Our conversation covers Paul's early interest in lacrosse, developing a social media fan following, the importance of sponsorship revenue for athletes, and the leverage athletes have over teams. We then turn to the formation of the PLL, including Paul's attempt to purchase the MLL with a search fund, his shift in business model from private equity to venture capital, the tour-based model, operations, distribution, and the on-field product. We close by discussing Suiting Up, Paul's podcast where he interviews top professional athletes and coaches, and the Paul Rabil Foundation, which brings lacrosse to schools for children with learning differences.

Paul is as savvy off-the-field as his is skilled on it, and as the PLL takes off as I suspect it will, this conversation may well mark an important moment in time for this fascinating start-up league.

Tune in to NBC to watch the first games from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts on the first weekend in June.

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Ted Seides – Interviewing and Manager Meetings (Capital Allocators, EP.94) Apr 08, 2019

Show notes

A few months ago, Marcel van de Hoef interviewed me on his podcast, The Meeting Strategist. He created Meeting Strategist to help senior professionals across industries think more strategically about business conversations and improve their listening, questioning and meeting skills.

With his permission, I've shared that discussion on this week's show. You can learn more about his work at meetingstrategist.org.

Our conversation starts with my background and covers my communications with Warren Buffett, characteristics of successful active managers, manager meeting structure, culture assessment, tools for effective listening, lessons I learned from David Swensen, and my preparation and conducting of podcast interviews.

Please enjoy my thoughts on interviewing and manager meetings, with Marcel van de Hoef asking the questions.

Learn More

Read the Transcript

Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List

Write a review on iTunes

Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides

REPLAY - Ted Seides - Deep Dive into Hedge Funds (Capital Allocators, EP.34) Apr 08, 2019

Show notes

I've received several emails over the last bunch of months asking for my take on the investing world and the topics we cover on the show. Fortunately, I've had a chance to appear as a guest on a few other podcasts, and thought I would share some of those conversations from time to time.

About a year and a half ago, Patrick O'Shaughnessy interviewed me to discuss the book I wrote on his amazing podcast, Invest Like the Best. The discussion quickly turned to a deep dive on hedge funds - past, present and future.

We subsequently recorded two other conversations. For the first, I asked him to interview me about the Buffett Bet. You can find that conversation on Episode 5. In the second, Patrick interviewed me alongside our friend and star micro private equity investor, Brent Beshore. You can find that entertaining conversation at Invest Like the Best, Episode 30.

REPLAY - Ted Seides - It's Not About the Money (EP.45) Apr 08, 2019

Show notes

Last fall, I sat down with a fellow former hedge fund of funds professional Khe Hy, who left the business a few years ago and has developed a fascinating media platform around introspection, self-awareness, and self-development. Certainly a set of characteristics we don't normally associate with folks in the asset management business.

Khe interviewed me about my career path and some lessons I've learned about people, business, and life. With his permission, I am sharing the conversation to allow you to learn more about the perspective that I bring to the conversations on Capital Allocators.

If you like the subject matter, I'd encourage you to check out Khe's podcast, entitled Rad Awakenings, available on iTunes or his website, radreads.co.

Show Notes

1:53 – Ted's time with Dave Swensen

2:40 – How did Ted get the job not knowing about stocks

3:56 – The start of Ted's time at Protégé

5:27 – How did Ted view the world as someone picking managers vs someone picking stocks

9:01 – Early days at Protégé

10:36 – Attributes that Ted tried to unpack about individuals

13:18 – Understanding a team's intrinsic vs extrinsic motivations

15:03 – How much of investing is about true skill vs being on the right side of a market trend

17:06 – What did Ted learn about greed during the bull market run of the early 2000's

20:00 – The ego, envy and entitlement of financial professionals

22:36 – The potential to hit a high-water mark and never feeling satisfied

28:20 – Loving what you do despite the financial windfall

32:50 – Would Ted have the same passion for the markets if he hit the proverbial lottery

34:36 – The feeling of financial survival and what would happen if Ted didn't have it

37:24 – Citizen Schools

38:41 – How to stop caring about other people's perception of you

40:46 – Most underrated attribute of Ted that he has discovered in his reinvention

41:53 – Times Ted's resilience was tested

43:08 – Ted on Invest Like the Best Podcast

43:10 – Hero's Journey Foundation

45:02 – What does higher education and first jobs look like for the next generation given the digital changes in society

49:20 – Do millennials have less upward mobility then past generations

49:43 – The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial

52:09 – Follow and learn more about Ted at capitalallocatorspodcast.com

57:41 – Closing questions with special guest interviewers

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