Orlando Bravo is a Founder and Managing Partner of Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm focused on software and technology companies with over $78 billion in assets under management. Among his many accolades, Forbes named Orlando “Wall Street’s best dealmaker” in 2019. Our conversation covers Orlando’s background, early investment lessons, and approach around management, analytics, and collaborative culture. We then turn to the Thoma Bravo’s investment philosophy, team structure, work with portfolio companies, exit strategy, and future. We close with Orlando’s thoughts on SPACs, valuations, and philanthropy. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

On today’s manager meeting, Jim Dunn speaks with Julia Bonafede. Jim is a past guest on the show and the CEO and CIO of Verger Capital, an OCIO whose anchor client is Wake Forest University.  Jim previously served as CIO of Wake Forest and before that, was CIO of investment consultant Wilshire Associates, where he worked with Julia.  Julia was at Wilshire for 24-years, capped by serving as President of Wilshire Consulting and as a member of Wilshire’s Board of Directors and Wilshire Consulting’s Investment Committee. In 2016, she co-founded Rosetta Analytics, an investment manager reinventing active management by creating advanced artificial intelligence strategies. Their conversation includes a discussion of the past, present and future of investment consulting, the application of neutral networks and reinforced learning to investing, and the challenges for allocators in adopting an AI approach. Before we dive in, Jim and I discuss why he chose to invest in Rosetta and how the strategy fits into Verger’s portfolios. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Doug Ostrover is the Co-Founder and CEO of Blue Owl Capital, a public company borne out of a merger combining Owl Rock Capital and Dyal Capital. Doug is also the CEO and Co-CIO of Owl Rock Capital Partners, a direct lender to middle-market companies that he co-founded in 2016 and today manages $30 billion in permanent capital assets. The combined Blue Owl manages approximately $53 billion in assets, over 90% of which is in permanent capital vehicles. Previously, Doug was one of the founders, and the O, in GSO Capital Partners, which today is Blackstone’s alternative credit platform. He has been involved in leveraged finance working with private equity sponsors for thirty years. Our conversation covers Doug’s beginnings in leverage financed, the founding of GSO, and keys to his early success. We then turn to the importance of culture, sourcing investment opportunities, the underwriting process, and working with both GPs and LPs. We close with Doug’s perspective on the recent formation of Blue Owl and what the future holds for direct lending. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

On today’s show, Tom Lenehan interviews Bill Ford. Tom was a very early guest on the show while at Rockefeller University and earlier this year took over as CIO of the $1.6 billion Wallace Foundation.  Bill is Chairman and CEO of General Atlantic, a pioneer in growth equity investing that was founded by Duty Free Shoppers entrepreneur Chuck Feeney in 1980. Today, General Atlanticmanages $53 billion in assets with a globally-integrated team operating under a single investment platform.  Had the timing worked out differently, Bill quite easily would have slotted right into the roster of Private Equity Masters on Capital Allocators. Their conversation covers Bill’s path to General Atlantic, the key aspects of the firm’s global, growth equity strategy, and a host of rapid fire personal and investing questions including lessons Bill shares from his experience on investment committees. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript   

Virginie Morgon is the CEO of Eurazeo, a publicly listed asset manager that’s one of Europe’s leading private equity investors with more than $26 billion in assets, including $8 billion in permanent capital, across private equity, private debt, and real asset strategies. Our conversation covers Virginie’s background, transition to private equity, and Eurazeo’s rich history. We discuss the business strategy under her leadership, longstanding emphasis on ESG, European focus, investment strategy, and outlook for Eurazeo going forward.  Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

On today’s manager meeting, Joel Wittenberg speaks with Eli Casdin. Joel is the former Chief Investment Officer of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the U.S. Eli is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Casdin Capital, a $3.5 billion dollar investment firm focused on investments in life sciences. Their conversation starts with Eli’s thematic case for biotech and role of big pharma. They turn to the firm’s assessment of company management teams, private market strategy, internal management of research and decision-making processes, and the future of Casdin Capital. First, I chat with Joel about he came to invest with Casdin the fit of the strategy in Kellogg’s portfolio.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

David Rubenstein is the Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group. Founded back in 1987, Carlyle is one of the world’s largest and most diversified global investment firms with $260 billion in asset under management across three business segments and twenty-nine offices around the world.   Our conversation covers David’s start in private equity, growing Carlyle from the early days, raising capital skillfully, recruiting talent globally, and managing a public company. We then turn to David’s outlook for the industry, advice for CIOs, and his recent activity across his family office, writing, philanthropy, and interviewing. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Alex Shahidi speaks with Jeremy Grantham. Alex is a past guest on the show and Co-CIO of Evoke Wealth and ARIS Consulting, a $19 billion registered investment advisor he co-founded in 2014.  Jeremy is the famed leader of money manager GMO, overseeing $60 billion in assets. Their conversation discusses the current market bubble unlike any other in history, some thoughts on climate change, value investing, and where to invest today. Alex and I kick it off with his thoughts on GMO and the fit inside his portfolios. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Manager Meetings with Capital Allocators will feature an interview with a money manager, conducted by one of the manager’s institutional clients. We’ll share the stories and strategies that attracted the attention of the investor, bringing to light investment opportunities for allocators, both from well-known and less well-known managers, each time introduced by someone who believes in the manager’s ability to add value. You can find episodes of Manager Meetings at capitalallocators.com/podcast. I hope you enjoy these conversations on Thursday, right on the same Capital Allocators podcast feed.

Robert F. Smith is the Founder, Chairman and CEO, Vista Equity Partners. Vista is a private investment firm that focuses entirely on enterprise software companies and manages $75 billion in assets across private equity, permanent capital, credit and public vehicles.   Taken together, Vista’s current portfolio companies are about 70 in number and house 70,000 employees, 700,000 customers across 175 countries, and 200 million global users. Its combined revenue would make the portfolio one of the largest enterprise software companies in the world.   Our conversation covers Robert’s background, the special characteristics of enterprise software, screening potential targets, adding value through industry expertise, assessing management teams, employing operational and financial leverage, and exiting investments. We then turn to managing Vista and the competitive landscape, and close with reflections on Robert’s past mistakes and impact through philanthropy. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

John Connaughton is a Co-Managing Partner at Bain Capital, a leading global private investment firm that oversees approximately $130 billion in assets. Founded in 1984 as the pioneer of a consulting-based approach to private equity investing, Bain Capital today invests across private equity, credit, public equity, venture capital and real estate. Our conversation covers the early years of private equity at Bain Capital, its growth in products and assets, investment process, competitive environment, culture, and succession planning. We close with JC’s insights for allocators and his outlook on private equity. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript       

My guest on the first episode of Private Equity Masters is John Toomey, one of two members of the Executive Management Committee at HarbourVest Partners. For more than thirty years, HarbourVest has invested across all parts of the private equity spectrum - in funds, secondaries, and direct co-invests. Today, it oversees over $75 billion of assets and canvasses the world.    Our conversation discusses the early days of private equity investing, evolution of strategies across primaries, co-invests, and secondaries, international expansion, best practices of managers, the next wave of growth opportunities, and risks in the space.   John has a unique perch at the top of the industry and offers a wonderful perspective to kick off the mini-series. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Katy Milkman, the James G. Dinan Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, host of Choiceology, Charles Schwab’s popular podcast on behavioral economics, the co-founder and co-director alongside Angela Duckworth of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative, and most recently, the author of How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You are to Where You Want to Be.   Our conversation covers Katy’s path to studying change and her new book, which is framed around identifying obstacles to change and using scientific principles to get past those obstacles. We outline the eight obstacles in the book and dive in on the challenges of getting started, confidence, conformity, procrastination, laziness, and making changes last. Along the way, we touch on some applications of her research to investing and to her own life.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Alex Rodriguez had a 25-year professional baseball career, highlighted by appearing in 14 MLB All-Star Games, winning the 2009 World Series Championship as a member of the New York Yankees, and hitting 696 home runs including more grand slams than any other player in history.    He is also is the Chairman and CEO of A-Rod Corp, an investment holding company he started at age 20 in 1995 that today spans investments in real estate, venture capital, a SPAC, and recently announced, the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team.   Our conversation covers Alex’s early interest in business, lessons he learned from Warren Buffett, Magic Johnson, and Greg Norman, the strategy of A-Rod Corp, time management, leadership, and identification of partners. We then turn to his investment activities in real estate, the Slam Corp SPAC, venture capital, and the Minnesota Timberwolves, and we close discussing Alex’s reflections on his year-long suspension from baseball in 2014 and the future of A-Rod Corp.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Charley Ellis is the founder of Greenwich Associates, author of sixteen investment books, and now a three-time guest on the show. The bookends of his published library - his seminal book, Investment Policy, and most recent work, The Index Revolution, discuss the case for indexing for most investors. Yet one of Charley’s most longstanding and passionate engagements proved the exception to the rule – his decade and a half of service on Yale University’s Investment Committee, including nine years as Chair. Charley and I first met about twenty-five years ago in that capacity, and he’s occupied a front row seat to Yale’s success ever since.   With the recent passing of David Swensen, we decided to sit down and reminisce about David in a conversational tribute to the investor, man, and leader we both so greatly admired. We discuss Yale’s Investment Committee, roster of managers, investment team, and the unique aspects that made David great. We also touch on Charley’s latest book, the 8th edition of his seminal classic.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Investment luminary Charley Ellis is the founder of Greenwich Associates, author of 16 books, and one of the most sought-after industry advisors worldwide.  He also believes deeply in the paradox of skill and his latest book, The Index Revolution: Why Investors Should Join It Now, presents a compelling case for indexing for most investors.. Charley was an early guest on the show and we reconvened to talk through the full case of indexing for individuals and some of its constraints for institutions.  Our conversation covers the case for indexing, smart beta, the retirement problem, investing in alternatives, private equity, and indexing challenges in emerging markets. After we turned off the recording, Charley proffered that we offer a prize for anyone who can find valid fault with the case against active management for most investors. Any takers can drop me an email, and I’ll be happy to put them toe-to-toe with Charley to debate the issue. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Dr. Ashby Monk is the Executive and Research Director of the Stanford University Global Projects Center. Ashby was named by CIO Magazine as one of the most influential academics in the institutional investing world. His current research focuses on the design and governance of institutional investors, with specialization on pension and sovereign wealth funds. Ashby’s most recent book, The Technologized Investor, is a practical guide showing how institutional Investors can gain the capabilities for deep innovation by reorienting their strategies and organizations around advanced technology. He also recently released a significant white paper on transparency and innovation for institutional investors for the Biden Administration.   Our conversation follows-up an early podcast, Episode 29, which is replayed in the feed.  This time around, we discuss the power of asset owners, issue of transparency, need for innovation and obstacles to achieving it, how and when to create change, examples of climate work at New Zealand Super, the Australian Super Funds, and Canadian Pension funds, and Ashby’s handful of technology start-ups focusing on these challenges.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Dan Ariely is a leading behavioral economist, author, entrepreneur and the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. Dan is a founding partner of Irrational Capital, an investment research firm that quantifies the impact of corporate culture and employee motivation on financial performance.    My initial conversation with Dan two years ago has been one of the most downloaded episodes of the show, and a recent research piece by JP Morgan entitled The Human Capital Factor that highlights his work got me excited to catch up with him again.   Our conversation covers many aspects of his continuing research to identify positive human capital practices and performance in the workplace, including data collection and assessment, gender differences, goodwill, ESG, and changes during Covid. We then turn to the practical application of the research in the capital markets through two indexes and customized research.  We close by talking about Dan’s new research projects and some of his favorite recent answers to his Ask Ariely column in the WSJ.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Dan Ariely is a renowned behavioral economist, author, entrepreneur, and investor.  He is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight.  Dan is the author of six books, most of which have the word “Irrationality” in the title and has a weekly column in the The Wall Street Journal called “Ask Ariely.” Dan’s TED Talks have been downloaded more than 10 million times. Dan also is a Founding Partner of Irrational Capital, an investment firm that identifies and quantifies the nuanced relationship between companies and their employees, and invests in human capital factors that are linked to long-term stock price performance.  Last month, Irrational Capital announced a strategic partnership with Jeff Ubben’s ValueAct Capital, a firm that shares their belief in the importance of the impact of corporate culture on long-term enterprise value. Our conversation starts with Dan’s journey studying pain and intuition and turns to applications of his research in the corporate setting.  We discuss his research process, measurement of human capital, applying experiments to an investment strategy, employee motivation and compensation schemes as investment factors, and constructing a portfolio of factors based purely on human capital.  We close by touching on Dan’s projects in government and with start-ups. Learn More Discuss show and Read the Transcript Join Ted's mailing list at CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides For more episodes go to CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast

Sulaiman Alderbas, the Head of Alternative Investments at Kuwait’s $130 billion Public Institution of Social Security, or PIFSS. Sulaiman arrived at PIFSS from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Development in 2016, shortly before a scandal erupted when the former head of PIFSS was convicted of corruption and embezzling public funds for thirty years amounting to billions of dollars. Alongside Meshal Al-Othman, who joined to lead PIFSS from the Kuwait Fund, Sulaiman took part in a massive restructuring of the organization and portfolio.   Our conversation covers Sulaiman’s early experience as an allocator, lessons from investing in thirty hedge fund of funds at the Kuwait Fund, and transition to PIFSS at the inception of the discovery of the scandal.  We discuss the restructuring that took place over the last four years that canvassed the people, process and portfolio. Along the way, we touch on competitive advantages of size, knowledge transfer from managers, strategic stakes, and allocator innovation.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Mark Johnson is the Managing Partner of Astra Capital Management, a mid-market growth buyout firm specializing in the communications and technology services sectors. Mark co-founded Astra after twenty years of experience investing at JH Whitney, Blackstone, and Carlyle. He partnered with seasoned deal and operating executives and brought the best practices from large shops to Astra with an entrepreneurial lens to address a focused strategy in a new way.   Our conversation covers Mark’s unusually planned life path, lessons from industry giants, and the formation of Astra with a utopian ideal in mind.  We discuss the Astra team, thematic sourcing, financial creativity, deal dynamics, value creation within portfolio companies, factors of long-term success, co-investments, and club deals.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Steve Moseley is the Head of Alternative Investments at Alaska Permanent Fund, a $70 billion sovereign endowment that supports the citizens of Alaska.  Steve leads a small team, based in Juneau, Alaska, that is one of the most active participants in what he calls the space in between General Partners and Limited Partners. Across private equity, venture capital, infrastructure, and private credit, Steve and the fund are considered one of the most innovative investors in private markets.   Our conversation covers Steve’s path to Alaska, the Permanent Fund’s unique pool of capital, the history of its investment strategy, and the development of the private asset portfolio.  We then turn to the attributes of fund investments and his focus on adding value beyond fund investments, including co-investments, stakes, and seeding.  We touch on perspectives on managing through an expensive pricing environment, secondary transactions, future innovation in the portfolio, and the challenges of talent acquisition and retention.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Daniel Adamson is a Senior Managing Director at Wafra and the President of Capital Constellation, a joint venture between mega asset owners in Europe, North America and the Middle East that invests in the next generation of private equity managers. Our conversation focuses on this innovative joint venture and how a group of large asset owners came together to scale their resources.  We touch on a host of issues relating to the formation and implementation of the business, the many possibilities that are arising from this novel setup, and the serious challenges in bringing it to fruition.  I suspect we’ll see more efforts by asset owners to disintermediate pieces of the investment value chain, although as you’ll hear, it’s a lot easier said than done. Learn MoreSubscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google  Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Brian Bares is the founder of Bares Capital Management, a $5 billion long only investment boutique that employs independent, qualitative research on growing companies to build highly concentrated portfolios.   Our conversation covers Brian’s early life investing lessons, bootstrapping an asset management business, and finding product-market fit. We then turn to his investment approach, highlighting target companies across business quality, management, and growth, the research process, position sizing, decision making, and sell discipline. Lastly, we discuss the evolution of BCM’s business from a micro cap strategy to three strategies across market capitalizations today.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Cade Massey is a Professor at the Wharton School where his research focuses on judgment under uncertainty, or how, and how well, people predict what will happen in the future. In particular, he studies people analytics, or how to predict who will perform well in the future. Cade is the co-host of the “Wharton Moneyball” podcast and for many years, he’s studied talent selection at the NFL draft, which frames our discussion in advance of this year’s draft next week.   Our conversation starts with Cade’s work in the NFL with data, character assessment, and performance measurement.  We turn to decision-making lessons, including the importance of independence, understanding objectives, tracking decisions, and overcoming algorithm aversion. Along the way, we touch on stories from his work with Google, Wharton’s MBA Admissions, and Teach for America. We close with advice for allocators and insights for this year’s NFL draft.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

In our continuing exploration of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies, headlines of late have turned to NFTs, or non-fungible tokens.  From NBA Top Shots to Beeple’s artwork, NFTs are the hottest use case in the crypto ecosystem.   My friends at a16z recently released an episode on their wildly popular a16z podcast called All About NFTs, featuring Linda Xie from Scalar Capital and Jesse Walden from Variant Fund, interviewed by Sonal Chokshi.  Their conversation covers the definition, use cases, myths, and future of NFTs.    Each of Linda, Jesse, and Chris Dixon at a16z each recently wrote blogs posts that together provide terrific background and perspectives on the space.  You can find those posts alongside this episode at capitalallocators.com/a16znft.   With that, it is my pleasure to replay this episode, All About NFTs, available at a16z.com   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Yen Liow is the founder and Managing Partner of Aravt Global, a fundamental global equity firm based in New York that manages long-short and long only products. Yen founded Aravt after a long stint at famed family office Ziff Brothers Investments, where he was part of the team that managed a market, neutral long-short hedge fund in a culture of framework thinking and continuous improvement.   Our conversation covers Yen’s background, experience at ZBI, and lessons about process, competitive edge, and training. We then turn to his application of those lessons to Aravt Global. We discuss three right tail strategies for long positions, the challenges in owning compounders, the art of short selling, portfolio construction, game selection, drivers of success, and challenges going forward.   For those lovers of learning about the nuance of public equity investment strategies, you’re in for a real treat.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Dominic Garcia serves as Chief Investment Officer for the Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico (PERA), a $16 billion pension system that serves over 90,000 members and provides over $1.2 billion in annual benefits. Dominic is a native of New Mexico, began his allocator career at New Mexico PERA and returned to re-join the system in 2017 as CIO after nearly a decade at SWIB, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.   Our conversation covers Dominic’s path to the helm at PERA, challenges of governance and compensation in public pensions, addressing underfunding with variable liabilities, and his risk-based investment approach that includes the separation of alpha and beta, overlays, and the selection of alpha managers across public equities, hedge funds, and private markets.  Dominic has three times been named in the 40 under 40 by industry publications, and you’ll soon hear why.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

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 

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   

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  

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 

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

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 

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 

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 

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   

Alex Shahidi and Damien Bisserier are the Co-CIOs and of Evoke Wealth and ARIS Consulting, a $19 billion registered investment advisor they co-founded in 2014.  Alex came at the business from a long tenure advising portfolios at Merrill Lynch, and Damien joined after nine years at Bridgewater.   Our conversation covers their respective backgrounds, shared investment philosophy, and strategy of searching for uncorrelated returns across public markets, alpha strategies, and private markets. We discuss the risk parity approach to public markets, incorporating human behavior when calibrating risk, the sweet spot in hedge funds, uncorrelated private equity return streams, and investment process.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript   

Rostin Behnam is the Acting Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. He was nominated and approved by the prior administration in 2017 to serve as one of five Commissioners of the CFTC and in January, accepted the role as Acting Chairman. The CFTC has a mission to promote the integrity, resilience, and vibrancy of the U.S. derivatives markets, working towards effective price discovery and risk management in fair and transparent markets. As a part of his role, Russ sponsors the CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee. Our conversation covers the history, function and process of the CFTC and the Acting Chair’s path to the seat. We then discuss his perspective on crypto assets and dive into an exhaustive policy piece published last fall by his Market Risk Advisory Committee entitled “Managing Climate Risk in the Financial System.” The document is positioned to become the leading regulatory policy manual on financial climate risk for the new administration. Our conversation took place shortly before Russ rose to Acting Chairman and before the wild market volatility in recent weeks. We touched base about his perspective, but the situation is too fluid for a public response. Acting Chairman Behnam released brief statement about the silver markets that said, “The CFTC is closely monitoring recent activity in the silver markets. The Commission is communicating with fellow regulators, the exchanges, and stakeholders to address any potential threats to the integrity of the derivatives markets for silver, and remains vigilant in surveilling these markets for fraud and manipulation.” Stay tuned, as the subject may well be fodder for another conversation down the road. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Jennifer Prosek is the founder and CEO of Prosek Partners, a leading international public relations and financial communications consultancy and a popular past guest on the show.  In our first conversation, we discussed branding an asset management firm and many of Jen’s leadership nuggets of wisdom.  That conversation follows on the feed.   Our second conversation discusses the evolution of marketing and brand development in asset management and how the pandemic has accelerated trends already in place.  We discuss business development in a virtual world, including building a digital profile, developing a presentation style, handling significant world events, differentiating from others, and nailing the narrative. We end by turning to lessons Jen learned on internal communication and leadership through the health crisis.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

David Baran and Kazuhiko Shibata are the co-founders of Symphony Financial Partners, a twenty-year old Asia-based manager of $1.3 billion in assets. Symphony focuses on deeply undervalued companies in Japan, with a long-bias, constructive engagement strategy to work closely alongside willing management teams to see intrinsic value reflected in the share price.   Our conversation covers their early careers in Japan, the country’s employee first, shareholder last culture, the resulting disconnect of corporate activity and share price, and the formation of Symphony to invest in the few companies willing to close the gap over time. We then walk through their investment process, including the challenges of taking advantage of what appears incredible value on paper, offering friendly advice as a key component of due diligence, conducting research, and structuring portfolios. We close with a discussion of corporate governance and the necessity of a long-term perspective to thrive in Japan.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript     

I am excited to share the first episode of a new podcast called The Decision Education Podcast.  It’s the brainchild of the Alliance for Decision Education, a non-profit on whose Advisory Board I serve, whose mission is founded on the belief that better decisions lead to better lives and a better society. In the first season of the podcast, Dr. Joe Sweeney talks to experts and shares tips on all things related to decision making.  Today’s special episode is Joe’s interview with Michael Mauboussin, entitled Base Rates and Bees. Please enjoy this introduction to The Decision Education podcast, which you can subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.

Today’s show is a preview of a mini-series coming in a few months, where I’ll be speaking with some of the preeminent leaders in private equity to learn more about what the continuing insatiable interest in the asset class is all about.   Paul Salem is a Senior Managing Director Emeritus at Providence Equity. Providence is a premier private equity and asset management firm focused on media, communications, education, software and services with $49 billion in asset commitments. Paul joined Providence when it was a $171 million media focused boutique in 1992 and became an integral part of the firm’s growth and success ever since until retiring a year ago. Paul considers himself the luckiest guy in the world, which you can hear more about in a TED talk he delivered a few years ago.   Our conversation covers Paul’s entry to the business, the benefits of specialization, Providence’s nice guy advantage, and the development of the firm over three decades.  We then turn to the competitive landscape for deals, value of operating partners, evolution of private equity, advice for allocators in the space, and life after stepping away from the business.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

Collette Chilton is the CIO of Williams College where she has overseen its $3 billion since 2006. Collette is nothing short of a legend in the business. She has sat in a CIO seat since the early 1990s at the helm of public pension MassPrim and corporate pension Lucent before joining Williams. Institutional Investors bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award on Collette in 2019, and Barron’s named her one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Finance in 2020.   Our conversation covers Collette’s career path and lessons learned before joining Williams. We then turn to her arrival at Williams in 2006 to a phone, a computer, and a legacy portfolio, Williams’ governance structure leveraging alumni advisors, asset allocation, manager selection, manager monitoring, hedge funds, venture capital, and navigating around popular managers.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript   

Fran Kinniry is a twenty-three year veteran at the Vanguard Group, where he’s led the teams that spearhead Vanguard’s research into new products. Fran helped Vanguard enter the direct advice business, developed Vanguard’s Advisor Alpha concept, started its Investment Strategy Group, and most recently heads Vanguard’s latest initiative investing in private equity. Our conversation covers an overview of Vanguard business, Fran’s three roles over a quarter century at the firm, behavioral coaching, and the firm’s foray into private equity. We discuss the research process leading to the introduction of private equity, potential scale across institutional and retail clients, timing of the decision, fees, and manager selection.  We then close discussing Vanguard’s cooperative ownership model, compensation, and the future of index fund. When the industry’s leading index fund manager known for low-cost investing steps into high-cost private equity after years of research that showed the benefits of the asset class, those calling for the abandonment of active management should take notice. Like all other practitioners in active management, Fran and Vanguard preach outcomes over costs. Learn MoreSubscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google  Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

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

James Clear, author of last year’s New York Times bestseller Atomic Habits, which has already sold 3 million copies worldwide.  James also publishes a weekly email entitled 3-2-1 Thursday that works to deliver the most wisdom per word of any newsletter on the web. You can sign up at jamesclear.com   Our conversation covers James’ entrepreneurial missteps that led to writing, following what worked to focus on habits, and lessons to build a large audience.  We then turn to Atomic Habits, covering the definition of a habit, four steps to creating habits, importance of identity, obstacles to good habit formation, and the practical application of these principles in James’ life. We close with James’ New Years resolutions for 2021 and his advice for bringing yours to fruition.   Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google   Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List  Read the Transcript 

With a big thank you for your enthusiastic engagement with the show, Ted offers a year in review of the podcast and the business behind the podcast.  He closes with a countdown of the top episodes of 2020. Learn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast