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Oct. 8, 2024

E101: Lessons from University of Texas ($70B) and Stanford Endowment ($40B)

E101: Lessons from University of Texas ($70B) and Stanford Endowment ($40B)
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Mark Shoberg, CIO & Partner at Capital Creek Partners sits down with David Weisburd to discuss the keys to successful institutional investing, how large should an endowment be for optimal returns, and how to build the perfect investment platform for family offices and endowments.

The 10X Capital Podcast is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: turpentine.co

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X / Twitter: @dweisburd (David Weisburd) @shoberg (Mark Shoberg) @CapitalCreekTX (Capital Creek Partners)

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LinkedIn: Capital Creek Partners: https://www.linkedin.com/company/capital-creek-partners/ Mark Shoberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-shoberg/ David Weisburd: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dweisburd/

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Links: Capital Creek Partners: https://www.capitalcreek.com/

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Questions or topics you want us to discuss on The 10X Capital Podcast? Email us at david@10xcapital.com

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TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) Episode Preview (2:19) Comparing solo and team approaches in investment management (4:18) Venture investments and the allure of spinouts (6:57) Analyzing the pros and cons of anchoring a fund (8:29) Exploring first call alpha and the dynamics of LP relationships (11:29) Balancing economic arrangements between LPs and GPs (14:29) The critical role of partnerships in successful investing (17:06) Strategies for portfolio construction in large endowments (18:15) Delving deeper into market timing and portfolio allocation (21:40) Tailoring real estate investments for tax-exempt entities (24:26) Understanding scale in endowments and its impact (28:38) Introducing Capital Creek Partners and their objectives (30:04) Customized portfolio construction for diverse clients (31:51) The art of sourcing managers and managing legacy relationships (34:57) Closing remarks
Transcript
1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,459
Walk me through the nightmare scenario when it
comes to organizational risk out of fund.

2
00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,240
You're marrying these institutions when you
make these first commitments.

3
00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:10,900
You're looking at 10, 12, and sometimes even
longer relationships in these underlying funds.

4
00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:15,615
And at the end of the day, organizations that
stayed together, and even if they were

5
00:00:15,615 --> 00:00:19,454
challenged or investments were challenged,
generally, you're getting your money back and a

6
00:00:19,454 --> 00:00:21,314
little return on those types of investments.

7
00:00:21,535 --> 00:00:26,494
And when you looked at things that did not work
out and really you had a loss of capital, it

8
00:00:26,494 --> 00:00:28,515
was usually an organizational breakup.

9
00:00:28,734 --> 00:00:33,149
What is the ideal endowment size or ideal check
size?

10
00:00:33,450 --> 00:00:40,409
To me, the ability to invest 10 to $30,000,000
in funds is probably a pretty good sweet spot

11
00:00:40,409 --> 00:00:43,335
to not limit you too much in what you can
invest in.

12
00:00:43,414 --> 00:00:48,695
If I've run the math on that in some scale of
doing, you know, $5 to $600,000,000 a year

13
00:00:48,695 --> 00:00:53,414
across alternatives and what that builds to,
then you assume you're kind of 40 to 50 percent

14
00:00:53,414 --> 00:00:53,994
of liquid.

15
00:00:54,215 --> 00:00:58,155
You get to somewhere north of 5,000,000,000 but
it's probably less than 10.

16
00:00:58,215 --> 00:01:02,899
The National Debt, Every investor that I talk
to says it's a big problem but not many

17
00:01:02,899 --> 00:01:06,439
investors actually are constantly thinking
about it and allocating their portfolio

18
00:01:06,579 --> 00:01:07,079
accordingly.

19
00:01:07,379 --> 00:01:10,519
How do you prepare for something like a
ballooning national debt.

20
00:01:19,025 --> 00:01:21,025
Mark, I've been really excited to chat.

21
00:01:21,025 --> 00:01:22,564
Welcome to 10X Capital podcast.

22
00:01:22,784 --> 00:01:23,745
Oh, thanks for having me.

23
00:01:23,745 --> 00:01:24,704
Really excited as well.

24
00:01:24,704 --> 00:01:28,680
So, Mark, you've worked at some of top
endowments, on the planet, University of Texas

25
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and Stanford.

26
00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,060
Tell me about your experience at University of
Texas.

27
00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,480
You know, the the big thing about the
experience for me at UTIMCO is that was my

28
00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:37,340
inroad into the investment world.

29
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Out of you know, I was mechanical engineer out
of undergrad and spent the better part of the

30
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:46,001
nineties with in technology versus a consultant
and then with a startup company that kinda went

31
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through the full boom and bust of the dotcom
era and went back to business school from

32
00:01:50,397 --> 00:01:50,656
there.

33
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So I had predominantly a lot of technology
background and was really excited to try to get

34
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into the endowment world.

35
00:01:56,085 --> 00:02:01,060
I had sought out to pursue working with an
endowment and found my way to UTMCO.

36
00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:05,840
And I started there as a generalist in private
equity, tended to do a lot of our venture

37
00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,300
capital and emerging markets work, but did
touch all areas.

38
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It was a tremendous opportunity I got in my
30s.

39
00:02:11,974 --> 00:02:17,014
And I think it afforded me a lot of experience
and responsibilities and ability to form

40
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relationships that I probably wouldn't have
otherwise gotten to do.

41
00:02:19,254 --> 00:02:22,135
Is investment management a solo sport or is it
a team sport?

42
00:02:22,135 --> 00:02:23,835
In what way is it one or the other?

43
00:02:23,974 --> 00:02:25,655
It's definitely a team sport.

44
00:02:25,655 --> 00:02:29,509
One of the things I also learned there was the
need to surround yourself with really good

45
00:02:29,509 --> 00:02:30,009
people.

46
00:02:30,550 --> 00:02:34,949
And everyone that would add in building a team
and even the team that we had on the private

47
00:02:34,949 --> 00:02:37,210
equity side, we were all so complimentary.

48
00:02:37,270 --> 00:02:40,889
We all brought very different things to the
table that were really important.

49
00:02:41,185 --> 00:02:45,104
Just talking through the real estate example, I
didn't really have a lot of experience in real

50
00:02:45,104 --> 00:02:45,424
estate.

51
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I had a lot of experience in sourcing managers,
dealing through negotiations and structures and

52
00:02:50,784 --> 00:02:53,525
governance, assessing organizational dynamics.

53
00:02:53,905 --> 00:02:57,459
I really needed that person who knew real
estate through and through, and we went out and

54
00:02:57,459 --> 00:02:58,919
found that person to bring on.

55
00:02:59,299 --> 00:03:03,860
You mentioned that your CIO, Bruce, came in and
instituted a new asset class like real estate.

56
00:03:03,860 --> 00:03:08,580
Tell me how a large endowment like UTEMCO goes
about building a competency in a new asset

57
00:03:08,580 --> 00:03:09,080
class.

58
00:03:09,375 --> 00:03:14,574
My relationships in the private equity side
tended to have many of them that focused in

59
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real estate were in the smaller endowments, the
2 to $5,000,000,000 endowments where those

60
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teams would spread across the different asset
classes.

61
00:03:22,110 --> 00:03:22,989
So I leveraged them.

62
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You know, we went and met with many groups.

63
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What's worked?

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00:03:25,549 --> 00:03:26,349
What hasn't worked?

65
00:03:26,349 --> 00:03:27,949
What are your challenges and pitfalls?

66
00:03:27,949 --> 00:03:30,610
So I learned a tremendous amount just through
that experience.

67
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You know, one, it's just sort of about building
and outlining the strategy that we wanted to

68
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do.

69
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2nd was also, you know, building the
relationships.

70
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I think we were fortunate at the time that a
lot of other institutions were a little more

71
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hamstrung, not able to be as active in real
estate.

72
00:03:45,594 --> 00:03:49,810
And so we were able to harness and and access
some of the, you know, best managers out there

73
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that had capacity.

74
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And we were also in a fortunate position of
people being knowledgeable that we were putting

75
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a lot of capital at work and a lot of the
spinouts, you know, folks that kinda had had

76
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lost the the golden handcuff, so to speak, as
the as the recession hit, that we're spinning

77
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out and investing from scratch.

78
00:04:04,775 --> 00:04:09,895
We took a lot of interest in that idea of not
having a backlog of troubled assets to manage,

79
00:04:09,895 --> 00:04:14,139
but with really good talent that we could be
pretty proactive and progressive in what we

80
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were building.

81
00:04:14,699 --> 00:04:17,019
Talk to me about Utemco's focus on spinouts.

82
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Why did you guys focus on spinouts?

83
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I'll bring this back to Venture a little bit.

84
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Early 2000s, FOIA was established, in Texas,
which which put us in a little bit of a back

85
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seat on the venture side.

86
00:04:26,939 --> 00:04:28,139
Freedom of information act.

87
00:04:28,139 --> 00:04:28,879
And that was

88
00:04:29,394 --> 00:04:30,754
Freedom of Information Act.

89
00:04:30,754 --> 00:04:34,995
And through that, we did work with a couple of
venture firms in Texas to work through the

90
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issues.

91
00:04:35,474 --> 00:04:39,954
We had a law established of what information
would be released, had it challenged and

92
00:04:39,954 --> 00:04:40,454
protected.

93
00:04:40,914 --> 00:04:42,115
So there was precedent set.

94
00:04:42,115 --> 00:04:45,639
And so we did a lot to improve, 1.

95
00:04:46,180 --> 00:04:50,819
But 2, we also recognized that we may not be
able to go after those top decile managers that

96
00:04:50,819 --> 00:04:53,939
we're gonna be might be a little more resistant
to the need.

97
00:04:53,939 --> 00:04:58,745
And in 2,005, 6, and 7, that was a time where
the world was sort of saying, if you can't

98
00:04:58,745 --> 00:05:00,425
invest with those groups, forget about it.

99
00:05:00,425 --> 00:05:04,185
Venture had a, I think the 10 year record was
probably negative at that point.

100
00:05:04,185 --> 00:05:07,064
And so we were challenged about what do we do
in Venture?

101
00:05:07,064 --> 00:05:08,105
Do we build it?

102
00:05:08,105 --> 00:05:09,725
Do we give up on it?

103
00:05:09,910 --> 00:05:13,750
And we did a deep dive in sort of assessing
the, you know, the opportunity set and what

104
00:05:13,750 --> 00:05:14,490
really worked.

105
00:05:14,629 --> 00:05:19,029
We found ourselves gravitating to sort of
capital efficiency, less tech risk, a little

106
00:05:19,029 --> 00:05:21,795
more market risk, and the types of investments
we would make.

107
00:05:21,875 --> 00:05:25,735
And we just said to Vic, build that next
generation portfolio.

108
00:05:26,595 --> 00:05:30,275
I gotta give credit, Linda Eckman was a big
part of that in in sort of helping establish

109
00:05:30,275 --> 00:05:31,814
that and build what we did.

110
00:05:32,035 --> 00:05:36,595
And through our work, we built that out and
focused on establishing relationships in a way

111
00:05:36,595 --> 00:05:40,509
that probably the market didn't really
appreciate or think was a reliable option.

112
00:05:40,509 --> 00:05:43,329
But, you know, fast forward and then, you know,
I think it's worked really well.

113
00:05:43,470 --> 00:05:47,069
When it came to the real estate asset class,
how long did it take for you guys to go from

114
00:05:47,069 --> 00:05:49,490
exploring investing to making your first
investment?

115
00:05:49,964 --> 00:05:51,725
We made our first investment pretty quickly.

116
00:05:51,725 --> 00:05:56,705
And I joke we had Bruce had hired somebody that
came in and had a short stay and left.

117
00:05:57,084 --> 00:06:01,324
And there was I mean, literally in his office,
there was a stack of PPMs that were about waist

118
00:06:01,324 --> 00:06:03,339
high of just things that hadn't gone through.

119
00:06:03,339 --> 00:06:05,259
And, you know, again, this, you know, where do
we go?

120
00:06:05,259 --> 00:06:05,819
How do we do it?

121
00:06:05,819 --> 00:06:08,779
Our first step was like, you know, let's just
go through these things and make sure there's

122
00:06:08,779 --> 00:06:11,099
nothing here that we're missing and understand
what's out there.

123
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What are the different opportunities?

124
00:06:12,379 --> 00:06:15,759
What are the different things that we might
assess while we're talking to other managers?

125
00:06:16,214 --> 00:06:19,495
And through that, we had one that sort of
really rose to the top.

126
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You know, I always like to joke it.

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00:06:20,774 --> 00:06:25,254
It kinda read like the Jerry Maguire memo, the
the things we think that do not but do not say

128
00:06:25,254 --> 00:06:26,375
in the real estate industry.

129
00:06:26,375 --> 00:06:27,814
And I was just very intrigued by it.

130
00:06:27,814 --> 00:06:31,699
And we set up a call and quickly started
migrating to making that first investment.

131
00:06:31,860 --> 00:06:35,319
So that was one of our first active investments
and it was fairly quick.

132
00:06:35,620 --> 00:06:39,860
They had happened to be a group that had had
ambitions to raise a fund.

133
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The financial crisis hit and they were became
an operating partner under a very large hedge

134
00:06:44,295 --> 00:06:44,615
fund.

135
00:06:44,615 --> 00:06:48,455
They had a carve right right to allow investors
to ride alongside some of those investments

136
00:06:48,455 --> 00:06:49,014
that were happening.

137
00:06:49,014 --> 00:06:51,014
That hedge fund happened to also be a
relationship with ours.

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We had a lot of trust in them.

139
00:06:52,134 --> 00:06:56,055
And that was a way for us to begin dating, so
to speak, before we anchored them in their

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00:06:56,055 --> 00:06:57,540
first institutional fund.

141
00:06:57,540 --> 00:07:01,639
Looking back at your endowment experience, what
are the pros and cons of anchoring a fund?

142
00:07:01,779 --> 00:07:05,800
A big piece of it for us is that we were at
pretty significant scale.

143
00:07:06,500 --> 00:07:11,779
And it was challenging to if you think about
this world where we gravitated to lower middle

144
00:07:11,779 --> 00:07:14,714
market, generally, and that was true across the
board.

145
00:07:14,714 --> 00:07:16,074
We liked early in seed stage.

146
00:07:16,074 --> 00:07:17,915
We liked lower middle market buyouts.

147
00:07:17,915 --> 00:07:19,935
We liked smaller real estate firms.

148
00:07:20,394 --> 00:07:24,634
And a lot of that was based on the particularly
in real estate that we felt like that was the

149
00:07:24,634 --> 00:07:26,154
universe of investment opportunity.

150
00:07:26,154 --> 00:07:28,470
That was the best place to be and place to
navigate.

151
00:07:29,089 --> 00:07:35,329
And for us to go find a, you know, $200,000,000
venture firm or a $100,000,000 buyout or a

152
00:07:35,329 --> 00:07:39,970
$300,000,000 real estate firm that was really
well established, it would be very difficult

153
00:07:39,970 --> 00:07:44,764
for us to go deploy, you know, 60, 70, maybe a
$100,000,000 in that asset.

154
00:07:44,764 --> 00:07:49,805
So it it leaned us to, if we can find really
great talent that we are could build a deep

155
00:07:49,805 --> 00:07:53,964
relationship with, get the time to really get
to know them, it was a meaningful way for us to

156
00:07:53,964 --> 00:07:57,105
step in in a more meaningful way to build that
exposure we needed.

157
00:07:57,289 --> 00:07:59,769
So I'd say that was probably a big piece of it.

158
00:07:59,769 --> 00:08:04,910
Secondly, you do have the ability to form
closer relationships.

159
00:08:04,970 --> 00:08:09,050
I think a big part of what's important in
creating alpha long term is that you have

160
00:08:09,050 --> 00:08:13,444
smaller, closer relationships that you really
get in the flow of understanding how they

161
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think, what they're seeing in the markets.

162
00:08:16,004 --> 00:08:19,605
Because of all these areas that we're
allocating to, the ability to kind of see when

163
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a dislocation happens, be close to it, then we
can sort of rifle shot and flex.

164
00:08:23,125 --> 00:08:24,905
I think that's a big value creator.

165
00:08:25,209 --> 00:08:28,810
And I think as an anchor and a core
relationship, you're able to have those

166
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relationships more.

167
00:08:29,689 --> 00:08:31,209
Do you believe in the liquid assets?

168
00:08:31,209 --> 00:08:33,789
Do you believe First Call Alpha exists, that
relationship?

169
00:08:33,929 --> 00:08:38,384
To jump to that, just to a third layer of this
anchoring is I do think you get your alignment

170
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is a big piece of it.

171
00:08:39,584 --> 00:08:43,524
And you're forming a relationship with a group
that is forming a new organization.

172
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It's likely their own their only product.

173
00:08:45,664 --> 00:08:47,105
They really need to get it right.

174
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It's a time that all of their eggs are sort of
in one basket.

175
00:08:49,985 --> 00:08:55,149
And that we think that that generally forms a
much better, closer alignment for us.

176
00:08:55,210 --> 00:08:57,529
The flip is you have to worry about
organizational risk.

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That's probably an elevated risk with the new
organization.

178
00:09:00,169 --> 00:09:03,769
And so if you could spend the time to really
get comfort with that, we think that ability to

179
00:09:03,769 --> 00:09:05,870
get that alignment is is really strong.

180
00:09:06,315 --> 00:09:11,674
To your question on first call alpha, I think
it's I'm a little mixed on that topic.

181
00:09:11,674 --> 00:09:17,294
Because I you know, one, I very much believe
that it's important to have true partnerships

182
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where all partners and LPs are treated equally.

183
00:09:21,470 --> 00:09:27,950
I don't like the idea of special economics for
an anchor or, Hey, we get the rights to this,

184
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your co investments versus the others.

185
00:09:29,710 --> 00:09:32,610
I just feel like you need to build that
community in close partnership.

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00:09:33,324 --> 00:09:39,485
And so I feel like that first call alpha still
exists in that in that world where you still

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can have a very close relationship.

188
00:09:41,004 --> 00:09:42,684
You still are in constant dialogue.

189
00:09:42,684 --> 00:09:45,745
And maybe there are other LPs in the in the
group that don't do that.

190
00:09:46,070 --> 00:09:49,830
And if you have those close relationships, I do
think you're in the flow of seeing what they're

191
00:09:49,830 --> 00:09:53,610
seeing and that you're in a position to be
active when something happens.

192
00:09:53,990 --> 00:09:57,509
And I absolutely think that it's a a very
important way to be able to create that alpha.

193
00:09:57,509 --> 00:10:01,664
Just to play devil's advocate, shouldn't anchor
investors get preferred economics because they

194
00:10:01,664 --> 00:10:05,664
provide the opportunity for the fund to exist
and they provide opportunity for other LPs to

195
00:10:05,664 --> 00:10:08,085
go into an otherwise non existent fund?

196
00:10:08,465 --> 00:10:09,764
I get it for sure.

197
00:10:10,144 --> 00:10:15,820
And I do think there are reasons that for being
an early supporter of an organization that

198
00:10:15,820 --> 00:10:18,080
there are probably some benefits to be had.

199
00:10:18,139 --> 00:10:21,440
I think it's just you got to be very careful
about how that's set up.

200
00:10:21,899 --> 00:10:29,934
The flip is that I think really good LPs out
there really want the organization itself to be

201
00:10:29,934 --> 00:10:35,054
strong and very well positioned and raising the
right amount of capital for the right

202
00:10:35,054 --> 00:10:35,554
opportunity.

203
00:10:36,014 --> 00:10:41,054
And you can imagine if, in that scenario I said
earlier, if we were to come in and we're

204
00:10:41,054 --> 00:10:45,450
100,000,000 of a $300,000,000 fund and we say,
You know what?

205
00:10:45,450 --> 00:10:47,470
Why don't we should get half of your carry?

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00:10:47,610 --> 00:10:51,529
All that's going to lead to is that either you
can't hire and retain the best talent to go

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00:10:51,529 --> 00:10:56,330
execute because you're hamstrung versus that
other $300,000,000 fund executing the same

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00:10:56,330 --> 00:10:56,830
strategy.

209
00:10:57,529 --> 00:11:01,745
Or you got to go raise twice as much as you
probably should have to be able to support that

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00:11:01,745 --> 00:11:02,485
great team.

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00:11:02,865 --> 00:11:04,945
But you're maybe missized your opportunity set.

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00:11:04,945 --> 00:11:08,164
And so I think that's the dynamics we really
try to understand.

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00:11:08,384 --> 00:11:09,445
There's always nuances.

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00:11:09,585 --> 00:11:14,809
I'm a big believer in Goldilocks scenarios
where usually nothing in the extreme is the

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00:11:14,809 --> 00:11:15,450
right answer.

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00:11:15,450 --> 00:11:18,409
And there's always nuances of these hybrid
approaches to think about.

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00:11:18,409 --> 00:11:22,909
At the end of the day, if there's some ability
to recognize the supporters, early supporters

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of a team, it's great.

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00:11:25,009 --> 00:11:28,764
I think you just got to be really careful about
how that's implemented and and what that looks

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00:11:28,764 --> 00:11:29,084
like.

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00:11:29,084 --> 00:11:33,565
I had Mike Maples on the podcast, and he
reflected on his relationship with David

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00:11:33,565 --> 00:11:33,964
Swenson.

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00:11:33,964 --> 00:11:38,845
One of the things that he said is a nuanced
explanation of David Swenson's style, which was

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00:11:38,845 --> 00:11:42,430
he made sure he got really good economic
arrangement for Yale.

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00:11:42,430 --> 00:11:46,290
He made sure he got a really good economic
arrangement for other LPs.

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00:11:46,509 --> 00:11:50,670
And he also made sure that the GPs were
sustainable, were happy, were growing, and they

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00:11:50,670 --> 00:11:52,129
were partnering with the GPs.

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00:11:52,430 --> 00:11:57,554
So he he was able to balance these three
seemingly conflicting dynamics.

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And it is extremely important.

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And I I do think it plays into the LP community
and our networks that we build and the groups

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00:12:03,535 --> 00:12:09,240
that we share ideas and opportunities with as
you want those other like minded investors

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alongside you.

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And it could be look very different if you feel
like somebody might come in and want to

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00:12:14,039 --> 00:12:17,820
stronghold their positions or maximize for
themselves over the collective.

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00:12:17,959 --> 00:12:22,200
You had experience at UTIMCO and then later
Stanford Management Company, 2 of the most

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00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:24,165
prolific endowments on the planet.

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00:12:24,225 --> 00:12:26,225
You mentioned organizational risk.

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00:12:26,225 --> 00:12:27,264
Can you unpack that?

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00:12:27,264 --> 00:12:30,785
Walk me through the nightmare scenario when it
comes to organizational risk at a fund.

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00:12:30,785 --> 00:12:35,205
And what are the actual effects to the
underlying investor, the underlying endowment?

241
00:12:35,264 --> 00:12:38,144
That's interesting because I've done work on
this in my in the past.

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00:12:38,144 --> 00:12:42,409
And, one of the nice things of being at those
large institutions is there is a lot of private

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00:12:42,409 --> 00:12:45,209
equity history to look back on and learn from.

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00:12:45,209 --> 00:12:50,089
And it's an interesting dynamic around
organizations are you're marrying these

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00:12:50,089 --> 00:12:51,929
institutions when you make these first
commitments.

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00:12:51,929 --> 00:12:56,414
You're looking at 10, 12, and sometimes even
longer sort of relationships in these

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00:12:56,414 --> 00:12:57,394
underlying funds.

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00:12:58,254 --> 00:13:02,495
And at the end of the day, organizations that
stayed together, and even if they were

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00:13:02,495 --> 00:13:06,335
challenged or investments were challenged,
generally, you're getting your money back and a

250
00:13:06,335 --> 00:13:08,434
little return on those types of investments.

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00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:13,720
And when you looked at things that did not work
out and really you had a loss of capital, it

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00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:15,740
was usually an organizational breakup.

253
00:13:15,879 --> 00:13:22,695
A big divorce, a split organization with nobody
really there to help maximize the return of

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00:13:22,695 --> 00:13:23,195
capital.

255
00:13:23,415 --> 00:13:27,095
And so, I think that's the underlying risk we
think about, 1.

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00:13:27,095 --> 00:13:32,855
And 2, in assessing that organizational risk, I
think it's all about, again, I love the

257
00:13:32,855 --> 00:13:36,235
alignment factor of early funds and what they
bring.

258
00:13:36,529 --> 00:13:41,090
But you have to think a lot about those the org
dynamics and and what they're assessing their

259
00:13:41,090 --> 00:13:42,290
ability to kinda stay together.

260
00:13:42,290 --> 00:13:44,070
Do they have the right incentives in place?

261
00:13:44,450 --> 00:13:46,149
Does the team have are they cohesive?

262
00:13:46,210 --> 00:13:47,570
Have they worked together before?

263
00:13:47,570 --> 00:13:49,830
If they haven't, are they coming from similar
cultures?

264
00:13:50,075 --> 00:13:51,754
Or are they coming from very different
cultures?

265
00:13:51,754 --> 00:13:53,214
We want to explore all those things.

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We've hit a world of remote working.

267
00:13:55,835 --> 00:14:00,634
And more and more often, you see partnerships
with partners in different towns and states and

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even countries.

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00:14:01,595 --> 00:14:05,429
And that's kind of an interesting development
when you think about organizational risk.

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In the old world, when these partnerships would
come together, they kinda had to get married,

271
00:14:08,549 --> 00:14:08,790
right?

272
00:14:08,790 --> 00:14:12,970
They're coming together, they're moving to the
same towns, whatever they had to do, where now

273
00:14:13,350 --> 00:14:15,190
they can kinda test the waters, right?

274
00:14:15,190 --> 00:14:16,965
Like, hey, I don't really have to move yet.

275
00:14:16,965 --> 00:14:18,565
I can have this startup, this fund.

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00:14:18,565 --> 00:14:21,044
And those are things that are like, how
committed are they?

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00:14:21,044 --> 00:14:24,884
And we just really wanna understand that
because we don't wanna find ourselves 2 or 3

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years into a 12 to 14 year relationship and and
seeing those things breaking apart.

279
00:14:29,125 --> 00:14:29,605
Absolutely.

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I think a partnership is like any relationship,
and long distance relationships are inherently

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00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:35,220
fragile.

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00:14:38,399 --> 00:14:42,019
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00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:46,415
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285
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286
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00:14:50,735 --> 00:14:54,674
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288
00:14:54,815 --> 00:14:56,035
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289
00:14:56,654 --> 00:15:02,240
When you look at the org operational risk, it's
not just a sunk cost of time, but also worse

290
00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:02,740
performing.

291
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:07,759
Why does a fund that's only around for 1 fund
perform worse than a fund that's there for

292
00:15:07,759 --> 00:15:08,559
several funds?

293
00:15:08,559 --> 00:15:11,779
It's really about managing the assets and the
underlying investments.

294
00:15:12,235 --> 00:15:18,154
So in venture, you have this speaks across
different illiquid strategies but in venture,

295
00:15:18,154 --> 00:15:19,455
there's follow on decisions.

296
00:15:19,995 --> 00:15:22,894
There's protection positions that have to be
made.

297
00:15:23,274 --> 00:15:27,360
And it's just about having somebody that's
really keeping their eye on the ball and seeing

298
00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:28,339
what's really happening.

299
00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:32,799
And if you have partners that have kinda split
up and they've now tried to go start their own

300
00:15:32,799 --> 00:15:36,240
firms or maybe a start up company and they're
doing something different, they're just they're

301
00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:40,555
taking their eye off the ball and they may not
maximize the outcomes of of those underlying

302
00:15:40,555 --> 00:15:41,055
investments.

303
00:15:41,274 --> 00:15:43,035
So I think that's that's the real big one.

304
00:15:43,035 --> 00:15:47,355
So you went from UTIMCO, one of the top
endowments in the country, to another fairly

305
00:15:47,355 --> 00:15:49,274
elite endowment, Stanford Management Company.

306
00:15:49,274 --> 00:15:51,179
What were your first couple of years like at
Stanford?

307
00:15:51,339 --> 00:15:52,700
It was an amazing experience.

308
00:15:52,700 --> 00:15:57,019
I think the the big part of this and, you know,
the decision to leave is I did have you know,

309
00:15:57,019 --> 00:16:01,100
had a huge affinity for the University of Texas
and all that it represented and, you know, grew

310
00:16:01,100 --> 00:16:01,820
up in Texas.

311
00:16:01,820 --> 00:16:03,019
And my wife's from Austin.

312
00:16:03,019 --> 00:16:07,195
So there were a lot of reasons that I thought I
may never leave.

313
00:16:07,414 --> 00:16:10,154
And I always thought if I did, it would be one
of my alma maters.

314
00:16:10,214 --> 00:16:13,274
And when Stanford came along, it was
interesting.

315
00:16:13,334 --> 00:16:18,539
I mentioned earlier with UTMCO, my entire
career there was about first principles.

316
00:16:18,539 --> 00:16:19,899
We kinda all learned on the job.

317
00:16:19,899 --> 00:16:25,340
We didn't really have those outside influences
of education in the space to know what the

318
00:16:25,340 --> 00:16:26,059
right answers were.

319
00:16:26,059 --> 00:16:26,559
Right?

320
00:16:26,700 --> 00:16:31,500
Everything we did was was very bottoms up
oriented how we did it, where Stanford was kind

321
00:16:31,500 --> 00:16:33,185
of a totally opposite situation.

322
00:16:33,185 --> 00:16:37,925
I mean, here you have Rob Wallace who had an
amazing reputation.

323
00:16:38,625 --> 00:16:40,725
He trained under Swenson at Yale.

324
00:16:40,865 --> 00:16:45,845
David helped him find his first job and sat on
his board for a large family in Europe.

325
00:16:46,350 --> 00:16:49,230
And and Rob was recruiting people from all over
the industry.

326
00:16:49,230 --> 00:16:54,110
So folks that had worked at Yale, from Hilton
Foundation, from University of California, from

327
00:16:54,110 --> 00:16:54,610
Timco.

328
00:16:54,990 --> 00:16:57,330
There were some amazing people at Stanford
already.

329
00:16:57,789 --> 00:17:01,995
And that was really intriguing to me of of sort
of this thought of, like, hey.

330
00:17:01,995 --> 00:17:03,274
We've done what we thought made sense.

331
00:17:03,274 --> 00:17:06,174
Now we can go see how the sausage was made at
all these different institutions.

332
00:17:06,394 --> 00:17:11,355
You went from UTIMCO, where you were going into
new assets and Stanford that had more of an

333
00:17:11,355 --> 00:17:12,575
established program.

334
00:17:12,890 --> 00:17:18,330
When it comes to large pools of capital like
endowments, how often should ICs really

335
00:17:18,330 --> 00:17:20,430
recalibrate their portfolio's construction?

336
00:17:20,730 --> 00:17:24,970
1st, from an asset allocation perspective, I
think it's something you revisit, you know,

337
00:17:24,970 --> 00:17:25,470
annually.

338
00:17:25,610 --> 00:17:25,850
Right?

339
00:17:25,850 --> 00:17:31,154
You're always constantly running the your
models of long term assumptions by asset class

340
00:17:31,154 --> 00:17:32,055
and as you're building.

341
00:17:32,434 --> 00:17:34,914
And so I think you you wanna have this
consistent approach.

342
00:17:34,914 --> 00:17:35,234
Right?

343
00:17:35,234 --> 00:17:39,315
And, generally, the revamping of asset
allocation you're doing is probably pretty

344
00:17:39,315 --> 00:17:40,775
marginal, those subtle shifts.

345
00:17:41,179 --> 00:17:46,700
And at the same time, I think you're constantly
evaluating your processes, the investments

346
00:17:46,700 --> 00:17:50,779
you're making, and thinking about what are the
new challenges ahead and how should we be

347
00:17:50,779 --> 00:17:52,160
shifting our thinking, right?

348
00:17:52,460 --> 00:17:59,244
And a case in point was seeing both of those
institutions going from $20,000,000 when I

349
00:17:59,244 --> 00:18:05,805
joined to north of $40,000,000,000 Your ability
to invest changes and you have to constantly be

350
00:18:05,805 --> 00:18:08,759
evaluating, are there things that we need to do
similarly or different?

351
00:18:08,839 --> 00:18:12,119
You can probably always maintain those
principles in how you invest, but you may have

352
00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:14,700
to shift subtleness in how in that strategy.

353
00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:19,400
A lot of institutional and sometimes non
institutional investors will say they don't

354
00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:20,279
like to time the market.

355
00:18:20,279 --> 00:18:22,200
They don't like to play macro investors.

356
00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:27,164
Is that a naive approach, or do you really
wanna take the same portfolio allocation in any

357
00:18:27,164 --> 00:18:27,644
market?

358
00:18:27,644 --> 00:18:30,944
This gets back to my my Goldilocks theory of of
many things.

359
00:18:31,085 --> 00:18:36,605
I definitely do not believe in market timing
and too much macro tactical shifting, premise

360
00:18:36,605 --> 00:18:37,085
number 1.

361
00:18:37,085 --> 00:18:41,190
But 2, I think there's components of both that
can live together.

362
00:18:41,569 --> 00:18:46,529
We do our asset allocation work is relatively
high level.

363
00:18:46,529 --> 00:18:51,490
It's fixed income, how much fixed income, cash
are we going to have, how much private equity,

364
00:18:51,490 --> 00:18:55,585
how much venture, energy, real estate, credit,
public markets?

365
00:18:55,724 --> 00:18:59,404
Maybe you can get granular to public markets of
how much do we do in developed markets in the

366
00:18:59,404 --> 00:19:00,605
US and emerging markets?

367
00:19:00,605 --> 00:19:01,884
And what do we do in hedge funds?

368
00:19:01,884 --> 00:19:07,024
So that's this big picture that I think can
stay very consistent over the very long term.

369
00:19:07,789 --> 00:19:11,950
But when you take those buckets individually
and you're very bottom up in your approach at

370
00:19:11,950 --> 00:19:15,950
how you assess and find really good managers,
you're gonna have a lot of tactical things

371
00:19:15,950 --> 00:19:18,529
potentially happening within each of those
investment categories.

372
00:19:19,309 --> 00:19:23,335
And I do think it's often hard for us as
allocators to make those decisions.

373
00:19:23,335 --> 00:19:24,634
We're a little more removed.

374
00:19:24,694 --> 00:19:28,615
We wanna be knowledgeable of what's going on in
the industry and see it, but we may be a little

375
00:19:28,615 --> 00:19:31,274
more hamstrung to be able to execute as things
are happening.

376
00:19:31,654 --> 00:19:36,849
And so finding ways that you find amazing
managers, amazing talent, and that having the

377
00:19:36,849 --> 00:19:41,410
flexibility to migrate the market dynamics that
they're seeing, I think, allows you to do some

378
00:19:41,410 --> 00:19:44,950
tactical things without being too macro in your
in your orientation.

379
00:19:45,329 --> 00:19:49,865
From my conversations with a lot of limited
partners, one thing that seems to be highly

380
00:19:49,865 --> 00:19:52,585
rational is almost a countercyclical market
timing.

381
00:19:52,585 --> 00:19:55,065
So you invest as a general rule.

382
00:19:55,065 --> 00:19:59,964
There's obviously exceptions, but you invest
into assets that are out of favor for macro

383
00:20:00,105 --> 00:20:01,464
macro reasons or otherwise.

384
00:20:01,464 --> 00:20:06,190
That seems to be an interesting kind of
contrast with, of course, making sure that you

385
00:20:06,190 --> 00:20:11,070
have a conservative tilts to to your
liabilities and making sure that you're able to

386
00:20:11,070 --> 00:20:13,089
cover your liabilities as a first rule.

387
00:20:13,150 --> 00:20:17,784
I also believe in animal spirits quite a bit
and figuring out ways to protect yourselves in

388
00:20:17,784 --> 00:20:20,204
some ways of succumbing too much to emotion.

389
00:20:20,984 --> 00:20:25,065
And to me, that asset allocation methodology
helps that quite a bit.

390
00:20:25,065 --> 00:20:30,025
So if we're building these models in a little
more detached framework of how we want to

391
00:20:30,025 --> 00:20:32,410
build, they serve as amazing guardrails.

392
00:20:32,789 --> 00:20:38,710
And more times than not in my career, they have
moved you to make the right decisions at the

393
00:20:38,710 --> 00:20:41,910
right times without necessarily that macro
overlay.

394
00:20:41,910 --> 00:20:48,684
And what I mean by that is when the pandemic
hit and equity markets sort of, you know,

395
00:20:48,684 --> 00:20:53,404
unfolded, all of a sudden, here we are finding
ourselves well under under allocation, and our

396
00:20:53,404 --> 00:20:57,644
rebalancing efforts would allow us to put
dollars to work at the time that valuations

397
00:20:57,644 --> 00:20:59,184
were necessarily diminished.

398
00:20:59,650 --> 00:21:04,690
And similarly, on the upside, when markets are
really running, you'll, you know, you'll get

399
00:21:04,690 --> 00:21:05,650
out of your asset allocation.

400
00:21:05,650 --> 00:21:08,049
So you're rebalancing out of more frothy
investments.

401
00:21:08,049 --> 00:21:12,049
I think those are kinda nice little guardrails
that serve the ability to help you be a little

402
00:21:12,049 --> 00:21:14,444
more counter countercyclical in how you think
about things.

403
00:21:14,524 --> 00:21:19,565
So you're both riding it up, but also taking
some chips off the table and making sure that

404
00:21:19,565 --> 00:21:22,944
in the case of a retreat, you're balanced in an
appropriate way.

405
00:21:23,005 --> 00:21:28,304
So you've mentioned real estate a couple of
times at UTIMCO as well as Stanford Management

406
00:21:28,365 --> 00:21:28,865
Company.

407
00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:33,960
And a lot of your peers in endowment world
today will say that real estate, especially for

408
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,000
nontaxable investors, is a dominated assets by
other asset classes.

409
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:38,279
A lot of them aren't even allocating.

410
00:21:38,279 --> 00:21:40,059
We're allocating low single digits.

411
00:21:40,279 --> 00:21:44,619
What are your thoughts on real estate today,
specifically for tax exempt investors?

412
00:21:44,904 --> 00:21:46,204
I'm still a believer.

413
00:21:46,265 --> 00:21:50,365
And I think there are areas that maybe are more
challenged than not.

414
00:21:50,825 --> 00:21:53,565
And I think it probably depends on the size of
the institution.

415
00:21:53,865 --> 00:21:58,444
There's different levels of scale that I think
bring different opportunities or deteriorate,

416
00:21:58,585 --> 00:22:00,490
maybe delete the opportunity set.

417
00:22:00,490 --> 00:22:06,250
In my world, I think we are small and nimble
enough that we can play in a pretty wide

418
00:22:06,250 --> 00:22:06,750
universe.

419
00:22:07,369 --> 00:22:13,769
And we tend to do a lot of things that build
portfolios that are highly desirable by really

420
00:22:13,769 --> 00:22:14,589
large institutions.

421
00:22:15,210 --> 00:22:17,924
We We still see that as a pretty nice
opportunity set.

422
00:22:18,144 --> 00:22:21,585
And there's a lot of institutions you see out
there that probably bucket in every category.

423
00:22:21,585 --> 00:22:25,765
Like, we're gonna have this much in office and
retail and storage and multifamily.

424
00:22:26,144 --> 00:22:31,190
And I do think that's a pretty challenged
concept over the very long term.

425
00:22:31,250 --> 00:22:35,330
And and we do have pretty tactical approaches
to how we think about that real estate.

426
00:22:35,330 --> 00:22:38,289
There'll be times that we're gonna be heavy in
multifamily, and there might be times that

427
00:22:38,289 --> 00:22:41,650
we're gonna be very opportunistic and and
pursue different things just based on where we

428
00:22:41,650 --> 00:22:44,934
see value and how that compares to a lot of
what we're seeing in the both the public

429
00:22:44,934 --> 00:22:47,195
markets and just, you know, fundamentals and
pricing.

430
00:22:47,335 --> 00:22:51,335
We're still pretty supportive of it and think
it it fits an important role in the an overall

431
00:22:51,335 --> 00:22:51,835
portfolio.

432
00:22:52,695 --> 00:22:57,015
And then lastly, I would say it also brings
some level of yield that depending on the

433
00:22:57,015 --> 00:23:00,154
organization and their needs can can serve a
pretty important portion.

434
00:23:00,369 --> 00:23:02,950
Let's talk about something related, the
National Debt.

435
00:23:03,250 --> 00:23:08,049
Every investor that I talk to says it's a big
problem, but not many investors actually are

436
00:23:08,049 --> 00:23:11,109
constantly thinking about it and allocating
their portfolio accordingly.

437
00:23:11,409 --> 00:23:14,549
How do you prepare for something like a
ballooning National Debt?

438
00:23:15,224 --> 00:23:19,484
National debt and the level of debt is, you
know, definitely concerning.

439
00:23:19,625 --> 00:23:23,244
I do think it can often drive, you know, this
higher level of inflation.

440
00:23:23,545 --> 00:23:26,505
4 or 5 years ago, kind of inflation kind of
fell away.

441
00:23:26,505 --> 00:23:30,130
And I think that's a lot of the questions
around oil and gas, energy, and real state.

442
00:23:30,130 --> 00:23:32,470
You know, are they really even needed for
inflation protection?

443
00:23:32,529 --> 00:23:37,329
But I think that's reared its head in in recent
years, and that that national debt can play a

444
00:23:37,329 --> 00:23:39,669
big role in kind of what the future looks like
there.

445
00:23:39,890 --> 00:23:44,769
So I think that you have to incorporate that in
your thinking of what assets you want and which

446
00:23:44,769 --> 00:23:47,404
ones may be able to support you in a different
environment.

447
00:23:47,464 --> 00:23:51,304
The National Debt, I think doing a little bit
could go a long way.

448
00:23:51,304 --> 00:23:55,464
Having some exposure to Bitcoin, having some
exposure to real estate, a lot of people don't

449
00:23:55,464 --> 00:23:58,924
realize real estate is a really great hedge
because its prices go up.

450
00:23:59,069 --> 00:24:04,210
On a relative basis, real estate stays in the
same amount because it's a fixed scarce asset.

451
00:24:04,429 --> 00:24:07,309
So doing a couple of those things, I think,
could go a long way.

452
00:24:07,309 --> 00:24:12,365
After you account for and prepare for
inflation, you kind of, in a zen way, want to

453
00:24:12,365 --> 00:24:15,085
let it go because you can't affect national
policy.

454
00:24:15,085 --> 00:24:16,865
You can't affect what's going on in Washington.

455
00:24:16,924 --> 00:24:21,005
We talked a couple weeks ago, and you mentioned
that large endowments have both economies of

456
00:24:21,005 --> 00:24:23,184
scale as well as diseconomies of scale.

457
00:24:23,244 --> 00:24:25,825
What are the economies of scale endowments?

458
00:24:26,220 --> 00:24:30,619
True economies of scale that help you be the
better investor and and put you in a position

459
00:24:30,619 --> 00:24:31,599
to perform better.

460
00:24:31,980 --> 00:24:36,299
And at the same time, I think it has a narrow
window before there you begin to see

461
00:24:36,299 --> 00:24:36,799
diseconomies.

462
00:24:37,019 --> 00:24:37,339
Right?

463
00:24:37,339 --> 00:24:41,605
I heard some of your past speakers say things
that, you know, size is the enemy of your

464
00:24:41,605 --> 00:24:42,005
performance.

465
00:24:42,005 --> 00:24:44,744
And and I do think there's some truth to that
at a level.

466
00:24:45,045 --> 00:24:49,765
And so there's this notion of getting economy
at scale to a point and what's that ideal

467
00:24:49,765 --> 00:24:52,345
platform look like and when does it start to
deplete.

468
00:24:52,565 --> 00:24:56,609
And the economies of scale I think about are
the resources you can get.

469
00:24:56,609 --> 00:24:59,109
You can get great human resources, great
talent.

470
00:24:59,330 --> 00:25:05,090
You have the means to hire great talent, and
you have outreach and technical advances and

471
00:25:05,090 --> 00:25:06,450
support that you can utilize.

472
00:25:06,450 --> 00:25:06,609
Right?

473
00:25:06,609 --> 00:25:10,945
So different systems for research and
Bloomberg's and Team and all these different

474
00:25:10,945 --> 00:25:13,684
things that really put you in a better position
to do your work.

475
00:25:13,744 --> 00:25:19,445
Our job to do it well requires a very proactive
approach to sourcing.

476
00:25:19,664 --> 00:25:25,039
And that means a lot of boots on the ground, a
lot of meetings, identification of who are

477
00:25:25,039 --> 00:25:28,660
those managers that you really want to court
and potentially invest with.

478
00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:32,960
And without those resources and team, that's a
very difficult thing to do.

479
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,320
A lot of groups that are sub REIT that don't
have those resources, they end up being a lot

480
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:37,059
more reactive.

481
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:41,345
It's the what finds their way to them, who's
having to market, who's probably been in the

482
00:25:41,345 --> 00:25:45,684
market for a long time, or they're doing things
on more of a regional basis.

483
00:25:45,904 --> 00:25:47,184
So the resources are important.

484
00:25:47,184 --> 00:25:48,164
You want to be proactive.

485
00:25:48,625 --> 00:25:50,484
And then secondly, I do think capital.

486
00:25:50,545 --> 00:25:53,539
You want your capital to be of size that you're
a meaningful partner.

487
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:57,220
We talked a lot earlier about that sort of
first call alpha.

488
00:25:57,519 --> 00:25:59,220
And you want to be in that position.

489
00:25:59,519 --> 00:26:04,079
Having the capital to have the real
communications, close relationships, beyond

490
00:26:04,079 --> 00:26:08,365
LPACs, all those things that are gonna help you
know that manager a lot better are very

491
00:26:08,365 --> 00:26:10,544
important and part of that scale dynamic.

492
00:26:11,085 --> 00:26:16,204
On the diseconomies of scale, I think it's all
about kind of too much capital, right?

493
00:26:16,204 --> 00:26:21,799
We talked about the idea of I can't go do an
amazing 75 or $100,000,000 fund when at the end

494
00:26:21,799 --> 00:26:26,380
of the day your check size minimums are
$100,000,000 So you just get to a point where

495
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:31,634
the universe of opportunity that you can invest
in becomes too small, and it can be at a

496
00:26:31,634 --> 00:26:34,375
detriment with that scale and a detriment to
performance.

497
00:26:34,835 --> 00:26:38,194
I do think, you know, sometimes you can have
agency issues creep in and, you know, you have

498
00:26:38,194 --> 00:26:41,255
a really large organization with many asset
classes.

499
00:26:41,394 --> 00:26:43,539
All of a sudden, you've got specialists coming
in.

500
00:26:43,539 --> 00:26:45,880
You have a lot of some silos that can form.

501
00:26:46,180 --> 00:26:50,039
And each of those silos might start building
their they might optimize their own portfolios

502
00:26:50,500 --> 00:26:53,559
and that may not be the optimal portfolio for
the full corpus.

503
00:26:53,859 --> 00:26:57,105
So again, I get to this Goldilocks scenario of
scale.

504
00:26:57,105 --> 00:26:58,404
There's a scale that's optimal.

505
00:26:58,865 --> 00:27:04,144
And if you kind of think about it, the PT boats
of the world are, they're really small and

506
00:27:04,144 --> 00:27:06,085
nimble, but they have a lot of vulnerabilities.

507
00:27:07,184 --> 00:27:11,430
The big aircraft carriers that are less nimble,
they're really hard to turn, they're hard to

508
00:27:11,430 --> 00:27:12,410
put in the right direction.

509
00:27:12,549 --> 00:27:15,369
And they're kind of limited to just being in
these big open waters.

510
00:27:15,830 --> 00:27:20,230
And flip is if you found the the battleship
that's fast and nimble and has lots of

511
00:27:20,230 --> 00:27:23,444
capabilities, that kind of feels like an ideal
world to try to operate in.

512
00:27:23,524 --> 00:27:23,764
You know,

513
00:27:23,764 --> 00:27:25,284
I'm gonna have to put you on a number.

514
00:27:25,284 --> 00:27:32,585
So whether it's asset size or check size, what
is the ideal endowment size or ideal check size

515
00:27:32,644 --> 00:27:36,609
that puts you in the position of getting the
most amount of calls while also being able to

516
00:27:36,609 --> 00:27:37,509
deploy effectively?

517
00:27:37,569 --> 00:27:38,529
I think it's a range.

518
00:27:38,529 --> 00:27:40,609
And I think it's still a little bit to be
determined.

519
00:27:40,609 --> 00:27:44,929
But I've always been enamored by the idea of
having a $5,000,000,000 to $10,000,000,000 pool

520
00:27:44,929 --> 00:27:47,750
of capital to invest in an optimal way.

521
00:27:48,130 --> 00:27:55,204
To me, the ability to invest $10,000,000 to
$30,000,000 in funds is probably a pretty good

522
00:27:55,204 --> 00:27:58,884
sweet spot to not limit you too much in what
you can invest in.

523
00:27:58,884 --> 00:28:01,044
Venture capital is probably the limiting
factor.

524
00:28:01,044 --> 00:28:03,224
And on occasion, you might drill lower.

525
00:28:03,444 --> 00:28:09,029
If I've run the math on that in, you know, some
scale of doing, you know, 5 to $600,000,000 a

526
00:28:09,029 --> 00:28:13,750
year across alternatives and what that builds
to, then you assume you're kind of 40 to 50

527
00:28:13,750 --> 00:28:14,649
percent of liquid.

528
00:28:14,789 --> 00:28:19,115
You get to, you know, somewhere north of
5,000,000,000, but it's probably less than 10.

529
00:28:19,255 --> 00:28:19,335
Yeah.

530
00:28:19,335 --> 00:28:24,295
I had Tom Lovera from IVP, and he said, it's
not that your fund size is your strategy.

531
00:28:24,295 --> 00:28:27,894
It's that your strategy is your fund size,
which is the right way to think about it, which

532
00:28:27,894 --> 00:28:32,315
is how many checks what's your check size, and
then what's your portfolio construction versus

533
00:28:32,849 --> 00:28:35,589
setting a arbitrary fund size and then coming
up with a strategy.

534
00:28:35,970 --> 00:28:38,309
So tell me about Capital Creek Partners.

535
00:28:38,529 --> 00:28:42,069
So Capital Creek Partners, we were formed in,
2018.

536
00:28:42,529 --> 00:28:46,214
And I like to say we're a little bit of a
hybrid between a multifamily office and an

537
00:28:46,214 --> 00:28:46,954
outsourced CIO.

538
00:28:47,015 --> 00:28:50,454
And what we are building and what we're solving
for is twofold.

539
00:28:50,454 --> 00:28:54,855
I think one is what we want to build towards
this ideal investment platform.

540
00:28:54,855 --> 00:28:57,563
And so we think a lot about what is the
platform end game, what do we want to build to,

541
00:28:57,563 --> 00:29:02,390
what are the platform end game, what do we
wanna build to, what are the resources we need

542
00:29:02,390 --> 00:29:03,049
for that.

543
00:29:03,269 --> 00:29:07,929
And so that's one component, is we want we want
to build an ideal investment platform.

544
00:29:08,470 --> 00:29:15,164
Secondly, in everything we think about on how
we charge our fees, how we're building our team

545
00:29:15,164 --> 00:29:18,065
is all sort of with that guide of like, here's
where we're headed.

546
00:29:18,365 --> 00:29:23,884
We want to bring that to smaller institutions
and and large families that otherwise can't be

547
00:29:23,884 --> 00:29:25,565
in an in that ideal situation.

548
00:29:25,565 --> 00:29:29,424
So we wanna have a collective that we're
providing that that resource to to.

549
00:29:29,910 --> 00:29:31,670
And really, it's about helping them compete.

550
00:29:31,670 --> 00:29:35,509
These families and smaller endowments and
foundations do amazing things.

551
00:29:35,509 --> 00:29:41,029
The groups that we work with are they're deep
into philanthropy, heavy education, heavy on

552
00:29:41,029 --> 00:29:46,355
homelessness, heavy in inner city youth, heavy
in, you know, no kill pet shelters.

553
00:29:46,355 --> 00:29:49,095
So they're doing all sorts of things that
they're passionate about.

554
00:29:49,315 --> 00:29:53,174
And we just think about, like, how do we help
them maximize their their capabilities?

555
00:29:53,394 --> 00:29:57,359
And and we wanna have that platform in place
that they can leverage and and sort of invest

556
00:29:57,359 --> 00:29:57,519
through.

557
00:29:57,519 --> 00:30:00,720
I know every LP is going to have a slightly
different construction.

558
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:02,319
But what's your view on portfolio construction?

559
00:30:02,319 --> 00:30:03,940
What's the optimal portfolio construction?

560
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:09,859
We believe every individual, every institution
has a different risk tolerance.

561
00:30:10,255 --> 00:30:15,775
They have different liquidity needs, they have
different uses of the capital, and they have

562
00:30:15,775 --> 00:30:17,315
different existing exposure.

563
00:30:17,694 --> 00:30:22,680
So just based on those things, you necessarily
have to maintain true customization for them.

564
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:28,440
And so we think about how do we individualize
and customize each client's asset allocation

565
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:28,940
framework.

566
00:30:29,559 --> 00:30:34,039
However, on the other end, we want to build,
again, this optimal investment platform and we

567
00:30:34,039 --> 00:30:35,420
want to invest as a firm.

568
00:30:35,615 --> 00:30:40,755
And so we are channeling everybody's needs into
a collective that we're investing out of.

569
00:30:40,894 --> 00:30:45,615
And so that means, you know, every year we do
asset allocation, we do their budgeting across,

570
00:30:45,615 --> 00:30:49,695
you know, particularly in alternatives and, you
know, venture and real estate, energy and

571
00:30:49,695 --> 00:30:52,269
buyouts and credit, and we aggregate all that.

572
00:30:52,269 --> 00:30:54,049
And that's what we're investing out of.

573
00:30:54,269 --> 00:31:00,750
Within each of those 5 series, we think about 3
to 5 funds annually, and then reserve about 8

574
00:31:00,750 --> 00:31:03,250
to 20% for co investments and directs.

575
00:31:03,315 --> 00:31:04,674
I mentioned everybody's different.

576
00:31:04,674 --> 00:31:08,294
And from an asset allocation level, they're all
very different.

577
00:31:08,674 --> 00:31:13,174
We do have kind of a sharp optimal model
portfolio that ends up looking pretty endowment

578
00:31:13,234 --> 00:31:15,974
like and probably where most of our families
gravitate.

579
00:31:16,514 --> 00:31:22,079
And what that looks like is generally, you
know, it's about 45% illiquid across those 5

580
00:31:22,079 --> 00:31:23,220
those 5 categories.

581
00:31:23,599 --> 00:31:27,539
We have a fairly heavy amount of fixed income,
upwards of 25%.

582
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,279
Usually, they have a little bit more of a
liquidity needs.

583
00:31:31,279 --> 00:31:36,035
Their distributions might look like 4 to 5%,
But they may just have needs that come up that

584
00:31:36,035 --> 00:31:39,815
maybe endowments might be protected from having
to distribute on.

585
00:31:40,035 --> 00:31:43,075
So we do maintain a little bit level higher
level there.

586
00:31:43,075 --> 00:31:46,275
And that growth has also been because of just
where rates have gone.

587
00:31:46,275 --> 00:31:50,500
A lot of the dollars we would otherwise had in
hedge funds and the like, we've moved to fixed

588
00:31:50,500 --> 00:31:51,000
income.

589
00:31:51,140 --> 00:31:53,380
Where's your edge when it comes to sourcing
managers?

590
00:31:53,380 --> 00:31:54,820
Talk to me about how you source managers.

591
00:31:54,820 --> 00:31:57,059
I think there's 4 core pillars for us.

592
00:31:57,059 --> 00:32:00,920
This is probably helpful for a lot of the GPs
out there to think about how do they approach

593
00:32:01,299 --> 00:32:02,200
different institutions.

594
00:32:02,815 --> 00:32:06,494
And there's some of these avenues that just
won't be feasible for them and then others that

595
00:32:06,494 --> 00:32:08,174
are going to be right up their alley.

596
00:32:08,174 --> 00:32:14,095
So for us, the 4 pillars, we have the first
one, which I'd say probably is our highest

597
00:32:14,095 --> 00:32:16,115
probability, is rationalizing old
relationships.

598
00:32:16,414 --> 00:32:21,970
We've got folks here from UTIMCO and Stanford
and Texas Teachers and other family offices

599
00:32:21,970 --> 00:32:24,950
that have prior relationships they feel
strongly about.

600
00:32:25,409 --> 00:32:29,650
And as those groups come back to market, a good
number of them may find their way into our

601
00:32:29,650 --> 00:32:30,150
portfolio.

602
00:32:30,515 --> 00:32:32,134
So that's number 1.

603
00:32:32,195 --> 00:32:35,095
2, it's really about utilizing our network.

604
00:32:35,394 --> 00:32:38,674
We have tremendous relationships with many
great managers.

605
00:32:38,674 --> 00:32:42,755
And they are often our best source of
recommendations and referrals for other groups

606
00:32:42,755 --> 00:32:43,920
that we want to talk to.

607
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:49,119
Similarly, we've been, you know, on LPACs and
different LP sort of communities over time and

608
00:32:49,119 --> 00:32:50,640
have a lot of close relationships there.

609
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,940
We share ideas and, you know, gravitate to
certain investments together.

610
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:58,974
So anywhere we can really sort of have that
comfort level of the relationship and some

611
00:32:58,974 --> 00:33:03,294
depth in in knowing these partners that are
either spinning out or getting referred to by

612
00:33:03,294 --> 00:33:07,714
groups that we know and trust, that's a really
important part of what we do.

613
00:33:08,015 --> 00:33:13,289
And then perhaps the one that's more
interesting for the new managers out there or

614
00:33:13,289 --> 00:33:18,829
groups that maybe don't have that connectivity
in the same way is we have grassroots approach.

615
00:33:18,890 --> 00:33:22,109
Sometimes we'll say, this is a strategy we're
really interested in.

616
00:33:22,170 --> 00:33:25,930
Let's go figure out, do the landscape of the
market, and really figure out who we wanna go

617
00:33:25,930 --> 00:33:26,265
target.

618
00:33:26,424 --> 00:33:31,144
That's where that's this big part of this
proactive approach to investing is that need.

619
00:33:31,144 --> 00:33:35,704
And we have managers in that bucket that I'd
say we've been courting for 18 to 24 months

620
00:33:35,704 --> 00:33:41,144
with the idea of when you come back and you're
gonna add that 1 or 2 new LPs to the mix, we'd

621
00:33:41,144 --> 00:33:42,240
love to be a part of that.

622
00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:44,319
And that's a big part of this grassroots.

623
00:33:44,319 --> 00:33:45,519
Or it's strategy driven.

624
00:33:45,519 --> 00:33:50,799
You know, we did one in e game you know, gaming
and esports a few years ago where we kinda

625
00:33:50,799 --> 00:33:54,400
landscape the full market and we said, let's go
figure out who the best in that market is.

626
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:55,920
We don't care who's in the market today.

627
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:58,984
We wanna make sure we know who it is so that
when they're they're in the market, we can

628
00:33:58,984 --> 00:33:59,724
approach them.

629
00:33:59,944 --> 00:34:01,224
So that's a little bit of the grassroots.

630
00:34:01,224 --> 00:34:03,404
And then the last piece is the over the
transom.

631
00:34:03,544 --> 00:34:07,404
And that's literally the and I coined that
phrase also from Lindell.

632
00:34:07,784 --> 00:34:12,239
This is the one where the BPM just finds its
way to you and they do direct outreach.

633
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,599
And there's something about it that's really
unique and interesting that makes you wanna

634
00:34:15,599 --> 00:34:16,320
spend time on it.

635
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,760
I talked about the real estate group that was
sort of the the Jerry Maguire memo.

636
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:23,039
We spent time with them, really liked them, and
and we jumped on board.

637
00:34:23,039 --> 00:34:24,579
We're looking at a unique.

638
00:34:24,775 --> 00:34:26,954
And really great managers can come out of that.

639
00:34:27,175 --> 00:34:29,594
My case in point one is was Union Square.

640
00:34:29,735 --> 00:34:33,514
Again, Lindell, he that was a truly over the
transom, just something that was different.

641
00:34:34,054 --> 00:34:35,014
And Syndonna too.

642
00:34:35,014 --> 00:34:35,494
Right?

643
00:34:35,494 --> 00:34:35,815
No.

644
00:34:35,815 --> 00:34:41,349
Syndonna was, I got introduced to Michael Kim
through one of my classmates at Stanford

645
00:34:41,410 --> 00:34:41,890
originally.

646
00:34:41,890 --> 00:34:43,489
So that was the beginning of that relationship.

647
00:34:43,489 --> 00:34:44,449
So that was a little bit more It's

648
00:34:44,449 --> 00:34:45,969
not trying to take credit from you.

649
00:34:45,969 --> 00:34:46,469
Apologies.

650
00:34:47,969 --> 00:34:48,469
Yeah.

651
00:34:48,530 --> 00:34:48,930
No.

652
00:34:48,930 --> 00:34:49,730
You know, but yeah.

653
00:34:49,730 --> 00:34:50,369
Lyndall yeah.

654
00:34:50,369 --> 00:34:52,449
Lyndall closed it and, yeah, had nurtured that.

655
00:34:52,449 --> 00:34:53,090
Well, added that.

656
00:34:53,170 --> 00:34:57,535
Right when I was going to the right when I was
going over to the the real estate side.

657
00:34:57,535 --> 00:35:01,775
Well, Mark, I'm always afraid to show
favoritism, but I think what you've built and

658
00:35:01,775 --> 00:35:05,775
what you're continuing to scale is a very
unique platform in terms of endowment style,

659
00:35:05,775 --> 00:35:06,815
but at the right size.

660
00:35:06,815 --> 00:35:09,055
It's been an absolute pleasure to jump on the
podcast.

661
00:35:09,055 --> 00:35:10,079
Thank you for jumping on.

662
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:10,400
Yeah.

663
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:14,880
I really appreciate the opportunity and, really
enjoyed the conversation and, hope that we can

664
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:16,180
do it again before tomorrow.

665
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:22,099
For more ideas on how to raise venture capital
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