Announcements and Gratitudes
* Capital Allocators LIVE! is coming on June 18th in NYC with an all-star cast of guests. Founder’s Class tickets will be available starting next week. Stay tuned…
* Thank you to new show sponsor Selective Search, a Brent Beshore portfolio company that is the leading executive search firm…for love. Highly curated and highly confidential, Selective Search professionalizes the dating process with the highest success rate in the industry.
Reading (Ordered by reading time: tweets first, books last, and blog posts and articles in between)
1. Venture capital funding. Gavin Baker tweets about the impact of the Vision Fund’s challenges on the venture industry. Bill Gurley responds with insight into how private companies are often not held accountable for their financial projections.
2. Private equity war chest. Private equity firms started the year with $1.5 trillion in capital on the sidelines. Even though valuations are high, I have a hard time imagining how multiples will compress any time soon with so much dry powder waiting to get deployed.
3. The Future of Quant. Bloomberg compiled ideas for the next decade from sixteen of the leading quant practitioners. It’s a fascinating array of predictions, from the persistence of tried and true investment truths and human capital that quant investing won’t impact to dramatic shifts in the deployment of quantitative techniques in fixed income, private equity, and ESG.
4. The Man Who Solved the Market, Gregory Zuckerman. Podcast guest Zuckerman tells the story of Jim Simons and Renaissance. It’s a great read with more ups and downs than you might expect given the outcome. But no, it doesn’t reveal Renaissance’s secret sauce.
5. The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker. Parker’s book opened my eyes to the potential of making every gathering more special, from a small dinner party to an event like Capital Allocators LIVE!.
Listening
Capital Allocators
Episode 119: Greg Zuckerman – Decoding Renaissance Medallion. Author and WSJ columnist Greg Zuckerman discusses his book about the secretive and wildly successful hedge fund Renaissance Technologies.
Episode 120: Beezer Clarkson – Sapphire Gem of Early Stage Venture. Beezer tells the unique story of Sapphire Ventures approaching to investing in Series A stage venture funds.
Episode 121: Ted Seides – A Rational Reminder.. I take a turn on the other side of the microphone, discussing institutional investor due diligence and hedge funds with the terrific folks at PWL Capital.
Best of the Rest
Peter Buffett on Invest Like the Best. Patrick O’Shaughnessy interviews Warren’s son Peter, who both shares his father’s proclivity for wisdom and could not be more different in his life’s passions.
Have a good one,
Ted
