Alt Goes Mainstream: The Latest on Alternative Investments, WealthTech, & Private Markets

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

On today’s show, we turned the tables. We welcomed famed podcast co-host of Animal Spirits and The Compound and Friends and writer at The Irrelevant Investor, and Managing Partner and Director of Research at $4B AUM Ritholtz Wealth Management Michael Batnick to come on the show to share a wealth manager’s perspective on private markets.

Michael’s career has taken a number of fascinating turns. He started selling insurance, before a chance meeting on the platform of the subway station with Josh Brown of Ritholtz Wealth Management after a New York Knicks loss led to a job offer to work with Josh at RWM. At Ritholtz, Michael has been an integral part of the team that has helped to drive the firm’s growth, leading with content and education. Each of the firm’s Partners have built impressive content platforms across blogs, books, and podcasts. Their thoughtful approaches to investing come through in their work — and it’s translated to how they think about private markets. Michael provided interesting viewpoints on why alternatives have yet to be adopted by many advisors and the challenges with adopting alternatives products.

Michael and I had a fascinating discussion at the intersection of wealth and alts. Michael and I covered:

• His journey into wealth management and the lessons he has learned along the way.
• The importance of education and networking in the wealth management industry.
• How he thinks about risk in public and private markets.
• The evolution of wealth management as a business.
• Why alternatives products are still sold and not bought.
• The importance of staying focused on fundamentals and long-term investing.
• The workflow challenges that alternative investments have for a wealth management firm.
• How and why content can develop views, educate, and build brand in wealth management and private markets.

Thanks Michael for coming on the show to share your thoughts and wisdom on investing.

Show Notes

02:03 Introduction to Alt Goes Mainstream 

02:43 Guest Introduction: Michael Batnick 

03:00 Michael's Early Career and Challenges 

07:26 Meeting Josh Brown and Career Breakthrough 

08:35 Lessons from the Insurance World 

09:20 Creating Content and Building a Brand 

10:58 Investing Philosophy and Market Insights 

14:27 Young Investors and Market Psychology 

19:13 Public vs. Private Markets 

29:25 Advisors and Private Investments 

34:21 Customization and Differentiation in Private Markets 

34:50 Challenges in Pitching Investments to Clients 

35:09 Operational Hurdles in Alternative Investments 

35:34 The Role of Relationship Managers 

36:16 Building and Managing Alts Portfolios 

43:04 Market Dynamics and Investment Strategies 

53:43 Content Creation in Wealth Management 

58:53 The Future of Wealth Management with AI 

01:01:46 Quick Fire Round: Market Predictions and Insights 

01:05:19 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund Solutions

This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus Fund Solutions, a leading full-service fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. In an increasingly sophisticated financial marketplace, investment managers must navigate a growing array of challenges: elaborate fund structures, specialized strategies, evolving compliance requirements, a growing need for sophisticated reporting, and intensifying demands for transparency. 

To assist with these challenging opportunities, more and more fund sponsors and asset managers are turning to Ultimus, a leading service provider that blends high tech and high touch in unique and customized fund administration and middle office solutions for a diverse and growing universe of over 450 clients and 1,800 funds, representing $500 billion assets under administration, all handled by a team of over 1,000 professionals. Ultimus offers a wide range of capabilities across registered funds, private funds and public plans, as well as outsourced middle office services. Delivering operational excellence, Ultimus helps firms manage the ever-changing regulatory environment while meeting the needs of their institutional and retail investors. Ultimus provides comprehensive operational support and fund governance services to help managers successfully launch retail alternative products. 

Visit www.ultimusfundsolutions.com to learn more about Ultimus’ technology enhanced services and solutions or contact Ultimus Executive Vice President of Business Development Gary Harris on email at [email protected].

We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode features a masterclass in private markets from a guest who has seen it all.

Jim Strang is a deeply experienced private equity professional who has been part of the industry as a GP, LP, investor, consultant, and now a teacher, board member, and advisor to a number of firms.

I’d probably have to spend a good few pages going through everything that Jim has done and is currently doing in private markets. He’s a practitioner and a teacher, an expert and an operator. After an illustrious career that was punctuated as Chairman EMEA of Hamilton Lane, one of the largest LPs in private markets globally, he now serves in a number of board and advisor roles, which include Chairman of the Board at HgCapital Trust plc, Senior Advisor to CVC Capital Partners, Advisor at Bain & Company, and Director at Pictet Alternative Advisors.

Jim and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of private markets and what the future holds for large and small funds alike, as well as LPs. We discussed:

• The step function changes that take private markets from $15T to $30T of AUM.
• Why traditional asset managers may struggle to replicate the capabilities of alternative asset managers in private markets.
• The importance of partnerships having a clear ambition and alignment if they want to build a scaled platform.
• The challenges that managers in the middle face as large platforms and specialist managers are the differentiated firms in the eyes of LPs.
• Why GPs need to find innovative solutions to address the needs of different types of investors.
• Why building a strong brand is crucial to success in the wealth channel.

Thanks Jim for coming on the show to share your wisdom and experience on private markets.

This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus Fund Solutions, a leading full-service fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. In an increasingly sophisticated financial marketplace, investment managers must navigate a growing array of challenges: elaborate fund structures, specialized strategies, evolving compliance requirements, a growing need for sophisticated reporting, and intensifying demands for transparency. 

To assist with these challenging opportunities, more and more fund sponsors and asset managers are turning to Ultimus, a leading service provider that blends high tech and high touch in unique and customized fund administration and middle office solutions for a diverse and growing universe of over 450 clients and 1,800 funds, representing $500 billion assets under administration, all handled by a team of over 1,000 professionals. Ultimus offers a wide range of capabilities across registered funds, private funds and public plans, as well as outsourced middle office services. Delivering operational excellence, Ultimus helps firms manage the ever-changing regulatory environment while meeting the needs of their institutional and retail investors. Ultimus provides comprehensive operational support and fund governance services to help managers successfully launch retail alternative products. 

Visit www.ultimusfundsolutions.com to learn more about Ultimus’ technology enhanced services and solutions or contact Ultimus Executive Vice President of Business Development Gary Harris on email at [email protected].

We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.

Show Notes

00:00 Introduction and Sponsor Message

02:06 Podcast Theme Song

02:44 Guest Introduction: Jim Strang

02:52 Jim Strang's Career Overview

05:35 State of Private Markets: Challenges and Opportunities

08:04 Fundraising Dynamics in Private Equity

11:25 European Private Equity: Evolution and Insights

15:01 Scaling Challenges and Ambitions in Private Equity

25:41 Technology and Innovation in Private Equity

32:47 Challenges in Organizational Analysis

33:56 Psychological Assessments in Investment Decisions

35:48 Effective Questioning Techniques for LPs

36:29 Transparency and Culture in Investment Firms

37:34 Evolution of Asset Management

38:41 Public vs. Private Asset Managers

40:27 Generational Shifts in Private Equity Firms

44:12 Growth and Democratization of Private Markets

48:40 Liquidity Challenges in Private Markets

54:45 Quick Fire Round: Insights on Private Markets

01:00:10 Entertainment Investments: Music Royalties and Sports

01:04:02 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Welcome to the 10th episode of a collaboration between iCapital x Alt Goes Mainstream. 

Here’s the latest episode of the Monthly Alts Pulse, a live conversation in studio with Lawrence Calcano, the Chairman & CEO of iCapital, who as the leader of a platform that is responsible for the majority of individual and advisor-led investment flows into the alts space, has his finger on the pulse of what’s happening in private markets.

In today’s episode, Lawrence and I welcome a special guest. Hightower Advisors Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investments Robert Picard joins us to discuss the operational challenges and solutions in private markets.

Robert has spearheaded the creation of the Alternative Investment Platform offering at Hightower, where he and the team curates investment opportunities in private markets for their advisor teams through research and due diligence. Hightower has 140 advisor teams that collectively manage over $150B AUM. Robert has a wealth of experience in private markets. He was instrumental in building four multi-billion dollar alternative investment platforms at The Carlyle Group / Rock Creek, Optima Fund Management, RBC Capital markets, and State Street / InfraHedge. Most recently, Robert served as Head of Alternative Investments at First Republic Wealth Management.

On this episode, Lawrence, Robert, and I had a fascinating and lively discussion. We covered a number of topics, including:

• How wealth platforms like Hightower and infrastructure operating systems like iCapital are creating straight-through-processing solutions across the lifecycle of a private markets investment for the wealth channel.
• The importance of bringing alts directly to the advisor’s desktop.
• Why improving the experience for advisors in private markets is critical to increasing adoption.
• Why it’s important to build across the continuum of needs for different types of high-net-worth investors.
• The importance of customization and differentiation with private markets solutions for advisors.
• What is the biggest unlock to enabling greater flows of capital into private markets?
• What are the implications of opening up the alts superhighway?

Thanks Lawrence and Robert for a great episode … looking forward to next month’s conversation!

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s podcast is a special show with 3i Members co-founder Mark Gerson.

Alt Goes Mainstream’s first sponsor is 3i Members, an investing network built on community, collaboration and capital that was co-founded by Mark Gerson, Billy Libby, and Teddy Gold. 3i Members is a global deal network for accomplished private investors. Members uncover, share, and diligence high-quality investment opportunities in private markets. The network offers more than just investment opportunities, providing access to expert databases, legal services, international events and retreats, masterclasses, asset allocation workshops, and other resources.

Mark is a serial entrepreneur who has built a number of communities that have revolved around some form of crowdsourcing.

In addition to founding 3i Members, Mark founded Gerson Lehman Group, a knowledge brokerage and primary research firm, that figured out how to use the power of community to serve its customers. He also founded United Hatzalah, a crowd-sourced system of volunteer first response that enables Israelis to be treated within the moments separating life from death following any medical trauma. He also co-founded and is the Chairman of African Mission Healthcare, which enables Christian medical missionaries to provide clinical care, training, and medical infrastructure for people throughout Africa.

From co-founding United Hatzalah of Israel to building a unique community in the private markets space with 3i Members, Mark shares his experiences and the profound impact of community and crowdsourcing in both philanthropy and private markets. The episode dives into the intricacies of building capable, engaged communities, the conceptual differences between a network and a community, and the unique approach of 3i Members in creating a collaborative investing landscape. We discussed:

• Mark’s journey and the significance of pro-social behaviors and intellectual curiosity among investors. 
• How 3i Members facilitates a space for private investors to share, scrutinize, and engage with high-quality investment opportunities. 
• The importance of asking the right questions in investment. 
• ROI-based philanthropy
• The value of non-transactional relationships within communities.

Thanks Mark for coming on the show to share your stories and wisdom.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome to the Mainstream: The Alt Goes Mainstream Podcast Intro

00:42 Introducing 3i Members: A New Era of Investing

01:11 Mark Gerson's Journey: Building Communities and Crowdsourcing Success

02:59 The Power of Community in Crowdsourced First Response

07:59 3i Members: Crowdsourcing in the Investment World

09:44 The Art of Building and Maintaining Quality Networks

12:02 The Philosophy of No-Selling in Building Trust and Community

14:59 Engineering Serendipity: Fostering Organic Growth and Engagement

19:59 Investment Strategies and Learning from the 3i Community

24:40 The Future of Investing with 3i Members

34:51 ROI in Philanthropy: A New Approach to Giving

40:09 Closing Thoughts

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s podcast provided us with an in-depth tour of financial markets with a student of both finance and history. And what a tour guide we had. Marc Rubinstein, an investment professional with 25 years of experience researching and investing in financial services joined us on the show.

Marc started his career as an equity research analyst, where he ultimately became a MD at Credit Suisse, leading the European banking sector equity research group before joining Lansdowne Partners. Lansdowne was one of Europe’s largest hedge funds, where he was a Partner and managed the award-winning $4B global long/short financials equity fund.

He retired from Lansdowne in 2016 and, after going back to school to obtain his MBA from LBS, he launched Net Interest, a wildly popular and incredibly thoughtful newsletter on financial sector themes. I find Marc’s thoughts and views on Net Interest equal parts insightful and digestible. Marc is also an active value investor and early-stage fintech investor, where he was an early investor in Revolut. He’s also a contributor to Bloomberg Opinion.

Marc and I had a fascinating conversation about a number of themes that are defining private markets. We discussed:

• Why most businesses are marketplaces and what that means for how one should evaluate a business.
• Whether or not private credit is a systemic risk.
• Why the Silicon Valley Bank crisis occurred and why private credit firms are filling the void.
• Where to look for new asset classes and how they become institutionalized.
• The nuts and bolts of alternative asset managers as businesses.
• Why pod shops have featured in the hedge fund world and why PE and VC will have different versions of pod shops.
• Why content is key for financial services businesses.
• How financial media has evolved and why the narrative arc of companies is a perspective that Marc enjoys covering

Thanks Marc for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom on financial services and financial markets.

Chapters

Introduction and Background

Getting into the World of Finance

Banks Today and the Rise of Alternative Asset Managers

Regulatory Concerns and Private Credit

Systemic Risk and Excessive Growth

Identifying Risks in Private Credit

Scale and Returns in Asset Management

The Growth of Large Platforms in Private Markets

The Equilibrium of Scale and Returns

The Convergence of Traditional and Alternative Asset Management

The Trend of Evergreen Funds in Private Markets

The Acquisition of GIP by BlackRock

The Competition Between BlackRock and Blackstone

The Merging of Traditional and Alternative Asset Management

The Future of Active Management

Lessons from the Financial Crisis

The Impact of Media on Financial Services

The Trend of Permanent Capital in Private Markets

The Evolution of Media in Financial Services

The Role of Content in Financial Services

The Importance of Understanding Financial Services History

The Relevance of Deep Analysis in Financial Services

Value Creation through Content

Different Paths for Content Businesses

Purity of Content in Financial Services

The Future of Content in Financial Services

The Impact of AI on Investment Recommendations

The Value of Artisanal Work and Intelligence

Pod Shops in Private Markets

GP Stakes as an Analogy to Pod Shops

The Psychology of Discounting Private Markets

The Growth and Sustainability of Private Markets

Infrastructure as an Interesting Alternative Investment

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode features an enabler of the micro VC movement who has now scaled his business into one of the industry’s larger fund administrators. Braughm Ricke is the Founder and CEO of Aduro Advisors, a leading fund administrator that has carved out a sterling reputation in the VC world.

He's grown the business to over $114B+ AUA and over 450+ customers, that counts many of the leading VC funds, including Lowercarbon, Cowboy Ventures, Ahoy Capital, Craft, Haystack, Boost VC, and others, as customers. They've also managed to combine a high-quality service with innovative technology and a partnership strategy that has enabled them to differentiate from other fund admins.

Prior to founding Aduro, Braughm was the founding CFO of True Ventures, a leading Silicon Valley VC fund. Braughm is incredibly knowledgeable about the private markets space more generally and is also an active investor in the private markets startup ecosystem, investing early in the likes of Carta, Allocate, Passthrough, Arch, and others.

Braughm and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of fund administration. We discussed:

• Why Braughm started with emerging managers and the unmet need he saw to serve them.
• Why he believed the emerging manager landscape would grow.
• How he’s moved upstream beyond venture capital clients.
• How fund admin can integrate technology.
• Will AI change fund administration?
• Advice Braughm would give to founders building in private markets.

Thanks Braughm for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom on building a core infrastructure provider for private markets.

Welcome to the 9th episode of a collaboration between iCapital x Alt Goes Mainstream. 

Here’s the latest episode of the Monthly Alts Pulse, a live conversation in studio with Lawrence Calcano, the Chairman & CEO of iCapital, who as the leader of a platform that is responsible for the majority of individual and advisor-led investment flows into the alts space, has his finger on the pulse of what’s happening in private markets.

In today’s episode, Lawrence and I welcome a special guest. Arax Investment Partners CEO Haig Ariyan, a wealth management industry veteran, joins us to discuss the evolution of wealth management and the role that alts can and should play in wealth client portfolios. Together with RedBird Capital, an $8.6 billion AUM private equity firm focused on financial services and sports and media, Haig and Arax are partnering with wealth and asset management firms and teams to build a differentiated platform that takes lessons learned and deep experience from Haig's background running wealth management businesses. Following its recent acquisition of $9B AUM U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors, Arax now has over $16.5B in AUM and $13B in regulatory AUM.

On this episode, Lawrence, Haig, and I had a fascinating and lively discussion. We covered a number of topics, including:

• The importance of independent and hybrid platforms in wealth management.
• How to build culture at a wealth management firm.
• How advisors can utilize alternative investments to benefit their clients.
• How the industry can collaborate to enhance client outcomes and ensure informed investment decisions.
• How innovative fund structures could change the landscape of private markets.

Thanks Lawrence and Haig for a great episode … looking forward to next month’s conversation!

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode is with a fintech founder who has scaled one of the larger private markets investing platforms for individual investors.

Michael Weisz is the Founder and CEO of Yieldstreet, a leading private markets investing platform, with more than 450K members and $3.9B invested (as of October 2023). 

An award-winning entrepreneur, he co-founded Yieldstreet in 2015 with the ambition to provide individual investors with access to curated private market assets typically reserved for institutions. As CEO, Michael leads Yieldstreet’s strategic vision to make alternatives a fundamental piece of investor portfolios.

Before Yieldstreet, Michael held a variety of positions across the specialty finance spectrum, including founding Soli Capital. Previously, Michael was Vice President at a New York-based credit opportunities hedge fund with $1.2B under management.

Michael and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of private markets and how to deliver investment opportunities directly to consumers. We discussed the business evolution of Yieldstreet, how they work with both individuals and advisors, and what he thinks is important when it comes to providing investors with access to private markets.

Thanks Michael for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your thoughtful views on private markets.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode with an internet legend provides an illuminating window into how the past can help inform us about the future.

Steve Case is a pioneer and a visionary. He built one of the foundational companies of the internet, AOL, that brought America and the world online. As one of America’s best-known and most accomplished entrepreneurs, Steve has spent the past 39 years building, investing in, and shaping business policy for many industry-defining companies.

His entrepreneurial career began in 1985 when he co-founded America Online. Under Steve’s leadership, AOL became the world’s largest and most valuable internet company. AOL was the first internet company to go public, and one of the best performing stocks of 1990s, delivering 11,616% return to shareholders. At its peak, nearly half of internet users in the U.S. used AOL.

Steve has since built another successful company, Revolution, a Washington, D.C.-based investment firm that backs entrepreneurs at every stage of their development. Revolution Growth has invested nearly $1 billion in growth-stage companies including Sweetgreen, Tempus, Tala, DraftKings, and CLEAR. Revolution Ventures has invested in almost 30 companies, including Framebridge and SRS Acquiom. Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund has invested in over 200 startups in 100 US cities, building critical ecosystem development for entrepreneurship across the country.

Steve’s passion for helping entrepreneurs has extended to the policy world. He was the founding chair of the Startup America Partnership, an effort launched at the White House in 2011 to accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship around the country. He was also the founding co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and a member of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, where he chaired the subcommittee on entrepreneurship. He was also instrumental in passing the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act and the Investing in Opportunities Act. He’s also the Chairman of the Case Foundation, which he established with his wife, Jean, in 1997 and together in 2010 they joined The Giving Pledge.

Steve is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book, “The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future and The Rise of the Rest: How Entrepreneurs in Surprising Places are Building the American Dream,” which has ended up serving as a fantastic blueprint for the next wave of the internet.

Steve and I had a fascinating and illuminating conversation, full of lessons learned from building the first wave of the internet that can be applied to building and investing in companies today.

We discussed:

• How Steve and his team built AOL into the world’s largest and most valuable internet company at a time when 3% of people were using the internet for 1 hour a day.
• How revolutions happen in evolutionary ways.
• The three waves of the internet and why Steve believes that the third wave is much more complex and will require the ability to navigate policy and partnerships.
• Lessons he learned as a founder to build a successful and diversified investment firm in Revolution.
• How emerging technology ecosystems can build thriving startup communities, starting with “tentpole companies.”
• How the things that happen to you shape how you live your life and on “living a life that’s full with passion and urgency.”

Thanks Steve for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom, lessons learned, and visionary views of the future. It was an honor and a pleasure to have you on the show.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode takes us into the world of technology with an expert in private markets tech.

Griff Norville is a Managing Director and Head of Technology Solutions at Hamilton Lane, the $903B AUM (*Inclusive of $120.2B in discretionary assets under management and $782.9B in non-discretionary assets under management, as of December 31, 2023) global alternative asset manager. Griff leads the firm’s tech-enabled analytics, forecasting, and investment diligence platform, Cobalt LPTM and related portfolio reporting services, and co-heads the firm’s Technology Committee.

Griff focuses on building proprietary tools and strategically partnering or investing into private markets fintech companies as part of the firm’s efforts to drive digital transformation within the industry. Griff also leverages his background on the investment side to help inform how he thinks about technology transformation within private markets. He previously co-led Hamilton Lane’s research team, where he was responsible for leveraging data to assess market trends and advice clients on investment and portfolio construction strategy.

Griff and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of private markets technology and why it’s an exciting time for innovation in the space. We discussed:

• How private markets are moving from the Stone Age and Excel age to the digital age.
• Why most GPs are still underinvested in technology.
• How Griff approaches the build, buy, invest question.
• Why Cobalt was so foundational to Hamilton Lane’s work in private markets.
• How technology innovation has driven product innovation when working with the wealth channel.
• What comes next for technology in private markets.

Thanks Griff for coming on the show to share your thoughts and wisdom on how technology is impacting private markets and for the work you’re doing to invest in technology that’s transforming the space.