You didn't sign up to be a marketer. You signed up to manage money.

But the second you start your own boutique? Welp…

Marketing, sales, distribution, hiring... they're all your job now too.

Sean Peche knows that struggle firsthand. 

He's the Founder and Fund Manager at Ranmore Funds, a $650M investment boutique where "that's how it's always been done" isn't really a good enough reason to keep doing something.

And that applies to a lot more than how Sean invests. He's challenged a whole lot of the traditional playbook while building the business too.

So what does building a boutique differently actually look like?

In this Encore episode, Sean breaks it all down.

Listen in to hear:

• Why he dedicates one day a week to distribution (and protects the other four for the portfolio)
• The LinkedIn prospecting approach he leaned on before he had a marketing team
• Why his approach to hiring looks very different from your typical asset manager
• How "charitable marketing" lets Ranmore grow its network while doing some good along the way
• The mindset shift that happens when you stop thinking like a fund manager and start thinking like a founder
• Why honesty and humility might be a bigger competitive advantage than this industry gives them credit for

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Ten years ago, Andy Raskin wrote a piece called "The Greatest Sales Deck I've Ever Seen."

And Stacy Havener is still thinking about it.

Not because you need to build a SaaS deck, but because the structure underneath it works on allocators too.

Too many pitch decks start with some version of: "Let me tell you all about us."

You go into a long spiel about your fund’s process and performance. Meanwhile, the allocator is sitting there with a very reasonable question: "Okay... why should I care?"

That's the gap Stacy digs into in this Story Snack.

Listen in to learn:

• What a decade-old SaaS sales deck can teach fund managers about raising capital
• Why allocators move faster to avoid pain than to chase upside
• How to frame old way vs. new way without accidentally insulting the allocator
• Why "better" might not be the word you want, and what to say instead

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Most boutiques market the product. Manish Khatta barely mentions his.

Roughly 90% of what Potomac Fund Management puts out has nothing to do with the funds. No performance charts. No fact sheets. Their most successful piece of content is a five-minute video series about fintech gossip that never says the word Potomac.

It sounds backwards. It's also how Potomac went from around $130 million in 2020 to $1.2 billion today, after more than three decades of hovering in the low hundreds of millions.

In this episode, Manish and Stacy get into:

• What "eyes on brand" actually means, and why product marketing comes second
• The scrappy pandemic video that started it all
•  Why he told his team not to measure ROI for two full years
• The Eminem clip he was told not to play at a conference, and why he played it anyway
•  What happened when Potomac started partnering with its own competitors
• Why he's now pivoting back to postcards, suits, and old-school marketing

About Manish Khatta:
Manish Khatta is a quant who has spent his entire career creating and refining technical trading strategies. A lifelong Potomac employee, he programmed the initial work behind Potomac's mechanical trading systems and now runs the firm as CEO and CIO. He's a father of four who leads an RIA built on content and transparency, and he spends his free time playing tennis and being on the water.

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Should you ever repurpose an old post on LinkedIn?

Short answer: yep.

Slightly more annoying answer: it depends.

Before you copy, paste, and send that post back into the wild, figure out why it flopped the first time. Was it actually a good post the algorithm didn't push out? Or was the post itself a little off? Those are two very different problems.

In this Story Snack, Stacy gets into how she decides which posts deserve another shot, which need a tweak first, and which she'd leave alone.

Listen in to hear:

• The one reason NOT to repost that Stacy isn't buying
• How to distinguish a reach problem from a writing problem
• When a few tweaks will do, and when you need more than that
• Why her short Tuesday posts aren't just chopped-down versions of longer ones
• What working with the LinkedIn algorithm right now

This is Story Snacks: a bite-sized series for fund managers who want to get better at strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

What if luck plays a bigger role in fund success than anyone wants to admit? 

Simon Evan-Cook isn’t just throwing that idea out there. He’s lived it. 

He spent years on the allocator side, vetting fund managers and learning what really sticks (hint: it’s not just your track record).  

Now that he’s a fund manager himself, he’s pulling back the curtain on the truth no one wants to say out loud… 
 
Yes, being good at what you do matters, but so does luck, timing, and learning how to stack the odds in your favor.  

In this Episode, Simon and Stacy dig into:  

• Why some of the most skilled fund managers don’t always win 
• 13 ways emerging managers can make their own luck 
• What allocators actually remember after your pitch 
• And why being honest, even when it’s uncomfortable, is the real differentiator 

This is Billion Dollar Backstory: Encore, because some conversations are just too good not to bring back.

About Simon Evan-Cook: 

Simon Evan-Cook is an award-winning multi-asset fund manager. In 2022 he joined Downing to set up and manage the Downing Fox range of funds. Before that he built his reputation at Premier Asset Management from 2006, where he was a senior member of their highly successful multi-asset team. He began his career with Fidelity in the late 90s, before joining Rothschild Asset Management and then Gartmore. 

Simon also writes on investment (and beyond), including a monthly column for Citywire Magazine and his investment blog on Medium.com. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family and dog, devouring movies and books, and superficially damaging European golf courses. 

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Waiting for LinkedIn leads to fall from the sky, land in your DMs, and show up in your funnel? You might be waiting a while.

Posting matters. But there's a missing piece between the post and the people who engage with it, and that's where you go from random strangers to actual rapport (and maybe even grabbing coffee IRL). 

Stacy Havener has a weekly habit to help you fill the gap, and it's not a heavy lift.

In this Story Snack, she's sharing:

• The habit she calls "clearing the deck," and why responding days late still counts
• What she DMs people who engage, without asking for a single thing
• How she follows up when a commenter isn't in her network yet
• Why a lot of the power of LinkedIn is in the shadows, with the people who never comment
• The note she sends profile viewers, and the one question that gets them talking

If your LinkedIn strategy is basically post and pray, this one's for you. You’ll walk away with quick tips that’ll help you stop waiting around for leads and start going after them (without feeling spammy or weird). 

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized series for fund managers who want to get better at strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Different > better.

Especially in an industry that loves to rank, chart, compare, and benchmark errrthing. 

Because when everyone is trying to prove they're better, everyone starts sounding pretty much the same.

In this Encore episode, Stacy is bringing back one of her favorite conversations about what it actually takes to stand out.

She’s covering: 

• Why leaning into what makes you different means going to the edges and getting radical
• Why 80% of executives think their company is differentiated, while only 10% of customers agree
• How to create a category of one 
• What differentiation is, and what it absolutely is not
• Why you must be brave enough to attract and repel 

This is Billion Dollar Backstory: Encore, because some conversations are just too good not to bring back.

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

You want to post on LinkedIn.

Compliance wants to hit the taboo buzzer.

Cool. Now what?

In this Story Snack, Stacy Havener shares how to stop treating compliance like the department of "no" and start bringing them into the growth conversation.

Because yes, we live in a culture of compliance. And yes, we have business goals too.

Listen in to hear:

• How to get compliance out of "department of no" mode
• The question to ask so you know what topics are actually off-limits
• How to use safer language without sanding off your entire point of view
• Why LinkedIn is possible in a regulated industry, even if your team is nervous

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Most people assume a successful career in finance starts with the "right" degree.

Lindsey Stewart's started behind the counter at McDonald's.

At 18, he made the decision to skip university, avoid student debt, and learn by doing. Years later, that path led him to Morningstar, where he now helps some of the world's largest institutional investors turn complex data into better decisions.

In this episode, Lindsey and Stacy discuss: 

• Lindsey’s backstory – from an investor relations firm to a Big Four acquisition to Morningstar
• Why he put McDonald's back on his LinkedIn profile after years of leaving it off
• What nearly broke him about the CFA exam, and what finally helped him pass
• The bias he sees across the finance industry (and why it may be holding talented people back)
• Why "sounding smart" and being understood are not the same thing

More About Lindsey Stewart:

Lindsey Stewart, CFA, is Director of Institutional Insights at Morningstar, where he leads content and outreach for institutional investors. His 25-year career spans investor engagement, financial regulation, and communications at firms including KPMG and the UK Financial Reporting Council. 

He is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds the CFA designation, and was a Senior Leader Finalist at the 2021 Black British Business Awards.

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Your company's LinkedIn page is not the main character.

It matters. It has a job.

But if your LinkedIn strategy is built around the logo doing all the talking, Stacy Havener has thoughts.

In this Story Snack, Stacy breaks down the biggest LinkedIn mistake she sees asset managers make: treating the platform like something it was never built to be.

And there's a stat behind it that might make you rethink who's actually posting on your firm's behalf.

So yes, "our employees share the company posts" technically creates activity. Whether it creates trust is a different question.

Listen in to hear:

• What LinkedIn actually is, and why most firms are using it backwards
• The stat that should make you rethink who gets the microphone
• Why employee advocacy falls flat when it turns into copy-paste content
• What LinkedIn is cracking down on right now, and why it matters
• How to show up more human without abandoning professionalism

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus