Free Money with Sloane and Ashby

Jed Wheeler discusses the development of new crops from high potential native food crops that are adapted to current and future climates and highlights the importance of biodiversity and native plants in supporting native pollinators and the ecosystem.

Jed also explains the two parts of his solution: targeted domestication of new crops using gene-informed rapid breeding and the development of new agronomic systems for crops that don't require breeding, such as acorns. He emphasizes the challenges of finding mission-aligned investors.

More information about Jed's work can be found at: https://about.manzanitacooperative.com/

Sloane Ortel and Ashby Monk are joined by Kelly Grotke, a PhD in history and founder of Pattern Recognition Research, to wade into divestment and its implications in the institutional investment world. The conversation explores the role of finance and investing in building the kind of society we want, the challenges of having productive conversations about divestment, and the ideological aversions to considering divestment in an institutional investment context.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Why Ashby's Rooting for North Korea

08:17 The Study on Free Money and Its Findings

13:44 China's Role in Investment Strategies

16:24 The Controversy and Potential of Divestment 19:36 Understanding Finance and Private Funds

22:56 The Growing Interest in Divestment

24:52 Over-the-Top Responses and Ideological Barriers

26:20 Long-Term Health and Character of Institutions

27:18 Navigating Divestment Movements and Engaging with Stakeholders

34:27 The Need for Transparency in Endowments and the Investment Industry

42:53 The Value of Hard Conversations and Challenging Existing Ideologies

47:29 Prioritizing the Next Generation and Education in Universities

54:12 Embracing Innovation and Transparency in the Investment Industry

01:02:05 The Potential of AI in Investment Analysis

01:05:02 The Long-Term Investor Fellowship Program at Stanford

01:06:01 Unconventional Management Consulting Interview Questions

01:09:25 Orcas vs. Yachts: A Battle of the Biosphere

01:14:29 Creating a Wildlife Pond in Your Backyard

01:21:20 Outro Music.mp3

Wow! We were fortunate enough to have had Joachim Klement join our most recent episode.

This one is jam-packed with a variety of topics which range from structural differences in growth between Europe and the U.S to Joachim's fascinating concept of industry "Cassandras".

Plus, we have even more Free Money to offer, including the usual beloved banter, industry updates, and burning questions from listeners just like you. Tune in to cash out!

This carbon special featuring Mark Campanale is one you don't want to miss - we discuss peak oil, Mark's vision for the carbon market, and whether it's reasonable to rely on the carbon market as the catalyst for change. Definitely one for the books.

We also answer some exciting questions from our lovely listeners, offer gardening tips galore, and share developments both fun and fund-related!

What an exciting show for our LAST episode of the year! We were joined by Bahar Baharloo, who was Sloane's roommate during her time in the McKibbin lofts of Brooklyn.

Their experience as an intimacy coordinator gives us some amazing insight into consent and how it applies to the governance and approval we encounter in investment decision making.

Ashby's head explodes multiple times, and we're quite confident yours will too.

Happy New Year from the Free Money Fam!

Hop in folks, this train is headed to Brakkestan! We were fortunate enough to meet up with Tom Brakke, one of the keepers of the flame in active independent investment management. We talk about what innovation really is, due diligence in the manager selection process, and more.

Ashby's whereabouts on January 6th are also discussed, and if you'd like the answer to that burning question, you'll just have to tune in!

Thanks for joining us - we genuinely appreciate each and every one of you.

Today we're joined by Bill Burckart and Megan Kashner of Colorful Capital, both of whom are professors of impact investing (Columbia and Northwestern) as well as co-founders of the venture firm focused on the LGBT community.

We hear from them on why the firm is necessary, how they've gone about trying to access the people they're trying to reach, and then discuss the role they see for Colorful Capital going forward. For a deeper exploration of the topics we discussed and links to various resources mentioned, check out our blog post on this episode.

Don't forget our typical helping of banter - this episode's topics feature new sovereign wealth funds, guns, and a roast of burning man. Ya know, the usual.

This one's nearly a year old - but still filled with the usual gold.

It honestly didn't come as a shock to us that modern American accounting practices are deeply rooted in slavery (nothing shocks us anymore). But in order to further wrap our heads around this insane concept, we spent some time chatting with Caitlin Rosenthal, historian of business and slavery.

Perhaps this episode could be a great business case for not hating yourself. It's amazing when you look at what you bring to the table at work as a truly happy person, which in Maeve's case was a result of coming out.

Join the crew as we discuss what it was like for her coming out at Goldman Sachs, real experiences of what it's like to be trans in finance, and Maeve's expert advice for communicating around innovation in the industry.

AI, research, and farming? Oh my! On today's episode, we're joined by Ruchit Garg, who is working to build a much more efficient market for agricultural goods in India.

We also discuss ancient spreadsheets, whether or not AI will ever have a material impact on institutional investment decisions, and the general vibes this lunar cycle.