Funds that Won

Trent Mano from Convoy Ventures joins us for todays episode to talk about his funds unique investment approach. Convoy Ventures focuses on early-stage startups in Utah, aiming to be the first investors in technology companies. Their investments mainly include SaaS and FinTech, but they also explore consumer tech, marketplaces, and Web3/crypto ventures. This strategy highlights Convoy's commitment to nurturing innovative ideas and founders within Utah's tech ecosystem.

Convoy Ventures employs a diversified investment approach, supporting both sought-after founders in oversubscribed rounds and those less recognized. They prioritize the potential of founders and their ideas, maintaining an open-door policy to build a supportive startup community. By leveraging a network of founders and operators, Convoy ensures startups receive substantial support and strategic introductions. This approach demonstrates Convoy's active and supportive venture capital model, focused on early engagement and ongoing assistance to foster successful startups in Utah.

Join us in this episode of Funds That Won as we dive into structuring an investment thesis with special guest Nick Singleton from Aim Ventura. Discover how successful funds identify and articulate their unique investment theses, and learn how this crucial strategy has propelled Aim Ventura to success.

Nick is responsible for sourcing deals, tracking status of each deal, company analysis, due diligence, investment relations, oversight of associates and interns, transaction management, networking and maintaining key referral relationships, creating marketing material, work with external vendors and advisors, and other day-to-day fund tasks.

Prior to joining AIM in January 2020 Nick spent 6 years working for sell-side boutique investment banks in Salt Lake City, UT and Tacoma, WA. He has advised and executed many M&A transactions with both private equity and strategic buyers in multiple sectors and industries.

Nick is a Series 82 and 63 Registered Representative, a licensed real estate agent in the State of Utah and received a B.S. in Finance from Utah State University.

He is an avid fan of the 49ers, Utah State Aggies, and Manchester United. In his free time he enjoys hiking, playing golf, road biking, and watching or attending any sporting event.

Today on Funds that Won, I sat down with Krista Morgan of Stage. Stage is an exciting private equity fund that focuses on acquiring early-stage companies that need an alternative path to success. They help companies realize their full potential by providing a comprehensive set of business services including financing, restructuring, and operational oversight.

Excellent conversation with Krista, don't forget to rate and review!

In this episode of Funds That Won, I explore the fascinating story of Apollo Global Management, one of the largest private equity VC firms in the market. I delve into how the firm brought different asset classes into the mix, their growth strategies, and core structures. I also provide insights from one of the founders, Marc Rowan, and how he built a winning fund. Tune in to learn more about this influential investment fund.

Learn more about Fund Launch Partners: https://www.fundlaunchpartners.com/?sl=podcast

Today I sat down with Ryan Gibson, president and CIO of Spartan Investment Group. Ryan and his business partner have built an excellent self-storage company with retail investors across America. Wonderful conversation with Ryan. We discuss the benefits of internal property management, patience in business, the benefits of syndications versus funds, investor preferences, and a whole lot more.

Ryan Gibson is the President, Chief Investment Officer, and Co-Founder of SIG. He has organized over $200M of private equity for Spartan’s projects. Ryan has experience managing the development of SIGs projects in challenging markets.

For SIG, Ryan is responsible for investor relations and capital raises for projects. Ryan is also a highly experienced commercial airline pilot. Ryan graduated from Mercyhurst University with a bachelor’s degree in Business, with concentrations in Marketing, Management, and Advertising.

[00:02:13] Targeting retail investors.

[00:06:43] Different investment products offered.

[00:08:11] Growth fund and construction capabilities.

[00:11:18] Debt facility and capital positions.

[00:15:23] Private credit product structure.

[00:21:03] Background and starting the business.

[00:23:45] Scaling self-storage business.

[00:29:26] Syndication and scaling the business.

[00:30:10] Fund vs. Single Asset Indication.

[00:35:05] Scaling with the right people.

[00:38:40] Funds That Won.

[00:41:41] ECRIs and self-storage profitability.

[00:44:57] Knowing the score.

[00:48:10] Misleading information on social media.

Today, I sit down with Saish Setty of Parallaxes Capital, an incredible innovative firm that is changing the way we think about tax receivable agreements-- TRAs. Parallaxes provides liquidity to tax receivable agreement ("TRA") stakeholders by monetizing otherwise long-dated assets and anticipate that TRAs will continue to become more common in the coming years while they lead the pack. Saish and I get into the weeds on how his firm provides alpha, what a TRA even is, and what he sees in the future of this asset class.

Great conversation with Saish, enjoy.

Saish Setty joined Parallaxes Capital in 2021 and previously worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and began his legal career in the Restructuring and Finance department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Saish graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and from Harvard Law School cum laude with a Juris Doctor (J.D.).

Saish has been featured in Fitch’s LevFin Insights, Reorg Radio, and Forbes. He has spoken at events and conferences including those sponsored by Practicing Law Institute and the CFA Society’s High Yield Bond Master Class.

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_NBRSd-yIX6tyg31RzCew

[00:02:36] Growing a nascent asset class.

[00:05:14] TRAs in IPOs

[00:10:33] Valuating tax assets and TRAs.

[00:16:34] Creating an asset class.

[00:19:51] Risks of TRAs.

[00:26:43] TRA growth and expansion.

[00:30:05] Master's in tax agreement.

[00:36:14] Modeling after royalties space.

[00:39:00] A liquid asset.

Today we hear from a data scientist turned real estate investor who shares his journey of building a successful investment fund, Neal Bawa of GroCapitus. With over $300 million in investor funds, he explains how his data-driven approach and tax-saving strategies attracted a community of like-minded individuals, including technologists, doctors, and business professionals. From starting out without any investors to now managing close to a billion in assets, this guest's story is truly inspiring. Tune in to learn more about his unique investment strategies and the analytics behind real estate.

About Neal:

Neal Bawa is a technologist who is universally known in real estate circles as the Mad Scientist of Multifamily. Besides being one of the most in-demand speakers in commercial real estate, Neal is a data guru, a process freak, and an outsourcing expert.

Neal treats his $1+ billion-dollar multifamily portfolio as an ongoing experiment in efficiency and optimization. The Mad Scientist lives by two mantras. His first mantra is that: We can only manage what we can measure. His second mantra is that: Data beats gut feel by a million miles. These mantras and a dozen other disruptive beliefs drive profit for his 900+ investors.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_NBRSd-yIX6tyg31RzCew

Incredible conversation with Carey Ransom, Managing Director of BankTech Ventures. We get into the weeds of his business, the value proposition of his fund, and some of the pitfalls and triumphs of fund management.

Carey Ransom is an SaaS entrepreneur, executive, investor and advisor, and has started, grown and/or led 8 B2B and consumer SaaS companies during startup and growth phases. He is currently President of Operate and the Managing Director of BankTech Ventures, a newly-launched strategic investment fund focused on compelling technologies for community banks, and founded and funded by leaders in the community bank ecosystem.

[00:02:00] Fully digitally transformed future bank.

[00:06:08] Future of community banking.

[00:11:37] The future state architecture.

[00:14:14] Increasing strategic value for clients.

[00:18:37] Bank tech fund motivation.

[00:24:04] Community banking accelerator program.

[00:28:02] Virtual relationship building.

[00:34:05-00:34:16] Proper capitalization and company viability.

[00:39:14] Value proposition to portfolio companies.

[00:41:32] Introducing banks to each other.

[00:46:08] Things I love and hate.

[00:51:36] Resistance to learning and adapting.

Today we have Bob Elliott on the show, a prolific investment manager, and founder of Unlimited. Bob dives into how he thinks about the markets, strategic investing, the importance of value propositions, and more. Tune in to learn more about how Unlimited has become a thriving asset management empire in the alternative investment landscape.

Bob Elliott is the Co-Founder, CEO, and CIO of Unlimited, which uses machine learning to create low-cost index replications of 2&20 style alternative investments like hedge funds, venture capital and private equity. The first product, $HFND ETF, was the fastest growing independent active ETF launch of 2022. In 2023 Unlimited used its technology to launch its Agile Strategy, which has many of the same desirable features of a multi-manager fund with much lower costs and better liquidity terms.

Prior to founding Unlimited, Bob served on the Investment Committee at Bridgewater Associates where he created investment strategies across equities, fixed income, credit, exchange rates, and commodities, including many used in the flagship Pure Alpha fund. He also built and led Ray Dalio’s investment research team for nearly a decade. He’s the author of hundreds of Bridgewater’s widely read Daily Observations and directly counseled some of the world’s foremost policymakers and institutional investors on economic and investing issues.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_NBRSd-yIX6tyg31RzCew

We're talking Tiger Management and Tiger Global Management, two renowned investment firms with different strategies. I explore the challenges faced by Tiger Global Management, including a recent decrease in valuations and the need to notify limited partners of losses. I highlight the importance of effectively allocating funds and discuss the trend of smaller funds outperforming larger ones.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPH22AufHvdg8hQvDvT6pPw

[00:12:30] Tiger Management's downfall.

[00:10:56] Too big, too fast.