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Bruce Ou

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70
first
2023-10-30
most recent
2023-10-30
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1
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podcast

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  1. “Returns over cycles. So after looking to us for returns, the clients look to us for deal flow and knowledge sharing. So for some clients, we act as a farm team. For example, we first invested in a fund here in New York called American Industrial Partners when they were only $400 million. As the team continued to deliver results and became consensus fund among LPs, we handed that relationship over to our clients and they became large direct investors in AIP's subsequent oversubscribed funds. So in effect, the talent that we tried to identify early in the life cycle can be caught up just like in baseball into the direct portfolios of our clients.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “There are several areas I would just maybe mention two. Number one is returns. Take one of our target investment areas, low-midet buyouts in US and Europe. For example, the medium return of funds, let's say sub 1 billion, is quite similar to the medium returns of funds 5 billion above observable from the industry data, but the top 10, 20% performers in the sub 1 billion category generates meaningfully higher returns. Then the same corresponding top 10, 20% in the larger funds. And as a result, a dedicated investor with the right resource, the right experience and process have a chance to systematically capture that upper layer of opportunities and form portfolios that add both absolute returns and risk.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Serious investors. So they understand deeply the potential but also the challenge in certain segments of the market, whether it's venture capital or low-midet buyouts, and approach them really thoughtfully. So the final common thread across them is, I think our clients tend to have a unique combination of self-awareness and self-confidence. are deeply aware because they're a great investors themselves the benefits and the trade-offs of what to do in-house and when to leverage an external partner and they are confident to operate from the first principle in picking a manager for example they can focus on what should matter the most the expertise the alignment the transparency how dedicated this partner will be to me how important am I to them should I say they are bold enough to not always hire the IBM”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “While we have a concentrated base of clients, we serve a quite diverse group. So we work with very sophisticated family offices, large insurers, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and they span the globe from the US and Canada to Europe, the Gulf, Asia. Underneath that variety, however, are some important common characteristics. The first thing I would say is that our clients are very sophisticated investors. So as either some of the largest institutional posts of capital in the world or hyper-connected families, they have great market access, great intelligent internal teams and exceptional investment track records. As opposed to what your former colleague David Swinson would call the casual investors, our clients, I would say, are really”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “25 companies started in 1998, so 25 years old as a company. 14 is the number of clients that we have had since inception. 14 great elite clients. For them, we have built 43 separately managed accounts. So you can do the math, lots of repeat customers. And in total, the clients have committed about $10 billion to us.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “A lot of the core of the business is very similar. I'll maybe start with a few numbers 25, fourteen, ten, and forty three.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “From day one it was structured that the senior members of Grove Street are required to commit personal capital alongside our clients, and for the partners a significant portion of long term compensation comes only in the form of performance-based carried interest. And finally, there was a strong belief that Talon Drive's performance, and so from early on, there has been a very strong consistent emphasis on attracting and growing the right kind of talent that are both capable but also aligned in terms of values.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “The company was started in nineteen ninety eight by my current partner Catherine Crockett and one of our retired partners Clenn Harris. They shared a common mentor in Peterbrook, a legendary investor, leader, great gentleman, TACs, right, Advan International. Peter put them in touch and the unique insight that Catherine and Clint had at the very beginning was by aligning themselves on the one hand with long-term, sophisticated blue chip investors as clients. And on the other, exceptional opportunities in market segments that have higher inefficiency, therefore higher alpha potential, but hard to do, there was an opportunity to build a company that could compound in its success and reputation over a very long runway. Alignment was a foundational element in their original vision.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “So I came here as a first generation immigrant and was actually a funny story. I applied to a school in New York. And when I went to purchase a ticket, they said, well, you're going to Syracuse. And I said, no, no, no, I'm going to New York, meaning New York City. I said, no, no, you're going to Syracuse. Turned out that I went to a place named Oswego. And so I went to SUNY Oswego unexpected thinking I was going to New York City. And it's like five, actually six hours away. So when I got there, I realized that was not the place that I wanted to stay. So after a year. I got myself to Williams College, and that was the beginning.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “To start a business, grow a business, turn around a business, accessing those kind of entrepreneurs and business owner operators with whom I think I share almost spiritual connection dating back to the memories of selling milk is what we do at Grove Street. And it's been a great privilege to be able to generate returns for our clients by partnering with these people.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “The cows gave birth to five calves, which my dad delivered by himself with me standing next to him holding the medical book, reading aloud the instructions how to do it. So we didn't spend money on the vet and the calfs were worth quite a bit of money and we ended up making a small profit after about three years of running this business. The next few family ventures turned out to have better business models, better timing and all that, but always the same hustle and hard work. So looking back, I think growing up with those experiences has had a very profound impact on me as an investor. It has instilled in me a very deep respect and appreciation for entrepreneurs, for business owner operators who devote their time, energy, their intellects, their courage”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Where we left. Every morning my dad would ride a motorcycle, carrying the gallons of milk from the farm into the city near the department where we lived. I would grade him, help unload the milk, and start shouting the neighborhoods, fresh milk for sale. And then as people walked out of their homes lining up to buy our milk, I would help my dad or mom sell people the milk and collect money. It was in the 1980s in China. I think our milk might have been one of the first farm-to-table products. We had put in almost all of our family savings in this venture and almost lost it all. As it turned out, the milk business was very difficult before efficient code storage, everything we couldn't sell the day off, we had to dump. And most Chinese consumers at the time and even perhaps today don't eat a lot of cheese. We only saved our investment because”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “Thanks so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. Well, why don't we start with your path to investing? The official beginning was 2006. I had worked several years in strategy consulting and M&A advisory at Monitor Group when I met the folks at GGV Capital. It was an eye-opening encounter to the world of venture capital. Although I didn't join GGV several months after that encounter, Glenn Solomon, partner at GGV, introduced me to Catherine Crockett, my now partner at Grove Street. So a typical one connection leads to another connection story, but the more unusual, perhaps, and personal one dates back earlier. This was when I was about seven or eight years old. My mom and dad had started a dairy business in Sichuan, China, raising cows on the farm and selling milk in the city.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Before we get going, on Wednesday, we'll release the fifth episode of Season 3 of Private Equity Deals. It's Corsair's purchase of Trevi Pay, a global business-to-business payments company that Corsair spun out of World Fuel Services. The deal is a tricky carve-out, a rebuild of a management team alongside a CEO, and another example of unlocking value in the middle market. Thanks so much for spreading the word about capital allocators and private equity deals. Please enjoy my conversation with Bruce O.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Guest on today's show is Bruce O, the managing partner of Grove Street, a boutique firm that's invested ten billion dollars in the private markets on behalf of fourteen institutional clients. Grove Street specializes in manages that transform companies in venture capital, growth equity, and middle market buyouts. Our conversation canvases Bruce's emigration from China, thoughts on middle market buyouts, venture capital, and growth equity investing, opportunities in China, and co-investments.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Hello, I'm Ted Sites and this is Capital Allocators. This show is an open exploration of the people and process behind capital allocation through conversations with leaders in the money game, we learn how these holders of the keys to the kingdom allocate their time and their capital. You can join our mailing list and access premium content at capital allocators.com.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “Capital out hitters is also brought to you by admired leadership. Back in April on episode 497, I sat down with Randall Studman, the executive coach behind admired leadership, who advised more than 500 CEOs, including some of the most respected names in asset management. Randall introduced me to Alex, an AI leadership coach's team built on 40 years of proprietary research into what the best leaders actually do. For investment professionals, that means your entire team gets on-demand coaching grounded in the behaviors that drive results, and build the kind of followership that retains your top talent. We use Alex and our team at Capital Allocators swears by it. Try Alex for yourself at the link in our show notes. Try Alex. Leadership.com.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Capital allocators is also brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline makes your day unrecognizable. That's how refreshingly different it is from legacy investment management technology. With Ridgeline's front-to-back AI native platform, your typical tech pains disappear. No integration headaches, no data discrepancies, and no upgrade cycles. Instead, you get real-time data flowing through everything from portfolio accounting to reporting to reconciliation, trading, compliance, and more. In the AI era, asset and wealth management firms moving to Ridgeline gain a decided advantage. That's why customers call it miraculous game-changing and an awakening. If that's not how you would describe your investment management tech, request a demo at RidgeLine.ai.”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

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    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Capital allocators is brought to you by AlphaCents. Here's something for you. Most AI tools today are very good at sounding right. But can you actually trace it back to a filing, transcript, or specific passage that drove the answer? Or are you just trusting the confidence of the output? For allocators, that's not a minor concern. A missed filing, incorrect source, or context that gets lost somewhere in a retrieval chain aren't edge cases. They're how decisions go wrong. AlphaSense is the AI platform built specifically for this. They own the content over 500 million curated documents from broker research and expert transcripts to filings and earnings calls. And they own the retrieval layer on top of it. That means every answer can link back”

    2023-10-30 · Capital Allocators · Bruce Ou – Private Market Investing at GroveStreet (EP.347) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source