YouSaid · the spoken record

Rashmi Kwatra

lines on the record: 75
first: 2021-10-28
most recent: 2021-10-28
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm no longer a millennial. I think whatever age we're at, it's always to enjoy the journey as well. I think people like I'm sure Ellen, you and I, or I know there's a rate to that, but dreaming and visualizing and really thinking about what we can create Enjoying where we are today and having a lot of fun in the moment is just as important.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Actually, it's the importance of connecting with people. I think I was very fortunate to have an extended family, even though we went through lots of different hardships, but the ability to always have a space where we shared freely, people shared freely and the connection was real has been an important part of my personality, my life, and gives me a lot of joy.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Be mistakes on omission if that makes sense or not executing. The biggest mistakes I've made have been when I've had strong internal conviction but didn't act on it or was convinced otherwise by other parties. So really what I learned from it is follow your convictions and stick by your guns.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My father said, you know, you'll probably find something here that will help you. And I found myself in the self-development section. And I think that's still my favorite section when I'm thinking about reading. It's my go-to. And I landed upon this book. It has the different chapters are on authenticity, relationships, living from the heart. And I think some of those lessons still stand by me.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What comes to mind is a book called Life Lessons. It was written by two authors who spent time with the dying before they passed, but it's really about how they live life, how to celebrate life and cherish the important things in life. So it's quite inspiring. I'd say it's my favorite or most memorable because it's a book that has stuck with me, but the origins of how I came to find it was basically I was going through my first breakup in high school and my dad took me to the bookstore.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is going to sound like broken record. I'll say trading velocity. I get really am a promonent for long-term investing. So you can't find me in a conversation about trading for very long.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's not one habit, but I do have kind of a morning routine. So I take a couple hours every morning to create time and space for myself. So I make sure that once I'm in the office or once my workday starts, I know that everything is a million miles an hour. I have lots of calls scheduled, time to read, time to spend with my team. So the morning is very important to me. I do yoga. I do some breathing exercises, pranayama, really maybe cook for my breakfast, but take that time for myself to really meditate, think about what I want to accomplish and really set a great positive intention for the day.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think about nothing else but that hour and it's allowed me to play a little bit of fun competition with friends, a great workout helps me sleep at night just a big big fan”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Watch Wimpleton so fun. And at one point, I had two coaches. So a year in, I think my game is quite unrecognizable. I play almost four times a week. I've made a ton of progress and I just, it's so much fun. You know, something about tennis in that hour, you only have that ball to hit and you have to get ready to hit it by the time you hit it. You need to get ready for the neck.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I took up tennis a year ago, and it has become one of my favorite hobbies. I'm very, very grateful. It started, we were in lockdown in Singapore in April of last year, and I overlook a tennis court of a building that's connected to ours. And every day I'd look over and I'd hear like the sound of the ball and I'd be watching the players and I said, it's so fascinating. And why don't I know how to play tennis? It's a sport I think I would love. So I got out of lockdown and contacted a coach and I took some lessons. And today it's just fascinating. I think I applied some of the key ingredients to building a business to how I think about tennis, hard work, consistency. I'm always wanting to learn. I'm watching matches now.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we have about 40% of our book in India, and it's the fact that ultimately we are looking for great companies that have long runways to really compound capital. And today, India is a deeper market. There are more than 3,000 listed companies. And so our ability to pick a handful of companies in a big or pool, we're able to pick out a few more than in a market like Vietnam, where we own a few companies or the Philippines. Any one market, for example, an e-commerce company in Indonesia, it could grow to become a very large part of our portfolio. So I wouldn't say that the allocation in our portfolio is any way fixed, but yes, there are some markets that have a larger universe and therefore it's likely that they may play a larger part in our portfolio at any one time.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Grow at a little bit lower rate. Some of these markets will inevitably become some of the largest markets in the world. But how they get there will differ slightly. And I think we'll see that in how India grows.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think they'll develop in slightly different ways. China was very, very heavy on manufacturing at the time and relied on its manufacturing capabilities to grow very rapidly. India will have to rely on manufacturing and services. It will take a long time for, we are seeing their manufacturing capabilities increase, so it will be a combination, but services will also be a big offering for India. Luckily, Indians speak English. They've been trained as developers and lots of engineers. So I see outsourcing to India, it already is, but continuing to grow as an industry, thinking about how India can provide services to the rest of the world will also be a big length of the growth. And so, again, it's inevitable that certain countries with size that are growing 6, 7, 8% will only become larger once a country economy starts to”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yet it's not even just regulation. If you create systems for people to be in the more formal economy and show them the benefits, such as giving them access to credit, this shift happens automatically. Historically, we haven't been able to provide the systems and the credit facilities. So there's no reason to go. And then taxes, et cetera. So you're not able to really manage the entire economy in a way that we can see as formal or inclusive. But what's happening now is because of a technology rollout and the emphasis on getting everybody connected and better data, we're able to utilize this data to give people the correct access and more access to funding to fuel their businesses. And that in itself is kind of shifting the economy to be a little bit more open about their businesses and inclusive and wanting to Streamline”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Financing is creating that shift for people to move to more selling in shops, selling brands that people get to know. And we get to participate in some of the growth of these industries.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“All of the citizens now in all of these markets, everybody has an identity card. It's easier to transact open accounts in these markets than in many other markets. So the opportunity lies in the fact that great entrepreneurs, private companies now can target the entire population and do so in much more efficient ways than, say, the public sector was able to in the past. And we're talking about these thematic shifts, digital and financial inclusion, offline moving to online, unorganized. You know, when I say unorganized, organized, to be clear, it's still a lot of retail in these markets are happening at markets, not by brands, not by more formal distribution agents. And what we're seeing is that the compliance regulations to comply with taxes, to comply with being included in the system so that you can get access to funds.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“South and Southeast Asia, it's a third of the world's population. That's been true for quite some time. So when I think about what's different or what's really changed in the last five years is that now when we're talking about investing with companies that are in the South and Southeast Asia region, their target addressable market is the whole population. Before, you'd have basically the government responsible for most of the population and private companies would only cater to say the urban population because it was just very hard to reach or access a customer in sub-Saharan Java or places outside of the metropolitan cities. Today everybody has a cell phone and internet connection is fantastic that's allowing people to get bank accounts, sign up, have the credit bureaus become more robust, have more information on”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Down to who we're investing with, and I think that's important. I'm an allocator of capital in that manner, and it's important to me to know that they're in it for the long haul, very aligned, and that allows them to utilize periods of volatility to only better the business for the long haul.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The way we look at investing is we also think about our company's management as our partners. So we also think about who we're investing with. Are they aligned? Do they own a big portion of the company or is the company a big portion of their net worth? Have they done the right things ethically for all investors in the long haul? And I think who you partner with in these markets is very important. And so I tell the allocators on the flip side, I think it is important to partner with good managers in this region who know the companies inside out and can do the right things at the right time. Ultimately, this is a part of the world where I think active investing and still has value, of course, I think we contribute value. But I do think knowing who you're partnering with at every rung of the process, we go.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, and it's also increased the adoption speed of customers to some of these services. So we've been talking about e-commerce, online digital penetration for many years, but the speed at which USAW habits move has been affected. And just as you said, the speed at which companies are just taking a look at their operational efficiencies has proved to be, I think, very beneficial for the longer term.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They really had to be invested in the right industries, the right managers who understood some of the changes dynamics. And I think we are getting that opportunity today in South and Southeast Asia. China is already large. It'll grow fine. But do you get that same J-curve effect? Probably not. And that's where these markets are today. So if you can get into the right industries that are taking advantage and opportunity of all these shifts, it's a real opportunity to compound capital.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“On cost efficiencies, and we're seeing them emerge with better margins, better profitability, a better team. So they've taken the time to focus inward. So I think we're going to see a lot of good news actually that comes out of these markets in the next several years, a lot of increased efficiencies, a lot of interesting companies that have had access to capital now listing on these markets. And I really feel like India is a great story, Indonesia, Thailand. All of these markets have very long runways for growth and are facing some of these similar opportunities where it's almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We talked about China a little bit. I think about the last decade in China, it was a mega cycle. And if you ask investors, you know, did they really capture that opportunity in China?”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And connection is increasing the target addressable market for most businesses. The digitizations of shopkeepers, when we talk about SaaS products, it's allowing more efficiencies in the ecosystems. The government have moved to just really promoting more investment in the capital markets, opening up bank accounts. So a lot of these tailwinds mean that despite what's happening in terms of the shutdown, there is a whole universe of companies that are growing very nicely and tapping into a really increased target addressable market. The really great ones have been able to utilize this time to really refine their cost structure. So some of the best companies have utilized these times to really focus”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Companies that we're invested with in India are benefiting from many trends. And it's not just India, it's the rest of our markets, but there is this shift from kind of offline to online, from the unorganized segment to the organized segment. And what I try to explain, and I've been explaining for years, is that in this part of the world, most businesses are small, medium enterprise businesses. They're not large businesses. If we have a way to systemize, digitize these businesses so that they can be more efficient as we move away from using cash and there's more checks and balances so that the shopkeeper doesn't have to be there to man the shop and can think about growth and can get funding for growth. We move into a world where there is just much more activity. And that's what we're seeing is technology, you know, the fact that everybody has a cell phone has access.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think it's actually a misconception that if China goes through difficulties, so does South and Southeast Asia, I think actually South and Southeast Asia are big winners when we are seeing turbulence or ultimately China is at a size and scale now that people want diversity. Not just in, I'm talking about allocators, but I'm saying companies. When companies are thinking about outsourcing parts of their companies, they don't no longer want to outsource just to China. They're looking at Vietnam, they're looking at India. When people think about their supply chain, they don't want to be as reliant on China as they are today. So the only place to go is South and Southeast Asia. It's firstly not even feasible today, for example, to make a t-shirt in China. The labor costs are just too high. But it is feasible to create a factory for garments or for...”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is very happy, and I think we're building that at 16th Street. In March, I said, print our portfolio and throw a dart. It almost became a game because I said, throw a dart and it will double. And I think that we really just want to build a culture of investing when the environment is tough, but we have done so much work that we feel very well prepared to understand our companies and that while the environment and the markets might be tough, our companies will come out thriving and therefore we can get invested when times are volatile or tougher.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think from the outside world it can seem volatile. A lot has gone on since I launched. We had a liquidity crisis in India. We've had COVID globally. So the markets have been volatile. But volatility for me is the norm. In each of my markets, you've had different issues and I've seen volatility in almost every year that I've been investing in certain markets and quite drastic volatility. So for me It is something that I am very comfortable with and I'm grateful for that because it means that over the years I have garnered the temperament and the strength to really take advantage of these opportunities. Those are the times that I come into the office the most excited. I always dreamt of building a culture where when the markets are down everybody”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I want to be able to kind of have real partnerships with RLPs. For me, it was about investing and doing what I love and then doing it alongside people that want to do it with me and come along for the ride. And that's the crux of why we are capping the size of our fund and how we think about this for the very long haul.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This right step by step I still do so that we're here for the next 30 years. Now in the next 10 years, even in the last five years, we've seen that these markets, the depth of these markets have grown very nicely. We're monitoring just a handful of fantastic IPOs that are going to happen and many of our markets, their quality companies that we've been tracking for many years, we're seeing that these markets are broadening and in the next 20, 30 years I expect them to get much larger, but we will always be disciplined as to how much capital we take at any time because for me it's all about, as I said, being good at what I do to me, size when you're good, size will follow. Organically, we could compound and be quite a significant firm. And that's what I'm really banking on.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The reason that I wanted to cap the fun was much more on, I think, my discipline and thought process of building the business than necessarily the capacity of some of these markets. At Prince Street, I was running 600 million in assets in South and Southeast Asia when I left. And I thought we intend to compound capital double every three years, three to five years on a stretch. And if I raise $300 million, that gives me three years, even if I raised it day one to get back to the size that I was running and in the interim build my team, build the business. And it was very important to me to signal to my partners that we're here for the very long haul and not do asset gather quite quickly, but to be very thoughtful about how we built this business so that we would build a very sustainable business. Again, I really thought about how to do”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I wonder, and this is a related issue in terms of this notion of barbell, of liquidity between these frontier markets such as Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, and India, also the fact that you are keeping very close track of your contributed capital, which is approximately $130 million, even though you have compounded that capital very nicely. But I wonder if you could speak a little bit about how you arrived at this $300 million cap in contributed capital, because I think it's particularly interesting relative to the liquidity profile of some of your smaller frontier markets.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The larger or more liquid companies to take advantage of opportunities. We also think about it not just in terms of market capitalization, but exposure to more than one market. So I'm invested in the South and Southeast Asia region. I think that allows me to have exposure to more than one market and the market correlation within one another is quite low. So if there's a volatility in the Thai stock exchange, I might be able to fund from Indonesia or India and vice versa. And that's important to me as well. Being invested in more than one At different stages of development as well, and what we're seeing happen in Thailand might also happen in India by having this kind of more regional landscape, we're able to take advantage of opportunities that pop up maybe at different stages in the varied markets.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Outside investors to come in at the right time, especially our markets are a part of the world that we still have to educate a lot of investors about. So it's important for me to have a portfolio I can fund from. And that's why we have kind of a multi-cap strategy. So we have some companies that are larger, more liquid. It's portfolio construction and smart investings. We are seeing in this part of the world that globally that some companies larger means better network effects and the larger are getting better even with size. And then it's still true that smaller companies from a smaller size, it's easier to scale from a smaller size. And so you'll always find opportunity in mid-cap. So for those reasons, they're good investments and also it makes for great portfolio construction because it means that some companies have more liquidity or of larger size, some are smaller. I'm able to fund from sometimes”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So as a portfolio, I really think about I need to have exposure to the best companies that I think are the best investments for the next several years. I also need to think about do we have funding currency within the portfolio? Should there be volatility in the markets? So I think from the outside world, volatility in the markets, in these regions can be a little scary for us, it's an opportunity. It's nothing out of the ordinary. I've been investing in these regions for a very long time and we embrace the volatility because it allows us to get invested in some of our great companies for the very long haul. But we need to be mindful of having that currency should the opportunity arise. And Ellen, you were fantastic. Actually, you did invest with us at a time when we needed capital, but it's not always the case. You can not always rely on.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I can have that foresight in the next three to five years and then think about what would repay for that business three to five years out. And can we get the IRRs that we require, which are quite high by investing in today's price or what do we need to change?”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Are growing very fast. Again, in terms of valuation discipline, while we're invested in growth companies, I was trained early on by my father, who's a value investor, very much focused on cash flows. He needed high dividend payouts. I prefer that our companies have a high return on invested capital and are able to reinvest that capital for a very long horizon at very high rates. But it still means I'm very disciplined when it comes to valuation and what we pay for our entry prices to create businesses. And so that's where it was really important that we model out what this business will look like five years from now. At least I think my strengths and the strengths of the team is pinpointing some of the key drivers and how we wrap our heads around what these key drivers will look like. And so we can get a better understanding of what this business is likely looking like.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We do have quite a high IR hurdle rate. It's north of 25%. We are fortunate to be mining in countries that themselves are growing 5, 6, 7 percent. There are industries on the back of that that are gaining a lot of shares. There's the private sector is gaining from the public sector in this part of the world. You have offline operators moving to online operators. There is a shift from the unorganized segment to the organized segment. So lots of structural reasons why you can find double digit growth in selective industries. And then our job is to really find the best companies that are not just growing with those tailwinds, but doing the right things, taking advantage of technology, for example, to expand their target addressable market and growing even more rapidly. So their earnings”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So let's speak about your curdle rate on any position you would add to this highly concentrated portfolio. Obviously, that's very expensive real estate. So any new idea that would come into the portfolio, I assume has a very high IRR. So tell me how you think about that relative to your valuation this month.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think about investing in a company, I think, would I want to own this company even 10 years, 20 years from now? Will they be here? Do they have the ingredients to be much larger than they are? It's difficult to model out, say, 10 years, however. So then we look at in the next five years, we think about what are the key inputs. It's a big part of our process to think about if I was running this business, what are the key inputs that will really matter for the trajectory of this business in the next five years. And we nail in on that and try to really grasp our heads around what that will look like to see if this company three, five years from now will be significantly larger than they are today if we can get in at a valuation that makes our IRR very attractive from today until five years from now. So that's how we think about it.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, so we do hold quite a concentrated portfolio. We hold approximately 20 holdings, but our top five can make up 50% of our portfolio, top 10 usually about 70%. And ultimately, we're investing in great companies. We think have a very long horizon to grow in markets that we think have structural tailwinds.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Done very well in the last few years, right? And we've also hit many milestones. So we've now been in existence for over three years, three and a half years. So I think there is definitely interest in the fund. Do I think that we're seeing some of the talks around D&I come into fruition just yet? I'm hesitant to say that we're seeing the action being taken. I do hear a lot more discussion around it, which I think is a first step and it's lovely to hear. I definitely have not seen an allocation because somebody was looking directly for a female manager. And I would think that if some of that is closer to action stages, then we would be a great candidate.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When I thought about it, I couldn't think of one other investor who was a woman doing exactly what I was doing. Nobody in the public markets that looked like me. And I said, it's about time that we have a few more of us.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We're good at what we do that ultimately time will tell. And so I've always been about the philosophy of time will show and we will prove that we are very, very good and that's always been most important to me. And I think it's important for me to represent that for the industry as well. Part of the reason that I did start on my own was I said I looked around and said, I keep saying there's not enough women in the industry. And I said, Rashmi, you're now a partner, Prince Riet, you have the capability to launch this fund. If you don't do it, how can you expect anybody else to or how will this really change? And part of the reason that I chose to do this is to say, you know, long term, I think I can be successful at this and help just demonstrate that this is possible and give maybe younger women.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah. It's all coupled in one and I mean, it's, as you said, it's one after the other. Woman, I'm if I was check a lot of boxes and each thing is quite different from the norm. So I would also say I'm young, but I started young, not just investing young, but most people don't start on the buy side until they've done five years in another industry. And so there are many ways to look at it. 21, I was going in the office at 20. So I started young, which means the number of years that I've been doing this even professionally is more than most managers who start on their own. Anyhow, it comes down to it's a lot coupled in one. So I did see a lot of hesitation. To me, ultimately, I know that if you stick to your knitting and you really work hard and you do what you love and you are passionate about it, and I do think...”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I work really hard not to be reductive in having these conversations, but I think it's super important to talk about the elephant in the room, which is that you're a young Wunderkint, you're a woman of color in a profession that is dominated by older, mostly white men. So what is that experience like? How did people react to you when you started your”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's been wonderful. You're right that I have your support. I have support from some of our early investors, our women CIOs. And I think it's definitely not a coincidence in terms of for our first investor they did tell me that we're looking at our portfolio and we don't have any women fund managers. And I think that ultimately the decision was not made on me being a woman. It was made because they were already interested in my background in my working with Prince Street that history with the firm that I was with and having traveled with me. But maybe women CIOs and women investors in general or investors in general want to see more diversity in what has typically been a homogenous industry. And so I'm happy to be able to provide that diversity in perspective even to our partners portfolios.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I cannot take any credit because I bootstrapped on the backs of the early founders whom our two people I totally respect and admire in the allocator world. So I have to ask you the question, do you think it's a coincidence that your initial funding came from women CIOs?”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, no, I think it was definitely a conversation, and that's what partnership is. Surely. XYZ, but for me, it's always a conversation and about doing the right things long term. And I was going from being an investor to a business builder and giving myself that time as well to really ensure that I do right by my partner's long term is much more important. But yes, of course, I hear it all the time. Sometimes Rashmi, you just need to close the deal. Why are you, you know, you talk so much and you give here and there, but I think it works because long term, if we're here to do it together for the long haul, I think making sure that both parties are comfortable is important.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To launch on my own, I wasn't sure if that interest, how much was it, Prince Street, how much was it Rushme, and had no assurity that they'd come with me. And I launched day one with $10 million primarily my own capital and capital from my former partners and fund managers in the region. But I reached back out to one of the investors that was not a Prince Street LP that was interested in coming in day one with them. That's a family office based in New York, fantastic long-term investors, and they really understood my rationale for doing it independently, traveled with me to some of my markets, and said we'd love to come in and give you that 50 million dollars. I only took 25 million of it up front and then ended up calling for 25 million at the end of 2018 because it was turning out to be quite a volatile year and start to the fund.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, in terms of finding the first anchors, Mentioned we were going to launch with Prince Street. So Prince Street had kind of tested the water with just a handful of potential LPs saying Rashmi's going to start our own fund, focus on South and Southeast Asia, much more aligned to what she does, which is concentrated investing in great companies run by phenomenal management teams. And the response was actually quite positive. So there were two investors, one which was a quite a large Prince Street LP and one who was interested but not yet an investor that said, we're interested in starting the strategy with you and potentially committing $50 million day one. And so I knew this and said, that's fantastic because these investors had met me maybe a few times, but I really wasn't on the marketing side. They had just seen my work, seen me present for Prince Street some of the write-ups that I had done. But there was interest. And ultimately, when I decided”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source