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Rashmi Kwatra

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

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“And the style of investing you're pursuing at 16th Street and the markets you're in are by definition very long-term markets where if you're invested for under three years, you're going to be disappointed because there are lots of ups and downs during even the three-year period. So I like the fact that you were from day one thinking generationally in terms of decades. Let's talk a bit about Starting 16th Stre 2018, recruiting the team, and then I would love to know more about how you actually went about finding the original LPs or anchors in your fund.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was not easy, and I remember even in those discussions ultimately I think about it has to be a win-win from both parties. And I thought about even if it would be easier for me after a couple of, for the first few years, if ultimately I didn't see the long-term alignment and I would have to leave, then it wasn't fair to us that they launch me as well. And I think that's again part of who I am. Ultimately, it means I have the support of my former partners in all of my future endeavors as well.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I said, it's going to be an easier start. I'll have an easier couple of years raising capital, but ultimately I'm going to have to make this move. If I really want to build something for the next 30 years that aligns with who I am and my strategy and idea of partnership. And so it really came down to let me do the right thing for the long term and who I am as a person which is if I'm passionate about something, if I can see the long-term gains, I'm not afraid of the short-term hard work.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In terms of starting my own fund, the question was really how and when. We did explore the opportunity and the possibility of launching with Prince Street. So, you know, about six years into working with Print Street, both David and I thought I was very much ready to run my own fund. And I had also fortunately become a partner in Prince Street, had some of my own capital that I wanted to reinvest in what I was doing. Unfortunately, or fortunately, but at Prin Street, I was looking after the South and Southeast Asia portfolio, but it wasn't a carve out. So there wasn't a way to directly align interest in exactly what I was doing. So the first step was to launch maybe with Prince Street, but it became very clear that launching a fund within a large organization wasn't going to work for the long term, which is all that matters to me. Size was capped, there was not full ownership of the brand, some conflicts with the main fund.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, in general, Ellen, I am committed to a life of growth and development. I almost always knew I'd start my own business one day, one that reflected my philosophies, my values, my beliefs. And I always think about making decisions that are best for the long term, even if that means near-term challenges and risks.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's terrific. So walk us through your thought process as you decided to leave what was obviously a very great gig. You were still incredibly young and seven years into your post-Warton career. Tell us what led you to found 16th Street.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so my mom still lives on Soy 16 in Sukumvid in Bangkok. So soy is Thai for street and Soy 16 is home to my sisters and I and so 16th Street to me represents home and also I did like the fact that at Print Street it was quite a neutral name. So when I was a partner there, I said I was a partner not of Quatra Capital or Ellison Capital, it really gave me a sense of ownership and long term I wanted a name where my team felt like they were building this and had a lot of ownership.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Before joining Prince Street, I was looking at balance sheets, reading the newspaper, doing a lot of self-study and material study, which I think is still a big part of our process. But when I joined Prince Street, my first year, I was so surprised. My travel budget was almost half my salary. I was like, oh, okay. So the encouragement of really going out to these markets, traveling to meet the management teams to get to know the ecosystem was very much encouraged. And that has stuck with me since. So the time at Prince Street, you know, really allowed me to cultivate relationships in the industry, meet other buy-side funds, sell side best of the best in their field, companies, families, and really intricately get to know the people in the ecosystem. And that has really stuck with us.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so I covered South and Southeast Asia for Prince Street. I was there six and a half years and I am still focused on this part of the region. It's home to me. It's where I spent my career at Prince Street and where we see a lot of opportunity. So South and Southeast Asia are our focus markets.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I love that story. And so you were ultimately responsible for the Southeast Asian book. And tell us before we move on how many years were you at Prince Street and were you covering all the same markets that you are today at 16th Street?”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Next weekend. Oh, I happen to be in New York. And he met me for breakfast. You know, he said, You should do a call with our founder. So I did that and eventually convinced them to give me a job. They hadn't hired in six years, really lean team as I'm running a fund as well. We're very lean. You usually hire, if you hire well, they stick with you for a long time. And there's not that many opportunities. But I wiggled my way in. And that was the start.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And then Deutsche Bank is giving you a full time, I had some full-time opportunities. I said, nah, this one really sticks with me. So I searched Prince Street on Google or Yahoo at that time. Who knows? And I found their number and I cold called them and I said I met with your analysts. Would he be interested in taking a call? got through to him. He remembered me. He said, why don't you let me know the next time you were in New York, the next weekend I took a Chinese. I'm in New York now”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Telling some of my friends in school, and they said, Rush me, nobody gets a job on the buy side straight out of college. You know, you have to do yourself.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Was definitely there was two new associates on the desk and I think they just because of my experience and knowledge thought that I would represent them well as well. So I went with the heads of research and met some of their emerging and frontier market clients, one of which was Fred Street Capital. And I sat across Friend Street Capital, talked to them about Thailand, talked to them about a company I liked in Thailand. They held a position in that company. Lots of correlations and things to discuss. And so I left there thinking, hey, they are serious about a part of the world that I'm investing in. They like the fact that I could speak Thai. They liked a company that I liked. It'd be wonderful if they would give me an opportunity after university. And that's when you said, did you ever get pushback or I”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was an intern. I did several internships during my university years, and my last one was at Deutsche Bank on Wall Street. And at Deutsche Bank, I was did a rotation program on a sales and trading desk. And on the sales desk, I was actually on the European equity side, but across from me was the head of Asian equities. He could see just how much I knew about Asian equities. The stocks that they were talking about, I was telling him their background, the politics of some of these markets, Indonesia, Philippines, you know, I would get engaged in discussion. So he said, Rashmi, we have our heads of research, the head of Indonesia and head of Philippines coming to meet our clients and their clients on the research side of Deutsche Bank were emerging in frontier market funds. And he said, why don't you go with our heads of research? Because our new associates know a little less about the region than you.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“People knew that I worked very hard and I really had a natural kind of gift for learning, for curiosity. I'd never shy away from an opportunity to learn. And some of the best universities globally, at least by reputation, are in the West. So it was more of an aspiration than what are you doing?”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is still kind of the sine qua non of finance education and I can confirm that today. Did you ever look back? Did anyone tell you, well, what are you doing? Why are you going halfway around the world to college? It seems like a hell of a long way away.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, you know, I guess I was introduced to investing by my father. I had kind of this exposure to what it meant to have financial independence, what it meant not to have it. And then I was just very, very interested, right? I was hooked as soon as I started reading. I started thinking about companies. I knew that this is something that I wanted to pursue. And Wharton was touted as the best business school for undergraduates. So I graduated top of my class. I was validatorian of a very multicultural school and really worked to get the best colleges. So they included several of the Ivy Leagues in the US and I chose Wharton because of its speciality in investing in finance. And I knew that was a path I wanted to go down.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Fourth generation Thai and most of the immigrants that have been in these countries for so many years came as entrepreneurs and had very entrepreneurial background. So unlike in the US where some of the immigrants are maybe what we call second generation, the first generation of children are being born there in some of these markets like Thailand you've had generational immigration and so most people are entrepreneurs really part of the community and thinking about long term more entrepreneur careers, business families. That's kind of where I grew up. Your dad was”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. There were no other women thinking about investing. We think today and maybe growing up, you know, my age in the West, Warren Buffett was still kind of an iconic and children had been introduced to investing, but in Asia not as much. So I didn't really know a lot of women or men, my boys my age talking about investing. And I was definitely a little bit of an oddball.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So interesting. It sounds like your parents had both EQ and IQ, but tell me, were there any other young women in your School who had an interest in investing. I mean, was that considered? Were you like?”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Laughed, and I think that allows me today to connect with people, with management teams very well. Her lack of financial independence, though, also taught me quite a lot and early about some realities and hardships in life. I saw the importance of financial independence early on, what it meant to have it, what it meant not to have it, and I really knew that it was something that I wanted to have long term.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I remember him handing me the intelligent investor and saying, Rush chapters 8 and 20. And then let's discuss. So I was very fortunate for somebody growing up in Thailand, you know, Ellen, I didn't know many people who were being handed the gospels of investing and really had somebody to talk about on a Saturday what makes a good company, why is he looking at such a company? It was really quite eye-opening for me. I saw how sustainable a career he had investing his savings in companies that had strong cash flows, gave high dividend payout. So I was very fortunate that I think was my early introduction into investing, a little bit more about my background. My mom had a huge role to play in my upbringing as well. She taught me how to connect with people, always creating a space where people came over and shared.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's great to be here and thank you for your time. I grew up in Bangkok, Thailand. So Thailand is home for me. My family is fourth generation Thai, so we've been there for a long time. But as you said, ethnically from the South Asian region. So it means I speak several of the languages in this region, Thai, Hindi, and growing up I grew up in an entrepreneur family. My father used to export Home Decor from Thailand, mainly to the US. His largest customer was Pier 1. And so I would follow him to the office and that's where I learned about inventory, credit, his motto was always rush me customers number one, number two, number three. So I think a lot of that still stands with me and it was my first introduction to really running a business, thinking about business. He then became a full-time investor in the Thai equity markets.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'd love to start with your background. This audience loves a great origin story, and I think you have a terrific one. So you grew up in Thailand in an ethnic Indian family with a highly entrepreneurial father. Please tell us more about your background.”
2021-10-28 · Capital Allocators · Rashmi Kwatra – Sixteenth Street Capital (Manager Meetings, EP.17) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source