YouSaid · the spoken record

Ron Biscardi

lines on the record: 52
first: 2019-01-21
most recent: 2019-01-21
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

“Maybe this is something I learned when I was younger, and then I lost it somewhere along the way. But so much of life is really a game. And you're just trying to figure out, okay, what are the rules of the game? You know, in the world I live in every day, there's a set of regulatory rules, but a lot of it, there's really no rules for. But thinking of it as a game and thinking about are we making a decision that will help us win or are we doing something without really understanding the fundamental impact of it? The game framework is something I really learned from one of my partners, my co-founder in the family office. And over time, it's really become something I think about a lot. I think it's important for us to think about are we making a decision that's really helping us win.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So he loved games like tennis and golf, where there was much more of a sportsman-like attitude about it. And he used to say to us, it's really important in life to do the right thing when no one is looking. That was something I just remember hearing my whole life. So I'd say that's something I've tried to teach my kids. It just feels like the right way to go through life.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My dad, I can remember as a kid, he hated sports where players would kind of do anything to win, right? And he hated guys who were showboating. So, you know, we're watching the game yesterday, the Eagles game. And as soon as there's a second of celebration in the end zone, he just wants to throw something at the TV. It's like he hates that stuff.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I try to read at least the highlights of what's being covered in the journal every day. I like zero hedge and I read the Allbourne Village. I try to read that one every day as well. That's a great collection of stories that are very alts-focused.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's probably ridiculous, but I hate when I read articles and I see comments on the hedge fund industry not keeping pace with the S&P. And I know that the person behind the article probably doesn't know what a sharp ratio is. We're doing a different thing than the S&P is doing. So yeah, that's a small one that kind of drives me crazy.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Two things that come to mind. One is being an engineer, I still love science and physics. So when I'm not reading the Wall Street Journal or institutional investor or things like that, I am probably reading Scientific American or watching some completely nerdy video on quantum mechanics. And then another thing that I love to do is really just take home movies and edit them into videos, which would just bore anyone other than my kids maybe and my wife.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Know potentially we haven't made that decision yet. It could become kind of an offering and not a fund, but it's something that it absolutely requires a very high level of options sophistication. And the folks looking at it have that kind of background, but we're not sure in what form we'll offer it yet. But I do think there's something there because we have so many sub $500 million funds at our event, they all have this problem, or at least the ones that are performing well have this problem. So it's something that we're pretty excited to try and figure out. So we'll see what comes of that.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Now, depending on your expansion and what you plan to do with the business, some managers are just rolling that into the fund, but others are using it to expand their business. So it becomes a significant component of their risk that they have to manage now. So one of the ideas is to do deals with GPs to, in essence, trade fixed for variable. You know, they have this variable risk. We would do a trade with them where we would in essence buy that cash flow stream and take the risk of the carry, not entirely, but to some degree. And I think it's something that we could expand even beyond GPs. It's the biggest problem for a GP. But LPs have this issue as well, especially on funds that have a more volatile return profile. So this is one that we're spending time trying to analyze and build a data set on.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So there's one that we're spending more time on these days, which is pretty unique. And it came from our partner who built his wealth mostly through a firm that at its core is really a liquidity provider. If you think about life as a fund manager, especially a sub 200 or $400 million fund manager, if you're putting up good numbers every year, your carry is meaningful. And it becomes a huge part of your cash.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So that's always a big topic. Governance is a big topic, how decisions get made in the family. I would say the investing side of it is maybe like fourth or fifth on the list of things that they're really spending time talking to each other about”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They are always talking about how to run their office better. There probably is a book on how to run a fatly office, but none of these guys seem to have read it. because they clearly get a lot of value out of having these dinners and talking with each other about all kinds of issues. Now, you'll have a first generation entrepreneur who's made hundreds of millions of dollars and they have three kids and they want to be able to preserve the wealth and transfer some of it, maybe all of it, to the next generation in a way that doesn't ruin the next generation. There's this concept called shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves where you go from making the money in the first generation to losing all of it by the third generation. So I'd say that is a big topic among the families. It's how do I set up my family office and bring my kids into the process and give them the education and sophistication around how to manage wealth at that size when they didn't make it on their own. It's a very complicated thing.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Orange County and San Francisco were thinking about expanding to Chicago and Palm Beach potentially. But it's just bringing the families together in a safe environment. And by safe, I mean, they won't be in a room being pitched by fund managers or service providers. The families absolutely hate when they go into a room and they find that they were really the bait to get everyone there. So we came up with the idea really as a way to give back to the families. You know, we were so appreciative that they were regulars at our summits events. We thought, let's do something for them to kind of keep them inside of the ecosystem and give them a benefit beyond just participating in our events, but give them a chance to meet each other. And I found families really like meeting each other more than anything else because, again, it's hard for them to find each other.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, one of the things we found summits was about 30% of our attendees on average were single family offices. And single family offices generally are flying under the radar screen. For the most part, they don't want to be known. Multifamily offices are different. They're service providers. They're in business to provide services to families. But the single family offices are mostly want to be able to access great products and then kind of go back into the shadows and not be out there in a big way. So we found them attending our events on a regular basis because, again, they were just really efficient ways for them to touch a lot of different managers. So we created something called the context family network a few years ago. And it was a really simple format. We just do dinners for the most part in chapters around the country. So we have a New York chapter, LA.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Would be a great business if we were getting basis points instead of charging a fee. So without naming names, yes, we hear stories all the time about funds who attend our events and go on to raise tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars at our events. We've heard from investors, actually there's one consulting firm who told us over the last few years they've invested over a billion dollars just at our Miami event. For sure. And I think this is the reason, of course, why it has succeeded to the degree it has and it's the size it currently is because you can't do that if people are not achieving some level of success at your events. And really on both sides, we hear it on a pretty regular basis that it's just working.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In a segment of the market where deal flow is absolutely critical, and they have the best deal flow I've ever seen. And part of the reason they got together with us was to also take advantage of the deal flow that can come through summits. So they're in a segment of the market where they can generate deals from the limited partners who attend our events, as well as the GPs who attend our events. So the marriage of the machine that they've already built, you know, they've got 14 people in their office. They were very actively generating and managing a pipeline of deals. And then combine it with what we have in our summits business. And it's really proving to be a great engine to kick those deals up.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'd say one of the deals that I've had the most fun on is a deal we did recently with Trube Capital Management. So Doug and Peter Troube, who are our partners, and we're in a private equity joint venture with them, these guys have just been amazing partners to us. And the part that I've really loved is that they're just hardcore entrepreneurs. They're great investors for sure, and you can't do a deal with someone who's not a great investor, but they get it. You can say to them, hey, I've got a meeting in London with XYZ, and you know they're going to be hopping on a plane tomorrow to go to London to do that meeting. The opportunities that are presenting themselves now are just at a higher quality level. And that's been fun for me, just being in business with guys who are Really aggressive, and you just know they're going to win.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The combination of all of this, I think, really gives us a strategic advantage that it's hard to see who else in the marketplace comes with each one of these pieces.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Something that we're really just beginning to spend more time on in a more strategic way. Given the deal flow that we have, the expertise that we have on the investment side, a capital partners, we really are well positioned to see some of the best product coming through the funnel. And we are in several conversations right now with groups that could write substantially larger checks who are sophisticated and have the capital but probably don't have the same level of deal flow that we have. And they also are comforted by the fact that we can provide the service platform to help these funds operate in a more institutional way. They need to be institutional grade. So we help get them there faster. So that's comforting to the capital. And of course being able to access an incredibly broad group of capital providers by way of our events.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When you back or partner with someone and you're giving them whatever that ticket size is 20, 30 million dollars, for them to be successful, as you said, they have to grow a lot. You have all these investors coming in. What have you seen in terms of the appetite for someone to kind of accelerate your acceleration?”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Significant. I would say our criteria on the seating and accelerating business is very stringent. My partners have such deep investment experience. They've seen so many different strategies. They're a very tough group to please. So they filter through things relatively quickly, but it does take work and it is a process. You know, my partner John Culvertson is working feverishly trying to get through all those managers just coming into Miami to get a sense of, okay, is this a group that we can partner with?”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So let's bring this two things together. You have hundreds of managers coming to present and get capital. And on the other side, you have your capital partners business where once in a while you'll partner with one of these managers. So that deal flow sounds like it's almost too much to handle.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of players much, much bigger than us, but our megaphone is so loud. Our marketing is so strong now as a result, especially of the Miami event, that we are getting more deal flow than really anyone in the industry. I mean, we're touching thousands of funds per year over the course of the four or five events that we typically run.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“For example, you'll see a much tighter performance band in the traditional asset classes than you will in hedge funds, which I think drives the need for events like ours. I think investors come every year religiously, and you'll see investors, I mean, they are working hard at these events. There are guys coming every event, and they're taking 20, 30 meetings over two days. It's grueling to sit and crank through that number of meetings in a short period. But it's really, really helpful to them and extremely efficient for them to do it in this way as a way to take a look at what's the new stuff that's out there and what do I not know about that I should know about and who do I not know. I mean, I'll say for context, one of our greatest assets really for the conference, but it clearly benefits our seating and accelerating business, is that we have the best deal flow in the industry, at least I believe. I think there are lots.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Something we think about a lot because as we've watched over the last few years, a pretty steady stream of negative headlines about hedge funds in particular, our event has been bigger every year. I mean, this year we sold out several months sooner than we did last year, and we're pacing to be 50 to 60 investors ahead of where we were last year. So it's completely counterintuitive to what you're seeing in the press. But I think the reality is that investors crave high quality active management and it's a $3 trillion asset class just in hedge funds. There's enough capital there and enough portfolio size among investors that they always have a need to retool their portfolio. If you look at the dispersion between in particular categories in the hedge fund space, it is much, much larger than the dispersion in traditional markets like Long Only.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If you look at the last five years, it wouldn't be that surprising for someone kind of observing the industry that managers would want to attend. Because as you said, particularly in the smaller managers, capital is really scarce. You don't often hear the interest from the investors for the same reason. So, what are you hearing from this group of investors that's drawing them to come meet with all these off-the-radar managers?”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Introduction function, which means this is a set of one on one meetings that takes place over two days. This year will facilitate somewhere between 11 and 12,000 meetings, if you can believe that, in just two days. But we've also added a day of content because we found that it was interesting to managers and to investors to experience some component of thought leadership. So this year we're really excited to have some terrific speakers lined up. We have Mohammed El Aryan moderating a panel on global economics. We have Eileen Murray, the co-CEO of Bridgewater, Gary Cohn, formerly of Goldman Sachs, is our keynote at the end of the day. Howard Marks from Oak Tree will be there. So it's pretty exciting for us to expand a little bit, but make no mistake about it. The key offering and the main reason that we've been able to attract the number of funds and investors, it's really all about those one-on-one meetings.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So in 13, we had in total, I think it was about 320 managers and right around 300 investors. But we've gotten much more sophisticated over the time we've run this thing. The investors are now vetted very heavily by an investor relations team that we built out. So we have four people who are dedicated to nothing but speaking to investors, understanding what their needs are, what sort of strategies are they interested in, and making sure that they're legitimate and actively investing in alternatives. And over time, the event has also started to shift a little bit towards private equity and less liquid strategies. So as it's become harder to make money in the liquid stuff, there has been more and more interest on the part of private equity funds and attending and in investors meeting with those funds. When we did this originally, we've only focused on the capital.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And that would all be good. And fast forward five years, it is the largest capital introduction event in the world by a lot. We'll have over 2,000 attendees in Miami in two weeks. Actually, 500 managers and 700 funds and about 700 investors attend this year. So it's...”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In twenty thirteen we had a crazy idea that it was really purely an opportunistic deal. There was another firm that was in the SMA business in the hedge fund space that owned a conference. And SMA platform got into trouble with the regulators. And we saw a headline that made it pretty clear that was probably not going to survive the regulatory scrutiny it was under. So we thought, hey, I wonder what's happening with the conference business. So we approached the guys who ran the conference business who had already left the firm and were trying to raise money to spin the conference business out. So we ended up doing a deal with them and the hotel where the flagship event is held, the found blow in Miami, and the SMA platform. And when we initially did the deal, we thought if this thing just breaks even, we'll get free marketing out of it and it'll help us build investor relations.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If you're not excited about being in your business to build it at that kind of a level, you really shouldn't do it. You're better off being a PM in a bigger shop and you'll show up every day and the Bloomberg will be there and the computers will work and someone will find the money and it'll be in the account. You don't have to burden yourself with all of that other stuff. So, you need someone who really is passionate about it and loves building their business.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We paint as bleak a picture. You know, we try to be realistic. We are in a really unique situation for a firm our size and connected mostly to small funds. We are as well positioned as anyone in the market for our size to be able to access some of the biggest investors in the world. So that's great. But if our PM partners don't realize what an effort it is and how much hard work it is to get that money to actually make a bet on you, it will all go to waste. So we generally going into those negotiations will talk about how many road shows we plan to do and how the road shows work and how many events we have in our conference business and what their role will be in those events. And we try to paint a realistic picture. And for small funds, it is difficult. You need someone who is ready to work 80 to 100 hours a week.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We've done it in a few different ways. In some cases, we've actually co-owned the GP and the management company, and it is a legitimate joint venture. And in other situations, we've done it as more of a revenue share and then provided those services back. But I'd say those are structural things that mostly matter more when you sit down and do the deal initially. And we're a lot of times choosing one or the other to, I'd say, cater to whatever the mindset of our PM partner is. But functionally, it's really no different. We are generally driving the marketing and all of the operations regardless of the structural differences.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is it set up so that you mean the context side as opposed to the manager own those pieces of the so is it a true joint venture where you can do the marketing for them or are you advising them on those aspects?”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Investing. So anything you can think of compliance, technology, IR, marketing, marketing is obviously a very big one because it is so difficult now. And given our conference business, we are in a position to really own the marketing for them. So of course, again, the PM has to participate in that. But it is our job primarily to go out and spread the word to the world and get the PM at bats, if you will.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We will usually form an investment committee with the PM that is not making, especially when we're in liquid markets, we're not making day-to-day investment decisions with the PM, but we do want to have an influence directionally. So there'll be an investment committee that my partner, John Culbertson, our CIO, John, or one of his investment team members will usually take a seat on that investment committee and will oversee the process. The process is extremely important as well. And I say in our investor surveys, investors constantly put that as the number one or number two most important criteria when they're evaluating a fund. So making sure that there is an investment process and that they are sticking to whatever the process is is a key component of, you know, I'd say the value that we bring on the investment side. And then on the operational side, we are involved deeply in everything that they're doing that is not.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Funds that we've partnered with are getting at bats much earlier in the process as a result of that. And we've developed institutional investor relationships as a result of doing it this way and also as a result of seeing our funds grow in size. But it is still very difficult. It's a very tough fundraising environment. I'd say for smaller emerging managers, they have gotten a lot more play in the last few years as the crisis has gotten further in the rearview mirror, but it is still a challenge for small funds to get those at bats. I'd say the combination of our infrastructure and, of course, our summits business has really helped us get them in front of firms much, much earlier than they would ever be able to do on their own. And we're doing it in a much more credible way.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“With all the components investor relations, compliance, technology support, disaster recovery plans, all the things that a larger fund would have, we provide to that PM so that the overall offering is now much stronger than it would ever be if they tried to do it on their own. And we're deploying that platform across multiple funds so we can do it more efficiently than they could ever do it on their own.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, yeah, that's absolutely true. So how do you cross that bridge This is a good segue, I guess, into how we shifted our model at context. Initially, we really thought of it as we'll just deploy capital and we'll bring in friends and family to increase the capital size and they'll help network and spread the word. But we really shifted to a capital end services model for this reason. We've probably done average C deals of 20 to 30 million in general. And at that level, you're still not really a critical mass. You're not on the radar screen of big institutions. And the Fundafunds universe post crash really shrunk. So the opportunities are much more limited than they were pre-crash. So what we realized was we needed to provide a service offering that would strengthen this whole story. So it wouldn't be a PM with an analyst in a garage somewhere running 20 million dollars that frankly no one cares about. We needed to surround that PM.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You really could put up great numbers and money would find its way to you, but post crash investors shifted so dramatically to just capital preservation and thinking, I just don't want to make a mistake. I'm okay giving up that upside if I can just keep my nest egg where it is. Maybe I'll grow it a little bit, but I don't want to take too much risk. And they've really focused on the operational and business risk of small managers. So if you were a small manager not thinking about that dynamic and not working with investors post crash, it became really, really difficult to grow your business.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's very difficult. Ideally, it's better if you can separate it, but ultimately the PM owns a big chunk and they need to own a big chunk of that business. So of course, as you'd expect, they're going to have an opinion on cutting fee deals with big investors who show up early. And do I want to go do that marketing trip in California? Because it's going to take me out of the office for a few days. And the reality is when you're small, no one really wants to talk to anyone except the PM who's driving the strategy. So it's really a tough balance to strike in the beginning. And having someone in that partner seat with us who has good business instincts is really, really critical because we've seen in a lot of cases we found ourselves struggling to pull our partner along, to execute in a way that we thought was necessary for the business to succeed. So I think pre-crash, as I said,”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We learned very early on that the person in the seat may have been a great investor in whatever they were doing before we got together with them. But when you start one of these things, you need to be a great investor and a great entrepreneur. Because at the end of the day, you're building a business and you're building a business that then competes with some of the smartest people in the world. So this is literally one of the toughest businesses to succeed in. You're at a cocktail party and you say you're in hedge funds. Everyone thinks you're successful. But the reality is there are thousands of funds that really never get to a critical mass and ultimately they don't succeed. So we learned early on that you need to partner with a PM who put up good numbers but who also is thinking about how do I build this into a going concern? How do I turn this into a business that can really compete with whoever the players are in their particular”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I would say as a company, we've always leaned more towards quantitative strategies. We've never been big on strategies that involve a human doing fundamental analysis and supposedly doing it better than the rest of the world does it. I think in liquid markets, that's an incredibly difficult thing to do. And it's never something that we've really focused on. We have made those bets in, I'd say, niche areas. And one of our most successful funds actually is in one of those niches. But it's a niche that is difficult for big pools of capital to access. And for that reason, even a human can still maintain some edge there. But for the most part, we're looking for things that are using some form of quant to really find edge. We just believe it's too difficult for humans in most cases to really do that.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of folks that want to invest side by side with the family. The combination of the capital, the sophistication, we were able to leverage my network to help bring in additional dollars from folks in the investment world.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My value add to the business was primarily my relationships in the marketplace. So as a cedar, I was relying on the family office that we partnered with to form capital partners. The initial anchor capital for all of our deals always came from the family office. But my relationships in the investment space were used to help draw in additional capital for those rounds. In a lot of our deals, I would say the majority of our deals, the family office that anchors the investment and then we'll bring in, call it friends and family around that investment to help launch with as much capital as possible. And they're interesting to the sophisticated investors because you're getting an LP investment that the family office has vetted and this is a very sophisticated family office that came from the capital markets world and they have touched every imaginable strategy. So there's a lot”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The original concept which still continues through today was to get into the seeding business and then over time we realized doing accelerator deals were probably more interesting to us. But the original concept, this was 05, so you're talking pre-crash. It was pretty simple. We had lots of evidence of really smart PMs who would leave a shop and they'd go start a lot of times with $5 or $10 million in their own account, build a track record over a year or two, fund a funds money would come flooding in if they put up good numbers. And then the institutions would pick up on it once they crossed $75,000, $100 million, and then the money would really flow. So back in those days, we thought of it really as mostly just writing a check. We didn't think of it beyond that. It was just pick the right horse, give them the capital they need to get started, they'll build a track record if they do well, the money will find their way to any solid PM.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I did project work for a few venture firms, and eventually that led me to founding Context Capital Partners in 2005 with one of my co-founders.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Go help them. And we would deploy a team and we'd hire 30 or 40 people for them over six months. And I'm sure you remember the craziness of the dot-com era. So we built that firm. And in the course of that process, I got to know many of the venture capitalists in the Philly area, which eventually led to me doing work with them directly, mostly diligence projects and things that kind of leveraged my relationships, people that I could call to sort of check out various founders or potential investments. And also it kind of fit well with my engineering background to be doing things in the tech world because I understood the underlying technology better than most.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Had to move to North Jersey for that job, eventually moved back to Philadelphia, started my own firm, and created what at the time was one of the largest outsourced recruiting firms in the Philadelphia market. So by outsourced, I mean, we went in and became the recruiting department through the dot-com era for lots of these startups, which was really fun and exciting and interesting. And you're working with all these new entrepreneurs and new ideas. It was a crazy time in the market. I remember working with venture capitalists who would come to me and say, look, we just gave these three guys $10 million. And they've never hired anyone.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, it was interesting. I got a call from a recruiter when I was in engineering, and he was pitching me on taking a job really as a salesperson in technology. So I did a few interviews and I realized that a recruiter kind of has this broad view of what's happening in the marketplace. So I was sitting at a desk all day working in an antenna lab at the time with no view of the market, really. And in my discussions with him, I was fascinated about how much he knew about what was happening in the various pockets of the technology world. So one thing led to another and he pitched me on working for him and”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Job out of school, God, it was so bad. It was with an engineering firm, quote, engineering firm. But really what they did was they buried conduit into concrete and asphalt. And like day two on the job, I'm in Brooklyn with a wheel measuring the distance between telephone poles and then going back to the office and drawing what I measured and just thinking like six months ago I was like working with Maxwell's equation in my microwave class and now I'm measuring the distance between telephone poles. I don't think this is how it was supposed to go. But eventually I went from there to another engineering firm which was much more interesting but again graduating into the recession. It was just a tough time in the Philadelphia market at least to be an electrical engineer.”
2019-01-21 · Capital Allocators · Ron Biscardi – Putting Hedge Funds in Context (Capital Allocators, EP.83) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source