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MacDonald: Capacity constraints force better LP allocation decisions

Lane MacDonald · Lane MacDonald – Teamwork, Alignment, and Investing at the Highest Levels at SCS (EP.483) · Jan 26, 2026 · at 48:16

Lane MacDonald, CIO of SCS Financial, discusses portfolio construction and the meeting cadence used to evaluate managers across public and private markets.

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“What you want is a capacity constrained environment for investing. I want it with my GPs. I want it for us, where you're having to make hard decisions about what GPs you're backing in the equity long short space, private space, co-investment space. The only way to do that is with constant communication in the meetings, vetting this.”

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