Paula Volent explains why she avoids team silos at endowments, citing how separate committees can lead to offsetting positions.
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“When I first came to Bowdoin, they had asset class committees. So they had a hedge fund committee, a core equity, private equity. And it was interesting because there were overlaps, but they're also like on the long, short funnel. Say they're a short Tesla, whereas in the long fund, they're long Tesla. So you're paying all this money for things that are canceling each other out.”
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More from Paula Volent
Insight
Institutional venture capital is not worth doing without top-tier manager access
“Also, in some of the cases in some asset classes, for instance, venture capital, unless you had access to the very best managers, it wasn't worth doing at all.”
Paula VolentOct 25, 2021▶ 14:34Paula Volent – Star Endowment Manager's Next Act at Rockefeller University (Capital Allocators, EP.219)
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Bowdoin's endowment outperformance was driven entirely by manager selection, not allocation
“If you look back on the attribution of our performance over the years, it's all manager selection, and I think asset allocation is important, but as, like, even today, asset allocation gets blurry.”
Paula VolentOct 25, 2021▶ 17:10Paula Volent – Star Endowment Manager's Next Act at Rockefeller University (Capital Allocators, EP.219)
Disclosure
David Swensen urged Bowdoin to exit global macro, but Volent refused
“And when I first got there, David would look over my shoulder and say, no one can anticipate interest rates. You should get rid of these investments in global macro. However, those have been a signature part of Bowdoin's portfolio.”
Paula VolentOct 25, 2021▶ 15:02Paula Volent – Star Endowment Manager's Next Act at Rockefeller University (Capital Allocators, EP.219)
Insight
VC funds cannot afford concentrated bets in regulatory-risk sectors like Chinese education
“Lately, I've been thinking a lot about risk management because I've been thinking about China and some of the manager's That we're so overweight in some of the education companies and things like that. You can't really do that in venture capital because it's a…”
Paula VolentOct 25, 2021▶ 24:06Paula Volent – Star Endowment Manager's Next Act at Rockefeller University (Capital Allocators, EP.219)
Insight
Scale impairs performance, giving an advantage to smaller, meaningful portfolio allocations
“Scale doesn't work in many asset classes, and so The ability to invest small amounts of money, but it will make a big impact on the bottom line is important.”
Paula VolentOct 25, 2021▶ 25:54Paula Volent – Star Endowment Manager's Next Act at Rockefeller University (Capital Allocators, EP.219)
AssertionNot checkable as stated
In 2021, venture capital funds returned to market faster than ever
“I've never seen funds come back to market so fast in my whole career, and so you're always doing these re-ups, where before you had a lot of time to do the due diligence and think about it.”
Paula VolentOct 25, 2021▶ 33:48Paula Volent – Star Endowment Manager's Next Act at Rockefeller University (Capital Allocators, EP.219)
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