The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 26 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Recker: Irvine defines great venture funds as 10x or better
“I think we define great as a fund that's 10 X or better. And so a lot of funds are asking for premium carry when we tell them we would fire them in our portfolio.”
Allocators Retaining Underperforming Managers Should Double Down Rather Than Maintain
“My view is, is if you're going to stay in, you don't just stay in, you double down. So if you've done the work and you've Agree to stay in and they're underperforming, then you got to add more money, because that means you have the conviction.”
Twenty-Five Managers Compose 80% of James Irvine Foundation's Total Assets
“And so, 25 managers make up 80% of the assets across all asset classes.”
Recker: Traditional asset class categorization has questionable value for portfolio management
“The asset class just gives you a sense for what you own, but I would argue going forward, I actually question how valuable the asset classes really are. If you have a Great implementation is just really thinking about it as one portfolio, and just understandin…”
Recker: Prescriptive asset allocation structures do not help generate returns
“In order for us to generate returns going forward, having a very prescriptive asset allocation structure we don't think is an advantage.”
Recker: Active managers holding 50 stocks are not high conviction
“We generally like managers that are 10 to 15 stock managers. So, if I'm gonna pay you a fee, pick, don't just be a closet benchmarker. So, it's funny when I meet some managers and they tell me, oh, we're high conviction, we have 50 stocks. I'm like, yeah, that…”
Recker: Allocators Should Do as Much Venture as Quality Access Allows
“My historical view has always been, you do as much venture as you can get good access to.”
Recker: Irvine avoids global macro hedge funds due to market-timing skepticism
“So we have biases against certain hedge funds. So we don't like global macro. We think very few people possess the ability to pick market cycles, et cetera. So we just don't do very much of it. And we don't think we possess that skill.”
Recker: Screen Door is non-concessionary capital targeting top venture returns
“What we really liked about it is that this was not concessionary capital, that when they came to us with this idea, it was really around creating more opportunity for people, but really around people that can and will deliver great results, and they just need …”
Recker: Irvine avoids co-investments due to operational and resource complexity
“That would suggest you should go do that here, but we're not, and it's a function of the complexity that it brings. We're not set up structurally from a resourcing point of view. We're not set up from an operational point of view, from a tax point of view. We'…”
Recker: Knock-On Crisis Contagion Can Damage High-Quality Liquid Asset Prices
“I'm very worried about the knock-on effects on things where, just like we felt in the last crisis, where just because something was a high-quality asset that was liquid, the price was more damaged than we anticipated. That could affect some of our assumptions.”
Recker: James Irvine Foundation targets four broad asset categories
“So we only have four asset classes. Three of them are 30%, and one's 10. So fixed income is 10, even though we're actually sitting lower than that. And then we have public equities, we have private investments, and we have, we call it multi-strategy.”
Recker: Irvine's first profitable co-investment was actually a bad decision
“Honestly, our first co-investment we did, we made really good money, but in hindsight, we missed some things, and if we were intellectually honest, I would say it was a bad investment decision”
Recker: Irvine backed a quant fund where machines generate algorithms
“We have, I'll say, dipped our toe with one. I would like to not talk to who it is, but they actually are using machine learning where the machines actually build the algorithms versus most quants, the people build the algorithms, and a lot of times you just ge…”
Recker: Irvine Foundation holds over 10% of total assets in China
“We've got a major overweight to emerging markets and particularly China, and we're actually debating what's the right allocation for China, et cetera. Right now it's a little over 10% of the entity. It's an important component of our public equities. We're abo…”
Recker: Irvine uses a 'majors and minors' model for team diligence
“I call it majors and minors. Each of my three directors take on a risk category between publics, privates, and hedge funds, and that's their domain background, but they, all decisions are made across the entire team. All diligence for a new manager is actually…”
Recker: Allocators usually regret not firing managers they question
“My experience has been, if you're deeply questioning it more times than not, you regret not pulling the trigger, but the difficulty is knowing when to step in.”
Recker: Irvine foundation runs a top-heavy team of veteran directors
“So I believe in running top heavy teams. So we have three investment directors, all that have 20 plus years experience, and then we have two pre-MBA associates.”
The James Irvine Foundation Has Zeroed Out European Private Equity
“Even how we construct our managers, where they're located, like we basically have zeroed out private equity in Europe.”
Recker: Investment staff cannot match committee members' peer references
“We'll never get the same lens that they get because they're viewed as peers or friends. And so they can tell us a whole set of things that are valuable.”
Recker: Evaluating public equity managers requires a full 7-8 year cycle
“And so we truly try and take, you know, a five to 10 year horizon with each of those managers. We think of business cycle of seven to eight years, and some of those managers need the full business cycle to make sure their strategy works.”
Recker: James Irvine Foundation is running light on portfolio liquidity
“We are pretty light on liquidity relative to probably where we should be because the opportunity cost has been so high, but we're actually having a conversation in October with our investment committee around that to really hone in on like what we think about …”
Recker: Time window to capture market dislocation opportunities is shrinking
“I believe during financial crises or sort of period of dislocation, those opportunities exist, and they're outsized opportunities, but the speed at which you have to act to take advantage of them is important, and that time to react is shrinking, and it's been…”