Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Aydin Senkut is the Founder of Felicis, a venture capital firm he founded 20 years ago that invests in seed and Series A companies, now out of a billion-dollar fund.
 
Aydin joined me on the show five years ago, and we followed that conversation with what's changed for Felicis, high growth companies, and the venture industry.
 
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

Aydin Senkut is the Founder and Managing Partner of Felicis Ventures, a $2 billion early stage venture firm that invests in founders building iconic companies that transcend geographic and industry boundaries. Its success has placed Aydin on the Forbes Midas List for the past 8 years.


Our conversation covers Aydin's early exposure to entrepreneurship and international business, experience as the first international product manager at Google, and transition into angel investing and founding Felicis. We discuss his investment philosophy, proactive sourcing, and doing whatever it takes to join the cap table and support founders. We close with Aydin's perspective on competition in the venture capital industry.
 
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠)

Vik Uppal is the Founder and CIO of Mavik Capital Management, a $2 billion flexible special situations investment firm grounded in commercial real estate and hard assets that operates through a credit lens. Vik began developing properties as a teenager and after a difficult experience during the financial crisis, moved to New York to begin a career as a professional investor.
 
Our conversation covers Vik's path from developer to distressed investor and the principles he built Mavik around: stable capital, alignment, flexibility, and finding opportunities where capital is scarce. We discuss filtering a wide funnel for ideas, creating downside protection, identifying opportunities in commercial real estate, avoiding the AI infrastructure boom, and growing an investment business without losing its edge.
 
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Zack McGuire is Senior Managing Director of Investments at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
 
Zack's career spans Citigroup, Emory University, the University of Georgia Foundation, and the Maine Public Employees Retirement System before joining Children's three and a half years ago.
 
His responsibilities extend well beyond investing into team leadership, overseeing the investment process, and strategic initiatives across the broader healthcare system.
 
Our conversation covers how an institution's capital base shapes its investment strategy, CHOA's thematic approach to portfolio construction, empowering a team of generalists, and leveraging investment relationships to support the broader institution.
 
Zack brings humility, curiosity, and conviction to his work, grounded in a belief that resonates deeply with us at Capital Allocators: one of the best ways to compound capital is to compound relationships.
 
 
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My guest on today's show is Scott Ramsower, Head of Private Equity Funds at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, where a 27-person team manages $33 billion in private equity for the $250 billion pension plan. Scott started his LP career at AlpInvest and joined Texas Teachers sixteen years ago, when the private equity program was six people and $7 billion. He also chairs the board of ILPA.
 
 
Our conversation covers Scott's path from equity research to the LP seat and the growth of the Texas Teachers program. We then turn to continuation vehicles and the reasons LPs have grown wary of them, from conflicted pricing and misaligned economics to the loss of the right tail. We close with zombie funds, retail capital in private equity, and how a slower exit market is changing the way LPs underwrite their GPs.
 
 
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Learn more about Juniper Square here.
 
 
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)