Billion Dollar Backstory

Six months into launching your fund and already feeling like you're making every mistake in the book? You're in good company. That's exactly how the founder who wrote in is feeling. And honestly, year one can do that to a person.  The chaos is real. The second-guessing is real. The wondering-if-anyone-will-ever-take-you-seriously is very, very real. In this Story Snack, Stacy Havener tackles the f...

What if the biggest problem with “Emerging Markets” is the name? Edward Lam thinks that label has been doing the category a disservice for decades. Today, he’s sitting down with Stacy to zoom out and question the category…then zoom back in to what that means for portfolios, risk, and real alpha. Edward grew up in Hong Kong, went to boarding school in the UK, and landed in EM in 2004.  He had no tr...

Commenting is one of the most underrated relationship builders on LinkedIn, especially if you want to stay on people’s radar without cranking out content nonstop. But most people comment in a way that does nothing, or worse, makes things weird. You know the two classics:   1. “Great post!” (nothing burger) 2. And the thoughtful comment followed by an immediate pitch DM. (instant ick) In this Story...

93% of the population. Almost entirely locked out of an industry that says it wants the best talent. Laurie Robathan grew up on the wrong side of that statistic. He was raised in inner-city Bristol, went to a state school, and grew up in a single-parent family. He found his way into finance through one thin thread of chance, and he's never forgotten how easily it could have gone the other way. At...

You want to post more on LinkedIn. You know it matters. You've probably even got a draft sitting there. But the fear of being judged, specifically by people who already know you in real life, keeps stopping you cold. In this Story Snack, Stacy Havener breaks down exactly why that happens, why your brain is making it bigger than it is, and how to move through it without just white-knuckling your wa...

Robert Gardner has built four ventures in financial services,  including Redington , the UK investment consultancy that’s advised on £800B+ in assets. Now he’s taking on a new category: Natural Capital . Because nature has always been “investable”, just usually as a commodity. The old way looks like squeezing every ounce of value out of the Earth without any regard for long-term consequences. The...

Let's talk about conference season. You showed up and collected a gazillion business cards. You smiled until your face hurt. And three days later you got home, looked at that stack of business cards, and thought… now what? If that sounds familiar, this Story Snack is for you. In this episode, Stacy breaks down why conferences tend to feel like a huge waste of time.  She’s sharing what she’s learne...

Shannon is Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer for Wealth at Neuberger Berman, a firm with north of AUM, and she's spent years on the other side of the table, sitting through roughly 300 manager meetings a year. She knows exactly what earns credibility fast. And she knows exactly what kills it. In this episode, Stacy Havener sits down with Shannon to pull back the curtain on what alloca...

What do a Notre Dame finance degree, a brief detour into ninth-grade teaching, a Merrill Lynch internship, and 20 years at BlackRock have in common? They’re all plot twists on the road to finding exactly where you belong. In this episode, Stacy sits down with Ellen Bockius , Head of Business Development & Marketing at JLAM, a boutique real estate investment firm focused on the Mid-Atlantic coa...

What if the questions you ask say more about you than the answers you give? Two weeks before graduating from college, Buffy Alegria walked into a bank job interview knowing basically nothing about banking.  But she did walk in with four pages of questions on a yellow legal pad. They hired her before she finished the first page. That moment set the tone for everything that came after. Today, Buffy...

What if the secret to building a firm people know, like, and trust wasn’t a slicker pitch deck… or a better track record? What if it was the audacity to just be yourself? Sweta Singh didn't wonder. She just built it. Before she was a founder, she was on the other side of the desk entirely, issuing bonds for the State of New York, watching how public money moves through communities, hospitals, scho...

Most CEO stories start with an Ivy League credential and a tidy career ladder, but this one starts with a blackjack table. Before Natalie Wolfsen was running Orion, she was dealing cards to pay for college. At the time, she had no idea that the lessons she was learning on that casino floor would follow her all the way to the C-suite. In this episode, Natalie opens up about the chapters that don't...

Every allocator asks: “What makes your boutique different?” And most fund managers default to something like, “Our people are great!” or “Our process is best-in-class!” Which is fine. It’s just… also what everyone else says. In this episode, Stacy explains why saying “We’re better” in meetings won’t do you any favors and why being different (even if it’s uncomfortable) is the best way to stand out...

“Ugh… I’m going to sound like a broken record.” If you’ve felt that in a 2nd or 3rd meeting, you’ve probably had the urge to “freshen up” your story just to keep it interesting. In this episode, Stacy breaks down why that instinct can backfire. She’s digging into what actually matters in follow-up meetings, especially when new people join, when the sales team thinks “we already covered that,” and...

Most founders lead with the team because they’re trying not to sound egotistical. But allocators aren’t sitting there thinking, “Wow, great org chart.” They’re thinking: “Do I understand this firm yet?” In this episode, Stacy breaks down what allocators actually want in the first meeting and why you’re better off leading with a crisp origin story (even if the founder isn’t in the room to tell it)....

If your meeting goes off the rails, it’s not because your prospects are “unruly.” It’s because no one’s driving. And with the right moves, you can take the wheel fast without making it weird. In this episode, Stacy breaks down how to prevent unhelpful tangents before you ever walk in the room (hello, champion prep call) and what to do in real time when someone hijacks the conversation. Listen in t...

Ever felt the urge to tidy up your story before sharing it? You scan the room, see the impressive bios and the blazers, and think: “Oof... maybe I should skip that part.” You’re not wrong for feeling that way, and you’re definitely not the only one. In this episode, Stacy opens up about her London panel debut, where she felt that pull to edit out the messy parts of her story on the fly. She’s expl...

If you’re still following the traditional sales funnel framework in 2026, your firm’s growth is sure to stall.  Because the “inverted triangle” view of a funnel is oversimplified, and it’s starting to feel like the fundraising version of that tired investment process slide that makes everyone want to poke their eyes out.  It flops because not everyone in your funnel needs the same thing, and “just...

You thought you nailed the meeting. The conversation went well, heads were nodding, and everyone seemed engaged. Then you followed up with a thoughtful email and… crickets. Or maybe you got hit with the four words every fund manager dreads hearing: "We’ll watch you." Most people take either of those as signals to retreat and move on. But what if they're actually something else entirely? In this ep...

You made it to the final investor meeting again. You were sure this one was yours because your pitch was on point (no surprise, given that you rehearsed every line).  But still... no deal. What gives? Why are you always the bridesmaid but never the bride?  In this episode, Stacy is breaking down why so many fund managers find themselves stuck in this frustrating loop.  Listen in to learn:  Why try...

If you’re like most founders, “creating a yearly business plan” is one of those tasks you keep bumping to the bottom of your to-do list.  Maybe you tell yourself you’ll get to it when things slow down, but they never do.  And before you know it, you’re steamrolling into the new year without a plan, which leads to overthinking every single decision and drowning in busy work.  And somehow you end th...

Everyone loves a success story, but what we don’t talk about enough is what it costs to get there. And what it’s like before the money is wired or anyone cares.  Before all of that, there was a guy with a phone, a thesis, and a long list of people telling him no. That guy was Cole Wilcox. In this episode, Stacy Havener sits down with Cole, CEO & CIO of Longboard Asset Management, to talk about...

“Be authentic.” “Own your story.” “Sharpen your edges.” We say these things at Havener Capital all the time (and Stacy says them a lot ). But here’s the real question: do they actually move the needle? Mike Denklau, founder of Dorset Agriculture, is here to tell you they do. Today, he’s giving us a behind-the-scenes look at what happens when you stop code-switching… and start building from your re...

In this industry, everyone talks about innovation. But innovation rarely starts in a conference room. It starts when a client hits a wall. When they’re overwhelmed, under pressure, or staring at an opportunity they can’t quite reach alone. That’s where Ultimus Fund Solutions steps in. This team doesn’t just throw tech at the problem. They roll up their sleeves, pick up the phone, and build real so...

Panels are weird. Everyone’s trying to look smart without sounding rehearsed.  And somehow you’re supposed to introduce yourself and tell memorable stories in just a matter of minutes.  It’s not easy, and it’s not something you want to wing (especially if you want to make sure your participation is worth your while). That’s why, in this episode, Stacy’s breaking down her top dos and don’ts for sho...