Billion Dollar Backstory
Host Stacy Havener brings you the storytelling tips, sales strategies, behavioral secrets, and inspirational stories that help YOU turn your words into dollars. Learn from sales and marketing experts. Meet finance and investment leaders, founders and fund managers who have made it, and the ones on the rise. Because there are people behind the portfolios. Their stories matter. So does yours.
Presented by:
Ultimus Fund Solutions // www.ultimusfundsolutions.com
GemCap // www.geminicapital.ie
@stacyhavener // www.billiondollarbackstory.com
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 46 minutes
- Episodes
- 114
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
53: Why a Founder’s Backstory Matters–Even for Firms Managing Billions | Story Snacks Series
Introducing Story Snacks! A bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in less than 20 minutes per week!
Listen in today as Stacey answers every es…
52: $520 Million Frontier & Emerging Markets Specialists Jonathan Binder and Charlie Cassel Co-Founders of Consilium Investment Management | The Importance of High Conviction Strategies | Why Benchmarks in EM Are a Problem | “Meet the Boutique” Series
If you’ve been dismissing frontier markets because they seem “too risky,” you’re missing out on a treasure trove of alpha.
Take it from Consilium CIO Jonathan Binder and CEO Charlie Cassel. For 13+ y…
51: Modern Marketing for Investment Boutiques
Feel like your marketing is falling flat? You’re not alone. In 2024, most fund managers are facing the music. Outdated marketing tactics like sending PDF letters to investors just don’t cut it anymor…
50: Private Credit Opportunities in an Undercapitalized Fast Growing Industry | Meet Altmore Co-founders Steve Ham and Patrick Kim Specialists with $300 Million in Cannabis Capital | Why More Family Offices are Allocating to Cannabis | “Meet the Boutique” Series
Cannabis capital curious? Steve Ham and Patrick Kim of Altmore Capital are here to show you the way.
Although it has advanced considerably over the past half-dozen years, the U.S. cannabis industry r…
49: $500 Million Female Led Fund Team Within a $65 B Multi-Boutique | Small Cap Growth Specialist Rayna Lesser Hannaway of Polen Capital on Owning Your Story | Why Culture and Qualitative Matter | How People Helping People Can Change the Face of the Fund Business
There’s nothing a woman in a power suit can’t do. Shake up a male-dominated industry? Check. Redefine leadership? Check. Inspire generations to come? Check.
In this episode, Rayna Lesser Hannaway sha…
48: $4B RIA Platform Chief Behavioral Officer Brendan Frazier of RFG Advisory on the Power of People First | How Listening More Will Get You More Meetings | Why Salespeople Need to Drive Toward No
Most boutique firms strive to raise more funds and stay ahead of market trends. But they lack one key ingredient that the bigs have in their back pockets– behavioral finance expertise.
Today, Brendan…
47: $83B Investment Strategist Doug Huber of Wealth Enhancement Group on the Evolution of Manager Research | Balancing the Binary in Investment Management | Why Qualitative Matters in Due Diligence
Fund buyers know investing is more of an art than a math equation.
Not convinced? After listening to this interview with Doug Huber, VP of Investment Strategy at Wealth Enhancement Group, you will b…
46: Can Global Giants and Focused Specialists Co-Exist? | $500B Industry Think Tank CEO Dani Hristova of the Independent Investment Management Initiative on Building a Successful Boutique | Why Story is Critical to Success
There's room for everyone at the table in the fund world—not just the bigs, but have fund buyers gotten the memo?
Thanks to champions like Dani Hristova, who are relentless about spotlighting the un…
45: $700 Million Small Cap Credit Fund Manager Hunter Hayes of Intrepid Capital on Building a New Strategy Within a Successful Boutique | How Owning Your Different Unlocks Growth | Why Specializing is the Key to Scaling
If your analytical brain needs FACTS to back up the power of left-brain growth tactics, you’re in luck.
Today's guest, Hunter Hayes, combines his classical piano training with impressive business sen…
44: $1.5B RIA Founder Chad Willardson of Pacific Capital on Entrepreneurship | How Your Authentic Story Can Fuel Growth | Why Mindset in Money Matters
The impressively bold mindset that drove Chad Willardson to leave behind a million-dollar salary and a top 1% client base to build his own firm from scratch is the same mindset that grew his firm to …
43: $4B Boutique Co-Founder Rodney Herenton of Channing Capital Management on Building a Platform of Specialists | The Importance of Legacy in Asset Management | Why Differentiation is the Future | “Meet the Boutique” Series
With a $70 million seed investment and a vision, Rodney Herenton and his co-founder Wendell Mackey launched Channing Capital Management.
This isn’t your typical startup story.
This episode is a mas…
42: $4B Family Office Co-Founder Khaled Said on Entrepreneurship | Why Story Is a Differentiator | How Collaboration, Creativity, and Courage Are Key to Serving Clients Well
The second generation in wealthy families could choose a safe path within the family business. But today's guest, Khaled Said, dared to pave his own way, co-founding Capital Generation Partners, a $4…
41: $1.7B Family Office CIO Paul Bodnar on Differentiation in Investment Management | Why Specialists Matter in a Portfolio Line-Up | “Ask an Allocator” Session
Get a glimpse inside the mind of an allocator in part 2 of our Ask an Allocator series. Today, you’ll hear from Paul Bodnar, CIO of CM Wealth, a $1.78B Family Office.
Listen in as Paul and Stacy dis…
40: Boutique Founder to $5B CEO to Boutique Founder Again: Adrian Clayton of Northstar Asset Management| The Business of Building an Investment Boutique| How Science, Art and Heart Play a Role in Investment Success
Imagine this: you've sold your biz and landed what many would consider their dream job at a multi-billion dollar firm. It’s secure and you’re coasting at the top of your game.
Now, imagine what it w…
39: $200B Asset Management CIO Bill Harding on the Importance of Qualitative Due Diligence | Why Culture is a Source of Alpha | “Ask an Allocator” Session
Get a glimpse inside the mind of an allocator in part 1 of our Ask an Allocator series. Today, you’ll hear from Bill Harding, CIO of Jackson National, with $29.8B directly managed fund-of-fund assets…
38: $18B Value Investing Portfolio Manager Jim Falbe on Founding His Own Investment Boutique | Why AI is an Amplifier of Classic Value Investing | How People in the Investment Industry Can Help Each Other Build a Legacy
Can classic value investing and AI coexist? Today, Jim Falbe is coming on the show to share his playbook for blending timeless strategies with AI WITHOUT losing the personal touch allocators love.
I…
37: Data Viz Expert James Eagle of Eeagli on the Journey from the Bigs to Entrepreneurship | Why Story is Powerful in Numbers and Narrative | The Art of Authenticity- Owning What Makes Us Different (and Special)
James Eagle spent the bulk of his career telling stories with words, working as a writer for some of the biggest names in asset management.
Since then, he’s traded in the proverbial pen for coding s…
36: Former Fund Manager at a $27B Shop Turned Boutique Founder Greg Dean of Langdon Partners on Entrepreneurship | Why AUM Isn’t the Only Measure of Success | How Different Thinking Leads to Differentiated Results
Success as a founder is about more than impressive AUM. It’s about maintaining autonomy and connection. It’s about taking pride in what you do, the team you’ve built, and most importantly having fun …
35: $3B Alts Platform Co-Founder Turned $3B RIA Founder Dick Pfister of Alphacore on Innovation in Alternatives and Advisory| Why the 60/40 Model Needed a Reset | How to Launch, Build, and Scale a New Idea with Story
Most advisors aim to put their clients first. But, many fall short by leaning on status quo strategies - like 60/40 - that don’t necessarily serve their people in the best way possible.
Today’s gues…
34: Trillion Dollar Wirehouse, Trillion Dollar RIA Custodian, Boutique Consultancy Founder Tim Welsh of Nexus Strategy on the RIA Industry | Why Founder-Led Sales Matters in Fintech and Investments | The Story of Industry Awards Program “The Wealthies”
A founder's journey never truly ends. Sometimes, that feels like a blessing and a curse, all at once. Hearing 'no' over and over again gets old!
Today, Tim Welsh, founder of boutique consultancy Nex…