Building a Great Endowment

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[00:03:54] - [First question] - Finding his way to investing and Notre Dame

[00:06:11] - Key milestones of running their endowment for so long

[00:07:58] - What an endowment model is and how it’s evolved

[00:10:30] - The ingredients that unite their shared successes

[00:11:46] - His philosophy on building a differentiated investing team

[00:13:11] - How he approached talent identification when hiring new managers

[00:15:39] - The importance of understanding who someone was before they became an investor

[00:17:12] - Episode: Steve Mandel, Investing Behind Change

[00:17:28] - Whether or not someone has a reliable and solid core

[00:19:03] - Differentiating between self-confidence and an over-inflated ego

[00:20:27] - Evaluating real investing skills in an individual

[00:21:44] - The most memorable major early partner he brought on to the endowment

[00:23:14] - What made Don Valentine and Sequoia so special

[00:24:21] - Forcing good long-term incentive alignment with a firm

[00:26:35] - What makes a GP exceptional in how they treat LPs

[00:28:01] - How many managers actually have the ability to create alpha

[00:29:24] - His thoughts on venture capital and how he’s seen it evolve

[00:32:40] - The role private equity played in his success and how it’s changed over the years

[00:34:36] - Why diversify when managing such a large pool of capital

[00:35:58] - Public equity as an area of opportunity relative to private and venture capital

[00:38:08] - Bonds in an endowment and high net worth family offices

[00:39:32] - Whether or not equities are still appealing

[00:40:20] - Lessons from investing in China so early in his career 

[00:42:59] - What he’s learned about effective leadership from leading the team at Notre Dame

[00:44:54] - Advice on building your own basic portfolio

[00:47:03] - Portable classroom lessons that lend themselves to effective teaching

[00:48:28] - Why it’s important to do team-building exercises and off-sites

[00:50:07] - His thoughts on cryptocurrency and how others should think about it

[00:51:52] - Students that he’s most proud of across his career

[00:54:56] - Ways you should spend your 20s if you want to become a great investor

[00:55:49] - What’s on the horizon for him over the coming years

[00:57:55] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him