Billion Dollar Backstory

“What do I do with a prospect who went cold two years ago and I still think they’re a fit?”

Stacy’s first reaction?

Two freaking years?!

Said with peace and love, of course. She’s not laughing at the person asking, but she does have a few questions about how we got here.

Like, Why do you still think they're a fit? And more importantly, do they agree with that notion?
In this Story Snack, Stacy gets into what to do when a prospect has gone cold, why you might need to rethink how you’re nurturing prospects in the first place, and the framework she teaches clients to help them get a solid yes or no sooner (so they aren't chasing lukewarm prospects for years). 

Listen in to hear:
How often Stacy thinks a cold prospect should actually hear from you
How to tell whether the reasons they liked you two years ago still matter today
The problem with letting a “maybe” sit in your funnel for too long
What “fill or kill” means and why Stacy uses it when a deal goes co

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized series for fund managers who want to get better at strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Real quick: what’s the meaning of life?
Okay, It's not exactly a quick question. And you probably don’t have an answer ready to go.

But the good news? You don’t need to book a yoga retreat in Bali to figure it out.

Turns out, what makes life feel meaningful might be a whole lot less mysterious than we make it.
Dr. Daniel Crosby just turned in a manuscript exploring what makes our lives feel meaningful.
And after digging into the research, he found himself coming back to three things: believing, belonging, and becoming.
Which has more to do with building a brand and earning trust than you’d expect.
Today, Daniel is back with Stacy Havener to connect the dots between what makes a life meaningful and what makes people, brands, and relationships stand out.

Listen in to hear:

➤ The three Bs that give our lives meaning
➤ Why the best brands in this industry are already doing all three, whether they realize it or not
➤ Why sending someone your fact sheet doesn’t count as a meaningful give
➤ The Gallup question that can tell you a whole lot about whether someone’s going to stick around at work (and no, it’s not about raises or offering random incentives)
➤ What Daniel calls “emotional graying"
➤ Why playing it safe is the worst thing you can do if you’re looking to build a meaningful life and/or a successful business 

The scientist and the storyteller are back for another conversation that’s fascinating and surprisingly practical.

And despite the very gray office Daniel’s calling in from, he makes a pretty good case for being anything but.

About Dr. Daniel Crosby: 
Dr. Daniel Crosby is a psychologist, behavioral finance expert, and New York Times bestselling author who helps organizations understand the intersection of mind and markets. 

He’s a father of three, fanatical St. Louis Cardinals fan, and amateur hot sauce chef.

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

“Keep me posted.”
Sounds promising. But also... what does that actually mean?

In this Story Snack, Stacy Havener breaks down one of the vaguest phrases in fundraising, and why “keep me posted” should be the start of the conversation instead of your cue to sit back and wait.
Because if an allocator wants you to keep them posted, your next job is figuring out what they actually want updates on.

Listen in to hear:
The question to ask so “keep me posted” actually means something
Why waiting until you hit the magic number could mean starting the relationship over from scratch
How often to follow up (Stacy has a number)
What to send when there isn’t a huge update to share
How to stay top of mind without becoming the person they stop opening emails from
This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized series for fund managers who want to get better at strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

"The key to business is biting off more than you can chew, then figuring out how to chew it."
Manish Khatta has been running that play for a while now.
Last time he was on the pod, back in 2023, Potomac had just crossed $1B and he was pretty sure they were only getting started.
Three years later? They're past $5B.

And the lessons got a whole lot bigger with it.
Manish is back for a next-chapter conversation about what happens after the growth starts working. When the revenue finally catches up. When hiring gets harder than raising assets. And when the job starts asking you to stop being the operator and actually become the CEO.
In this episode, Manish and Stacy get into:
Why hiring and stepping into the CEO mindset is infinitely harder than raising assets
The question Manish asks advisors who say they “can’t grow”
How firms can actually build relationships and land meetings on social media 
His new marketing strategy (and why he doesn’t believe in chasing concrete ROI) 
Why caring what other people think is the biggest roadblock to creating good content
A pretty wild 2027 announcement Potomac gets to share for the first time 

About Manish Khatta:
Manish Khatta is a quant who has spent his entire career creating and refining technical trading strategies. A lifelong Potomac employee since 2002, he programmed the initial work behind Potomac's mechanical trading systems and now runs the firm as CEO and CIO, where he's known for driving innovation across investments, technology, and brand growth.
He's also a father of four and spends his free time playing tennis and being on the water.

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

This conversation was too good to leave in the archives.

In this encore of our Ask an Allocator series, Stacy sits down with Bill Harding, CIO of Jackson National, who oversees $200B in assets and $29.8B in directly managed fund-of-fund assets.
Bill gives us a look inside the mind of an allocator and shares what he’s actually paying attention to when evaluating fund managers, because past performance is only part of the story.
In this episode, Bill and Stacy discuss:
Bill’s backstory, from financial analyst at a cheese manufacturer to CIO at Jackson National
What fund managers need to get right when pitching a potential partnership
Why past performance alone isn’t enough to earn an allocator’s attention
Why Bill sees culture as a real source of alpha
The questions fund buyers are asking behind the scenes (and why the most important ones aren’t always quantitative)
If you’ve ever wondered what really matters on the allocator side of the table, this conversation gives you a pretty good look behind the curtain.
 
About Bill Harding:
Bill Harding, CFA, is Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Jackson National Asset Management (JNAM), where he leads asset allocation, portfolio construction, sub-adviser monitoring, and manager research. 
He joined JNAM in 2012 after serving as Head of Manager Research for Morningstar's Investment Management division, and has more than 30 years of experience across JNAM, Morningstar, and Leprino Foods. He holds a B.S. from the University of Colorado, Boulder and an MBA from Loyola University Chicago.
Bill graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business. He holds an MBA from Loyola University Chicago and is a CFA charterholder.

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus