Billion Dollar Backstory

When an allocator says "We only work with established managers," it can feel like a door closing in your face. 
And the natural instinct is to pry it back open by explaining yourself, defending your track record, and making a case for your fund. 

Stacy Havener's advice: don't go there.
Because handling objections to close deals is a thing. It's just not the right thing in this moment.
That’s why, in this episode, Stacy’s breaking down what to do instead when you keep hitting the same wall in meetings.

Listen in to learn:
Why "too small" or "too new" is usually a timing mismatch, not a hard no 
The three words that change the whole vibe: "Tell me more." 
The questions that uncover real requirements around AUM, allocation size, and track record 
How to capture their language so your follow-up actually lands when the timing is right

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master 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
- - -
Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

If you’ve ever thought, “Okay, I have to cover process… but I can literally see their eyes glazing over,” you’re not alone. 
Because when you walk through your process like everyone else, allocators don't hear "rigor." They hear "table stakes," and they're already half checked out by the time you get to the good part.
In this episode, Stacy Havener breaks down how to fix that without scrapping the slide entirely. 
Listen in to hear:
How to cover process without just reading the boring slide out loud
The fastest way to make your process feel different (even if the slide isn’t)
The one line Stacy wants you to stop using when talking process (because it’s a big fat nothing sandwich) 

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus
- - -
Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

At 15, Harald Berlinicke got a front-row seat to Black Monday during a bank internship outside Berlin. It was total chaos, with people yelling "SELL!" and a 20% drop in a single day.
Most people would have run away from that pressure. But Harald ran toward it. And that's the day he knew he wanted to be in finance.

Decades later, he's the guy on the other side of the table as a fund selector and family office CIO, with a surprisingly impressive LinkedIn presence for someone who will tell you straight up that he's an introvert.
In this episode, Stacy sits down with Harald to talk about the human side of selection and why "give, give, give" beats "pitch, pitch, pitch" every single time.

Listen in to hear:
Harald's Black Monday origin story and how that early chaos shaped his view of markets and decision-making 
Why "people do business with people" is painfully true in fund selection 
His playbook for building relationships on LinkedIn as an introvert 
The provocative CFA poll he ran and what that debate says about where the industry might be headed

More about Harald Berlinicke: 

Harald Berlinicke, CFA is CIO of the fifth-generation Max-Berlinicke-Erben family office in Berlin, where he oversees a multi-asset portfolio with a focus on asset allocation and manager selection. He co-founded New Bond Street Asset Management in London and served as Partner and Head of Structured Credit Investments, growing the boutique to a peak of €8B AUM. He later spent 2014–2023 at Scope Group as Director of Alternative Investments and now advises independently-owned investment boutiques. A CFA charterholder since 2003, Harald is also a long-standing CFA Institute volunteer and a widely followed voice on LinkedIn known for making complex investment topics accessible.

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus
- - -
Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

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 fear that tends to sit underneath all of it:
"I'm too early to be taken seriously."

It's not irrational. It's just not the whole story. And if you believe it too hard for too long, it might be the thing that keeps you invisible when you could be building real conversations.
Listen in to hear:
The year-one myth Stacy calls BS on: “don’t market until you have 3 years of track + $100M–$200M AUM”
Why year one gets derailed more by business decisions than investment decisions (products, partners, hires, marketing choices)
Who you should be talking to early (innovators + early adopters) and why they don’t play by the “come back later” rules

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus
- - -
Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

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 training program or mentor, just four walls of books he was determined to read. By the time he left, he’d taught himself accounting, built a research function from scratch, and was running a fund that grew from £1M to £3.5B.
Listen in to hear: 
How Edward built his own training program from scratch and why that became one of his biggest edges
What "subordinate currency regimes" means and how it changes everything we thought we knew about EM risk 
The tension between building something investable and staying true to the thesis
What scaling from £1M to £3.5B actually looks like when you have to earn every rung yourself
Why he walked away from asset management, what the gap taught him, and what brought him back

More About Edward Lam:
Edward Lam entered the fund management industry in 2004 as an analyst at Emerging Markets specialist Lloyd George Management, covering Taiwan and technology. In 2007, he co-founded Somerset Capital Management, where he served as Head of Research and chaired the investment committee. In 2010, he launched Somerset’s EM Dividend Growth strategy, scaling it from a ~$1.5M seed to nearly $4B AUM. Edward left Somerset in 2020, then joined Sloane Robinson in 2023, became CIO, and launched the SR Ocellus fund in 2024.
In his free time, he enjoys reading about the history and philosophy of finance, including many areas that others (based on feedback) find boring. 

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus
- - -
Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap